Smoke and Mirrors

72

After picking up her bag from Brad’s house, Alexa trailed Brad’s truck out to the Gardner plantation. They passed a cruiser parked on the road going in. As they were pulling up, Jacob darted from the house and stopped beside his car, fumbling with the keys. He froze when Brad and Winter climbed from the truck and Alexa got out of her car.

“Come inside,” Brad told him. “We need to talk.”

“I have to go pick up Cynthia at my mother’s house in Memphis,” Jacob said, his hands visibly shaking. “So she can make the funeral. So the harassment will have to wait a couple of hours.” One side of his shirttail was out and his eyes looked feverish.

“When did you last talk to your daughter?” Alexa asked.

“Lady, if it’s any of your business, just a few minutes ago,” he snapped.

“Now is the only other time you are going to get,” Brad said. “You leave here now and you’re on your own.”

“What are you talking about?” Jacob asked him.

“This is Alexa Keen with the FBI,” Brad said, indicating Alexa. “She may be the only thing standing between you and Mulvane.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” Jacob said.

“Your call,” Alexa said. “But you should know that Mulvane knows that Leigh told us everything. I expect that puts you in a bad place.”

“Mulvane never said that he was involved in anything like that. I never told Leigh that. And, anyway, if that is true, you think you can protect me from him? Like it’s just him we’re talking about. None of you know what you’re messing with. There is a billion dollars in play here.”

“Be that as it may, we’re the only shot you have, Mr. Gardner,” Alexa told him.

“So am I under arrest?” Jacob asked.

“No,” Alexa said.

Brad added, “But you know he killed Sherry for a lot less, and how good his hired killer is. He knows you’re a threat.”

Jacob took off his coat and threw it into the car. He looked at each of them, seemed to weigh a thought-it was easy to imagine what it was-then jumped into his Cadillac and roared off down the driveway. When it turned onto the farm road, the heavy car fishtailed, squealing the tires.

“He’ll be back,” Alexa said.

“I don’t know,” Brad said. “He isn’t exactly known for intelligent moves.”

“We need him,” Winter said, flatly.

As they were heading to the porch, Hamp ran out of the house, his face bright red.

“What’s the matter, Hamp?” Brad asked, grabbing him.

“Daddy!” Hamp yelled, stamping his foot. “He hit Mama!”

Brad left Hamp and ran into the house. Leigh was in the den seated on the raised stone hearth. She was trembling. There was a red spot below her left eye, and she had a split lip. Estelle came in and handed Leigh a plastic bag filled with ice to hold against her cheek.

“Damn his hide,” Brad snarled, his arm around Leigh’s shoulders. “What happened?”

Leigh turned her eyes to Hamp. “I’m fine,” she replied.

“I heard him hit her from the kitchen,” Estelle volunteered.

“Estelle, take Hampton to the kitchen,” Leigh said firmly.

“Arrest him, Brad,” Hamp hissed. “Lock that asshole up.”

“Hampton!” Leigh snapped. “He’s your father.”

“Not anymore he isn’t. I hate his guts.”

“We’ll discuss this later, after you’ve calmed down,” Leigh said. “Let me talk to Brad.”

Estelle and Hamp left the room reluctantly. Alexa and Winter took seats across from the fireplace.

“What happened, Leigh?” Brad asked.

“This is terrible. I don’t know what to do-how to tell you.”

“Take your time,” Brad said.

“Cynthia…Jacob said Cyn called from his mother’s. Jacob said Cyn wasn’t coming to the funeral, so I picked up the phone to call her, and he stopped me and told me that I had to sign papers on the land.”

Leigh waited a few seconds before she said, “I told him I would sell the land, but I wouldn’t do so unless I could meet with the buyer and negotiate a better deal. Like we discussed, so I could get it on tape. I didn’t tell him that. I told him the land was obviously worth more than they offered, and I wanted to negotiate personally. I told him to tell the buyer to take it or leave it. He freaked out. He was yelling that these people weren’t screwing around, that they’d kill all of us. He said this was the final offer and that if we were dead, it would make it more convenient for this person.”

“Did he mention a name?” Alexa asked.

“Mulvane. Pierce Mulvane. He said the casino had to have the land and the casino owners weren’t going to take no for an answer. He said they had over a billion dollars on the line, and life was cheap against that kind of investment. He said they’d kill him first, or all of us at the same time. I’ve never seen him so scared. I told him I was going to make sure our children got the maximum benefit possible.”

“And that was when he hit you?” Brad asked.

Leigh started crying. “He told me he’d lied, that they took Cynthia. That she wasn’t in Memphis at all and that she was fine, and she’d be released after the land deal was finished, but we’d never see her again if it didn’t go through.”

“You think he was in on it?” Brad asked.

“No. Maybe. I don’t know. He said he didn’t know who had her, that he’d spoken to some man twice who had her phone. I said I would call Mr. Mulvane and get her freed.” Tears streamed down her cheeks. “God, I think he’s telling the truth. And she needs her insulin. They might hurt her. You have to do something.”

“Leigh, Alexa is going to stay with you,” Winter said firmly. “We’ll figure this out and get her back.”

He nodded to Brad, and the two men left the room in a hurry.

Alexa said, “Leigh, Winter threatened them and I don’t think they’d dare harm Cynthia. But if you decide you want me to do so, I’ll bring in my FBI Immediate Response Team. Though I have to tell you that I can’t guarantee it won’t do more harm than good at this point. We need to talk to Jacob and make sure that he told you the truth. She’ll be fine.”

“But you aren’t sure,” Leigh said.

“No, I can’t be one hundred percent, but this is my field of expertise. Mulvane is in a very difficult position because he knows we know about the land. If he’s behind this, he’ll make sure she’s all right.”

“Jacob won’t cooperate,” Leigh said. “There’s no telling what he’ll say or do.”

Alexa heard the sound of Brad’s siren wailing in the distance.

“They’ll catch up to him,” she said.