Heartsong Cottage (30 page)

“Two unmarried brothers?” Celeste's voice hummed with interest and she made a note.

“Younger brothers.”

“Even better.”

“Speaking of brothers, Daniel has accepted a job working with Gabe's family's security firm. He'll do consulting, but mainly teaching. He really enjoyed that, and he needs a break from the other.”

“That's wonderful news,” Hope said. “I'm so glad for him. Thrilled for you both.”

Nic said, “The whole Callahan clan is planning to spend Christmas here, so they'll swell your numbers.”

“Speaking of Callahans … what's the dish on the dish?”

“Brick?” Nic's eyes twinkled. “I think like so many other Texans this time of year, he's come to Colorado hunting. Only not deer or elk. Veterinarians.”

“He's trying to steal you away from his uncle?” Savannah Turner asked.

Nic laughed. “He hasn't admitted it, but I think he has his eye on Lori. She did a summer internship on the Callahan ranch. I think sparks flew.”

“I thought she was dating some guy from Denver?” Ali Timberlake asked.

“The girl changes boyfriends as often as her shoes.”

“Except for Chase,” Ali replied, a wistful note in her voice. “Once upon a time, I thought those two would marry.”

Celeste patted Ali's hand. “There, there, dear. It will be all right. You know that, don't you?”

Ali responded with only a sickly smile. Shannon recalled the woman Chase Timberlake had with him at Murphy's a couple months ago. She was athletic and outgoing and gorgeous. Shannon could see why she'd succeeded as a television star.

“When is his wedding?” Cat Davenport asked.

“Valentine's Day,” Ali said. “But that's enough about that wedding. We're here to talk about Daniel and Shannon's. Are you thinking a church wedding or Angel's Rest?”

“We booked St. Stephen's yesterday.”

“What about a dress?”

“I have one. My grandmother saved hers for me.” She didn't share that she hadn't wanted to wear it for her wedding to Ted. Now she believed she knew why. This wedding, to this man, while wearing the gown her grandmother had worn when she married Shannon's grandfather, had been meant to be.

Their wedding planning took longer than Daniel's strategizing about how to save her life, and when the men began calling up the stairs for their “women” to come fix them “samiches” like “good little wives,” Celeste shut her notebook and said, “I think we've made an excellent start on the planning. Better get downstairs before one of the Neanderthals goes too far and comes to me needing to rent a room for the night. Angel's Rest is completely booked. A quilters' retreat.”

“Would serve them all right,” Cat grumbled.

“Wait a minute,” Shannon began. “Before you go, there's something I want to say, I need to say.” She gazed around the table and her heart filled and overflowed. “I can't thank you enough for your friendship and understanding and support. I found my home in Eternity Springs. I found a life here.”

Celeste rose and gave her a hug. “We are so glad you did. In fact, to mark this occasion I have a little gift for you.”

She removed an Angel's Rest blazon from her bag, and seeing it, Shannon knew that she had, indeed, found a home.

Now if she could only stay alive to enjoy it.

 

Chapter Fifteen

Daniel lowered his cell phone and told himself there was no need to fret. Russell Wilbarger was in Washington, D.C., under surveillance by Mark Callahan, and Shannon was tucked away at Jack Davenport's estate, Eagle's Rest, where the security system surpassed anything Daniel had ever seen. She would be safe until he got home.

He missed her. He'd been on the road crisscrossing the country for weeks now, making it home to Eternity Springs only long enough to pick up Shannon and take her to Boston to meet his family at Thanksgiving. They'd loved her, of course, and the holiday had been his happiest in a decade.

He'd hoped to be home before now, but so far, his search for dirt on the dirtbag had turned up infuriatingly little. He'd interviewed over a dozen people. Spent hours upon hours poring over databases and researching newspaper archives. Experience had taught Daniel that the criminal who committed one vile act invariably had others waiting to be uncovered. So far, he'd come up dry, but it was only a matter of time until he found it. If he was going to have this threat eliminated by the wedding day—his goal—then he needed to find the so-far-elusive evidence PDQ.

