Brice snorted loudly. “Better than letting her think she’s gotten away with all of this.”
“Hold up. All of you are acting like we’re going to let her go. We’ve got men on the house. We’ll know if there’s any movement. Trust me, we’re not going to let her leave.”
Jace pushed away from the wall too fast and the room spun, but he didn’t care. His anger was too great. “Marlee kept telling us last night that Stella was the one. We should’ve brought her in right away.”
“For what?” Ryan demanded. “Only to let her go because we had nothing but the word of a private investigator that she’s the culprit? Come on, Jace. You know we can’t do that.”
Brice cocked his head to the side. “And now that Jace was nearly killed, Cooper shot and taken God-only-knows where, and Marlee missing? What now? Are both you and Danny going to continue to sit there and tell us you can’t arrest her?”
“We can’t arrest her,” Danny said. “Until we have evidence that she’s involved in the murder of the pregnant women, the kidnapping of newborns, the attempted murder of Jace, Cooper’s abduction, or anything else, we can’t do anything.”
Fury ripped through Jace. Before he could release his words, Cash calmly said, “That’s not entirely true, gentlemen.”
The room went quiet as all eyes turned to Cash.
Clayton leaned back in his chair behind his desk. “We’re all ears.”
Cash’s pale gray eyes looked from Ryan to Danny. “In order to press charges, you must have evidence. But that doesn’t mean you can’t bring someone in for questioning and lead them to believe you have evidence.”
“I’ve done that before, yes,” Danny said. “It’s a thin line we walk, but I only walk it when I know there’s evidence to be found.”
Jace rolled his eyes. “Marlee knows there’s evidence. We just have to find it.”
“And if we don’t?” Ryan asked.
Danny blew out a breath. “Then we have to let Stella go.”
“What other option do you have now?” Cash asked. “You have no idea where Cooper is, no idea where Marlee is, and Stella could leave at any time.”
Danny ran a hand down his face. “I can have one of the deputies currently watching the house bring her in.”
“Not in,” Cash said. “Here. Or somewhere else private.”
Jace smiled at Cash. “Now you’re talking.”
“Whoa. Wait just a minute,” Ryan said, his brow puckered in a frown.
Cash slid his gaze to Ryan. “I was called here because there’s a problem. I’m giving you a solution to that problem.”
“We can’t help with that. No matter how much we want to,” Danny said in a voice laced with regret.
Caleb glared at them. “This is Cooper. How many times has he helped each of us when we needed it the most? Danny, do you know what he did for you and Skylar?”
“I know perfectly well what he did,” Danny answered.
Brice moved to stand by his brother. “Then act like it.”
“They are,” Clayton said as he got to his feet. “Their positions give them little leeway on these things. All of you know that. Don’t take it out on them.”
“Cooper wouldn’t hesitate to help any of you,” Jace said.
Caleb crossed his arms over his chest. “No, he wouldn’t. He hasn’t.”
“Here’s where we’re at,” Clayton told the room. “Danny, Ryan, we need your help, of course. However, this situation calls for more … brute force than local law enforcement can give. I cannot, and will not, stand by and wait to find out what happens to Cooper or Marlee. As our friends, we hope that you will continue to help, but we understand if you can’t.”
Ryan nodded as he looked at the floor. This his gaze lifted to Clayton. “You want me and Danny to tell our people to look the other way—again—while all of you go in guns blazing?”
“We want you to support us as we find our friends,” Cash replied.
Jace fisted his hands, waiting for Ryan’s and Danny’s decision. He couldn’t believe they were even debating this. Then again, Jace didn’t work for the city or the county, nor did he have others he had to answer to regarding his actions in such an event. If he were caught—and he wasn’t going to get caught—he might be arrested.
He then stepped forward and looked at first Danny and then Ryan. “We understand you have jobs and people to answer to. Return to your people and do what y’all need to do. We’re going to do what we have to, and if that means either of you arresting one of us after the fact, then that’s just how it’ll have to be.”
“Exactly,” Caleb and Brice said in unison.
Ryan gave a nod. “Watch your backs. And don’t shoot any of my men.”
After he was gone, Danny pressed his lips together. “I’ve been a friend of this family for a long time. Each of you was there for me and Skylar during our incident. I owe all of you for that. There’s nothing I can do to repay that, but I’m going to try. I might not be able to stand with you tonight when you go after whoever this is, but I’ll support you. If that means I don’t get re-elected, I’m okay with that. Ryan’s position is different. But I also know him. He’s not going to turn his back on any of us, either.”
“No, he won’t,” Clayton said. “That much I know for certain.”
Caleb’s face scrunched up in disbelief. “Then why did he leave?”
“So he wouldn’t hear anything else said. Just like I’m leaving now.” Danny gave them a nod and started for the door. He paused next to Jace and put a hand on his shoulder briefly before walking out.
A full minute passed before Clayton looked at Cash. “I’m hoping you have something to help us.”
“As a matter of fact, I do,” Cash said with a smile.
Chapter 42
The knock on the back door startled Stella so badly that she jumped and dropped her phone onto the floor. She reached down and grabbed it before she rose from the sofa and headed to the back. She peered through the peephole and saw Chuck.
She hurriedly unlocked and opened the door for him with a smile. “That took longer than I thought it would.”
“Lots of loose ends to tie up,” he said as he walked past her.
Something about his words made her frown. Softly, she closed the door. “That sounds ominous.”
“Let’s get moving.”
She didn’t like that he kept his back to her. Stella said his name and waited for him to face her before saying, “Tell me what you’re hiding.”
“We’ve found ourselves in a mess. A mess, I might add, that I warned you would eventually come.” He shrugged. “But you ignored me. However, I fixed everything.”
“You’ve never disobeyed me before,” she said, crossing her arms.
He gave her a hard look. “We’ve never been so close to being caught before.”
“As I told you, they don’t have evidence, or they would’ve come for me.”
Chuck moved closer to her until they stood less than six inches apart. “You might be careless with your life, but I’m not. Nor am I careless with yours. If you go down, we all do. I’m not going to let that happen. Besides, you wouldn’t last a day in jail.”