AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Exactly.” She turned her attention back to a wide-eyed Erik, who had begun to shuffle his feet. His panicked gaze shot to the door, but Hez and the tire iron still blocked the path of escape. “Who is your boss, Erik? You might as well tell us. Once Hez calls the state police, it will all come out anyway. They’ll go through your bank records, your computers, everything. You can’t hide it.”
“I don’t know anything. I just provide the letters—I don’t know what he does with things after that. My role is too small for you to bother with.”
Hez advanced toward Erik with the tire iron. “Tell us what you know.”
His gaze zipping between Hez and Savannah, Erik shook his head. “You don’t know what he’ll do to me! You don’t want to get involved either. He’ll kill anyone who stands in his way.” He broke for the door and tried to barrel past Hez, but Hez swung the tire iron in an arc that caught Erik under the chin.
Blood streaming from a small cut, he lurched back with his hand to his face before he stumbled and fell onto his backside. The force knocked his phone from his hand, and it flew across the floor to rest by Savannah’s feet.
He pulled his hand back and stared at the blood smeared on his fingers. “I can’t tell you more. He’s a sociopath.” His voice wobbled.
Who would paralyze Erik with so much fear? Savannah leaned over and grabbed his phone. She stepped to Erik’s prone form and leaned over to hold the phone in front of his face to unlock it, then pulled up his call history. The number he was about to call before Hez arrived was at the top, and as soon as she saw the name, it all clicked into place.
Beckett Harrison. The provost was in a perfect position to handle all this. And after the way he’d reacted when she clarified their relationship, the title of sociopath made perfect sense. She turned the phone around to show Hez.
He stared at the name, and his eyes turned steely as he seemed to make the same connections she did. And they both knew they had no proof of anything. She hoped Hez had some kind of legal wrangling up his sleeve, because it would be hard to sleep tonight knowing Beckett was out there plotting his next move. And she believed Erik—Beckett might target Simon.
* * *
Andersen made his move while Hez was distracted by the phone. He bull-rushed Hez, sending him sprawling. Savannah and Simon screamed. The tire iron flew from Hez’s hand and rang dully as it hit the hardwood floor. Hez scrambled away and grabbed for the iron.
Andersen lunged toward Savannah, snatching the phone from her hand. Hez lurched to his feet and raised the iron to defend his wife, but Andersen was running for the half-open door.
Simon started to run after Andersen, but Hez caught his arm. “Let him go. You’ll just get hurt if you try to stop him.”
Simon tried to jerk free. “But he’s my dad! He’ll listen to me.”
Hez kept his grip as Andersen vanished. “That doesn’t mean much. Not to a guy like him.” Simon glared up at him, his face full of anger and pain. “I’m sorry, Simon. You deserve better.”
A chilly breeze blew in through the open door and Savannah rubbed her arms. “Should we stay here until the police arrive?”
Hez shook his head. “It’ll take a while for the state police to get someone here, and they probably won’t do anything without a request from the DA’s office. I’ll give Hope a call as soon as I’m back in my office.”
A little furrow appeared between her brows. “What about the local police?”
“They’ve been compromised.” He told her about Bruno’s findings. “I’m reluctant to involve them until I know who we can trust.”
Savannah shivered. “Let’s get out of here.”
Hez nodded. “I’ll walk you to your car.”
She blinked in the autumn sun as they stepped outside. “Do you think they’ll have enough to arrest Beckett?”
“I’m afraid not. The only evidence we have is our testimony that we saw Beckett’s number on Erik’s phone and a convoluted story about smuggled artifacts. That’s not even enough to get a search warrant. It’s not exactly probable cause to believe Beckett committed a crime.” Hez sighed. “We’d need Erik’s cooperation, and that’s obviously not going to happen.”
Simon snorted. “I can’t believe my dad is such a git.”
Savannah patted him on the back. “At least you’ve got a great mom.”
“And she’s the one in jail.” Simon shook his head. “If we get some evidence on this Beckett, they’ll let her out—right, Uncle Hez?”
“Maybe, but there’s no ‘we’ in this, Simon. I’ll handle it.” Hez glanced at Savannah and added, “With your aunt’s help, of course.”
Simon frowned. “I can help too!”
Hez could hardly believe his ears. “Like you did today? You could have gotten yourself and your aunt killed—do you understand that?”
Savannah put an arm around Simon’s skinny shoulders. “Hez is right, honey. What you did was very dangerous. You need to leave this to the adults.”
