He watched as Wyatt closed the office door, ran a hand through his hair, then leaned against the front of his desk. Wyatt stared at Marco.
“You and your brothers making some progress with Millie?”
Marco hadn’t expected that and he gave Wyatt a strange look.
“Well, what I mean to ask is that is she learning to trust y’all? Will she let one of you or whoever stay with her at her cottage?”
“Wyatt, what the hell are you asking this for?”
Wyatt took a deep breath then released it.
“I just got an update from New York.”
“And?”
“And I’m concerned about Millie’s safety even more. I think she shouldn’t be staying alone in that cottage.”
“Why not? What happened in the case to make you feel this way, Wyatt?”
“Did she tell you about her boyfriend, Stewart Thomas?”
“A little bit. From what she said he was a real asshole. He made her quit martial arts and he put her down all the time. Sounded more like verbal abuse than physical, but I still gathered him to be an asshole.”
“Yeah, well, he also got her fired from her job. Plus Anna and Stacy said he told Millie some nasty things. Anyway, it appeared that Frank found out about Stewart.”
Marco sat forward in his seat.
“And what?”
“Stewart Thomas was found murdered early this morning around 3:00 a.m.”
“What? They think Frank did it?”
“They know Frank did it. He taped it with Dr. Perkin’s cell phone. Detective Flynn received a copy of the video along with shots of Perkins tied to a chair, beaten and bloody.”
“Holy shit, Wyatt. How did they find the body? What about the doctor?”
“Stewart Thomas was found in a motel on the outskirts of Alabama.”
“Alabama! Damn it, Wyatt, he’s headed here. He knows where she’s at.”
“It seems so. They’ve got detectives following the trail, but now the FBI is involved, too. Thomas sent them a copy of the video and apparently he killed a retired agent who happened to be staying in the motel. The investigators believe that the retired agent became suspicious of Frank and went to check him out by asking some questions. Frank must have convinced him that things were fine and the agent believed him. Then Frank returned later, snuck into the guy’s motel room, and killed him. It was really gruesome, Marco.” Wyatt ran his hand over his mouth as if talking about it made him feel sick.
“What? I want to know everything, Wyatt. My brothers and I will need to protect her.”
“Frank tortured Stewart in front of the doctor then cut his heart out. He did the same thing to the retired agent.”
“Holy fuck. This guy is really sick in the head.”
“Which is why I’m very concerned. He’s evaded capture. He’s headed this way. He has to be because even on the video he talks about Millie.”
“I want to see the video.”
“No, you don’t.”
“I sure do. I want to know everything. You can’t keep me out of the loop here just because she’s my woman.”
Wyatt smiled.