Travis folded his arms, eyes flattening in an unhappy gesture. “Jared and I spent the past couple of hours at the Florence Bar, reviewing the security footage.”
“And?”
He exhaled audibly. “Morgan didn’t leave like you thought. We placed her inside on two separate occasions after the time of your accident.”
“Hell.” It would have been easier if it was Morgan who’d hit us. At least then we knew who we were dealing with. Now we were left with the possibility that someone was after Grace and no idea who it was. “Are you sure it was her?”
He nodded, grim. “Even if her features weren’t clear on screen, you couldn’t miss that red dress she wore.”
I tipped my eyes to the ceiling for a minute, resigned to the possibility that Grace was hiding something important from all of us. Something big enough for people to want her dead.
“I haven’t heard from the police,” I said, looking back at Travis. They’d taken my statement not long after I woke, barrelling me up before I could go climb into bed with Grace. “Have you?”
“Jared spoke to Mitch. He says they got black paint samples off the side of Marjorie. Forensics can try piecing back the make and model of the car but that won’t be a quick and easy answer.”
The door opened and Jared slipped inside. He was on his phone, muffling the mouthpiece to mutter, “Thanks, assholes,” in our direction before returning to his conversation.
We waited for him to finish. “Good news,” he said after hanging up the phone and tucking it into his back pocket. He looked from Travis to me. “A witness identified the car. Bad news. The police found it abandoned and burned out near a reserve on the south end of Penrith.”
That confirmed the crash was deliberate and not the work of complete amateurs.
“Maybe it was young kids,” Jared offered. “Stole a car, lost control, and panicked at getting caught.”
“Or maybe someone wanted Grace dead,” Travis said bluntly. “Then incinerated the car to cover their tracks because they’re already known to police.” He looked to me. “What’s your gut say, Daniels?”
I swiped a hand over my face, scratching idly at the light growth of beard on my face. “My gut’s saying this has something to do with Morgan.” Believe me, you’ll be sorry, her acid voice echoed in my head. “There’s too much coincidence for it to be otherwise, but you placed her at the bar.”
Travis shrugged. “She could’ve got someone else to do it.”
“That seems a bit overkill, don’t you think?”
“Then who is it who wants Grace dead?” Travis asked.
“This is not happening again.” I jabbed my finger at both Jared and Travis in turn, my eyes flashing angrily. Between Evie being shot and Quinn kidnapped, we’d all had it. Enough was enough. “As soon as Grace gets the all clear to leave the hospital, I’m taking her somewhere safe and I’m not letting her out of my sight until this situation is contained.”
Travis looked at me as though I’d just told him I planned on picking up Mount Everest and moving it several metres to the north. “How do you plan on managing that?”
“How do I plan on managing that?” I folded my arms. Jared and Travis might have married two stubborn women, but they kept making the mistake of telling them what to do. They’d have better luck telling a cat to sit and roll over. “By putting her in the car and driving, that’s how. Straight to the beach cottage in Terrigal.” Our firm owned the central coast property, acquiring it under an assumed name. It made the cottage a haven to retreat to when one of us needed to lie low for any reason. I couldn’t think of a better place to keep Grace safe right now than there. “Mac can pack Grace a suitcase for me. When she’s released from hospital, I’ll let her assume I’m taking her home to the duplex and just keep driving. She’s hardly going to leap from a moving vehicle, is she?”
“She could,” Jared interjected. “I’ve learnt never to assume anything when it comes to women.”
The door opened and Mac slipped inside. She looked unusually severe. Her blond hair was pulled back in a tight knot and she was wearing a long-sleeved, fitted black shirt and tight black jeans tucked into combat boots. “Christ, you were right, Casey.” Mac rolled her neck as though she’d just gone a round with Muhammad Ali. “Houlihan is hardcore.”
She held an A4 yellow envelope in her hand. Seeing all three of us standing in my room, she tucked it quickly behind her back.
My eyes narrowed at the furtive gesture. “What’s that?”
