“No, sir. You stay here.”
“Oh. Right,” Blake said, and walked back to his uncle.
“Hell of a mess,” Jack said.
Blake nodded.
Jack glared at him.
“When I find out which one of you brought this down on our family, he or she will be on their own. I won’t waste a penny on legal services for any of you.”
Blake glared back.
“Well, hell, Uncle Jack, I hate to break this to you when you’re so out of sorts, but you don’t have the legal power to do that. Every one of us, including my son, is part of Wayne Industries, and we can and will, at any time we choose, avail ourselves of all that entails.” Blake glanced at the guard and lowered his voice. “I don’t know who did it, but I can understand what triggered the impulse.”
Jack’s eyes widened as his lips parted in sudden shock.
“Really? You understand a killer’s thoughts so well you can make an excuse for the deed?”
Blake reacted before he thought, getting in his uncle’s face to challenge his sudden do-gooder attitude.
“Oh, hell, no! You don’t pretend with me. You and Justin and I all know what a big knot Stanton Youngblood tied in the resort plans when his siblings’ properties were no longer eligible for foreclosure.”
Jack shrugged. “So we’ll buy them out.”
Blake rolled his eyes.
“Why do you think Stanton paid off their loans?”
Jack shrugged. “I don’t know. Because he was trying to stop something we—”
Blake sighed.
“No! Hell, no! We weren’t even on his radar. He was keeping his brother and sister from losing their homes—homes that had been in both families for a good three generations. They won’t take your money. They don’t give a shit about that resort as long as it doesn’t displace them. I told the investors when they set out to accumulate property that it might be an issue. Now the central part of the land they need is no longer available, nor will it be, which means plans for the resort are now at a standstill. And there better not be any discussion of so-called accidents to either family now, or the cops will blame the whole damn lot of us and we’ll all wind up in prison.”
Jack glanced at the guard and then lowered his voice, too.
“So when did you know Youngblood was the one who paid off those loans?”
Blake shrugged. “I guess as soon as the other investors knew. We were all notified there was a hitch.”
“Why wasn’t I notified?” Jack asked.
“Because investments are my job, that’s why. I didn’t need your advice or permission.”
Jack stopped and then stared at Blake as if he’d never seen him before.
“You didn’t need my permission to do what?”
Blake looked a little taken aback and flushed.
“To do my job,” Blake sputtered.
“Indeed,” Jack muttered, and then noticed the officers coming out of the garage pushing a motorcycle.
Blake sighed. “Should have figured they would find that,” he said.
“Who owns that?” Jack asked.
“The company,” Blake said.
“Who rides it?”
“I guess everyone but you and Fiona has been on it at one time or another,” Blake said.
They watched without further comment as the officers loaded the motorcycle into the back of one of the county vans and then headed into the house to join the others.
Moments later, other officers began coming out carrying rifles.
Jack flinched. “Did you know these were out here?” he asked.
“Yes,” Blake said.
“Did you tell Riordan?”
“No.”
“I wonder who did?” Jack said.
“It doesn’t matter,” Blake said. “They knew we had them. They’re all registered.”
“Do we know what kind of weapon killed Youngblood?” Jack asked.
“Riordan didn’t mention a particular model. He just asked the location of any rifles that were registered to the family. I said I wasn’t sure anymore. I obviously lied,” Blake muttered.
Jack shook his head, handed Blake the door key, then got back in his car and drove away.
Blake leaned against his car with his arms crossed, watching the uniformed officers continuing to emerge with still more rifles.
The wind was beginning to quicken. He glanced up at the sky and then frowned. It appeared they were in for another thunderstorm, which seemed fitting. Their whole way of life was in turmoil.
Finally the cops finished their search and exited the house. Riordan was the last to emerge.
Blake approached with the key in hand.
Riordan looked around for Jack. “Where’s your uncle?” he asked.
“He left. I waited to lock up.”
Riordan gave Blake a studied look. “So you didn’t know where the guns were?”
“I haven’t been out here in years,” Blake said.