B00MV3HMDW_EBOK (25 page)

“If my nephew is alive then I owe you a debt of gratitude for uncovering the truth.” Art didn’t mean a word of his sentiment, but that wasn’t here nor there. It seemed as if the conversation that Taryn and Jax had with the man had done its job. “If you don’t mind, I have business to attend to.”

With no more than a bye your leave, Art quietly shut the door behind him and left his guests to see themselves to their vehicle. No one uttered a word until they were safely ensconced in the Pathfinder and following the drive out to the main road. Ethan drove, noticing the additional armed guard roaming the west side of the land. Bowers was feeling threatened, but these supplementary precautions were a little over the top.

“That man is one dangerous son of a bitch,” Jax muttered from the back seat. “His lines are tapped, right? There’s no doubt in my mind that his phone is smoking right about now.”

“I’m offended you would ask me that question.” Taryn twisted in her seat to face Ethan as they turned left out of the estate. “Were you able to gain access to the safe?”

Ethan silently handed his phone over to her. He’d yet to close the photograph application, knowing she would want to see the evidence for herself. Her swift inhalation was all he needed to hear to know she’d seen firsthand what he’d discovered.

“What?”

Jax leaned forward, holding out his hand. Taryn quietly gave him the device and no one said a word as Ethan pulled into a little diner where they would try to eat some breakfast. It was doubtful any of them would be able to stomach food after looking at those pictures, but they needed sustenance if they were going to form a new strategy. Finding this intelligence cache changed everything.

Chapter Twenty

“I
can tell by the looks on your faces that you discovered evidence as to what Charles Bowers did to Yvette.” Ryland paused, allowing the fact that he could see them to sink in. Taryn looked around the diner, taking in every face she could to see if he was actually inside the small building with them. Jax and Ethan couldn’t hear the conversation, but they knew it was Ryland from her signal. She then made a motion with her hand that would alert them to the fact their target was near. “I’m sure you can understand Yvette’s need to finish business before she started another life.”

“You refer to her as Yvette,” Taryn said, making sure enough curiosity laced her tone. She honestly didn’t care what Ryland called his sister, but she needed to keep this conversation going to give Ethan and Jax a chance to zero in on Ryland’s location. “Her real name was Sabrina and she was your sister.”

“Sabrina was Travis’ sister,” Ryland reminded her with a superior tenor. Jax had been right in the fact that this man liked the finer things in life. “Travis died a long, long time ago. Sabrina ceased to exist when I repaid a debt.”

“Is that how you look upon taking Sabrina away from her mother, her life, everything she knew?” Taryn actually would have done the same thing, although with completely different results. Had she known she had a sister who was living a nightmare, Taryn would have made sure those responsible had paid and that Sabrina got the help she that had needed. “You didn’t do her any favors, Travis. You molded her into a shell of a woman who wasn’t given a chance to live.”

“It’s really not nice to taunt the man who is providing you the answers you seek.” Once again there was a long pause, and for a brief moment Taryn wasn’t so sure that Ryland hadn’t disconnected the line. She strained to hear something, anything, when he spoke once more. “I will leave you with this, but only because it pains me to see the confusion written across your lovely face. Madeline Bowers didn’t have a maternal bone in her body. I spared Yvette from an impossible situation that had destroyed her emotional and mental wellbeing. I gave her what she needed and the means to see justice served.”

“And Madeline?” Ethan was headed back to the table and the look on his face told her that Ryland wasn’t inside the diner. “Did she get what she deserved?”

“The woman’s fate was of no consequence to me. I do have one question for you, my sweet Taryn,” Ryland said, the endearment making her wince. She loathed that this man thought they had a connection when in reality it had been severed long ago. “Do you think Yvette’s murder was a coincidence?”

The line went dead and left Taryn’s mind spinning. Jax had returned, although he had his phone pressed against his ear. No doubt he was rallying the troops and the team would be here by the end of the day. Knowing Crest he was already at the hotel and awaiting their arrival.

“Ryland knew we were here. He might not be in this building, but he’s close by. Obviously I need to work on that facial recognition software a little more.” Taryn shared with them the conversation, pushing what food was left on her plate away from her. None of them had really eaten, but it would be enough to carry them through the day. “He indicated that Arthur Bowers had something to do with Yvette’s murder but I can’t connect the dots. That would mean he’d known all along that she was alive. If he knew that then I would suspect he would have known about Ryland. Going by his reaction today I can’t fathom that. Ethan, was there anything else in the safe to imply that Arthur knew anything in regards to Yvette?”

“No, but there was a phone number scribbled on a torn piece of paper.” Ethan rattled off the sequence of digits, but Taryn wouldn’t be able to do anything with that piece of evidence until she had access to her laptop. The numbers meant nothing off the top of her head. “Jax said it. We need to hear what calls Bowers has made in the last hour. Let’s head back to the hotel.”

Taryn knew Ethan and Jax were right, but she needed to make time to speak with her aunt sometime today. The woman had known all along that Sabrina was her niece and yet she stood on the sidelines and said nothing. What else had Aunt Lisa and Uncle Gordon known that could have affected the outcome of that young girl’s life?

