“That was you?”
“God, you could run. I’ve called you apple blossom ever since. Just not to your face.”
“When are you going to tell me where the knife is?”
“When I see the girl.”
Her lids slammed shut. She had put it off long enough. Time for the ten-thousand-dollar question. “Why do you want to see her?”
“Because I’ve heard she looks like her grandmother.”
Her lungs seized and turned to cement. “You aren’t talking about my mother, are you?”
The corners of his eyes crinkled as he studied her. “She was a lot like you, apple. Strong. Beautiful. Fiercely protective of her family.”
“You were in love with her.”
“Body and soul.”
She sobered with the knowledge that Wynn had been in love with his sister-in-law. With Levi’s mother. “You’re telling me Levi is Auri’s father.”
“You know he is,” he said, his voice dripping with sympathy.
She took a long moment to process his words. To let them and their implications sink in. “You just said he wasn’t a part of it.”
“I don’t understand. What does your abduction have to do with Levi being Auri’s father?”
“Because that’s when it happened. I woke up pregnant.”
“You woke up with retrograde amnesia.”
“True, but I’ve remembered a lot since then. Almost everything.”
“Clearly, you haven’t. That could explain why Levi hasn’t told you the truth. Maybe he’s waiting for you to remember. And a little sad you haven’t. According to him, that night was everything. His word. One night you’re underneath him with skin as soft as an ocean breeze—again, his words—and the next you’re gone.”
The emotion simmering beneath the surface bubbled up and boiled over. All these years, the answer was right in front of her. How did she not guess the truth? Was it denial? Or just sheer stupidity?
She’d gone for so long believing she’d been violated. Raped by a monster. And she’d never wanted Auri to feel less-than because of it. Because of something beyond her control.
“Does he know?” she asked, her chin trembling. “That he’s Auri’s father?” The words seemed foreign. Surreal. Before Wynn could answer, however, she did it for him. “Of course, he knows. He loves her so much.”
“She’s yours, apple.” He reached up and brushed the wetness off her cheek. “He would love her either way.”
That wrenched the sob building inside her chest right out of it. She didn’t care. Screw policy. Screw procedure. Screw the rules. She stood, walked around the table, and threw her arms around him. He’d stood as well, anticipating her break from reality, and hugged her right back. Astonishingly, he let her cry and slobber on him like a lost puppy and didn’t seem to care in the least.
After another eon of emotional instability, she stood at arm’s length, and said, “Wait, what did you mean I have to get to Ravinder? What message were you talking about?”
Humor sparkled in his eyes. “Oh, now you want to know?”
A sheepish smile crept across her face. “Yes.”
He waited a beat, looked down into her eyes, and said, “Clay is going to take him out.”
30
Celebrating the fact that you don’t
have enough friends for an intervention?
First drink is on the house!
—SIGN AT THE ROADHOUSE BAR AND GRILL
They sat at the table again, one on each side, genuine worry lining Wynn’s rugged face. “He’s working with a man named Redding.”
She took out a notepad. “Yes. Del Sol’s former sheriff. How do you know these things from prison?” she asked, amazed.
“Connections.”
“Names?”
“Not on your life.”
“Okay then. Well, I’ve been aware of Clay and Redding for a while. They’re planning something.”
Wynn nodded. “Clay wants the business Ravinder spent the last fifteen years building from the ground up. He brought our family out of the dark ages, and Clay can’t stand it.”
“From what I hear, he also wants to be inducted into the Southern Mafia again.”
“The Southern Mafia isn’t quite the well-oiled machine you might think it is. It’s basically a few pockets of the criminally clueless, and half of those are now beholden to crime families a little farther south.”
“Tucson?”
“Mexico,” he said with a smile. “Among others.”
“Okay. But what does Redding hope to get out of it? What’s his endgame? Besides my badge.”
“Your badge?” he asked, surprised.
“Yes. He very much wants this badge back.”
A darkness came over him at the thought. “That would make trafficking easier.”
“So, for his influence as an officer of the law? To make it easier to move drugs?”
“Maybe. I’ll have to look into it.”
“And Nancy Danforth?”
“Hey,” he said, showing his palms, “she came to me.”
“Really?” Sun said, doubt in every drawn-out syllable.
“I’m not quite the evil ne’er-do-well you imagine me to be, apple.”
She kind of believed him. Kind of. And Nancy always was a bit of a sheep. “Someone else is pulling her strings. Someone powerful. She’s afraid of him.”
“Who?”
“I’d love the answer to that as well.” She closed her notepad. “You look into Redding. I’ll look into Danforth. Does Levi know he’s in danger?”
“That kid.” He stood and checked out his reflection in the observation mirror. Smoothed his blond goatee. “Still thinks he’s invincible. You just need to buy me some time. A week. Two at the most.”
“What does that mean? How am I going to buy you time?”
“Get him into hiding. I’ll take care of the rest.”
She stood and walked to him. “Wynn, I can’t condone violence, even for a good cause.”
He turned to her. “And you don’t have to, apple. I’ll get you the evidence to arrest Clay on the spot. I just need two weeks to do it. In the meantime, you have to get my nephew to safety.”
“And just how am I going to do that? You know he’s not just going to lay low because I ask him to.”
“Take him on a romantic getaway.”
After she ran out on him without an explanation? Not likely. “I’ve just had three violent attacks in my town. Well, one was in a mine. And multiple stabbings. Not to mention all the dead bodies.” Her gaze slid past him. “So many dead bodies.” She bounced back. “I can’t leave.”
“Then you have only one option left.” He lifted a brow. “But he’s not going to like it.”
“He’s been lying to me for the last fifteen years. Let’s hear it.”
After she and Wynn came up with a plan to keep his nephew safe, she offered him her best grave expression. “Who was his partner?” she asked, worried it really was Wynn. “Now that I know how my daughter came about.”