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Most days, my only priority was the family business. Keeping the trees falling and the trucks running would provide for my family and keep them safe. But she was right. I had been shifting and changing over the past two years. I’d been stuck.
“The lumber CFO who is close with his family and dotes on his niece and nephew? You know him? The guy who lives in a big farmhouse and loves to hike? That guy doesn’t fit with the vision of your life you’ve had in your head for all these years. And now you’re scared. Scared that you wasted all this time on something stupid and unfulfilling.”
I dipped low and kissed her. I needed her lips on my lips and her hands on my skin. To ground me and reassure me that all the things I was feeling were real.
She was right. My situation had changed. My life had been turned upside down. And it turned out that all the things I thought I wanted were making me miserable.
And as I kissed her, I vowed to be better. To give more of myself to my family. Because maybe, just maybe, I could turn all of this into something special.
Chapter34
Parker
“Okay. We’ve got Grinder, a.k.a. Frank Demers, dual US and Canadian citizen.”
I was lying on the couch with my laptop while Paz stood at the stove. Whatever he was making smelled delicious. We had been up almost all night talking, making love, and strategizing.
“How does he fit in?”
“He has a record. Did some time in Montreal for drugs about ten years back. Known affiliates include some notable criminals across the border.”
“So he’s our link.”
“Possibly. If Stinger is indeed Norman, then we’ve got some really good connections. Because he’s not a kingpin.”
“Definitely not. He’s a henchman at best.”
“This Grinder guy’s a biker who’s done lumber work and also has connections across the border. This all tracks with our theory. Now we need to determine how your dad fit in. What did he know? And who knew that he knew?”
Paz sat next to me, placing a mug of coffee on the table. “It’s hard to believe Richard could be involved.” He shook his head.
“I don’t have evidence that he was.” My heart broke for Paz and his family. Reliving this, wondering and worrying, it was clearly taking a toll. “I’m just saying that he could be how these guys gained access. Think about it. Richard goes to Florida to help his sister. He runs camp and is loyal to the Gagnons and the business. But his nephew is not. He’s a wash out who got into drugs. But he knows his way around up there, and he’s got access. He’s always welcome to take on work because of who his uncle is.”
Paz nodded. “So Norman is working for traffickers, and he takes advantage and uses this access when his uncle is gone.”
“Yes. And the traffickers likely include Mitch Hebert and his rival lumber company.”
He balled his hands into fists. “Fucking Heberts. As much as I would love to see the fucker rot in jail forever, if he had anything to do with my dad or Henri, then he’s not going to make it that far.”
“There’s a bigger question.” I bit my lip. This was the hard part. “We’re very close to proving that Norman Bernard and Mitch Hebert are engaged in a criminal conspiracy to traffic opioids across the US/Canadian border.”
He nodded. “Should we go to the police?”
I hedged. “Yes and no. On the one hand, this info could be helpful. But on the other, it’s not confirmed.”
“Okay…”
“But here’s the bigger issue. If we show our hand to law enforcement now, they’ll act. If they come down on Hebert and Norman and the others, it will compromise our ability to find out what happened to your dad. They’ll likely be interrogated or arrested, and everyone else will go underground.”
His eyes widened. “Public safety is more important. As close as we are, I need to keep my family and this community safe. If anything else happened, I could never live with myself.”
My heart clenched. He was such a good man.
“What do we do? Who do we contact?”
I tugged on my ponytail. “We could go local, but they have limited resources.”
“Plus the chief is in the Heberts’ pocket.”
