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“I know, but it’s the only thing that makes sense. If Roger just wanted to take Galen down, why didn’t he just have him busted? Here?” Forrest shook his head. “All of Galen’s charges were from California. Serious charges. Federal agents extradited him there. It doesn’t make sense.”
Scratching his tingling scalp, Forrest added, “Roger has the backing of big men. I saw them at the resort tonight. They’re men who own Chicago. He could have had Galen taken down here. Taken out. But he didn’t. Why?”
Jacob shook his head “I don’t know. I admit, it doesn’t make sense, but let me tell you, don’t be fooled. Galen had people behind him, too. And he’s ruthless and mean, but he’s smart when it comes to protecting his own hide. If what your mother says is true, that they are coming back here when he’s released, he won’t return to Minnesota unless he has the backing he needs to go up against Roger Nightingale.” Pausing at the landing on the second floor, Jacob glanced up with eyes full of sincerity. “The fact he got a second trial tells you he has some firepower behind him.”
“But who?” Forrest asked, sincerely wanting to know. “Galen burnt every bridge he ever crossed. The way this place was wiped clean tells us that. We’re lucky it wasn’t burned to the ground.”
“Yes, we are,” Jacob agreed, “and you’re going to need firepower behind you to save what you’ve invested in this place. If you are serious about saving what your grandfather built.”
Forrest had no intention of revealing that wasn’t the driving force behind his actions. Not to anyone. Gesturing toward Jacob with one hand, he said, “I’m not convinced that should be Roger.”
“You really think he was involved in the opium business?”
Forrest’s stomach knotted. “I don’t know what to think.” What he did know was that Galen’s determination and hatred would only be increased if he learned Forrest had asked for Roger’s assistance in preventing his release. Although there was a list of charges against both Galen and his Hollywood film company, his mother claimed only one was the cause of his incarceration, and was tight-lipped about it. Even to him. “Galen was arrested for money laundering. What he was selling has never been revealed.”
“Maybe Roger didn’t know what it was,” Jacob suggested. “Just that Galen was using his Hollywood film company to do it.”
“It had to be the opium,” Forrest said. “The authorities have cracked down on that.”
“Well, then,” Jacob said thoughtfully. “Maybe whoever was behind the opium has stepped forward and wants to reciprocate for Galen taking the fall.”
An uncomfortable twinge crossed Forrest’s shoulders. “What do you know that you’re not saying?”
“Nothing,” Jacob answered earnestly. “I was just thinking aloud. I made it my business not to know anything back then. It was hard enough working here. I certainly never put myself in the position some gangster would want to beat information out of me.”
Forrest believed that. “Do you have any theories?”
“No new ones. I don’t believe Roger has anything to do with the opium trade, but I do believe you need his help to keep Galen behind bars. Where he belongs.” Jacob started walking down the hall, to where both his and Forrest’s rooms were. “I saw how evil that man is. I kept the lawns mowed and the snow shoveled, all the while keeping my ears closed and my nose clean. The only time I interfered in anything was that night, with you. No one ever discovered it was me, and I’m thankful for that. Other than the fact Galen thought it was your mother.”
Forrest refrained from replying. Even before he’d discovered Galen wasn’t his father he’d questioned why his mother was so devoted to her husband. Galen hadn’t been any more pleasant to her than he’d been to anyone else. His aunt and uncle hadn’t had the answer to that. Upon his return home, Forrest had asked his mother. Sternly and rather harshly she’d informed him she’d done it all for him. To make sure he wasn’t born a bastard.
Being born one and being one were two different things in his eyes, and when he’d voiced that, she’d raised her hand to him. The one and only time. She’d apologized afterward and told him how his real father, a man she’d met and fallen in love with while she’d been attending school in New York, had been robbed and killed while escorting her home after a Broadway play. She claimed to have returned to Minnesota, shattered and heartbroken, only to discover a short time later she was pregnant. Galen arrived then and gallantly swept her off her feet, promising to raise the child as his own. They were married within a few weeks.
