Justice Reborn (Cowboy Justice Association Book 8) (20 page)

J
osie popped the last bite of bacon into her mouth before sitting back into her chair and patting her pleasantly full stomach. She’d decided to avoid making herself miserable in front of Evan’s friends and had ordered a manageable size breakfast. Evan, on the other hand, had ordered practically one of everything on the menu and his friends had followed suit. She’d never seen this amount of food inhaled in one sitting. Every square inch of the table was covered in dirty dishes. Where were the Guinness World Record book people when you needed them?

Evan pushed his plate of biscuits and honey closer to Josie. “You’re welcome to some if you’re still hungry.”

“Are you sure? Because I’d hate to lose a finger or two reaching for one. You boys are hungry this morning.”

Dare took another bite of his hash browns. “You’ve got that right. But we’d never snap at a lady. Each other? That’s a different story. Reed or Seth reaches for my food? They’re gonna need a doctor.”

Patting her stomach, Josie shook her head. “Thank you but I’m full.” She glanced at Evan who was still demolishing his link sausage. “Actually I’d love to hear what you’ve found out. That is, if you can talk about it.”

Reed leaned forward after checking out the neighboring diners. The restaurant was particularly loud this morning with the sounds of clanking dishes and the raised voices of the patrons trying to be heard. No one was paying any attention to their group at the back corner table.

“We can talk but please understand that what I’ve found out is preliminary. I’ve got a friend who is working more on this and he’ll call if or when he finds something new.”

“Jared?” Evan asked in surprise. “You called him in?”

Reed nodded. “A guy who has this much money and political clout is beyond my skill set. We needed the master to come in for a search like that and he was happy to. But I did get a few interesting tidbits. You were right—Lydell is a grade A asshole.”

Josie rolled her eyes. “I could have told you that. He marches around our state like he owns it.”

“What Reed found out was interesting,” Seth piped up after swallowing a mouthful of waffles. “The guy has business and political connections that are extremely powerful. I made a point to watch a few of his speeches from when he was in the Senate and I’ll be damned if I can figure out what the guy is for or against. He says a lot of words but never actually says anything of substance.”

That sounded like every politician she’d ever seen.

“That’s how he was elected to the Senate in the first place,” Dare observed. “He’s known for taking both liberal and conservative positions so people think he can work across the aisle. From what we could find, he simply votes how the person or group with the most money wants him to.”

“Welcome to the current state of politics.” Josie wrinkled her nose in distaste. “I lived in a city that was drowning in it.”

Seth leaned forward, his hands wrapped around his coffee mug. “Do you have any idea why Amy was in possession of that tape, Josie? Or how she came to have it?” He sighed and rubbed his chin. “I know this is going to sound bad so feel free to reach across the table and smack me. Did Amy have money troubles? Might she have been trying to blackmail Lydell?”

Josie didn’t want to think that about her friend but she didn’t take offense. Now that she’d spent a little time with these guys she could see they were good people who only wanted to help Evan, and that meant helping her by extension. Nobody was giving her the side-eye as if they thought she was secretly guilty.

“I can’t be angry at you for something that crossed my mind as well. Until that night, I had no idea my friend had possession of anything like this. The only thing I can think of is her boyfriend was a reporter and he may have somehow gotten his hands on it. How it ended up with her though would be a mystery.”

“Did she know Lydell or his family?” Reed asked as he pulled out a notebook from his shirt pocket. “Maybe someone that worked for him?”

“Not that I know of,” Josie replied, trying to remember any details that Amy might have divulged other than that people in politics often had giant egos. The only political people that Amy liked hanging out and talking to were the ones lower in the ranks. “She had some sort of assistant job to the accountant guy for a government entity. Amy had a finance degree.”

Evan tapped his pencil on the table. “Maybe she knew something about the financial records?”

Perhaps but that didn’t explain the video.

“But that’s not why they…”

Josie voice drifted off, not wanting to say the word. She was still in some weird state of denial about what happened that night. A part of her expected Amy to send her a text or call. Maybe post a funny status and photo on social media.

Seth patted her hand. “We’d like to get any phone numbers and email addresses she might have had so we can look into who she was communicating with. Can you do that?”

“Yes, although I don’t know how much help they might be.”

Reed slid the notebook across the table along with a pen. “You never know what might give us just the lead we need. Is there anything else you can tell us about Amy or her job?”

Painstakingly, Josie tried to draw a picture of her gregarious friend who always had a smile and a friendly word for everyone. Nothing about Amy had been unusual, right down to her middle class upbringing, her two siblings, and her divorced parents. She’d been a normal girl who liked to have fun with her man and friends and dreamed of settling down and getting married. Sometimes Amy and her boyfriend Billy had talked about getting a cat.

Her job hadn’t been any more interesting. Amy complained about the bigwigs that threw their weight around and disrupted the office when they were in town, which luckily wasn’t often. She liked her boss though and they worked well together.

