“Did you see the company truck drive out to the mine? Did anyone else follow him?” Jax returned to interrogation.
“Itoldthe sheriff all that at the time, but he didn’t listen. An old brown pick-up with a camper bed followed the company truck out there. The pick-up came back. The mine truck didn’t. When I heard the explosion later, I tried calling the ranch and the mine and got no answer. I called Franklin’s office, and Donna said Franklin was heading into LA for a meeting with Aaron and Sovereign.”
“That’s what I told the sheriff,” Donna said in the background. “I remember now. That was on his office schedule. That’s why I thought he was in a meeting.”
Holding the phone with one hand, Jax squeezed Evie with the other. “But the sheriff must have reached Franklin at some point, didn’t he? Someone had to be questioned or notified?”
Marge scoffed. “The sheriff called the mine inspection people. Aaron’s truck was there. They found explosives in it. The inspection people said they reached Franklin, that he was out of state on business, but he verified that Aaron would be the only person in the mine since they were closing it.”
“And they accepted that?” Jax asked, not hiding his incredulity. “They didn’t ask Franklin to come in and give testimony of any sort?”
“Not for an accident,” Marge said derisively. “Especially if strings get pulled.”
Donna came back, her voice tentative. “The brown truck Marge saw? Gus’s real estate company owned one just like it. Their hired day laborers used it to fix up properties. Once the sheriff questioned Gus, he closed the case. I don’t know what Gus told them, I really don’t. I just assumed he’d sent someone out to help Mr. Ives close up the mine entrance and then there was some kind of bad accident after they left. Mr. Franklin called the office a few days later, asking me to run some errands and close everything down. He didn’t sound like himself, but I figured, y’know, that he was taking Mr. Ives’ death hard, like maybe he’d lost a wife, y’know? I don’t know how those things work.”
From the floor, Reuben snorted and coughed.
Donna continued with a sniff. “But I thought I was talking to Franklin, and that he was alive and mourning his friend.”
“Did she take the box of documents to the bank?” Evie whispered.
“We found a document file in a safety deposit box under Franklin’s name,” Jax said. “Records show it was put in there after the death of Aaron Ives. Do you know anything about that?”
Only a slight lie—Uncle Orbis had mentioned someone grieving had put the papers in the box. The bank didn’t have any records that old. Jax was fishing.
“Oh, that was one of the errands!” Donna brightened. “I forgot about that. I did all Franklin’s banking business. I had his box keys and was on the signature card. He told me he’d gathered up Mr. Ives’ personal effects and put them in a file on his desk and asked me to put it in his personal deposit box and told me where the key was. The bank didn’t argue too hard as long as I had the key and they knew me and the tragedy and all. I mean, we all figured Mr. Jackson would be back.”
“But then he sold the law office to Pendleton and closed down the company he shared with Aaron Ives and you never saw him again?” Jax finished for her.
Evie suspected a good interrogator did not lead the witness but he’d had about as much as he could tolerate. She covered the hand around her waist and squeezed. They were wrapped together tighter than a pretzel, and along with the relief Jax must be feeling, the closeness felt danged good.
“I was heartbroken that he never came back to the office, but Teddy’s grandmother was in town, and she’s kind of a big deal, so I...”
“Teddy’s grandmother?” Evie poked Jax to wake him up.
Jax poked her back. “Teddy’s grandmother is Mrs. Swenson, isn’t it? Gus’s mother? Did she often visit?”
“What difference does that make? I thought you just wanted to know about your father. I have to go now. I’ve told you all I know.”
Evie mock whistled. Even Roark and Reuben went on red alert. When the dense men seemed blindsided by this crass evasion after Donna’s earlier honesty, Evie pulled out the tricks she’d learned at her mother’s knee. She leaned closer to the phone. “Oh, are we talking about Senator Swenson’s family? Don’t you just love them? Such good people. And your son is related to them? You know his family is a big deal in these parts. I hear they throw fabulous birthday parties. Did they ever have a big bash for Teddy?”
Donna sniffed. “Of course not. We’re divorced, and once that bitch got her hooks in Gus, her kids got all the attention. But Grandma Swenson is fond of Teddy. He’s the only one who has to work for a living, and he’s following his daddy into politics. She’s promised to leave him an inheritance even if everything else is tied up in a trust. Teddy can run for the senate just like his daddy if he has enough money behind him. That should let Gus see he should be paying a little more attention to his firstborn.”
Evie gave a thumb’s up and grinned at Jax, who was frowning hard now. He gestured for her to continue. Where did he want to go with that? The mine. The Swensons. Mama in town... “I thought since you said Mrs. Swenson was in town, that she and Gus might have been throwing one of those fabulous parties for Teddy, but I guess he was still little then, wasn’t he?”
“He was seven. Gus had remarried, but he was still in Bolder. Mrs. Swenson insisted that they take Teddy out for a steak. Gus gave him a bike that was too big. But Mrs. Swenson gave him some folding cash. They’ve always been close. It’s been nice talking to you. I gotta go now.”
Marge came back on. “Mr. Oswin here says the DNA is enough to prove you’re Aaron’s son. You gonna do anything with this land? It has potential. I’ve been leasing it for a couple of oil wells. A lot of quartz and crystal back in there, probably a little gold. Not great for cattle, I imagine, and the cabin burned some time back. Vagrants.”
“I thank you for keeping the taxes paid,” Jax said, recovering. “You could have let it be foreclosed on and snapped it up for nothing, I imagine.”
Marge scoffed. “I thought it was your daddy in that mountain. I’m old. I don’t need more land. But I kinda miss having a little bit of family around. Donna has her son and stays in town most times. I’m glad to learn that Aaron made it out and had a family. I’m just real sorry to hear that he didn’t get a chance to live up to all that potential.”
Evie watched the light go off on her phone. Ariel had hung up. She wiggled the phone at Roark, who tuned in to the security cameras at Ariel’s place. He shrugged, apparently not seeing anything. While Jax worked out legal details with Mr. Oswin and Marge, Evie kissed his cheek and crossed the cellar to check Roark’s screen.
“Unless you want Ariel flying off to California and taking up ranching, maybe someone ought to go out there tonight and keep her company,” Evie whispered to the Cajun.
Roark rubbed his nose and watched as a slender figure emerged from the front door of Ariel’s cottage to leave lettuce beside the turtle house. The turtle didn’t acknowledge the offering. “Yup, maybe someone ought to see she’s all right. I can park under that security light. It’s pretty big news knowing your daddy had all that and lost it.”