He laughed. “We had a scuffle. Bet you never saw a one-legged man throw a punch, have ya? Let me just say, it throws off his balance something good, and we landed in a heap together.”
“So you figured out he wasn’t involved?”
“I went there knowin’ he wasn’t. I threw the punch because he suspected his son had ripped me off and he’d never said nothin’.”
“What about the fight with Bruce and Bingham thirteen years ago.?”
“We both suspected Bruce was workin’ with Louise, so he’d started the fight with Bingham to get Bruce thrown in jail.”
“Last I heard, the deputies haven’t found Derek yet.”
All his humor vanished. “And they won’t.”
I gasped.
“That’s enough dark talk for now,” he’d said, then kissed the top of my head. “One more thing.” He gave me a loving smile. “You’re stayin’ with Marco when you go home. There’s no threat to you from my end, but that man will lose his ever-lovin’ mind if you’re too far away. At least at first, give him that, girlie. He loves you like you deserve to be loved.”
“I know,” I said, a lump filling my throat. “Thank you.”
When Marco had picked me up this morning, I’d insisted we drive by the spot where Hank’s gold had been buried—under the dilapidated mill by the river on the east side of town. How many times had I stared at that death trap and never once suspected what was buried inside? How many people had walked past it, never once guessing they were so close to over twenty million dollars’ worth of gold?
“How is it that no one’s ever found it?” I asked.
“Simple. No one pays attention to that run-down heap. Hank and his men worked out here two nights ago, and no one noticed a thing.” He winked. “Or so I’ve been told. Probably just an urban legend.”
Then he’d driven me home.
Marco had reinjured his leg in the crash, and his doctor wanted him to take a week off to rest it. He wasn’t happy about it, but in the end, he decided to cooperate because it meant he could stay home with me without taking vacation days.
After I got settled on the sofa, Marco sat next to me and pointed to a security system panel on the hall wall. “You’ll notice we have a new security system. They installed it early while you were in the hospital.”
“So that’s why I couldn’t come home until today.” It also explained why Hank had insisted I stay here.
His eyes clouded. “You couldn’t come home until it was safe.”
“I’m safe now,” I said, tugging him over so I could kiss him. “But I’m not an invalid. In fact, I’m supposed to walk around. If anything, I’m more worried about you.”
“Walking and icing are my orders,” he said. “Same as you.”
I laughed. “We’re like a couple of old geezers with our aches and pains.”
“As long as I’m growing old with you.” He reached over and grabbed the gift and handed it to me.
It was heavy, so I set it on my legs to unwrap it, surprised when I saw it was a laptop.
“Now that we have the internet, you need something to use,” he said. Then he gave me a cheesy smile. “Welcome home and thank you for not dyin’.”
“In that case,” I said, laughing, “I need to get you a thank you for not dyin’ gift too.”
He grinned. “I think we can work something out.”
I laughed, then grabbed my side. “Maybe in a few days.”
He wrapped an arm around me and held me close. “Deal.”
While he helped me open the box and get the computer set up, I asked, “Did you talk to Max?”
He didn’t answer right away, looking pensive. “He didn’t know Wyatt was working with Derek and Louise, and he has no earthly idea what he’s up to. He reminded me he’d been estranged from his brother until last November, and there’s still plenty about his life he doesn’t know about. But he says that whenever Wyatt fulfills his bargain to help us bring down Bart, he wants to be part of it.” He gave me a questioning look. “Are you okay with that?”
“We can trust him,” I said. “I stand by that. What did he say about Franklin?”
“He said Franklin has been actin’ fishy for the past month or so. He’s sure he’s working with Bart somehow, but he doesn’t know if Ruth’s involved. So we have to keep all of this from her. Just in case.”
I nodded. I didn’t want to hurt her, nor did I want her to keep living with Franklin without knowing what he was up to, but we had to be safe.
“Anyone heard anything from Louise?”
“No,” he said. “She’s gone underground, like the snake she is. If she’s smart, she got the hell out of town. But I’m not so sure she’s smart. Then again, she seems to have managed to get a leg up on Bart somehow. First by telling him about Lula, and then thirteen years later, somehow securing blackmail evidence that he’d killed a child fifteen years ago . . . though we never did find out exactly why she went to see Bart the day Walter died. Or what Bart gave her in exchange for taking the fall for Walter’s murder.”
“Do you think we ever will?”
“I suspect we haven’t seen the last of her yet. Maybe we’ll find out then.”
But something told me Emily Drummond had the answers to both of those questions. Would she be willing to talk to me now?
“What about Derek Carpenter?” I asked.
“Drowned.”
“What?” I asked in surprise.
“In a pond out on his father’s land. The story Big Joe told the responding deputies is that he went fishin’ with a six-pack of beer. He never came back, and Big Joe found him floatin’ in the pond. He theorized Derek fell in and was too drunk to get out. Toxicology report confirms he was twice the legal limit.”
I gave him a hard stare. “Do you believe that story about him falling in and drowning?”
“Not for a hot minute.”
“Do you think Hank drowned him?”
“Honestly? I think Big Joe did.”
My jaw dropped. “His own son?”
He looked troubled. “His loyalty to Hank ran deep.”
Deeper than to his own son? Then again, Derek had been a loose cannon. Maybe Big Joe had felt threatened by that. But I couldn’t help thinking about Georgia and Cassie. They had to be devastated.
“Who killed Michelle?”
He made a face. “Derek Carpenter conveniently left his gun next to the pond, and I have a sneaking suspicion the bullets that killed her will match his weapon. Louise thought Michelle knew where the gold was buried, and I suspect they killed her trying to get it.”
So did Michelle actually have any idea where the toolbox was? Would she have known that Jerry took it? Or was she just hoping she’d get a cut if they found it based on her knowledge of who the third accomplice was in the theft?
“But why do it now?” I asked. “Why wait until after I talked to her?”
“I suppose it might not have been him,” Marco admitted. “For all we know, it was Bingham. We don’t have the test results on the gun and bullets back yet, but the caliber’s right.”