AllFreeNovel
Share Us
***
Rusty was digging deep, going through the minutiae of Jackson (Jack) Lee Barton’s life. Fifty-seven years old. That surprised her. He looked younger.
He owned a lot of real estate. Some developed. Some still in development. He was what her daddy would have called land poor. In other words, he had more land than he knew what to do with.
On the surface, nothing looked suspicious. But that didn’t signify anything to Rusty. The really good criminals always knew how to hide their dirt. So she kept looking for a trail that might lead her to some.
She kept thinking about Melinda Lehigh, and how she’d had two names and two citizenships she could legally claim. So she went back to Barton’s birth certificate. If she could eliminate anything funky about that, then she could move on to looking for offshore accounts or shell companies. But what she found surprised her.
Jack Barton had been born a twin, then adopted three days after his birth. His brother had also been adopted, but not by the same family. Sad, but not unusual. She wondered if they’d ever found each other, then let that go. It had nothing to do with the current situation.
Now that she knew he was a U.S. citizen, she started looking for a big money trail. Human trafficking was a worldwide industry. Criminal, yes. But the profits were staggering, and if the gang Howard and Pickard were chasing had international ties, then the ones at the top were raking in billions.
Cameron came in and sat down, then waited until she paused and looked up before he started talking.
“Woodley said they’ve already located some of the stolen property. The thieves pawned it in Bowling Green. They have some grainy security footage showing two older men. No teenagers as he predicted. He apologized. I guess this Dewey Zane thing has shaken him out of taking the easy route to solving crimes.”
“At least he won’t be hounding kids for no reason,” Rusty said.
“Exactly. Have you heard from Sonny?”
“No. He didn’t answer his cell. I left a message.”
“Is there anything you want me to do?” he asked.
Rusty paused. “You know that feeling you get when you know something is about to go down, but you don’t have a clue what it’s going to be?”
He nodded. “All too well. What’s bugging you?”
“The unknown cop. The one who stopped Emily Payne. I hate not knowing who to watch out for.”
“How about I take myself to Jubilee. See what’s been going on in town. And if I see Sonny, I’ll tell him you sent me to get a list of all the employees of the PD, including janitors. That way, he won’t immediately think you’re looking at his officers.”
Rusty jumped up from where she was sitting and threw her arms around him.
“Yes! Thank you! That’s the perfect way to approach this. If he asks, just tell him it’s all related to the Emily Payne arrest, and he won’t think anything of it, since he participated in that.”
“You got it,” Cameron said, and stole a quick kiss. “I’ll bring something home for supper. Do you have a preference?”
“You don’t have to do that,” Rusty said.
“Honey, if you weren’t here, I’d still be feeding myself.”
She grinned. “Okay. But I want whatever sounds good to you. Truly. Surprise me.”
Cameron grabbed his coat and car keys and whistled at Ghost.
“Ghost! With me!” he said, and opened the door.
The big dog bounded outside, while Cameron lingered for one last kiss. The scent of her was alluring. The taste of Coke was on her lips.
“Love you, darlin’.”
Rusty sighed as he let her go. “Love you, too. Come home safe to me.”
“Count on it. Lock the door behind me,” he added.
She waved as they drove out of the yard and then did as he asked. She locked herself inside, then went through to the back door and locked that one, too, just because.
