Hidden Truth. Danica Winters
“Did you talk to Chad yet?” she said, glancing down at her watch like she was checking just how much time he’d had before she arrived.
He shook his head. Truth be told, he had been hoping she would keep driving instead of turning off on the little dirt road that led back to the ranch. It would have made sense, her running away after seeing the Cussler brother rotting in his chair.
And if she had kept driving, he could have had the real conversation he needed to have with Chad without worrying about what she would hear. Now he’d have to play it cool until he could get his brother alone and he had the chance to find out exactly what he knew. No doubt, Chad would have dealt with that man’s remains as he had and left them out there for the Cussler family to handle.
They didn’t need to draw undue attention. They needed to fly under the radar and off the grid for as long as possible.
He cringed at the thought of having to move again.
Getting out of Adana had been a nightmare after Trish’s death. When they made their move to Montana, they sent misinformation on the dark net to make it seem like they were moving east to Thailand. They had no doubt that Turkish mobsters were just waiting for their chance to kill the rest of the family.
As long as nothing came out, they’d be safe for a while. It was the reason they had chosen this speck on the map. Plus, they’d have the cover of the United States and the amnesty that it offered if anything blew back on them. He and his family had done so many covert ops for the former president that they would always have government backup.
Or so he hoped.
Chad came sauntering out of the kitchen, a hot dog in his hand. He glanced from Sabrina to Trevor and gave him a raise of the brow as he stuffed the rest of the hot dog into his mouth, leaving a blob of mustard on his lip.
“I see you’re already living the high life, brother,” Trevor said with a laugh. “You want me to go in and get you a Budweiser, too? Nothing says American like a hot dog and a beer.”
Chad swallowed the bite. “Not all of us developed a taste for world cuisine. You can’t tell me that dolma is better than a good hot dog.” He wiped off the speckle of mustard at the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand. “What do you think, Sabrina? You vote American food?”
She shrugged like she couldn’t give a damn less. “Either, so long as I’m not cooking it.”
“And that right there is the reason I hired you. I’ve always liked a woman who was as smart-mouthed as me. You are going to fit right in.” Chad laughed. “Did you guys get the squatters handled?”
“Not exactly,” Trevor said. He cocked his head toward Sabrina in a silent message to Chad.
Chad’s smile disappeared. “Sabrina, do you mind getting started with your cleaning up here in the kitchen? ’Fraid I may have made a bit of a mess in there.”
She opened her mouth to speak, but stopped and instead gave Trevor a look as though she hoped he would step in and allow her to take part in their conversation.
“Uh, actually…” Trevor stammered. “Sabrina, you must be pretty tired. Like I said, if you wanted to head back to your place—”
“No,” she said, taking off her jacket and hanging it in the coat closet just inside the door. “I’ll get started in the kitchen. I have a job to do, and this place isn’t going to get any cleaner if I just go back to my place.”
Sabrina strode into the kitchen and the door swung shut behind her.
“Let’s step outside,” Trevor said.
Chad followed him out and Trevor made sure to close the door behind his brother. He glanced in the front window of the house to make sure that Sabrina wasn’t anywhere in sight. Thankfully, it looked as though she was in the kitchen.
“What in the hell were you thinking sending that woman out there?” Trevor asked, turning back to his brother. “Do you know what the hell I found in that shack? And because you were in some freaking hurry, Sabrina saw. Now she’s a possible loose end.”
“First, you were supposed to get out there long before her. You don’t get to make this my fault. You should have stuck to the schedule.”
“Had I known you were sending someone out behind me, I would have. How about you learn to freaking communicate?” Even as he said it, he couldn’t help but feel that he was the pot calling the kettle black.
“What exactly did she see?” Chad asked, taking a step back from him like he was afraid that Trevor was going to take a swing.
“That damned Cussler guy was splattered all over the walls. Been dead at least two or three days.” He pointed in the direction of the shanty. “I had to convince Sabrina that the dude was better off if we just left him and waited for the family to come back and collect his remains.”
Chad turned around as he ran his hands down his face. He stomped as he turned back. “Are you kidding me? We haven’t been here a week and there’s already a dead bastard in our back forty?”
“You should have just left me to handle my end of things, man. I had this taken care of. All I needed was a little time. But no, you wanted to rush things. To make sure everything was cleaned out and taken care of before Zoey and Jarrod arrive.”
“You know how they can be—they were even more adamant than I was about the absolute need for privacy here. This family is all we have, Trevor.”
“You don’t need to tell me that.”
Chad took in a long breath as though he were trying to collect himself. “So, was the guy’s death a suicide or what?”
“There’s no goddamned way. Someone shot him.” He thought of the handgun he’d left sitting on the ground beside the dead man. “The gun was too far away from the body. No major stippling around the entrance wound, and the bullet had lost enough velocity that it didn’t even travel through the entire skull—there was no exit wound. I’m guessing whoever pulled the trigger had to be at least ten to fifteen feet away.”
“And where did you say you found the man?”
“He was sitting up in a chair, like someone got the drop on him. He didn’t even have time to stand. He didn’t see it coming.”
“What about the rest of the hillbilly clan…did you find them? They alive or dead?”
“Hell if I know.” Trevor threw his hands into the air. “I’m hoping that they just ran off. We don’t need a dead family on our hands.”
“Did you get a chance to look around?” Chad asked. “Wait, did you and Sabrina call in the locals?”
Finally, Chad was beginning to understand the implications of his screwup. If only he hadn’t been in a hurry, they wouldn’t already be compromised.
“Sabrina went along with keeping it quiet, but I don’t know how long she’ll be up for maintaining that.” He glanced back inside, but the beautiful and stubborn woman was nowhere in sight. “She hasn’t been acting right, ever since…” I held her in my arms. He didn’t finish his thought.
“Huh? Ever since what?” Chad pressed.
“Since she saw the body. I’m afraid she may be a liability.”
“What are you saying?” Chad asked. “You think she needs to disappear?”
“No,” Trevor said, almost the same moment his brother had uttered the question. “No. We can’t harm her. She hasn’t done anything wrong. And who knows, maybe I made a mistake in thinking she can’t be trusted. Maybe she won’t be a problem.”
Chad shook his head. “What if she does tell someone? What if it comes out that we tried to cover up a man’s death at our new ranch?”
Trevor stared at his