Kennedy barely nodded. She was too enthralled with Sterling’s gory tale.
Outside the exam room, he, Cade, Madison and Parrish huddled together, their voices necessarily low to keep Kennedy from hearing.
The last thing she needed right now was more to worry about.
“Do you know the bastard brother’s name yet?” Now that Kennedy was safe, he could fully concentrate on forever removing the fuck as a threat.
“Of course I do,” Madison replied. “He’s Rand Golly, two years older than Rob was, putting him at forty-two. He has a long rap sheet, everything from drunk driving to felony assault, attempted kidnapping and arson. He got out of prison at the same time Jodi escaped. My guess is he went to see his brother right off, and found him dead.”
Yeah, that could make a career criminal vindictive. Poor Jodi. The girl couldn’t catch a break. What were the odds of escaping one abusive lunatic only to have another come after her? “She could benefit from one of Dad’s programs.”
“My thought exactly,” Parrish said. “Kennedy will rest easier if she knows her friend is clear of danger. But first we need to eliminate the threat.” He added to Madison, “I want eyes on that motel room every second of every hour. We need to know if Golly moves while we formulate our plans.”
“Already done,” Madison assured him. “I found a few cameras that give me great access. As long as he doesn’t do something extra tricky like dig his way out, I’ll see him. If he does go out, I’ll be able to identify which car is his, then I can grab his plates. That’ll give us even more info on him.”
“Now that they’re onto us,” Cade said, “I don’t want Sterling anywhere near there when I tag the cars.”
“I don’t want you there, either,” Parrish countered. “We’ll get by without the GPS.”
Cade stiffened. “I can handle it.”
“Don’t be insulted.” Madison patted Cade’s shoulder. “I agree with Dad. From everything I’ve been able to uncover, Golly has a broad network behind him.”
“His connections aren’t the same as ours,” Cade argued.
“Agreed. We’ll have to cast a wider net now, and if there’s even a tiny chance that you get spotted, the rest of the goons will go to ground.”
“How many people are we talking?” Reyes asked.
I’ve found connections to twenty, including motel owners, diner owners, truckers and a few career criminal buddies that he probably met in prison. Nothing too high-tech, but I don’t want to risk missing a step and losing any—” She glanced at Reyes, stalling.
“Women,” Reyes said. It was a good bet that the sick bastard had an operation going. “Agreed.”
“All the more reason for the GPS,” Cade argued.
Obviously, Cade didn’t want to concede the point. Reyes got that. They were take-charge guys who worked best when in action. “You’re the patient one,” Reyes said to his brother, “so imagine how I feel. If I can stand to wait while we sort this out, you damn sure can, too.”
With that reasoning, Cade nodded.
Wanting to get back to Kennedy, Reyes asked, “Where’s Jodi?”
“We put her in a nice suite at Dad’s hotel. We dropped off additional clothes for her, stocked the small fridge and gave her unlimited use of movies and games.”
“Meaning she has everything she’d need so there’s no reason to leave the room.” His father’s hotel was another front. Yes, it served the legit purpose of renting rooms, but the entire upper floor was reserved for situations like this. It looked like nothing more than a five-star hotel, but boasted the same security they used in their homes. Jodi would be safe there. Still... “Kennedy won’t be happy to know she’s alone.”
Cade shrugged. “Short of kidnapping her, there wasn’t much I could do. The hotel seemed like the best bet.”
Would Jodi stay put? He had no idea. “Pretty sure Kennedy will insist on seeing her tomorrow, so I’ll want backup.” If it was just him going, Reyes wouldn’t worry, but with Kennedy? Too much had already happened. Never again would he relax his guard, not for any reason.
“No problem,” Cade said. “Star will insist on going along.”
Parrish folded his arms. “What’s happening with the detective?”
Reyes rubbed the back of his neck. “He said Madison explained enough to give us some leeway.” He glanced at his sister. “Though now that I ditched him at the site, he might rethink that.”
Madison stared back defiantly. “Dad and I agree that he could be a valuable asset.”
“Maybe.” One way or another, cops were going to show on the scene of the wreck. At least Crosby was a cop he was familiar with. “I assume Delbert is no longer an issue?”
“Dead at the scene,” Cade confirmed.
Although they might have gotten more info from him, Reyes chose to see his death as a blessing. It was one less person trying to get to Kennedy.
“I’ll talk to Crosby again,” Madison offered. “No worries.”
Reyes stopped her from walking away. “How exactly did you clue him in?”
“I told him enough that he wouldn’t detain you.”
Cade’s eyes narrowed. “Enough being how much?”
“Overall, I mentioned the task force and a general overview of Dad’s philanthropic work. Crosby was duly impressed, but now? I don’t know what he’ll think when he can’t find either of them at the hospital.”
Parrish considered things. “When I called him, it was just to say that there’d been an attempted kidnapping and it might involve Golly. That seemed incentive enough for him to jump onboard. But Madison is right. He’ll want to be in control of things.”
“Somehow, we need to string him along,” Madison concluded. She smiled. “Leave it to me.”
Becoming antsy, Reyes glanced at the exam room doors. He wanted to get back to Kennedy. “He’ll have questions for me, but if you can put him off until tomorrow—”
“Impossible,” Madison said. “He’s a cop, Reyes, not a goon—he won’t be easily manipulated. And as I keep telling you, he’s on the up-and-up. His questions will be legit.”
“Stick with the truth as much as you can,” Parrish advised. “There were enough people in the diner to see the attack.”
“And a few saw Kennedy taken,” Cade said. “It’ll all add up for a cop.”