That background check might bring the Colavitos directly to Heartstone. Sucking a breath in, he tried to decide what he could say, how he could explain away whatever Lundin had found.
“What did your research tell you?” Gabe’s pulse was racing. What had Casey searched for? Because if Ranger Man alerted the Colavitos to Gabe’s location, they were all in danger, and Gabe literally had nowhere left to go to ground.
“Why don’t you tell me?”
“Oh, my fucking god!” Gabe threw up his hands in frustration. “Are you one of those people? The type that always answers a question with a question? Frankly, I’m shockedyouhaven’t ended up in some shitty spider-infested shed with a round hole in your head. I’m here because I made a mistake, okay? A stupid one, and some”—he waved a hand—“bad people would like to find me and fit me with cement shoes or whatever it is the mob does these days. I want to know what you foundout because if they learn where I am, I need to get the hell out of here.”
“Did you just threaten me?” Even though he was sitting behind the desk, Lundin seemed ready to pounce.
Gabe had to rewind the words he’d just spouted. Right, spider-infested shed, shot in the head. Could be construed as a threat.
“No, that was just a fantasy.” This time he did step back from the desk a few inches. “Relax. I assure you, you’ll know when I’m threatening you.”
Gabe inhaled a lungful of oxygen, forcing himself to breathe. He reminded himself that it was good that Lundin cared about Elton, and Gordon too. Cared enough to check up on a random stranger. Lundin was the kind of person who kept an eye out for the people he considered friends—and that was all he was doing. Gabriel understood too well just how easy it was to take advantage of people, even those who thought they knew better.
“Look, I’ll admit that I’m not the nicest guy on the planet, and I don’t know what you may or may not have found in your research, but I mean Elton no harm. I promise.”
He was beginning to suspect that Lundin hadn’t found anything concrete, which was good. But had he found something that tied Gabriel to Peter? If Lundin pinged Peter, could the Colavitos use that to find him?
In less than a week, Gabe cared more about Elton and Gordon than the life he’d left behind. And, he added spitefully, the dog curled up in the corner. Lundin—who he cared less than nothing about, honest—may have fucked it all up with a tap of a computer key.
“I genuinely want to find Gordon. Alive. Before the sheriff gets to him. Because you know as well as I do that he will be the first, and maybe last”—except for Gabe, of course—“person they will look at. I only met the guy once, and you’ve heard about that, but he seemed like a nice enough person.”
They stared at each other in an impasse of sorts. For reasons he wasn’t examining too much, Gabriel wanted Lundin to believe him. He had no idea what Lundin wanted.
“I’ll take your word—for now. But step one toe out of line and I’ll contact a friend who works for the district attorney’s office in Seattle,” Lundin warned with a growl.
Gabriel rolled his eyes. “Alright, tough guy. If I step one toe out of line, you can kick me off the island.”
“So, your mother was a friend of Elton’s? Huh. I know he has no family. I mean, he was married a long time ago, but they divorced in the ’70s, and there were no kids. What’s theTicketgot to do with all of this?” Again, Lundin was not asking Gabe, he was demanding that he share the information.
Gabriel sighed, already hating this new non-grifter leaf he was turning over. Eyeing Lundin, he tried to decide what was need-to-share and what information Lundin had to earn. Toes out of line or not, Gabe didn’t owe the guy his unabridged life story. He hardly knew him. Even if Elton thought he shit gold bricks, Lundin would have to prove himself too.
Fine.
“My mother wrote me a letter that I received after she died. Aside from leading me here, to Elton, I learned aboutThe Golden Ticket. From what I now understand, because believe me it’s been a long fucking few days and a lot has been sprung on me, the sailboat had been my father’s, which is why I don’t have a deed. Never met him anyway. But Mom paid moorage for it all these years while Elton watched over it. I’ll tell you right now, it’s the only sentimental thing she ever did.” That last part Lundin didn’t need to know, but it spilled out anyway.
“I’ve always wondered why Elton kept that boat,” Lundin said thoughtfully, leaning back in his chair. “Where is thepaperwork? When I asked, he wouldn’t give me a straight answer. Just ‘when the time comes’ kind of thing.”
Served the asshole right. And proved, if Gabriel had needed more proof, that Elton was a good person.
“Elton called the person who does hold the deed,” Gabe informed him. “My biological father was apparently her nephew, something like that.” He waved a hand to indicate his high level of having no fucks to give. “There’s a lot of family shit that, frankly, I’ve never had to deal with. It was always me and my mother, that’s all. But theTicketis mine and supposedly the deed is on its way.”
Gabe stared hard at Lundin and narrowed his eyes as realization hit him. “Wouldn’t you know who the owner was? Isn’t there some fucking marina website to register on?”
“I’ve never had reason to look,” Lundin said with a slight twitch of his lips. “It wasn’t any of my business.”
So the demand was just a way to harass him. Gabe took back all the halfway nice thoughts he’d had about the guy. Fine. They didn’t need to be friends, that wasn’t how the game was played. He could just as easily ogle someone who hated him.
“Now that I’ve shared my dark secrets, are you going to tell me what’s really going on between you and the sheriff? Was the evidence against your brother faked or something?”
Lundin barked out a laugh. “Yeah, like I said before, not this morning. And I’m pretty sure you only shared what you had to in order to get me off your back.”
Oh, he’s a quick one, Chance.
However, Ranger Man’s reply implied that he might be more willing to share more at another time. Gabe could work with that.
“Okay…. So,” Gabe began, “Gordon’s missing, possibly floating out to sea. Dwayne Perkins is dead. Neither you nor Elton think Gordon is responsible. From what I know, I tend to agree.”
