“Or there was cash leftover from the embezzlement,” Ten added. “If that money was sitting in an offshore account, it would have racked up interest, along with the money on deposit.”
Ronan pulled up a fresh browser window and looked up the Conrad Group. He navigated to the “who we are” page and scanned the list of names. “Well, what do you know? Wanna guess who the partners are in the business?”
“Mike and Carol Brady?” Ten asked with a snicker.
“Yup! William and M.L. Conrad.” Ronan kept scanning the page. “Hmm, this is interesting. The Conrads do a lot of charity work,like adding access ramps to people’s homes and working with Habitat for Humanity. This kind of work adds to their reputation and keeps them above reproach. The company has been in business for over twenty years. If someone were to make a claim against William and Mary Lou, I’m betting they wouldn’t be believed.”
“What’s our next move?” Ten asked.
“I need to print out everything we’ve found and talk to Jude and Fitz. We’ll decide what to do after that.”
“I want in,” Ten said. “It’s not often I get fooled by someone, and I want to be there when Mary Lou’s empire collapses around her.”
“You got it,” Ronan agreed. His husband was usually mild-mannered, but when Ten felt misled or outright lied to, then he could be a formidable foe. Ronan sure as hell didn’t want to be on his shit list.
Grinning, Ronan hit the button to print Walt Claxton’s mug shots. It was going to tickle him pink to bring down the arrogant contractor and his murdering wife.
20
Tennyson
With Cope, Lizbet, and Aurora all feeling much better, Ten didn’t feel so bad about borrowing Fitz and Jude for one last trip to Fun-A-Rama. He’d called Baxter Brighthouse before lunch and let him know that Kotter had delivered another message he was going to want to hear as soon as possible. Baxter agreed to meet Ten and the others around two that afternoon.
Once Ronan had laid out all the evidence he’d gathered, Jude and Fitz had been quick to agree that Mary Lou and Walt/William had been the ones to steal the money and then killed Kotter Brighthouse to cover it up.
“How are we going to play this?” Jude asked when Ronan pulled into the parking lot.
“Baxter thinks Ten has a message for him from his father, which is bullshit, but it gets us in the door,” Ronan began.
“It’s notallbullshit,” Ten said. “One of the words Kotter said to me was ‘tilt.’ Baxter and Mary Lou will remember I mentioned that the last time we were here. We didn’t know what ‘tilt’ meant then, but we do now. I say we waltz in there and lay our evidence on the table. No pageantry or trying to be clever.” To be honest, all Ten wanted to do was get back to summer vacation with his kids and brother. He wanted Mary Lou and Walt to finally get what was coming to them, but after that, he was spending the rest of River’s visitoffthe clock.
“I agree with Ten,” Ronan said.
“Let’s do this.” Jude waggled his eyebrows and hopped out of the SUV.
“Ten, are you getting anything from Mary Lou or Walt?” Fitz asked.
“They’re enjoying a drink together. Neither of them have any idea what’s coming.” Ten grinned deviously. “So far, they’ve had an answer for everything. That’s about to change.” Ten wasn’t the type who was interested in any kind of revenge or retribution. His gift had never been foolproof, but for some reason, he wanted to nail Mary Lou Conrad for lying to her son for the last twenty years about her affair and the death of Kotter Brighthouse.
Ronan led the charge into the building. He offered his usual charming smile to the receptionist, who told them to go on up to Baxter’s office. “Ready?” he asked when they reached the closed office door.
“Let’s fucking go!” Ten angry whispered. It wasn’t like him to use language like that, but this impromptu case was pulling him away from time with River. They’d missed enough of that already.
With a brief knock, Ronan strode into Baxter’s office. “Hey, everyone.”
“Mr. O’Mara!” Mary Lou was all smiles. “It’s good to see you all again. Mr. Fitzgibbon. Mr. Byrne.”
“That’s detective, ma’am,” Ronan said, a ghost of a smile gently curling his lips. “DetectiveO’Mara.DetectiveByrne.CaptainFitzgibbon.”
Mary Lou’s bright smile darkened. “Of course. Can I get anyone a drink?”
“No, thanks.” Ronan strode to the couches and took a seat next to Baxter.
“It’s good to see you, Ronan. Tennyson mentioned there was another message from my father.” Baxter clutched his hands in his lap and looked expectantly at Tennyson.
Ten took a deep breath. “One of the last things your father said to me was, ‘My wife. Lost. Tilt.’ None of us had any idea what ‘tilt’ meant in this context for the longest time, but Ronan figured it out yesterday.”
“Don’t keep us in suspense.” Mary Lou’s eyes widened. “What did my husband mean?”