They all stood, the check already having been paid, and made their way to the exit. All of them were alert for any sign of threat from Ryland. He’d finally arrived. All they had to do now was create a diversion that would keep his attention distracted long enough for them to pinpoint his location. That was easier said than done.

*   *   *   *

By the time Ethan, Taryn, and Jax had arrived at the hotel, Crest had already rented out one of the suites and enough of Taryn’s equipment was set up so that she could work efficiently. What Ethan hadn’t expected was to see Fallon sitting on the couch with her laptop situated on the coffee table. Amends had already been made so it didn’t make a difference to him if Fallon had joined them or not. His sole focus was Taryn and the emotions that she’d kept buried all morning.

“Taryn and I have to grab some paperwork that we left in the hotel room,” Ethan stated, walking to the door. Taryn shot him a sideways look from where she’d gone over to the table, seeing what systems had been put into place. She glanced toward Crest who nodded his consent before making a phone call. Ethan raised an eyebrow, waiting for her to follow behind him. “We’ll be back in a bit.”

Taryn had her black-rimmed glasses perched on her nose, but Ethan could still see her frustration at his request. That was tough shit. She needed a moment and if he was the only one who could see that, then so be it. She’d placed herself on automatic pilot ever since she’d caught a glimpse of those vulgar pictures and she’d only withdrawn more into herself after Ryland’s phone call.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Taryn asked, her irritation palpable. He took her by the hand, finally able to really touch her and assure for himself that she was all right. “We’re working, Ethan. You can’t just bring in our personal lives whenever you feel like it. Crest won’t have it.”

“Crest would agree with me that you need some downtime to digest the verification that your half-sister was abused.” Ethan led the way down the stairwell until they were safely entrenched inside their room. Taryn pulled away from him and walked immediately over to the small safe that contained her laptop. She retrieved it and then went about gathering the papers on the bed. Ethan leaned a shoulder up against the wall as he watched her. “Taryn, it’s okay to take a moment for yourself.”

“If I let myself think about it the anger will burn a hole through me.” Taryn finally stilled her movements, leaving the pile of folders on top of her laptop. She didn’t make a move to pick the items up, but did give the indication she didn’t want to stay here and think about her half-sister. “I have to keep busy.”

“It’s okay to be mad,” Ethan said softly, pushing off of the wall and positioning himself on the bed. He pulled her in between his legs and situated her until she was sitting on his lap. She’d tilted her head back and was staring at the ceiling as if she wanted to ward off any emotions. It wasn’t healthy for her to do that. “Talk to me, Squid.”

“Fuck, Ethan, just because we’re…more than friends doesn’t mean you can do this to me in the middle of a case,” Taryn said crossly even as she rested her elbow on his shoulder and placed her forehead in her palm. She looked at him from underneath her lashes and took an unsteady breath. “Yeah, it eats at my stomach that Sabrina was molested by a sick son of a bitch. All I can think about is that if my father had known she’d existed, he could have taken care of her. He could have saved her from that life and the one that Ryland got her into. She would still be alive today and just maybe, a sister who I could have looked up to. It’s such a fucking waste.”

Ethan pulled Taryn closer to him until her arm went around his back and she laid her head on his shoulder. He held her that way in silence and let her think about what ifs for a while, waiting until she reached the point where she knew it wouldn’t do any good. He stroked her arm, letting her know that she wasn’t dealing with this alone.

“You know what sucks?” Taryn whispered, not moving from her position and probably staring into space. “Ryland is the only one who knew what she was truly like as a child. He knew the sweet innocence that made Sabrina who she was before her life was ripped to shreds. I will never know her because of selfish people taking that decision away from all of us.”

“Which is why you can’t go to your aunt’s today.” Ethan knew that wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but they couldn’t show their cards just yet. There was still more to do to bring Ryland closer to them. “You’ll slip and mention what Charles Bowers did to Sabrina and then we’ll have nothing in our back pocket to use against Art. You said yourself that Ryland indicated that Art had something to do with Yvette’s murder. If we can serve justice in that manner, then one crime gets put right.”

“Wait,” Taryn said, sitting up but remaining on his lap. Her brown eyes lit up the way they did when there was a break in a case. Her fingers stroked his back. “That would mean Art knows Trevor Neonni. We know that Neonni killed Yvette. It’s his trademark.”

Ethan smiled, knowing that Taryn had worked out in her mind that there was nothing she could do to return to the past and change events. What she could do was bring justice to her half-sister’s murder. Taryn kissed him and quickly stood, gathering her things so that they could head back upstairs to Crest’s suite. Ethan placed a hand on her arm, wanting to cover a couple of things.

“The number I found—it could be the way Art is contacting Neonni. You need to run a trace on it.” Ethan stood and cradled her face, wanting her to listen carefully to what he was about to say next. “As for the comment that
we’re more than friends
? I want to hear you say aloud what we are. I want you to admit what we are so that when we walk back up those stairs there isn’t a doubt in your mind. I would never cross that professional line, but you are my first priority.”

“You will always be a Marine,” Taryn said, resting her hands on his arms. “Your duty comes first. And I’m okay with that.”

“On the battlefield and fighting for our freedom…yes,” Ethan acknowledged forthright, “my duty comes first. In our life now? You are my friend, my partner, my lover, and my life. I’m not afraid to admit that in front of our team. There is no turning back from the path we took. Say it.”