He’d hardly call forcibly entering with the assistance of a battering ram knocking. Gage studied the man. His blond hair was trimmed in a military crew cut. He wasn’t as old as Connors, but he’d been around a bit. Definitely former military, but if Gage had to guess, he’d go with Air Force. He had the look of a fly boy.
“I—”
The door opened. “Gentleman,” Logan said as he entered the room, “I am Mr. Callahan’s attorney. He will not be answering any questions at the moment. In fact, he will be leaving with me.”
A big smirk curled Gage’s lips. He’d have sighed with relief, but that would clue in the cops that he’d been concerned.
“Now, wait a minute,” the blond guy started.
“Detective Montrose, is it?” Logan said.
The other man nodded.
“Detective Montrose, we both know that if you actually had anything on Mr. Callahan, you would have arrested and charged him by now. Instead, you broke into his home and terrified his pregnant wife. This tells me you have something… but not enough. In light of that, we will be leaving. If you wish to speak with my client, you may reach out to my office, and we will schedule something at a decent hour.”
Logan glanced down at Gage’s hands. “Really?” he said, glaring first at Montrose and then at Connors. “I expected better of you, John,” he said to Connors.
Connors said nothing, but his lips flattened into a thin line as he fished the key out of his pocket and unlocked Gage’s cuffs.
Gage said nothing but gave a nod as he stood. He maintained his silence as he turned and followed his brother out of the room and then out of the station. A town car and the driver waited in front of the station, and took them to Callahan Security.
No one said a word. Both brothers knew that talking in front of a driver might provide evidence admissible in court.
Finally, they arrived at Callahan Security and made a beeline for the top floor. The receptionist, who also happened to be a crack shot, resecured the entry. The building was on official lockdown. As Gage stepped off the elevator, Dani raced to his side and captured him in a hard hug. He kissed the top of her head and ran a hand down her baby bump, ensuring they were both in one piece. Then, he wrapped an arm around her and led her back to the couch and settled her on the cushions before joining her, pressing as close as he could get without hauling her onto his lap. He hadn’t realized how worried for her and the baby he’d been, and he took a moment to haul in a deep breath, hold it for a four count, then sighed it back out.
She didn’t say a word, but Gage knew she was desperately trying to keep her emotions in check, and he loved her even more for it.
“So,” he said as he looked around at his brothers and their significant others. “What the fuck?”
Mitch grinned wryly. “That pretty much sums the situation up right there. We’re all wondering the same thing.”
Alex started to pace. “It’s the guy, the one that I ran into in the museum. I told you he looks like Gage. It’s got to be him that they are looking for.”
“Great,” Logan scoffed as he walked behind the counter in the kitchen area. “Just how do we convince the police that Gage has a doppelganger?” He started pulling food out of the fridge. “That’s going to be a hard sell.
Lacy climbed onto one of the stools at the bar in front of Logan. “It is, no doubt. Some other guy who looks like me did it? They’d never buy that defense. The thing is, we have to be able to prove that Gage wasn’t anywhere near there when it happened.”
Dani sighed. “Except he was. He was right there in Central Park outside of the Met.”
“That does make it more difficult,” Mitch agreed. “But not impossible. What if we all say he was here?”
Lacy and Logan exchanged a loaded look. “They won’t believe it because we’re all family. We would need proof to back that up. An outside witness or five would be good.”
Alex took a stool next to Lacy. She turned to Mitch. “Where’s Drake? Is he in town? Do you think he’d back us up?”
Mitch shrugged. “I have no idea where he is, but if he’s here, I’m pretty sure he’d be happy to say he was here as well.”
Logan shook his head as he put a charcuterie tray on the counter. “We would need it to be in a public place where other people could say they saw Gage. It’s known that Drake is one of our clients. Connors and Montrose aren’t rookies. It’s not going to be easy to fool them,”
Dani licked her lips. “What if we put them on a manifest?”
Logan stared at her. “What do you mean ‘on a manifest’?”
She tucked her hair behind her ear. “Well, what I’m saying is... what if we said he was with the client and just arrived late last night. If we put him on the manifest and fly him into Teterboro, we could then show video of him arriving there. That way, he couldn’t have been at the Met.”
Gage’s pulse quickened. It was an idea, but he wasn’t sure if it was a good one.
Lacy chewed on a cracker. “Here’s the thing—wouldn’t you have to fake a flight? And on top of that, fake all the videos? And the origin of the flight?”
