Total pages in book: 149
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 140604 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 703(@200wpm)___ 562(@250wpm)___ 469(@300wpm)
He felt his stomach drop. “She was the one who claimed she saw Keane drug the drink. I didn’t see her, but I read the files and talked to one of the detectives. She was their eyewitness.”
“Well, she’s a lying liar,” Ruby quipped, “who should have paid more attention to what was going on around her. She did a good job of avoiding security cams, but social media is forever. I don’t have the whole story, but it seems like she worked at the Dallas office for a time and then she quit suddenly.”
He knew the story. It was good to know Ruby didn’t know everything. “She left when Scott Whittiker quit. They had been having an affair.”
Ruby nodded as though that filled in some missing pieces she’d been looking for. “I understand. So Jessica could be doing this as revenge for Scott leaving her and obviously coming back to try again with Olivia. The man who tried to take her doesn’t match Scott. He’s too short and much thinner than Scott.”
“You don’t think they could be working together?” He kind of wanted it to be Scott. If Scott was in jail, he couldn’t cause more trouble for Olivia.
“I don’t see the point unless this is a full-on kidnapping plot and the goal is cash. Personally, I don’t see it. This feels like more than a money grab, and neither Scott nor Jessica have any real criminal records in their pasts. Just a couple of traffic tickets. There’s usually a more gradual curve before jumping straight into felony kidnapping. I looked into her financials and she’s not rolling in cash, but she’s also not in a ton of debt. Scott has more financial problems, but again, I’m not sure I’m seeing the purpose. They both know Jack Barnes. Jessica grew up hearing stories about the man. She would be stupid to think she wouldn’t get caught. This feels way more like desperation than anything else.”
“And you think the fire at the office is in some way connected?” Garrett’s brain was starting to work. There were pieces of the puzzle Ruby couldn’t know about yet. Things he was only starting to put together to form a bigger picture.
“It’s what I can’t figure out,” Ruby admitted. “I don’t see how the arson and the attempted kidnapping go together. And then there’s the incident with the slashed tires. They don’t go together. The tires feel petty. I could almost believe it was a coincidence, but my gut tells me no. My gut thinks they’re connected, but how do I get from traffic tickets to arson to attempted kidnapping in a very short time?”
“What if we’re wrong about what this person wants?” Garrett stared at the picture of the man who had taken Olivia. There was something about the way he stood. Slightly hunched over. Something familiar.
Then he saw it. He pointed to the screen. “You can see part of his watch. Do you see that? The sleeve came up the slightest bit, and I can see the watch face. Can you make that clearer?”
“You think you recognize him?”
His mind wasn’t on the body or the face. “I think I recognize that watch, and if it is what I think it is, then she’s still in real trouble.”
“The watch?” Ruby’s fingers flew across the keys, and she used her mouse to zero in on that watch.
The same watch he’d seen a few weeks back. It was a Patek Philippe. Rare. No one in Willow Fork would wear that watch, but he knew someone who did.
He reached for his cell. Keane needed to know they would absolutely try again.
* * * *
Olivia stopped at the coffee aisle and sighed. This store was shabby and sad but it was close, and she wanted to get back to Garrett before the meeting with Scott, which would hopefully be the last.
Something about Scott. It flickered there in her memory, but she couldn’t quite catch it. He’d been at The Barn last night, but she couldn’t remember much beyond that. The doctors told her that her memory might be fuzzy.
But not her memory of being in between her men. No. That was emblazoned on her mind for the rest of time.
Should she grab a bag of frozen peas? The romance novels rarely talked about how sore an asshole was when it was invaded by a giant cock.
“I could take you to the big store.” Keane looked at the small section that held the selection of coffee and tea.
There was a reason she’d suggested this place. The big store was the grocery on the other side of town, but Keane needed to get back to the ranch soon and she had the meeting with Scott. They had a couple of deliveries this afternoon he needed to oversee, so they’d stopped at the GrabItQuick. “I just need a few things. This place is barely holding on, but they still have coffee.”