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“Go inside and get it. You can say goodbye to everyone while you’re in there. I think I’ll take a seat in the back of the Bronco.”
A man appeared just beyond the shadows. “Is that you, Gavin?” Mason.
“Yeah. Sam and I wanted a few moments alone.”
The other man chuckled. “Completely understand, but I do have a few things I still want to talk to you and your brother about. He suggested setting up a meeting.”
“Great. Let’s do that. How about tomorrow at noon?”
“So soon?”
“Is that a problem?”
“Not at all. You’re here. I’m here. Tomorrow at noon it is.”
Samanthapulledherfeetup under her and rested her head on the plush couch in the lodge’s great room. A tense silence had descended over the room as they waited for Wade to arrive.
“You sure you don’t need to get home, Sam?” Gavin asked.
“This is more important than sleep. We need to make sure Mason didn’t discover Wade and his team were there tonight.”
A relieved sigh escaped when Wade stepped through the door a few minutes later. “I see all of you made it through the evening unscathed.” His gaze settled on Sam. “Good thing, too. Emily would have my head if something happened to you.”
A hint of a smile lifted the corners of her mouth. “Yeah. She loves me.”
“Indeed, she does.” He chuckled. “And if she were forced to find another maid of honor at this late hour, she wouldn’t be pleased.”
Sam grabbed a throw pillow and tossed it at him. He caught it and threw it back smacking her in the head. “Hey!”
“Turnabout’s fair play.”
Gavin reached into his pocket and pulled out the handkerchief wrapped bundle. “Hate to interrupt the fun, but thought this might be worth checking into.”
“What is it?” Wade unwrapped it and stared at the swab. “Blood?”
“Sam found it on a rock near the estate house. On the property.”
“I’ll have it tested.” He glanced down at his phone. “Looks like Mac’s got our chopper in the air. They’re doing a thermal imaging sweep of the area. If anyone is wandering around those woods, we’ll find them.”
“Good. The sooner we find Cate, the better.” Gavin dropped onto the sofa beside her, and she adjusted her position, so she could rub his shoulders. Tension radiated off him in waves.
“You need to prepare yourself. It might not have been her wandering that property. In fact, it could’ve been a critter that set off that alarm.”
The knot in Sam’s stomach tightened. If something happened to Cate, Gavin would lose it. Part of her wanted to lift a prayer to the Lord, but He wasn’t in the habit of answering her requests, so she didn’t bother.
Masonpacedthelengthof his study. A helicopter flew by overhead. A niggling suspicion told him the Garrison boys had something to do with it, but he wasn’t sure how, yet. The dark mahogany walls closed in on him as he considered how the night had nearly become a complete disaster. If his rebellious wife and her friend didn’t return soon, things would get quite complicated indeed.
What he needed was a plan. They could move the ladies awaiting unions to a new location. Somewhere less visible than Ricketts Glen Estate, but if the Garrisons suspected anything, they might have the authorities watching. It was too risky to move them off the property, but there might be another solution. There was a bomb shelter built in the late 1950s that his father had converted into a fortified underground bunker. Relocating the women there was a plausible option. Yes, it could work. If it became necessary to get the girls out of the main house that’s where he’d put them. He hated to do it, but he would need to protect himself should his wayward wife go to the police. He needed to find other more creative ways to discredit her, but moving the girls was a good first step.
When the boys came by for their meeting tomorrow he would invite them into the board room where the Continental Alliance held their quarterly meetings. They’d once been held at the Fisher Fine Arts Library, of course, but when pressure came for them to shut their doors, they’d simply changed locations. Since, at the time, Mason’s father was the head of the Alliance, they’d chosen his estate.
His maternal great-grandfather, Colonel Ricketts had once owned or at a minimum controlled, more than eighty thousand acres of land in the area, but much of that was sold off over the years, and a large portion of it became public land. Thankfully, Mason’s grandfather was able to grab the slice with his family’s manor house situated on it, but now the responsibility for maintaining his family’s legacy fell on squarely on his shoulders. He would bear it with honor.
Having a descendant of Colonel Ricketts on the property brought about acceptance within the community, almost a reverent respect. He was certain the Garrison men would come to understand the value of the Alliance once it was properly explained to them. Soon the alliance would enjoy the additional funding, power, and influence that the Garrison name would provide. The thought sucked some of the gloom from his spirit.
His phone rang. Glancing at the screen he saw a name he dreaded. Philip Monroe. The man would be trouble in the end.
“Speak.”