He had his hopes up for today's meeting. He'd wanted to interview Larry Dennard right off the bat, but the man and his wife had been out of the country on an extended business trip to Asia, and today was his first available appointment. Daniel checked his phone for the time. Ten minutes to the hour and a five-minute walk through downtown Austin from his hotel. Might as well get going.

He exited the elevator in the high-rise office building at precisely ten o'clock. “Daniel Garrett to see Mr. Dennard,” he said to the pretty blond receptionist.

“Good morning, Mr. Garrett. If you'll have a seat I'll let Mr. Dennard know you're here.”

“Thank you.”

The man kept him waiting ten minutes. He assumed it was a power play until Dennard walked another man out, shook his hand, and thanked him for coming in. “Appreciate the special trip, Ryan. Next time I'll come to you. You have my word on it.”

“Hey, no problem, man. I love doing business with you. Never had such a conscientious consultant.”

When the visitor exited the office lobby, the receptionist said, “Mr. Dennard, Mr. Garrett is here for your ten o'clock.”

Honest delight lit the man's expression. “Garrett. You're the consultant with Callahan Security, correct? Pleasure to meet you, sir.”

“Thanks for giving me your time, Mr. Dennard.”

“Call me Larry, please.” The two men shook hands, then Dennard continued, “Follow me back to my office. Can we get you a cup of coffee or a soft drink?”

“Water would be nice.”

Larry led him down a hallway to a corner office. While the businessman poured two glasses of water, Daniel perused the framed certificates hanging on the wall: Boy Scouts' volunteer award, certificate of appreciation from a church youth group, Citizen of the Year from the city. Guy was a do-gooder. Excellent.

Larry handed Daniel one of the glasses of water, then instead of taking a seat behind his large mahogany desk, he sat in one of a pair of easy chairs placed in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and motioned for Daniel to take the other. “What can I do for the Callahans?”

“Answer some questions,” Daniel replied.

“About our product line? Our service plan?”

“Russell Wilbarger.”

Every drop of color drained from the man's face. He sat back heavily in his chair. Daniel's heartbeat quickened, and he leaned forward, his detective's nose sniffing the scent of the trail.

“I haven't seen Russell since college,” Dennard said, making an ineffective stab at deflection.

“It's his college years that interest me at this point. You lived with him then. You were a member of AnonyBytes.”

Dennard winced and closed his eyes. “I was young and stupid and idealistic.”

“Actually, I was told you are extremely smart.”

“Not then, I wasn't.” Dennard rose and crossed his office to a wet bar. He poured a glass of water from a pitcher and downed it like a tumbler full of scotch. “I did some very stupid things, and I learned the cost of inadvisable friendships. It's a lesson I've tried to teach my own children. I've spent the years since trying to make up for my mistakes.

“Mr. Garrett, let me give you a piece of advice. You are obviously very good at what you do. You wouldn't be working with the Callahans otherwise. But you don't want to tangle with Russell Wilbarger. He was bad news in college, and like the saying goes, leopards don't change their spots. Now that he's following in his father's footsteps in politics, I can't imagine that his character has changed for the better.”

“You are right about that.” Daniel decided to cut to the chase. “Do you remember Chelsea Abbott?”

Dennard's gaze shifted out the window. “Of course. Really sweet girl. I haven't seen her since college, either.”

“She's a wonderful woman and she needs your help. She's being terrorized by Russell Wilbarger, and I'm looking for leverage to shut him down. You were in the house on the day Ted Colby died. I need you to tell me about it, in as much detail as you can recall.”

Larry crossed to the window and stood with his hands shoved into his pockets, gazing out at the cityscape, contemplating or reflecting or making some sort of decision. Daniel knew the value of patience, so he allowed the moment to drag out.

When the man finally spoke, Daniel almost wished he hadn't.

“Ted Colby was a great guy, a fabulous friend, just an all-around fine human being. He was head-over-heels in love with Chelsea. Shoot, we were all a little in love with her. She was so sweet and kind and funny. A beautiful girl who didn't act like she knew it. I was overweight and already losing my hair and awkward. Never had a girlfriend in my life. Chelsea never once treated me like a loser. Neither did Ted. He was a true friend. I could see that in hindsight. At the time, I was blinded by Russell's charisma. By the time those blinders came off, it was too late. At least, that's what I've tried to convince myself ever since.”

