Maggie's Mountain (27 page)

Slowly, he reached into the desk drawer and pulled out the Brylon envelope. There was a shaky moment when he slipped the paper out, then he was staring down at the logo. The letters BEL were embossed across the top in gold lettering. He’d seen it in his mind the day before, but now there was actual, physical proof. There was no way to deny it.

“Damn!” He picked up the small book, stared at the cover, then tossed it down. “This is going to be a bloody mess.”

He propped his elbows on the desk and dropped his head into his hands. And that’s when he saw it. A thick piece of paper, folded several times, its edge peeking out from the back cover. Hale pulled himself back up, watching the paper, wary of what it might be.

He flipped the book open and ran his fingers along the back cover, only to find a slit along the bottom of the inner lining. It must have been hidden there, shoved inside for safe keeping. Hale licked his suddenly dry lips and slowly, carefully, unfolded the sheets.

It took him a moment to realize what it was. When he did, he let out a pent up breath, shook his head, and tried to settle his thoughts. In the few hours he’d spent searching the initials he hadn’t seen Brian’s. Knowing that made it easier to reach out and pick up the phone.

One the third ring, Eric picked up. “Hello?”

“Hi, Eric, this is Hale Warrick. How are you doing?” He tried to keep his voice even as he talked, not wanting to alarm the teenager.

“Oh, hi Mr. Warrick.” He sounded pleased rather than the usual distraction most teens presented. “Thanks for buying those tickets; I only wish we would have made it to the finals.”

“That’s okay, the coach sent out a letter letting us know the team will be using the money for new equipment.” He ran his hand over his eyes and hoped he’d dealt with enough pleasantries to keep Eric from questioning him. “Is your father there? I needed to ask him a quick question.”

“Sorry, Dad’s not here. Actually he said he was going over to Maggie’s place; he was going to help her clean up.”

A frisson of uncertainty crept up his spine. “What did you say?”

“Yeah, he feels sort of responsible for her, you know? Since he was Chris’s friend and all,” Eric continued. “He’s big about that. He even sprayed her garden for bugs this year.”

Now the uncertainty was fear, a bright, hideous ball that lodged in the pit of his stomach. “When exactly did he do that?”

“When we were fixing the fence.”

The second the teenager said it, Hale knew. There was no doubt. “Eric, call your mother. Go to her house.”

“What?” The boy sounded completely confused.

“Just trust me, okay? Go to your mom’s.”

He dropped the phone and ran for the door. God help him, he’d left Maggie alone on the farm. He paused long enough to dial her cell phone number, growled when she didn’t pick up and kept racing down the hallway.

“Hale? Hale, what’s wrong?” Cordelia stood on the staircase, her hand resting on her chest as she stared at him with surprised eyes.

“Call the police. Tell them to go to Maggie’s.”

“What?”

“Please, Mother, call them.” He didn’t wait for her response but raced out the front door and jumped into his car.

****

“You’re right, it looks beautiful.” Maggie admired the fireplace and the windows that had been so recently replaced. “I can’t imagine the work they had to put into it, making sure it was all up to code, replacing the support beams, matching the wood outside.”

“They’re professionals,” Brain replied with a smile. “You can’t even tell anything happened.”

“It’s amazing.” She ran her hand over the smooth lip of the mantel. “Now I just have to find some furniture.”

“Is that the only thing you have to replace?”

“The truck didn’t go much past the couch, but the debris took out the love seat and recliner. Oh, well, I’ll just have to kidnap Hale and take him with me this weekend.” She turned and caught Brian staring at her with an odd expression. “Okay, what is it?”

“Huh?”

“That look says you have something on your mind,” she pointed out.

Brian shrugged then shoved his hands into his jeans pockets. “I guess I’m just not comfortable with you moving back. You aren’t even sure who’s been threatening you.”

She sighed and tried not to be frustrated with the often repeated concern. “No, we don’t.”

“I know you think things will settle down, but it hasn’t yet, and I have to wonder if it ever really will.”

“Brian…”

He held up his hands and shook his head. “Okay, okay, I’ll stop. While we’re here, why don’t you check to make sure everything is where it should be?”