“What … this?” She brought the envelope back into view, looking at it as though she’d never seen it before.
“Yes. That,” I replied.
“I’m not sure. I found it on the floor outside your room just now, ” Mac replied with widened eyes. My body tensed. Mac’s widened eyes was her tell that something had just gone down, and whatever that something was, she a) had no plans on sharing it, and b) it was likely to cause a stroke.
“Jared, was that envelope on the floor outside when you walked in five minutes ago?” I asked without taking my eyes from Mac.
Mac looked everywhere but at the three of us and began tapping the envelope against her thigh impatiently.
“No,” Jared growled.
Tension crackled in the room.
“Well, fun chat,” she said casually, “but I’ve got shit to do.”
Jared barred the door, green eyes narrowing on his sister.
“Out of my way,” she barked.
Travis snatched the envelope from her hands and passed it to me. A quick glance over her shoulder and Mac’s eyes widened further. She turned back to Jared. “Move, asshead.”
Jared folded his arms in reply.
Taking the envelope, I flipped open the lip and took a peek. There were several harmless looking white sheets of paper inside, but it was the print on the top of the first sheet made my hands shake.
“Mac.” My voice cracked on the word. She spun around, facing me, and her eyes softened. I cleared my throat. “How did you …”
Travis peeked over my shoulder when I trailed off, peering into the envelope. He jerked visibly.
“What is it?” Jared asked from his position by the door.
“It’s my parents’ autopsy report,” I told him and his body stiffened.
All eyes fell on Mac and the crackling tension reached new heights as we took in her uncharacteristic outfit with a whole new perspective.
“What. The. Fuck?” Travis growled.
“Damn,” she muttered, knowing we were on to her. “I should’ve posted it anonymously.”
My voice was a whiplash. “You broke into Morgan’s house and stole the report?”
Mac shrugged, the gesture nonchalant and frustrating. It only served to piss me off even more. She risked her damn life and was trying to make it sound like a cakewalk. “I only did what you guys were going to do anyway.”
“After we finished her background check and knew what we were dealing with!” I roared, completely losing it. “You do not put your life in danger! Not for me, not for your brothers, not for anyone, and least of all…” I flung the envelope fisted in my hand across the room and Mac flinched “…for this!”
“And what if Morgan destroyed it while you were all dithering around with background checks?” she shouted back, sounding far more frustrated than she had a right to be. This wasn’t her fight.
“Then it would’ve been too damn bad!” I yelled back, going nose to nose. Her nostrils flared and I forced myself to soften my tone. “What you did was stupid and dangerous and not worth risking your life!”
“I happen to think you’re worth it, Casey.”
Then her eyes filled with tears and I sagged like a whipped puppy. These girls were going to kill us all. I might as well just accept it. I shook my head and met her eyes. “Thank you.” A slow, happy grin overtook her pretty face. “But …” I added and her eyes narrowed. “If you ever do something like this again—”
“We’ll tell Mum,” Jared f
inished for me.
Mac gasped with horror and spun to face her brother. “You wouldn’t dare!” she shrieked. She looked to her other brother. “Travis, that’s—”
“Shut up,” Travis whipped out, his green eyes shooting sparks. “There are no words for how pissed I am at you right now.”
Travis stalked to the door and Jared shifted. He launched it open without thought or care to where Houlihan was lurking. Grabbing Mac’s bicep, he dragged her out the door behind him. “Hey!” she yelled.
“We’re going to have a conversation, Mackenzie ‘Lone Wolf’ Valentine, and by conversation I mean I’m going to talk and you are going to keep your piehole shut and listen!”
When they disappeared, I shook my head at Jared. “Your sister needs a leash.”
His eyes were flat and unhappy. “Mum and Dad already tried that. It backfired. Big time.” He glanced at his watch. “I need to get to the office. I want to see what Seth has managed to pull together for us on Morgan.”
“Is Tim there?”
