Stanton hit the desk he leaned against with his crutch. “Dammit, how could we have forgotten about that? Of course we have video. Dad upgraded the system a couple of years ago, so it’s quite sophisticated.”
I shook my head. “Don’t get too excited. I’m pretty sure they erased the footage from those days.”
Stanton’s smug expression clued us into that meant nothing. “If they did, it’s not a problem. When Dad upgraded, he went all the way. After thirty days everything is then stored on the cloud. Unless they have access to that, which they don’t, then we’ve got them.”
Randolph held up a hand. “I don’t want to be a bubble-burster, but sometimes the cameras don’t catch everything if they aren’t positioned properly.”
Stanton chuckled. “Don’t worry, they will be. They’re set to scan every minute or so. In other words, they’re not stationary. As I said, Dad went all out. And now that I’m thinking about it, I wonder if he suspected something.”
I was thinking the same thing. “Maybe he did and that’s why he did such an extensive upgrade.”
“Do you have the login information?” Randolph asked Stanton.
“I do. I can share it so you can check it out someplace else.”
Stanton grabbed a piece of paper off the desk and scribbled down the information. Then he handed it to the detective.
“I’ll get to work on this immediately and let’s keep this under the radar,” Randolph said. “If they suspect anything, they might be in the wind.”
We all agreed and the detective and Clayton left.
After Landry walked them out, I said, “I can’t see our mother getting her hands dirty under the hood of a car. I say she had help with this. What do you think?” My question was directed at my brothers.
Stanton nodded. “Agreed. Mother wouldn’t even give us candy when we were kids. She didn’t want her hands to get sticky. So digging under the hood of a car? I can’t see it either. Running someone off the road, yeah, but not the other.”
Landry rubbed his chin. Then his finger popped up. “What if she paid someone to do it? Like Grady, our mechanic?”
“I thought of that too, but would he agree? Grady is a stand-up guy, or seems like it anyway. I’m almost positive Sherman would do it. Or he could’ve hired someone to do it. But I’d lay money down that Mother and Sherman were in this together.” My statement had all eyes turned in my direction. “The day English and I came out here, Mother walked into this office like she’d just gotten out of bed with someone. When I asked her who it was, she basically admitted it was Sherman. Thus, he had just as much motive as she did. His client was a major source of income, but with Dad out of the way, and potentially you, Stanton, Mom stood to inherit the money. Or so they thought. But when they found out about the codicil, and that Dad had outwitted them, all their plans crashed.”
English gaped. “That’s awful.”
“Greed makes people do awful things,” I said.
Stanton, who was leaning against the desk, stood. “So now what? Sherman is a wily fox and won’t fall for any traps we might set. How do we get them to admit their guilt?”
“We wait to see what the videos show. If he or Mother are on it, then they’re busted.” A smile curved my mouth. “And if it doesn’t, why not set a trap for them? We can beat them at their game.”
“How? Any ideas?” Landry asked.
Nodding, I said, “We know they wanted Stanton removed since they thought he would be the beneficiary. Then they wanted English out of the way because she stood to inherit since she’s my wife. Going for both of them again would be too obvious. That leaves me because I am in control of the money. But the question is how? Will they try another car accident? It’s highly unlikely since they had two failures, not to mention it would be too obvious.”
“Then what? Poison?” Stanton asked with a slight chuckle.
“I wouldn’t put anything past those two,” I answered.
“You can’t be serious?” English squeaked.
“Oh, I am. They killed Dad, tried for you and Stanton. They won’t stop until they succeed.”
“Tristian, I don’t like this at all.” English touched my arm then held on to it. Her frown lines were gorges between her eyes.
I pulled her next to me. “Don’t worry, starshine. Nothing will happen to me or anyone else. I promise.”
“I’m really scared.” She tightened her grip around my arm. “If they are the ones doing it, they need to be stopped, but you have to be careful.”
What I didn’t tell her was I was frightened too, but not for myself. My concern was for Easton and her.
Chapter Fifty-Five
English
The next couple of days passed with sleepless nights. Every time I drifted off, images of Tristian lying dead in a ditch somewhere awakened me. It was horrific. I’d run to warn him, but my legs were mired in mud and I couldn’t get there. Then I’d see his lifeless body and wake up with a start.
Detective Randolph finally called and asked us to meet him at the station. We were both eager to get there and learn if he’d discovered our criminal.
We were led to a small conference room and when everyone arrived, he sat down with a file folder filled with papers. “Your father must’ve known something was going on. Not only were there security cameras on the exterior of the house, he installed two in your mother’s bedroom. She, erm, entertained her friend there quite often, and they weren’t shy about what they discussed. Luckily, your father suspected something. While the video won’t be admissible, the audio is.”
Tristian impatiently said, “Let’s cut to the chase. Did we get them?”
Randolph scoffed. “We got them all right. Take a look at the transcripts from their conversations.” He passed out copies of it and waited while we read. They’d damned themselves with their carelessness. The tension in the room grew to a sizzling point. It was difficult to tell who was more pissed off—Stanton or Tristian.
When everyone finished, Stanton said, “I’d like to put my hands around their necks.”
I flinched at his vicious words, but Tristian patted the top of my thigh.
“I know what you mean, but it wouldn’t solve anything,” I said. We glanced at each other.
Stanton said, “I disagree. It would give me pleasure for them to look into my eyes knowing why I was doing it.”
Detective Randolph cleared his throat. “I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that. We’re planning to bring them both in for questioning. I’m assuming you read the part where they also blackmailed your auto mechanic into helping them. They’ll be charged for that too.”
“Will arrests be made?” Tristian asked. “I’m curious about this because now you have solid evidence.”
“We are presenting this to the DA to see if we can get arrest warrants.”
Stanton asked, “When will we know?”
“Hopefully in a day or so. I’m fairly certain we’ll get what we need.”
We left and went back to work. Tristian was silent as he drove.