She stared at him, feeling confused. “What are you talking about? Hale and I have already been through the house.”

Brian moved closer. “So nothing’s missing? Everything’s in its place?”

Maggie let out a puzzled laugh. “Brian, what is wrong with you?”

He hung his head, and gave a deep, heavy exhale, as if she just wasn't “getting it.” When he looked back, she saw something in his eyes she’d never seen before. Trepidation stirred in her system, causing her to take a step back.

“Where is it, Maggie?” His question was a deep rumble that added another layer of alarm.

“Wh…where is what?” Maybe he had snapped; maybe he was joking.

He shook his head in disappointment. “You know what I’m talking about.”

She was quick with her denial. “I have no idea what you’re asking for.”

“The book, Maggie. Chris’s book. The one with the list of names and bribes. The one with the geological map of your land.”

There was a sudden flash of the image of the small black book she’d found in the treasure box. So the notes were actually a list of names and exchanges of money? But why? And what map? There hadn’t been a map inside, had there?

She swallowed and tried to stall so she had a chance to think through the situation. “I don’t know what you’re talking about. Why would Chris keep something like that?”

Anger rose in Brian’s eyes. “Because he saw things he wasn’t supposed to. Because he wasn’t sure who he could trust. Smart move on his part, I suppose.”

“He was…investigating?”

“Yes!” The word was a hard, vicious sound that made her jump. “Investigating and he should have just left it alone. It’s been going on for years; I don’t know what he thought he was going to change. And it would have been fine, you know; all he had to do was listen to me. He didn’t have to play the game, but he could have forgotten. If he’d just let it go, if he’d just done what I told him to and gotten you to sell this land…”

“Sell my land?” Her voice wavered with bewilderment.

“Yes, your damn land, Maggie Mae!” He shook his head almost violently; when he spoke again he had pulled his temper back down. “They want the land. If you give it to them they’ll forget the pay offs, forget all the money I took in bribes. Bribes your husband was going to expose. But you won’t sell, so it’s come down to this.”

Tears began to well in her eyes as she thought of Chris. He had always seen things in black and white; for him, gray had been a very small sliver of life. It didn’t surprise her that, if he’d seen something that wasn’t on the up-and-up, he would begin digging.

“Maggie, give it to me.” Brian was holding his hand out, standing so close now that she couldn’t step around him.

“I don’t have it.”

His hand moved so quickly she didn’t see it coming. There was instant pain, a sting that radiated through her cheekbone. She barely managed to keep her balance, not that it mattered; his hand was clamped around her arm, holding her still as his gripped bruised her flesh.

“I don’t want to have to hurt you,” he said in a chillingly calm voice. “But I have to have that book.”

“I don't have it!” she repeated.

“You have to, Maggie! I’ve looked everywhere in this house. I know Chris couldn’t have hidden it anywhere else; I searched everything he touched and everywhere he went. That means you have to have hidden it yourself.”

Her eyes went wide as a piece of the truth fell into place. “You’ve searched my home? Is that why you kept telling me to leave, to take a vacation? So you could have more time?”

“It would have been so much easier if you’d listened,” he admitted. “Do you know how hard it was for me to get you out of this damn house?”

“Then Hale came back to town,” she said slowly as realization dawned. “It gave you the perfect opening.”

“Chris told me how much these people tortured you. It stood to reason they might start again if the waters were stirred.” He tightened his hold and pulled her, hobbling, into the office. “The fire might have shaken some people, but not you. Even when I killed your garden you refused to leave.”

Her cheek was throbbing now; she could feel it swelling and taste the copper tang of blood in her mouth. She had to keep him talking, had to rattle him, had to somehow throw him off his stride. “So you had to do something else, something I couldn’t shrug off.”

He spun around and narrowed his eyes accusingly. “You wouldn’t do it, damn it. You just
had
to stay here. Do you think I wanted to run you over with a truck? I didn’t even know you were here, damn it! It doesn’t matter now. Since you wouldn’t take Brylon’s offer I had to have the book. To find the book, I had to have time, and you weren’t giving it to me.”

“Why did you need time, Brian? Because your name is on Chris’s list?”