Daniel waited, and a full minute passed before Larry spoke again. “I told myself I was helping a friend, but that's a lie. I let my real friends down. Ted and Chelsea were my real friends. You said Russell's been terrorizing Chelsea. Tell me what he has done to her.”

Daniel had no intention of telling anyone about the rape, but he detailed a handful of the stalking incidents, finishing with, “She's expecting her first child. She needs to neutralize the threat to her.”

Larry glanced over his shoulder. “A baby! That's wonderful news for her. Tell her I'm very happy for her.”

“If you're happy for her, then help her. Give me something on Wilbarger.”

Again, another long pause. “I never wanted my wife and children to know. It may well ruin me.”

He's close, but not quite there yet.
“He hurt her, Larry. He physically hurt her. I don't doubt that she's not the only woman he's hurt. Was he there the day Ted died?”

“Yes.” Larry turned to face Daniel. “I didn't hear anything. I was in my room wearing headphones. I didn't see the fight. But…”

“But?”

Larry exhaled heavily, then nodded once. He walked to his desk and pushed an intercom button. “Mary, get Louise Burnett on the phone, would you please?”

But?
Daniel sensed the man had something big to offer. But what? Keeping his impatience in check proved to be an exercise in discipline.

“Louise. Good morning. I need you to bring an investigator onto our legal team so I can provide him some information that's going to leave me open to legal charges.” He paused while the lawyer talked. “Yes. Yes. No. We'll need to negotiate. Yes. No. I have full confidence in you. Yes. Daniel Garrett—” He glanced at Daniel. “Is that one
t
or two
t
s?”

“Two.”

“Two
t
s. With Callahan Security. Yes. Yes. Gotcha. Will do. Yes, right now, please. So, what did you think of the woodworking project that Landry brought home from the den meeting last week? Pretty cool, wasn't it?”

Larry and the woman Daniel deduced to be his attorney spoke for another two minutes until a knock sounded on the office door and the secretary walked into the room carrying a printed sheet of paper. Larry called, “Come in. Mary has it now. Thank you. Will do. See you at the next den meeting.”

He ended the call and handed Daniel a paper to sign. An employment agreement. “It's time I own up to my personal failings. Give me your John Hancock, and I'll give you Russell Wilbarger.”

“I'd give you my left nut for him.”

“I'm tempted to take it because my own are in full retreat. The idea of taking on Russell chills like jumping into a glacier lake. However, you're gonna need yours if you're going after him.”

“Oh, I'm going after him, all right.” Daniel scratched his name across the contract.

“Thank you.” Larry stared down at the contract, then when he lifted his gaze toward Daniel, a haunted look had entered his eyes. “Russell was there when Ted died, and I knew it.”

“He knew you knew it?”

“Yes.” He closed his eyes for a moment, then announced in a voice ripe with shame, “He offered me fifty thousand dollars to lie about it, and I took the money.”

Bingo.
It was all Daniel could do not to pump his fist.

What Larry said next had his mouth dropping open in shock.

“I didn't realize until two months after Ted's funeral that I had evidence showing Larry pushed him down the stairs. By then, I'd already sunk the money into start-up costs for my business.”

“Evidence? You had evidence?”

“Somebody was stealing my candy. I wanted to find out who. I set up a nanny cam to identify the culprit. It automatically backed up online. It was searchable. Caught the argument between Ted and Larry and had a clear picture of the fall.”

Daniel took a step forward. “You're telling me you had video showing Russell Wilbarger kill Ted Colby?”

“Yes.”

“Please tell me you still have it.”

“Yes, it's in a safe-deposit box.”

Daniel could hardly believe what he'd just heard. The man had proof? And he'd kept it hidden all this time? Left a murdering rapist to go free and continue to terrorize?

“In addition to the video, I have a file filled with some very interesting financial records. After Ted died, I walked away from AnonyBytes. Russell did not. Nor did he discover the back door I built into our little network, so when he took hacking to a new level I was able to watch—and document. He's stolen a significant amount of money and has it stashed offshore.”