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Becky smiled sadly and nodded. “I hate hard liquor straight.”
Garrett stood back up and laughed. “Noted.”
Once Jessie was settled, the rest rearranged to find a spot in the spacious room. Jac’s operation room was supposed to be another living space, like a den or office or even library but it was now accommodating the closest people in his life. Carter looked around and realized these people were the core of his and Becky’s life. They breathed in sync.
Today, like in the past weeks, was about Rebecca. It was time to lay out the mess in nice, neat lines and Carter sat back next to his darling woman whom he planned on proposing to and marrying before the month was out. Becky didn’t think Carter noticed things and to be honest, he didn’t notice everything, but he was observant, especially anything concerning the love of his life. Becky’s period was very important to him since he’d taken her without protection. He was still waiting for her menses. Definitely time for a ring.
“Okay, people, let’s get this all laid out. You know the drill. We all know the players, or most of them, so I won’t bore you with that bit, just to say this one was a little bit challenging inthat there were more elements than we usually deal with. So, incident by incident. Charlotte and Kaden, you have the floor.”
Sharlee stood up and moved to the computer keyboard and Kaden walked to another one. Up went all the names and pictures of everyone involved.
“Okay,” started Kaden, “We were worried about Ramirez’s part in all this but while he does factor in, it was not of his doing. So he is out of the frame for any of this.” Kaden moved Ramirez to the side of the screen. He looked over at Becky, “Sorry, Becky, it wasn’t him.”
Becky nodded. Sharlee highlighted Karl. “I know we all had focused on Karl being the culprit, but he was more a victim. He is responsible for part of this, though. Now this is where it gets interesting. Becky?”
“Okay, the first incident, the snowplow. The key that unlocked that event was from the white truck. We got it on a street cam, and as it passed Ivy and Kaden’s. I had the impression it was familiar, but...” she shrugged, “Not familiar enough to jog my memory.”
Callie jumped in. “Until you were shot at.”
“Right. Then both Sharlee, as she was viewing through the security cameras, and I noticed that the white truck that Monty had was the truck in the video and that I remembered from that night. So now Monty, the warehouse manager, is in the frame.”
“So, while Jessie and I were working on the inventory snafu, the rest of you were working on other things. Thanks so much, Jessie. It was part of the untangling that got us here.”
Jessie grinned. “It was fun andnotboring.”
Mark nodded and gave Jessie a raised eyebrow. “And I appreciate that it didn’t require her to leave home.”
“The second incident,” said Carter with a grimace, “Was the car bomb.”
Garrett nodded. “Right, and Nick Sharp told us what he found, and the trace elements of things that go in pet feed sent us back to Becky’s family business and the question of whom the car bomb was intended for.”
Carter added. “We never suspected Becky’s dad because he was having problems with his memory. It would have needed someone with a sharp brain to execute the building and attaching of the device. More about that soon. Thanks, Garrett, for jumping in and taking care of my girl.”
“Becky was our first...” Garrett smiled, “Employee. She’s special to us all.” He redirected when Carter shot him the death glare. “Besides, Nick listened to him, and he didn’t have the technological or mechanical understanding to put it together easily. So he was out of the frame.”
Becky smiled. “Yeah, he never could help with my science projects.”
“So, onto the next event,” said Jac. “The boat parade.” He grumbled because his family was put at risk, and, as everyone knew, no one fucked with his family.
“Right,” said Monroe, “next comes the Ramirez affair. Becky was given tampered water from what looked like a temp-hire. Who it actually turned out to be was... Our new suspect, please. Yes, this gentleman by the name of Carlos Bandera, the son of a close associate of Ramirez, Montenegro Bandera. His son wasn’t a server that night. He was there under the guise of a guest to get Becky to stop digging into the inventory numbers at the warehouse.”
“Hey, wait, that is the warehouse worker that helps Monty.”
“Yes, it is. So now we are back to the warehouse connection,” said Monroe.
Carter jumped back in. “Now to the last event. The trip to Oak Ridge.”
“No, I got a threatening phone call.”
“Yep, going to get there at the end. Now, the warehouse.”
Callie raised her hand. “I can fill in some of this. So, on the day of the shooting, after dropping her dad’s thermos off at his store and doing some unproductive snooping, we stopped for lunch. We found Becky’s mom leaving the restaurant with the warehouse manager, Monty, and they were obviously familiar with each other.” Becky gave Callie a grimace laced with a sad smile.
Carter added. “When we went to the warehouse after lunch to try to work through what the inventory was that had no invoices and found a delivery truck unloading small boxes marked, you guessed it, pet food...rodent pellets.”
“And stocking the shelves,” added Becky. “Unless you are a food company that has that in your contract, like a brand delivery who fronts the merchandise, then a delivery truck just delivers. It had already been signed as received by Monty Rasher, but no sign of him or my uncle.”
Carter jumped back in. “We didn’t know if it was explosives or drugs, but likely one of them. We got out of there fast, so we weren’t in danger nor caught with the shipment.”