Fury spiked a red flush through his face. “I had to take care of Chris; I was the lowest rung on the ladder. I hadn’t been involved for more than a few months. But then he got too close and I didn’t have a choice. They made sure I didn’t.”

His words were as effective as a blow to her chest. She gasped, so taken aback that she didn’t fight as he finally jerked her into the office. He yanked her around, bringing her face to face with his fury.

“You…you killed Chris? You…oh, my God, you shot my husband?” Her entire body began to tremble with so many emotions she could barely breathe.

“I told you I didn’t want to. He made me. He brought it on himself.” He shoved her toward the closet. “I’ve dug through every room of this house; the only place I haven’t completely pulled apart and put back together is this room. I did manage to tear through it while you were in the hospital, but then your fiancé and his brother kept coming by to check on the house. This is your last chance, Maggie.”

She couldn’t feel the fear she knew she should have; she could barely hear his threatening words. She was still reeling from the fact that it had been Chris’s best friend who had taken his life. Brian had betrayed their friendship for
money
?

“But how…how did you manage it? How did you shoot Chris?”

He raised his eyebrows in surprise. “You mean because of the dash cam? Easy enough. I knew when and where he was patrolling. Someone made sure I had a car that fit the description of a local gang member’s. I obscured the plate just enough that there was no way to see the full number. I cruised until I got to his territory then sped like crazy. It took me nearly all night before he finally pulled me over.”

“Did he recognize you?” The thought that he might have known, might have been broken hearted in the last few seconds of his life, made her want to weep.

Brian shook his head. “I don’t think so. I kept my face covered. Afterward, they helped me ditch the car and the clothes, made sure the tape showed what we needed it to. Everyone had an alibi so the investigation only got so far. We made sure of that.”

“How
could
you? How could murder your
best
friend
?”

“I didn’t have a choice! It was a pyramid. Brylon paying people off, those people paying judges and officers, and Brylon keeping tabs on it all. They were going to expose me. No one would have helped; they would have made sure
I
was the scapegoat. I would have lost my job; all my arrests and testimony would have been questioned. My reputation would have been ripped to shreds. Do you know what that would have done to Eric? It would have killed him!” His shout nearly deafened her. “Damn it, I don’t have time for this.”

He whipped out a gun and pointed it at her chest. “I owe people, Maggie. I have to get this book and give it to them, or they’re going to turn me in. If you’d just done what I’d said I wouldn’t have to do this. Brylon would have been happy enough to have your land that my name would have disappeared. You would have moved, and I would have been a good friend, sent you on a nice cruise while I packed your things—”

“And found the book.”

“Exactly.” He waved the gun, motioning her further into the room.

“I don’t understand. The land—”

His laugh was harsh, jagged, and slightly hysterical. “You have no idea what you’re sitting on, Maggie. Chris knew.”

She needed to keep him talking while she tried to formulate a plan. “Knew what?”

“Knew you’re sitting on silver, sweetheart. Not just silver, but lead and zinc, too. Do you have any idea what it’s worth?” He shook his head and laughed again. “All those jams and quilts and preserves, they’re nothing compared to what Brylon could get out of this mountain. I tried to tell Chris that. This is all his fault, you know. He got himself killed, and he’s the reason you’re in this situation right now, all because he couldn’t look away just one damn time.”

She didn’t try to reason why he was so convinced it was everyone else’s fault but his own. There was no rationalizing with someone so clearly unstable.

He stuck his hand out again, his face grim. “The book, Maggie.”

She hoped she could keep her voice calm, even with tears rolling down her cheeks. She had to get herself out, anyway she could.

“All right, I’ll get it for you. I understand, Brian. You get in situations you don’t have any control of.”

“I was just trying to keep Brenda happy; she wanted so much, and I couldn’t give it to her.” His outstretched hand wavered for a moment. “I’ll take it and leave, then you can go back to Hale.”

She didn’t believe him, but she nodded quickly, as if she did. She turned to the closet and mentally ran down the list of what had been left behind. There were only a few things left after she and Hale had sorted through everything. Then she remembered something of Chris’s that they’d tucked away.