Josie finished scribbling down every number and email address for Amy that she knew along with all her social media profiles. “Were you able to find out who the girl was in the video? Is she okay?”

Seth grimaced and shook his head. “Jared and Jason have some contacts and they’re running some facial recognition software. Hopefully we’ll know something soon. I’ve been checking the recent missing persons reports and haven’t found anything, so we’re hoping she’s alive and healthy.”

The image of watching the light go out in Amy’s eyes had tears gathering in Josie’s eyes. “From what you’ve found out so far, do you think Lydell killed that poor girl?”

Reed sighed and rubbed the back of his neck. “No, I don’t think he did. From what I’ve been able to dig up so far Lydell is the kind of guy to get other people to do his dirty work. He doesn’t like to be on the front lines if you know what I mean. So I think there is a pretty decent chance she’s alive and well, but sporting a black eye and bruised ribs. He’s still lower than a rattlesnake’s belly, make no mistake. I’m just saying he doesn’t seem to have a lot of balls.”

“I kind of got that impression just seeing him on television,” Josie murmured, her thoughts on that night. She wanted desperately to remember something that might help these men who had volunteered to help her.

“Even the media doesn’t care,” Dare shrugged. “A retired politician that’s a total jerk. No one would be shocked. If anything, they’d be surprised if he wasn’t. We don’t ask much of our public servants these days. Sad, really.”

Josie glanced down at the sea of plates and bowls on the table. Empty. These boys could put away some chow.

“I just want to thank you guys for coming.” She linked her arm with Evan’s and gave his hand a grateful squeeze. “You dropped everything at a moment’s notice and here you are. I’m overwhelmed. I know you’re really here for Evan but I’m also going to be the recipient of your hard work and I don’t want there to be any confusion about this. I’m incredibly grateful. I didn’t kill Amy and I don’t want to go to jail. It scares the hell out of me. And those men that want me dead? They terrify me too. Basically I’m a lily-livered shit.”

Reed shook his head and smiled. “Lily-livered? I don’t think so. You managed to run and hide all this time, plus find someone you instinctually knew you could trust. That’s damn brave if you ask me.”

All four men were grinning and Evan was even tugging on her ponytail playfully. She was going to like having all of them around. She hadn’t felt this safe in a long time. These three men were like the big brothers she’d never had.

“Awww, you guys are so sweet,” she teased. “How about a group hug?”

Laughter, warm and rich, filled the air and caused several heads to turn, if only to take a closer look at the newcomers. Strangers were always news in this town and this morning wasn’t an exception. Add in the fact that four gorgeous, strapping men sat at the table with her and she was the envy of every female in Cypress Corner.

“I have a better idea.” Evan slapped the table lightly to get everyone’s attention. “How about a group meeting? We need to talk about what the plan is to keep Josie safe. Actually, I was planning to head into Ocala to the hardware store and pick up some items to make the house more secure. Maybe we should all go.”

The other three men exchanged glances but Dare was the one who spoke up. “We already stopped and picked up some things we thought you might need on the way here from the airport. We didn’t want to waste any time. We were the first through the doors of the hardware store this morning.”

Josie didn’t know which one of them to hug first.

“I know we got off to a rocky start but I really like you guys.”

Seth winked at Evan. “She’s a keeper, bro. She’s got damn good taste in bodyguards.”

Josie wasn’t sure about that but she was sure that her taste in men was improving. Evan Davis was a keeper indeed.

Chapter Twenty-Two

T
he drive back to the house only took a few minutes and Evan took the opportunity to watch Josie interact with his friends. She’d been scared and prickly at first but now she’d fully embraced them, confident that they weren’t here to extricate Evan from a sticky situation he wanted out of. Frankly, the last thing he wanted was for Josie to go. After last night, he needed her to stay. What they had deserved a chance to grow and flourish.

Seth pulled the SUV into the driveway and Evan climbed out, followed by Josie, Dare, and then Reed. The stack of hardware supplies stowed in the back of the vehicle meant a busy day ahead but Evan was damn grateful his friends were here to help.

“Should we get all these boxes and bags unloaded?” he asked, heading for the rear of the truck. “All my tools are in the garage. I’ll open it up.”

Reed opened the back and began to sort through the supplies. “We have some cameras to place around the house and property, plus some exterior lighting. In one of those bags over there are some motion sensors to place on the doors and windows.”

Seth stood on the other side of Evan. “There is one thing we don’t have. To get here quickly we had to fly which means–”

“I understand,” Evan nodded, getting their meaning immediately. “No firearms or ammunition. Don’t worry, Granddad was a collector. We’d be fine for the zombie apocalypse if it came to that.”

Josie shuddered and peered over his shoulder to see what was in the boxes. “Wow, that’s a lot of stuff. Do you really think we’ll need it all?”