They all nodded, even Jake. The more time he spent around these people, the more welcome they made him feel. Like part of the family. His family.
Though everyone wore the same worried expression, they all clearly didn’t want to look away. Side by side, they kept watching. Standing on the sidewalk, near the circular drive, with a clear view of all the activity taking place below them.
Only Payne was absent. He’d taken to his bed shortly after the confrontation with Selina, worried that he was too newly recovered to deal with so much stress.
“This is too much,” Ainsley finally muttered. “Let’s go back inside. They’ll come and tell us if they find anything.”
Not if, Jake thought. But when.
“Come on.” Ace punched his arm, a light, brotherly type of gesture. “When Ainsley speaks, the rest of us listen.”
Which earned him a glare from his attorney sister.
They trooped back into the kitchen, got cups of coffee and took seats around the large table.
The knock on the door came exactly thirty-seven minutes later.
“I’ll get it,” Ainsley said. No one argued.
A moment later, she returned, her face ashen. “They found a body. They’re going to arrest Dad.”
Of course everyone insisted on standing in solidarity when the police read Payne his rights. Though the older man kept muttering that it had been self-defense, he didn’t argue. Instead, he held out his hands for the cuffs, his expression resolute.
“We’re going to beat this,” Ace reassured him.
But how? Jake wondered silently. Right now, all they had was Payne’s claim, no proof. And his actions after killing the man pointed more toward someone guilty.
Once the police had driven off with Payne, Ainsley had immediately gotten on the phone, rustling up help from Santiago, who specialized in criminal defense. “He’ll meet them at the jail,” she announced once she’d ended the call. “Meanwhile, we’ve got to get busy finding some sort of proof to back up Dad’s claim of self-defense.” She eyed Fiona. “Is any of this your area of expertise?”
Slowly, Fiona shook her head. “Not really. But I’ll do everything I can to help you.”
Ainsley nodded. “Jarvis had done quite a bit of searching the property already. At the very least, he can tell us where not to look.”
“We need to find proof,” Ace declared. “There’s got to be something. We’ll just have to find it.” But how were they going to do that? No one asked the question out loud, especially not Jake. He’d barely spent any time with his birth father, certainly not enough to understand what made Payne Colton tick.
Ace, on the other hand, was an open book. Despite his previous plans with Sierra, he canceled them, saying he wanted nothing to distract him from focusing on clearing Payne. Talking to him, Jake could see hints of the ruthless CEO he’d once been, though he’d clearly mellowed. He was also leaner than he’d been in the old photographs Jake had seen online.
“Don’t you think if Payne had evidence to back him up, he would have produced it by now?” Fiona asked softly.
Though Ainsley shot her a quick look, she nodded. “My thoughts exactly. Unless he isn’t aware that there even is evidence.”
And there might not be. Jake knew better than to voice this thought out loud.
“There’s got to be something we’re overlooking,” Ace announced, pacing the length of the kitchen and back. “It’s got to be right there in front of us. Got to be.”
“Sometimes when you try too hard to find something, it stays just around the corner of your vision,” Jake pointed out. “We need to take a break, look at something else for a little while. Maybe then, something will come to us.”
At first, Ace shot an impatient look his way. But then he apparently reconsidered. “You may be right. How about this? Earlier, you were asking for information about your birth mother. Payne stored all of her photography stuff and her journals in one of the unused bedrooms. When we were younger, we all spent some heavy-duty time in there, going through the pictures. I think it might help you get a feel as to what kind of woman she was.”
Jake nodded, feeling a flicker of interest. “I’d like that,” he responded quietly. “Plus it might be a good distraction right now.” He turned to Fiona. “Want to come?”
“Sure.”
Sierra chimed in that she’d take a look, too. “I’ve always been a huge photography fan.”
“You guys go,” Ainsley said, waving them away. “I’ve got some case law I want to study before I head downtown to see what I can do to get a judge to allow me to get Dad out on bond.”
Instantly, Ace declared he wanted to go, too.