Clay gave him a grateful look, but Taylor just shook her head. ‘You know I love you both, and it gives me warm fuzzies that you get along so well, but just let it go. Both of you. What’s next?’ she asked, turning to Clay. ‘You said you don’t want to send out a blanket email canceling the christening because it could fall into the wrong hands, and Tavilla could get tipped off and then not come here at all. But assuming he does come here thinking we’re having a christening, how do we make sure other innocent people don’t show up and get hurt?’
‘We’re going to have to do this the old-fashioned way and call people, one at a time. Most of the folks attending know Stevie was shot at. Most of them I trust implicitly. What we’re going to say is that she strained her old injury when I pushed her out of the way, and she doesn’t think she’s up to coping with all the guests at once. So we’re just going to have family and godparents attend this Saturday and we’ll throw a big bash later in the summer.’
‘Who are the godparents?’ Frederick asked.
‘Stevie’s sister is Mason’s godmother,’ Clay said. ‘And my friend Ethan is his godfather. Ethan and his wife had already planned to fly in tomorrow night. Ethan will still do that, then drive back with Stevie and the others. I trust him with my life. And, more importantly, with Stevie, Cordelia and Mason’s lives.’
Frederick frowned. ‘That seems dangerous too, though. They’ll be sitting ducks on the open road.’
Clay acknowledged his concern with a nod. ‘We’ve planned to do a vehicle switch. Leave in our own personal vehicles, drive to a covered garage, then transfer to other vans. JD and I will drive our personal vehicles away, playing decoy. Paige and I have added a few bodyguards to our staff in the last year. I’ve pulled them out of rotation and they’ll accompany the group. They’re fully vetted, all former cops or military. I trust them all. I’ve coordinated operations like this before.’
Clay might trust his staff, but Frederick didn’t know them. ‘I’ll go too.’
Clay shook his head. ‘I want to go as much as you do, but that’s kind of the point of the operation. We stay and take care of the investigation and drawing Tavilla’s men.’
Frederick drew a breath. ‘That has to be good enough for me then.’ He glanced at Taylor. ‘Where does Ford fit into all this?’
‘He’s helping us drive up there.’ She glanced at the wall clock, a small frown furrowing her brows. ‘Right now, he and Alec are with Thorne and Gwyn. He hasn’t checked back in almost an hour. I’m getting a little worried.’
Just then, all three of their phones buzzed at the same time. Not good, Frederick thought, his intuition confirmed when he looked at the screen. Well, shit. ‘Mine’s from Gwyn,’ he murmured.
‘Mine’s from Alec,’ Clay said.
Taylor sighed. ‘Ford. They’ve got another nasty-smelling corpse.’
Darian Hinman was dead. ‘One more link to Thorne’s past eliminated,’ Frederick said quietly. This was insane. ‘We’re definitely moving the kids out.’
‘Yeah.’ Clay’s body had tensed, but his hand on his son remained gentle. He took sheets of paper out of his printer. ‘I divvied the names up and wrote the script below. These are all the guests we need to cancel on, and what I want you to say. If anyone asks why I didn’t call myself, tell them that I will contact them as soon as I can.’
Frederick hesitated, then decided he’d be remiss not to take care of one detail before beginning. ‘Look, I want to warn Bernice Brown’s friend, Sally Brewster. She knows what happened to Phil, Sam and Agent Ingram last night. She knows to be careful, but I think she needs to know about this latest death.’
Taylor’s eyes widened. ‘Sally Brewster? The lady who tried to talk to Julie?’
‘Yes. I’ve spent some time with her.’ She’d come by the waiting room the night before and sat with him during her break, just holding his hand while they waited for word on Phil and the others. ‘She actually spoke with one of Tavilla’s men who was posing as a detective. What if Tavilla thinks she’s a loose thread too?’
Clay considered it, then nodded. ‘It’ll be on the news soon enough. Darian Hinman is a big fucking deal in the financial world, and it’s related to Thorne, so it’s going to be major headlines.’
Frederick started to text Sally, then recalled the spoofed number through which she’d been threatened to begin with. He dialed her number, hoping he wasn’t waking her. Her hours were all over the clock.
She answered on the second ring. ‘Frederick?’
‘Yes. I wanted to let you know that there’s been another death related to Thorne, this time to his past.’
‘Oh no. I’m so sorry.’
‘I am too.’ But only because this guy had information we needed. Knowing what he knew about Darian Hinman, he wasn’t going to mourn him. ‘I just wanted to make sure you were okay.’
‘I’m fine. My son is here with me. He’s a police officer, so I’m well guarded.’
Frederick heard voices in the background, then a man came on the line. ‘Mr Dawson, this is Ed Brewster, Sally’s son. I wanted to thank you for making sure that she got home safely after her shift. My sister and I appreciate it.’
‘It was the least I could do.’
‘Did you just tell her that someone else is dead?’
‘I did. Darian Hinman. He’s a corporate bigwig. But nineteen years ago, he was friends with the brother of the woman murdered on Sunday morning. Both are connected to my colleague Thomas Thorne.’
‘Thorne’s club was closed down for drugs.’ Ed Brewster sounded doubtful.
‘He’s being set up. We’re going to fight the charges. Look, don’t condemn him just yet. He’s a good man. And even if you don’t believe that, keep an eye on your mother. The people behind this don’t leave loose ends.’
There was a beat of hesitation on the other end, followed by a sigh. ‘I know.’
Frederick frowned. ‘What do you mean?’
‘Mom told me about her conversation with the guy who tried to pump her for information. She said she gave him a fake address, but turns out it wasn’t fake.’
Dread pooled in Frederick’s gut. ‘Explain, please.’
‘The address she gave was a space at the trailer park. When she visited Bernice, that space was unoccupied. I checked.’
Frederick swallowed hard and looked up to see both Clay and Taylor staring at him. ‘What happened?’
‘Someone moved their trailer into the space. The vehicle was set on fire. The doors were blocked so the occupants couldn’t escape. It happened in a national park, so it was under park police jurisdiction. I wouldn’t have known if I hadn’t specifically checked. Two people died of smoke inhalation, a professor on sabbatical and her husband.’
Bile burned Frederick’s throat. ‘Dear God.’
‘I know. Give me your email address. I’ll send you a copy of the police report.’
‘Thank you,’ Frederick managed, and rattled off the address. ‘Can you take some time off to stay with your mother?’
‘I already did, as soon as I read that report. I made her take a leave of absence from the hospital too. They won’t get to her.’
‘Good.’ Frederick swallowed again. ‘If you leave town, I don’t expect you to contact me with your location, but I’d appreciate it if you could somehow let me know that she’s okay.’
‘Will do.’ Another hesitation. ‘Thank you again.’
‘You’re welcome.’ His phone pinged with the incoming email. ‘Thank you for this information. Your email just came through.’
‘Don’t open it,’ Clay barked.
‘Who’s there?’ Ed Brewster snapped.
‘My daughter and . . . my friend.’ He wasn’t in the mood to go through their oddball relationship at the moment.
‘Oh, you mean her other father. I helped my mom run her search. I know everything about you that she does.’
‘Wonderful,’ Frederick muttered.
Brewster chuckled. ‘I can tell you that she hasn’t blushed like this in twenty years. So when this is all over, you should come by and meet her children.’
‘Ed!’ Sally shouted.
Frederick felt his own cheeks heating and cleared his throat. ‘What she said.’
Brewster chuckled again. ‘I don’t beat around the bush. I also told her that contacting your daughter like that was really stupid and she’s lucky you were nice about it.’
‘I’m not ever telling you anything again!’ Sally said loudly, and that made Frederick smile.