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“It’s going to get on your nerves worse when I campaign for your opponent next election,” Dawg pointed out irritably. “Leave it alone, Zeke. ”
“You’re going to get her killed, Dawg,” Zeke said quietly. “Whatever you’re doing, it’s going to backfire on her. ”
“Then you’ll have bloodshed to clean up, Zeke. ” Dawg’s smile, he knew, was a shark’s glare.
“Anyone even thinks about hurting her, and they’ll die. Expect that. Count on that. Now get the hell out of my way. I have a business to run. ”
Unfortunately, Zeke was right. Whatever the hell was going on, someone was intent on not just drawing Crista into it, but of striking out at her.
As Zeke headed back toward the small crowd of investigators and officers, Natches moved up to him.
His cousin’s dark green eyes were like flinty ice in a stone-cold expression.
Dawg crossed his arms over his chest and stared around the crowd intently, making certain no one came close.
“The investigators want to think she deliberately left the door unlocked,” Natches muttered. “The scrapes on the lock are being brushed aside because there are no prints. Someone wants you to think she’s incompetent at the least, using you at the worst. ”
Dawg nodded slowly.
“They struck after you were seen arguing with her. After the Rodeo went up in flames. None of it makes any sense or ties in. Threaten her, and you’re only going to cover her closer. So why attempt to search your office?”
“Unless the point was to plant something against her,” Natches said softly. “Thankfully, I was able to get in there with the first investigators. There was a map of the warehouse, the address, and a detailed list of the missiles and their chips, along with about twenty-five thousand in cash in an envelope tucked into the file cabinet. Someone’s setting you up with her. ”
“Did you get the envelope?”
Natches nodded slowly. “Taken care of. Security tapes were fuzzed, bad. Both the outside and inside monitors were affected. There was so much static on them there’s no way to tell who it was or what they were doing. ”
“They know my system. ” His was state-of-the-art with a few additional devices that should have made it impossible for the average thief to bypass.
“They know you,” Natches pointed out. “I’m going to head to town, spread a little trash, and see what happens. ”
“What kind of trash?” Dawg stared at his cousin suspiciously.
“Well, you hired a new manager, and look what happened. ” Natches nodded to the officers and agents milling around. “What if, after they leave, I overhear you and Crista arguing about it? Maybe she’s called her good friend Mark, and she’s heading back to Virginia. Whoever’s involved with this is trying to lay the money at her feet to keep suspicion off them. If she’s arrested, Dawg, with the pictures they have of the woman resembling her, then any testimony the thieves give that she wasn’t involved won’t matter. She’ll take the rap, and someone else gets away with the money. ”
“Do the thieves know for certain it’s not Crista?” Dawg asked then, remembering the interrogation of the men they had arrested. “If they knew, why not take the deal Cranston offered them for the woman? From all reports, she was the mastermind behind this. ”
“Maybe they don’t know who she is,” Natches suggested. “They were a few good ole boys contacted because of their knowledge of the military and their ability to pull this deal together. Someone else was the brains. ”
“Someone who knows my security system,” Dawg mused.
“Close the store down for the rest of the day. I’ll hang around until everyone has left, check things out, then head to the diner with Rowdy and Kelly. We can get the information that Crista is heading to Virginia where I think it needs to go. Whatever’s going on, that diner seems to be the center of it. ”
“Or someone who hangs out there too much. ” Dawg nodded.
“Wait till after dark to leave, and when you do, take the back roads to the marina. Stay in the houseboat tomorrow; keep the windows and doors closed and Crista hidden. Let’s give them time to take the bait. ”
Dawg nodded. It could work. At the moment, it was the best chance they had at flushing out the culprit.
“Keep me up-to-date,” Dawg ordered. “And watch Cranston. He’s making me nervous. ”
The agent was watching Crista too closely at the moment. Standing back, his head tilted to the side and his eyes narrowed on her as she and Layla kept the officers supplied with coffee.
Natches nodded sharply. “I’ll be around the houseboat later tonight and let you know how things are going. ”
Dawg nodded again as he watched the crowd. One of his employees had to be involved; there was no doubt. But which one? And why?
He watched them milling around, gossiping, chatting, filled with curiosity. One of them had betrayed him and threatened Crista. Which meant one of them had a death wish.
