Page 138 of Out Of A Fix

“It’s orange,” Dar announced, clearly surprised. “I’ve never seen an orange key.”

It was on a small ring, and when Griff passed it to Owen, he smiled. “Yep, there it is. Now all we need to do is deliver this to the FBI field office in Seattle, and they will take Wilson into custody and send a forensic team here to Eena to search the police station. If there is anything there to find, you can bet they will.”

“Do you think Mr. Mullane is dead?” Griff asked Owen. “Maybe he got away from Wilson and he’s just hiding somewhere.”

“I don’t believe he got away, and yes, I think he’s dead.”

“I feel bad that I almost lost his key.”

“You can’t feel bad about something you didn’t know anything about,” Owen reasoned. “The fact is, at the time, Wilson never suspected the key was given to you. His officers pulled out your keys, but obviously, didn’t turn your pockets inside out as they’re supposed to do. I think after the fact, Wilson grew suspicious when they were ready to move the car and couldn’t—and towing it was probably out of the question, as it would have meant involving others and risk being seen. And the only plausible answer was that somehow Mullane had given you the key, which is why Firmin was skulking around.”

“Will there be more people coming after my son?” Luke sounded scared.

“No,” I told him. “As soon as Owen and Jared visit the FBI field office this morning, they’ll send people out here to Eena to go through the police station piece by piece. You haven’t seen thorough until you’ve seen an FBI forensics team at work.”

“That’s good,” Luke said with a sigh.

“And then Newcastle PD will pick up Wilson on suspicion of murder.”

“Okay, good. So I shouldn’t worry.”

“The only one who should be worried is Wilson,” Owen disclosed. “James was Ryan Mullane’s youngest son, and my understanding is that Ryan is not a forgiving man.”

“How did you find out all this so fast?” Griff wanted to know.

“Nash caught Ward Firmin last night, and as Deputy Chief Sampson explained, he had worked and was still working for Wilson, who was paying him under the table. So once I knew that, I got into Firmin’s phone messages, and it’s all there—Wilson speculating that Griff had the key to the Camaro.”

“Amazing.”

Owen shrugged, but I could tell he was pleased. “It’s lucky that even though Nash isn’t as fast as he used to be⁠—”

“Hey,” I warned him.

“—his reflexes are still good, and he can follow anyone, even if they have a head start.”

I grunted.

Owen closed his computer and turned to Tatum. “I think I want a doughnut before I go.”

She touched his gold-and-diamond wedding ring. “This is really pretty. I like diamonds.”

“I do too.”

“Your diamond ring is pretty too,” she told Jared. “Have you been married to Owen a long time?”

His brows lifted. “No, we just… How did you know he was married to me?”

“You smile when you look at him, and he stares at you the way Daddy does Nash. That’s how I know they’re gonna get married too.”

“I think so as well. We’ll be sure to come back for that.”

“Oh, yay. I want Owen to see my treehouse when you guys will be here longer.”

“I can’t wait to see the treehouse,” he affirmed with a grin.

“Do you want a maple bar or a sprinkle?”

“Maybe one of the cake ones. Let’s go see.”