“Gentry Bristow,” Nick said, turning back to the task at hand. “You’re under arrest for criminal threats, blackmail, and conspiring to commit murder.”
“This is total and complete bullshit!” Gus roared. “My son didn’t do a damn thing. I’ll have your badge, Chambers.”
“Let me go,” Gentry railed as Nick led him to Santiago’s vehicle with a hand on his biceps. “You can’t do this to me. That’s not my email. I was hacked.”
“You keep your mouth shut until the lawyer gets there,” Gus ordered, trailing along behind them as Nick dragged a kicking and screaming Gentry to the SUV and shoved him in the back. Spearman guided Gus into Nick’s vehicle with a hand on his head. All the while, Gus muttered about getting their badges and his lawyer making sure they never worked in this town again. To Grayson, he shouted, “Call my lawyer.”
Nick looked at Colt with an exasperated expression and then shifted his gaze to Grayson. “You need to come to the station too. Do I need to arrest you as well, or can I trust you to drive back with us?”
“No, sir. I mean, yes,” Grayson stuttered and shoved his hands in his pockets. “I’ll follow you in. After I put the horses away.”
“Good.” Nick opened the back of his vehicle and pulled out a box. “Santiago, go with Grayson to make sure he does what he said. Spearman, come with me.”
“And me?” Colt asked.
Nick gestured to the vehicles. “Stay here and keep an eye on them.”
Colt wanted to go with Nick, but he stayed put with a nod. He turned his attention to Grayson, who was heading back to the arena with Santiago at his side, while he replayed the events since arriving at the Bristow’s ranch in his mind.
Grayson had been standing back the whole time Nick searched their phones, all through the scuffle with his dad and brother and while his dad and Gentry were being handcuffed and arrested. Either Colt was projecting, or there was an air of relief surrounding the youngest Bristow when his family was being hauled off. There was something about him that Colt couldn’t put a finger on. He didn’t think Grayson was innocent of any wrongdoing, but his gut told him Grayson wasn’t fully on board with what his family was up to.
A short while later, Nick exited the house with a desktop computer sticking out of the box he carried, and Spearman held an evidence bag that contained what looked like flash drives and a hard drive. He placed the items they’d collected into Spearman’s vehicle.
“Let’s go,” he said to Colt, who only then got back into the Interceptor.
Gus bitched and blundered as they headed down the driveway until Nick told him to shut up or he’d find more charges to lay against him. Grumbling his discontent, Gus leaned back in the seat and, thankfully, shut up.
Back outside the property, Nick stopped beside Colt’s truck, and as Colt opened the door, he paused and turned back to Nick, his piercing blue eyes once again hidden behind his mirrored shades. Colt motioned with a tip of his head over his shoulder. Nick put his vehicle into Park and stepped out, away from Gus’s ears.
“You might be able to lean on Grayson for more information,” Colt said as his thoughts and ideas continued to formulate the puzzle that was Grayson Bristow. “He didn’t seem as eager as Gus and Gentry to put pressure on Mason for his land the other day, and today, he didn’t seem all that bothered by the search or by his family in handcuffs.”
“You think if he was as involved with this as his father and brother, he would have acted more like the other two?”
“I do.” Colt thought on it a little more. “I think he’s afraid of something—or his family. I guarantee he knows what’s happening, but I’m not so sure his hands are as dirty.”
“I’ll have a chat with him.”
With a tip of his hat, Colt left Nick to take his detainees into town and climbed back into his own truck. He sat there for a minute to let the buildup of adrenaline from the confrontation with the Bristows dissipate from his bloodstream.
Gentry was behind the emails, though it was highly unlikely he was working alone. The rest of the family knew and or were possibly the brains behind it. But tonight, Gentry and Gus, at least, would be behind bars. Hopefully, permanently.
Colt grabbed his phone and pulled up Mason’s number. He answered on the first ring.
“Where are you?” Mason said with urgency. “What’s going on?”
Colt smiled at the sound of Mason’s voice. Something in his chest eased and settled into place. “Heading home. Nick just arrested Gus and Gentry Bristow.”
Silence filled the other end of the line, and at first, Colt thought it was the shock of hearing the news, but then he replayed what he’d said.Home. He held the phone to his forehead and cursed under his breath.
“Mason?” he prompted.
“It’s over?”
“Hopefully,” Colt said. He didn’t want to feed Mason any false hopes. He’d already thought the case was over when they’d arrested Jack Wilks and then again when they’d caught John Odling in the act of vandalism. But it wasn’t over until the charges stuck and anyone else involved was also arrested and put away.
“For tonight though, you can rest easy,” Colt said.
“With you.” Mason said it as a statement, but Colt heard the question underlying his words.
