Page 56 of Weston’s Treasure

“Awesome. I need something good.”

“Actually, I have two things. Both good.”

I waited for McKenna to continue but I did this looking at her smile. It was huge, it was blinding, and it was full of love.

“Nix and I set a date,” she told me. “We both wanted something small so that made it easy.” Understanding dawned. She and Nix had been going back and forth about their wedding. They’d finally decided. “We’re gonna do it here on the farm. In four weeks.”

“That’s not good news, that’s great news,” I told her, and Weston’s arm around me squeezed.

“Yeah, it is,” she whispered.

I didn’t know McKenna all that well, but I knew she loved Nixon beyond reason. Her face lit every time she talked about him. And when he walked into the room it was that times ten. She’d told me about her ordeal, how she and Nixon met, then how she’d found herself in a tight spot and Nix had saved her from something really horrible. I was happy my new friend was happy.

Genuinely happy, maybe for the first time in my life, even with my dad acting like a fool and someone after me wanting to silence me—permanently, I was truly pleased McKenna was getting what she wanted. Which was to become McKenna Swagger, however, that might come.

“The other good news is, I found out Leonard is in debt up to his eyeballs, but with a sick child that was expected. But the medical bills are staggering,” McKenna shared.

Damn. I felt bad for Leonard—he was a nice guy. No parent should have to be worried about mounting debt while they’re scared shitless about their sick child.

“But other than that, he was clean,” she went on. “It took some digging, but I found some hefty deposits in an account in Gary Goldbloom’s mother’s name. Six months ago the account had three-hundred dollars in it and was inactive. Now it has more than five-hundred thousand.”

“Did you trace the deposits?” Weston took over.

I was still in shock at the amount of money that had been deposited. Half a million dollars was huge.

“Yep. Shell companies,” McKenna answered. “I’m still sifting through everything but I think it’s safe to say we found our guy. Now we just have to find who’s paying him off.”

McKenna’s gaze came back to me and I hated that all the joy had melted away. “You okay?”

“I don’t know. I’m pissed. Super-pissed. I wanted you guys to be wrong but you weren’t, and I’m really angry that someone I work with, a man who sits next to me in the boathouse, who sleeps in the next room for two weeks at a time while we’re on rotation, would not only stoop so fucking low he’d take dirty payoffs, but he’d sell me out.”

“I get that,” she returned.

“Babe?” Weston called as I tipped my head back so I could look at him. “Know it sucks, but this is good news. Now we can come up with a plan. This will be over soon. But we still have to talk about why he suspected you. No one else has had any break-ins. Which means Gary was watching you and doing it close.”

That freaked me out. All of it—from it will be over soon, to Gary watching me.

I was on edge about what came next. When this was over and Weston took me back to my apartment. Or as it were, since my car was outside in the driveway, when I got in and drove away, where did that leave us? Weston wouldn’t need to protect me anymore. I wouldn’t need to be in his bed every night. Did that mean that would be the end of us? And was there an us? Weston acted like it, but I had no points of reference. I had no idea what was going on, even though Weston had been forthcoming, I still didn’t know.

Then there was Gary. What the hell was that about? He must’ve been watching me carefully because I couldn’t think of a single thing I’d done that would make him suspect me. I hadn’t kept written records, I hadn’t taken pictures, I hadn’t talked to anyone, taken phone calls—nothing.

“He had to follow me,” I blurted out. “It’s the only thing that makes sense. I went to the Coast Guard, then I went to Washington to meet with you and Alec. Gary had to have been following me,” I repeated. “It’s the only way. Everyone involved knew my schedule and knew not to call while I was on rotation. We were careful about that. And I deleted the call history, so even if someone got my phone and unlocked it, they’d never see the calls. Alec’s number is saved as Bonnie and no one would know that either.”

“That’d be my guess, too,” Nixon said, joining the conversation. “Gary was probably watching the whole crew, but Silver’s the only one who went off-routine.”

“What’s this about someone following my daughter?” Dad asked as he stormed into the kitchen.

I stopped looking at Nixon. I stopped being freaked out and I started being extremely pissed.

“Enough!” I barked and my dad jerked. I would’ve felt bad speaking to my dad like that if I wasn’t so angry he’d been such an ass. I would’ve felt guilty if he hadn’t pulled me back into his shit with my mother. Something I’d tried very hard to separate myself from.

“Scout—”

“No, Dad. No more. You hauled your ass up here and I appreciate you being worried. That was nice of you. But now you know I’m safe so you can haul your ass back to Florida and go back to your life.”

“You’re far from safe.”

“You’re right. But Weston’s seeing to it that I get that way. Alec and the rest of the team are working on it, too. You blew in here like a maniac, refused to listen to me when I repeatedly told you what was going on. You embarrassed yourself, you sure as hell embarrassed me. And because of all that, I want you to go home. I want to concentrate on what I need to be doing to play my part in taking these men down. This is serious. We’re not scouting grids for sunken treasure, we’re trying to stop drugs from hitting the streets. Millions of dollars’ worth of drugs that will harm a lot of people.”