It was Saturday and Tim rarely worked weekends, but I’d asked him to clear my schedule. It would probably involve some heavy duty grumbling because it meant dumping all my current cases on Travis, Jared, and Coby. They would have to deal. I was due time off.
“He was just turning up when I left so he’s probably still there.”
“Do me a favour? Tell him I’m going to be out of town for at least a week once Grace gets out of hospital. Then get him to contact the property agents for the cottage, have someone come in on Thursday and give it a clean and stock the fridge and pantry.”
“Good idea,” Jared replied and then smirked. “But you can tell Tim yourself. He mentioned plans to visit you sometime this morning. Said he wanted to bring you coffee and a brownie.”
“Awesome,” I muttered, hoping he took pity on me just this once and got my coffee somewhere else.
When Jared left, I picked up the envelope off the floor. With everything going on I knew I wasn’t in the right headspace to deal with whatever was inside it. Reading it would have to wait. Opening the cupboard beside my bed, I pulled out the bag Travis dropped off for me. After tucking it inside, I zipped it back up, put the bag away, and went in search of Henry again.
First I did a quick detour by Grace’s room. She was fast asleep, her head tilted back on the pillow, mouth open and emitting a light snore. Nate sat by her bed, reading glasses on while he perused The Sydney Morning Herald.
I stepped up to the side of her bed, watching her breathe noisily. Grace had put her family before herself. It was admirable and I was proud of her, hearing how she’d stepped up for her family during such a shitty time, but that needed to stop now. Her family was strong enough to stand on their own feet, and from the sounds of her father, they had been for some time. She needed to learn how to put herself first for a change. That would start now.
Nate looked at me over the top of his newspaper. “How’s my Henry? Cooled off yet?”
“I hope so but I’m not sure. I got waylaid,” I explained. “I just wanted to check in on Grace again before I went looking for him.”
Nate’s eyes, blue like Henry’s, lit with amusement. “As you can see here…” he jerked his chin towards his snoring daughter “…my little girl is resting just fine and I have no plans to be anywhere else today. If you’re looking for Henry, try the cafeteria or the vending machine at the end of the hall. The boy never stops eating.”
“Will do.” I ran the backs of my fingers gently down Grace’s cheek, reassured when it felt warm to the touch. When I looked up, Nate was watching the gesture. I drew my hand back. “Can I get you anything while I’m gone?”
“Coffee,” he boomed and went back to the article he was reading, adding, “Black, no sugar.”
“Oh, and Casey?” he called out when I was halfway out the door. I turned back, meeting his eyes. “My Gracie needs a man who looks after himself. You’re useless to her if you don’t give yourself time to heal too, yeah? So after you’re done talking sense into my bullheaded son, go lie down.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Nate,” he barked.
My lips twitched. I gave him a short nod and left.
Grace’s dad was right. I found Henry in the cafeteria. He was sitting alone at a table with a packet of chips, but by no means had his presence gone unnoticed. I watched two girls, maybe around twenty, approach him. One of them said something and Henry grinned. After replying, he stood up and the girls took turns getting their photo with him. More giggly chatter followed before they left, one of them slipping a piece of paper into his pocket. They moved a distance away, nearer to me, and paused to look at the photos on their screens, both arguing over whose picture was better.
Henry looked up when I reached his table. He sighed and waved for me to sit down, saying, “Nothing like a couple of pretty fans to make you feel less like a fucking loser, right?”
“Looking out for your little sister makes you a loser now?”
“I’m sorry, Casey.” He looked at me, his eyes sad and defeated. “You were a friend and telling you to stay away from Grace was pretty much saying you weren’t good enough. I guess after everything that happened with Evie and then Quinn, I got scared.”
My brows flew up, surprised. “You think I am good enough?”
Henry shrugged. “Yeah, I do.”
“I’m not. But for Grace I want to be. Do you get that? I’ve never cared about being good enough for anyone until I met your sister. I’m sorry for going behind your back, and I had every intention of speaking to you about it, but I’m not here to give you excuses. I’m here to tell you that no one is in safer hands than she is.” I locked eyes on his, letting him see the seriousness of my words. “No one.”
