“Actually, we’re up in Greeley. We came for Trey’s funeral.”
“You did, huh?” He acted surprised. Though he already knew that, as well. He knew most everything about what they’d been up to since they arrived. Who they’d seen. Who Hauck had spoken with. “The funeral was yesterday, Dani, wasn’t it? Heard a couple of people went up there from here.”
“Yes, they did.”
He held his breath for her next answer. “So why you staying around …?”
She paused. “What’s the issue, Wade? I thought you wanted me as far away from there as possible.”
“What I wanted,” he said, “was for you to keep that pretty little nose of yours out of things that weren’t any of your concern, Danielle. And I hope that’s what you’re still doing. Are you?”
“Am I what, Wade?”
“Are you puttin’ aside all those crazy notions you had? You and that famous godfather of yours. I figured this was kind of a reunion for the two of you, and you don’t want to be dragging him into something all pointless and foolish.”
“I don’t know, Wade, all of a sudden there’s a lot that doesn’t seem so foolish anymore.”
“Hmm, guess I know what you’re taking about.” He exhaled. “The balloon thing. Guess you’ve heard by now? So you were right on that, Danielle, they did find some possibility that there might have been foul play. Though I stress the words possibility and might.
“But at the same time you oughta know that both sets of customers on that balloon only booked the day before, so it seems whatever it was, if it turns out true, wasn’t aimed at them. More like someone here looking to do some mischief, God knows why.”
Dani said, “It wasn’t some mischief maker, Wade. You know damn well who it was aimed at.”
Wade felt a bitter taste on his tongue. “You ought to come back now, Danielle.”
“First you want me as far away as possible, now you want me back. I’ll be back when we’re ready to come back, Wade. Some things are starting to come out up here.”
“I just want to watch out for you, Danielle. Whether you know it or not, I always have.”
“Why do you need to watch out for me, Wade? Tell me what’s going on.”
“Just leave it all up there, darlin’, whatever it is you think you’re finding. Come on back here and go down the river like you always did. And let that uncle of yours, or godfather, go on back home.”
“I think it’s too late for that now, Wade. I have to go now. You’re sounding a little strange. You sure everything’s okay?”
Okay …? No, they weren’t okay. Nothing was okay anymore. He had a boy in the VA hospital who barely knew his name and had to learn how to put one foot in front of the other again. He had no money left in the bank but that he had to lie and look the other way for. He had a ruined, corrupted life that was falling apart a little more every day, save one last thing, the last thing he could hold on to—and that was the sliver of trust he had left with Dani.
“Nah, just worried about you,” he said, “that’s all. A stepfather’s allowed to feel that way, ain’t he? You never get too old for that, or too far away.”
“I wish you’d just looked into it, Wade. I know you know now that I was right. About Trey, and Ron. And I can’t just come on back right now. I can’t just go down the river, as if nothing has happened. There are a lot of people dead. And a lot of questions that need to be answered.”
He had the bottle in front of him. The bottle of Maker’s Mark he kept in the drawer. As a test of his conviction. He took it out every once in a while. To gauge his strength. This time he felt his hand shake, running his fingers down the bottle.
“Take it easy, Danielle,” he said, a sense of sorrow sinking in. “Do the smart thing, and come on back. Y’hear …?”
She hung up. Or he did. It wasn’t clear who.
Wade unwrapped the foil on the bottle and pulled out the cork.
I can’t protect you up there anymore.
CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
“Ty …”
Hauck grappled for the phone on the night table: 6:05 A.M. The voice on the other end took him by surprise. “Tom …?”
“Always thought you were an early riser, guy,” his boss, Tom Foley, said with a chuckle. “Didn’t mean to be waking you up out there on vacation …”
Foley was about the last person Hauck wanted to have to deal with right now. And the word vacation felt like it had been marinating in sarcasm for a week. The morning sun shined in through the shades. He rolled over, forcing his brain to alert. He was usually up at six anyway. “No. I’m fine.”
“Hell, if I didn’t know how much you actually missed us here, I’d be thinking you’ve somehow been avoiding me.”
“I’ve just been out of earshot, Tom. They don’t have cell phone service half the places I’ve been.”
“Aspen …? I was out there myself not too long ago and I distinctly remember mine working just fine.”
“I’m just doing a favor for someone out here. I won’t be out here long.”
“And when you’re done with that …? When we heard you’d left the Caribbean, Ty, we were all actually figuring that we’d be seeing you back here.”
Hauck hadn’t decided anything, anything further out than learning whatever he could about Watkins and how that connected to Alpha and RMM. “You will, Tom. Soon. But listen, as long as you called, maybe there is something you can help me with. We’ve got a large oil and gas client at Talon, don’t we? I’ve never worked with them myself, but I’ve seen a few of the presentations.”
“Global Exploration. Yes, we do. Very large. They’re out of Houston. We handle some of their employee protection details in Saudi Arabia and Nigeria. Some cyber-work back home as well. Why?”
“I’m looking for whatever you can tell me about an outfit named the Alpha Group.”
“Alpha Group?”
“They do consulting in the oil and gas field. A lot of ex-military personnel it seems.”