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When he finally sighed and glanced up, acknowledging the men around him, Boone trotted down the steps first, while Rhett followed, placing a foot on the last step. Both men appeared as torn up as Asher felt. “Is Remy okay?” Asher asked.
Rhett nodded. “Better now.” He took a sip of his beer, then said, “This situation is a fucking mess.”
Again, just like ten years ago, everyone else comforted her when it should have been him. Fucking pathetic. Asher glanced down at his boots, wanting to fade into the background until he found a solution. He didn’t like any of it. Not Lars. And certainly not the rest of it. “Joaquin has her on his radar.”
“Is that what angers you most?” Boone asked.
“All of it makes me furious,” Asher said through clenched teeth. “I’m angry that all of this fucking shit has happened to her. That Fanning did this. That he is still fucking hurting her.”
“And look at that, now you’re hurting her too,” Rhett stated. Asher let the dig roll off him knowing he deserved it. Rhett went on. “Losing your shit with Remy isn’t going to
make this any better.”
“I’ve got to agree with Rhett on this one,” Boone interjected, leaning a shoulder against the side of the house. “As much as Kinsley can drive me insane, they could never have anticipated this.”
Asher restrained the fury sitting on his tongue and then drank back more beer, trying desperately to get control of himself. “And for that, I hear you, but it doesn’t change the fact that Remy now owes money to a man I wouldn’t want her a hundred feet near.”
Boone nodded. “It’s a problem that we need to find a solution to.”
Asher agreed. “I want King nowhere near Remy. I want him to forget her name. And if we get involved, he’ll always remember that she was the one who brought heat to him.”
Rhett dropped his chin, tapping his foot against the wooden stair. “I’m always one for a hard game against a bad guy, but I agree: We need to make King go away as smoothly as possible for Remy’s sake.”
“And how about Lars?” Boone asked.
“Lars is the reason Remy’s in all this in the first place,” Asher said, hearing the venom in his own voice. “I blame Lars as much as I blame Fanning”—and most of all, himself—“for getting Remy wrapped up in all this shit. He needs to pay for what he’s done to her.”
“All right,” Boone said, brow furrowed in thought. “We need a way for Remy to get the money to pay King to make him go away. But we also need to have enough evidence to get Lars into custody, and also keep Remy safe.”
“Not impossible,” Rhett said.
Asher rubbed at his throbbing temple. “How untouchable is King?”
Boone snorted a laugh. “Five counties all working together to take him down and we haven’t even got a hint of evidence against him. The men who work for King are loyal.” Boone hesitated and then shook his head, shoving his hands into his pockets. “To be perfectly honest, I’m not entirely convinced he’s dirty.”
“You’re kidding?” Rhett asked.
“The investigation a year ago came up with nothing,” Boone reported. “From what it appeared, King’s a businessman who is riding the fear his father created. If he’s dirty, he’s far smarter and deadlier than his father. Nothing comes back to him. Ever. He’s so clean that the team in Whitby Falls believed that the media had it all wrong, and that he’s strictly a businessman giving back to the city.”
“What do you believe?” Asher asked.
“Two things,” Boone said. “One, he’s clever and knows how to play the game. Two, he’s not someone you want on your bad side. To go up against King, we’d have to be prepared. And I mean, at least a year of a hard, long investigation. We don’t have the time to put this together. And we don’t want Remy to be the reason that King gets a new investigation on him.”
“No, we don’t,” Asher agreed.
Silence drifted in as a cat screamed off in the distance. There wasn’t a breeze in the cool air, nothing bringing or taking scents, no movement at all, like the world had now stopped giving Asher time to fix this. “The cottage we found her at,” Asher said, turning back to the men. “Any word on the owners?”
“Rented from Airbnb,” Rhett reported. “False name. Paid for with a stolen credit card.”
Boone snorted. “Like I said, smart and clean.” He took a sip of his beer.
Asher pondered what all this meant. “So, the only evidence we have showing that Remy was abducted by Lars is her word?” At the nods in return, Asher cursed, shaking his head. “The DA is going to want more than that.”
“Yeah, she will,” Boone said with a nod.
Rhett tapped his boot against the stairs again, his tell of deep thinking. “Has Whitby Falls said anything about Fanning’s murder?” he asked Boone.
“Gang related, or at least that’s what the suspect said. He’s not changing his story.”