Henry swallowed, and after a pause, nodded.
I breathed a heavy sigh of relief because that just went down a whole helluva lot easier than I thought it would. “This whole thing with Grace and stepping up for your dad when he needed help, that’s something you need to talk to your sister about, but she did it because she loves you and she wanted you to have your dream. You would’ve done the same thing for her. So rather than get pissed off and make Grace upset, let it go. In her eyes, you’ve already paid her back because you didn’t stuff around. You worked your ass off to get where you are now and you’re doing something you love, just like Emma and Ava are. And because of that, she gets to sit back and be happy with the choice she made to put her family before herself. Let her have that happiness, Henry, because without it, you’ll make everything she did mean nothing.”
Henry, eyes trained on the table as I spoke, nodded again. Then he looked at me. “I know you’re right.” His voice was hoarse and he cleared his throat. “I’m not pissed at her. I’m pissed at myself. For not knowing. For giving her hell for leaving us when the whole time leaving us was the last thing she wanted to do. We lost our mother, and we had each other to lean on, but Grace left and she had no one, and I was an asshole because I hated her for leaving. I hated her because I thought we didn’t matter enough, when all along, we mattered too much. And the whole time I was a prick to her about it, she didn’t say a word.” His eyes filled and he let out a shaky breath. “I don’t know how to fix this.”
“You can’t fix the past,” I told him because I knew that firsthand.
“No, I can’t.” He shook his head. “But I can be there for her now, right?”
“You can.” I stood up to leave. After stealing a chip from the packet on the table, I slapped him on the back. “We cool now?”
Henry’s voice hardened. “Not quite.”
I paused, the chip halfway to my mouth. “Oh?”
“Is someone trying to hurt Grace?”
I pressed my lips together. I didn’t want to scare him but after the whole speech I just gave, I needed to be honest. “Possibly.”
Henry closed his eyes at the word, muttering a low, “Fuck. Who would do something like this?”
“Henry.” H
e opened his eyes. “We’re looking into it. Right now I think it’s best if I take Grace away for a while. Our firm has a house up the coast. She’ll be safe there with me. It’ll give her time to heal while we work out what’s going on.”
He stood up. We were the same height so he was looking at me directly. “On one condition.”
“Okay. What?”
“You keep me in the loop. If I find out you’ve been keeping any more shit from me, I won’t care if you’re my sister’s boyfriend or the fucking Pope. I’ll punch you out.”
I wouldn’t have expected anything less. Popping the chip in my mouth, I crunched it hard between my teeth and held out my hand. Henry took it, shaking firmly. “Agreed.”
I spent the next few days in hospital because it was a good excuse to keep watch on Grace. Her room was situated opposite a small bench of seats. Beside that sat the vending machine Henry liked to frequent, Evie too, judging by the number of chocolate bars stashed in her bag. When I wasn’t with Grace, either Travis or Coby sat on the bank of seats, keeping watch on her door and fielding conversation from Henry and Evie when they visited the vending machine to replenish their stash. The rest of my time was spent in clandestine meetings, dodging Houlihan, popping painkillers, and getting to know Grace’s dad.
When I asked, Grace was adamant the crash was an accident. She couldn’t come up with a single name of anyone who might have it in for her. I made her ring John so he could weigh in on the conversation via speakerphone. He told me the modelling industry was a bitchy, jealous world but it wasn’t full of people trying to kill off the competition. Regardless, we kept Seth busy looking into all her current and past jobs.
By the time Friday morning rolled around, we had yet to find answers. I got up and showered early. Today we were both getting out of here. I wanted to be ready so I could help Grace.
After pulling on a pair of board shorts, Houlihan materialised. With military style precision, she began re-strapping my ribs and barking post-care instructions.
“The car’s all fuelled up,” Coby told me as he strode into my room. I was borrowing his car for the trip—the same tricked out Toyota Hilux that Evie had, only in black. Seeing Houlihan, he started backing away.