Page 28 of Remind Me
“It’s possible. Who exactly have you instructed them to keep an eye on? Belle or Dale?”
“Both but only if Dale was near Belle.”
“Exactly, which he wasn’t. We were hours away at our campground so they would be focused on her location. If we keep an eye on just him now, he can’t slip through. Belle has Beau, me, and you keeping her safe. We can stop anything from happening before it does.” Felix stayed quiet as Neil and I talked about it. We both turned to look at him as if sizing up our options. After a minute or two, he spoke.
“If you think she can handle it and not do anything stupid, then we tell her. The minute she puts herself, anyone else, or this investigation in jeopardy, then she will be removed until it’s safe.”
“I don’t like this. This isn’t the right move. It is too soon to know what he is planning; we need to hold off. We have next to no information to give her other than he was here, and he was behind Holly’s death.”
“She is going to keep asking questions! I know my daughter; she isn’t going to let this go.”
“Well, then maybe you should have spent more time with her and less time working so she wouldn’t be suspicious about a surprise visit.” Crossing the office to the door, I opened it, letting it slam closed behind me as I went back to my own. I wasn’t trying to be a bastard, I understood that this was his daughter, but my entire family was caught up in this. There was a knock on my door before it opened, and Felix stepped in.
“Well, that was uncalled for.”
“Was it? He is thinking of one person in all of this. What about all the people surrounding that one person? This isn’t just about Belle. What if Austin, Beau, or Savannah get caught up in this or someone completely innocent. He has already killed Holly, so he doesn’t care about anyone or isn’t afraid of getting caught. He has gotten away with one murder before, how many others are there that we don’t know about? Do we really want to put this on her now before we know any more information?”
“It’s not really our call, Cash.”
“It is our call! Don’t give me that bullshit, Felix! This is OUR investigation, and he is making me regret bringing him in on this. I could have gotten the ID on Dale another way.”
“Look, if this is about the weekend…”
“It’s got nothing to do with the weekend and everything to do with the fact that my soon-to-be wife is pregnant. If she gets caught up in this, Dale is going to be a walk in the park compared to me. He is psychotic and I won’t have him dragging anyone in this to get to her. We don’t know what he is capable of so why worry them before we have to. Put extra security on them! Keep them safe, but they don’t need to know how close he is. I get that this is his daughter, but this is my partner and my unborn child. This is my brothers. My entire family. If he knows where she is, he knows who she is with. I won’t have anything happen to them. It is too soon to tell them anything.”
“He is going to tell her one way or another, Cash.”
“Then arrest him for interfering in an investigation.” He gave me a look.
“You say that like that isn’t going to raise more suspicion.” I held up my hands.
“Just know that if something goes wrong, I won’t say I told you so.” He opened my office door.
“Are you coming? She is at the shop, so we are about to tell the whole family I’m guessing.” Pulling open my draw, I took my phone and wallet out.
“Then I am calling in Beau because there is no way I am leaving him out of this if the others are gonna know.” He gave me a nod and walked out. Following him, I headed for the car park. Opening up my call list, I hit my thumb on Beau’s number and held it up to my ear, praying that he wasn’t still asleep.
“Brother.”
“I didn’t wake you, did I?”
“No, your fine. I was just eating before work. Everything okay?”
“Not really. How soon can you meet me at Vannah’s?”
“I can leave now and meet you there depending on where you are.”
“We are just leaving the station now.”
“Is this have to do with Neil being here?”
“Yeah, it does.”
“Okay, I am leaving now. See you in a little bit.”
“See you soon.” After hanging up, I put my phone back in my pocket as Felix and Neil joined me. After unlocking his car, Felix got in the driver’s seat, Neil sitting behind him. Taking a deep breath, I got in the passenger seat. The drive to Vannah’s shop was silent. Felix parked in front of the shop and got out. The feeling in my stomach was not a good one. Shit was about to hit the fan and I didn’t think they were really prepared for it.
Getting out, we all went into the shop. Belle disappeared after seeing us and headed for Vannah’s office. We were soon joined by her, Belle, and Austin.
