Galen's Gemma - Dale Mayer Page 0,17

Rebecca said, giving in, but still glaring at her sister, as if this were an old argument with no winners.

Galen watched as the women immediately joined forces for the little girl’s happiness and headed off to look at the animals. He, on the other hand, did a quick sweep of the cabin and then pulled out his laptop, connected up to the surveillance equipment they had left at Joe’s cabin and to Joe and Rebecca’s house. As he went through the videos, he couldn’t see any unwelcome guests, which made him feel marginally better. Also a part of him said this whole thing was a wild goose chase and completely unnecessary, but, for whatever reason, Gemma seemed to think it wasn’t, and she definitely wasn’t the kind to flap over nothing.

As he stepped out the front door, he heard a short whistle. He turned to look at Zack, motioning at him from the other cabin. Galen walked over and joined him on the front deck, where there were two chairs. “So, what did you learn?” Galen asked.

“I checked out the compound. They are pretty heavily armed.”

He turned slowly and stared at Zack. “Seriously?”

Zack nodded. “There’s a full armory, and I’m talking AK-47s and hand grenades. That level of armed.”

“Do you think Gemma knows?”

“I wouldn’t be surprised either way.”

“I don’t think it would bother her if she doesn’t,” Galen said. “Something about her makes me think she’s completely okay with weapons. But I don’t know if she expects her friends here to be quite that well armed.”

“Or she was counting on it, and that’s why we’re here,” Zack said.

“Good point. If so, it was smart of her again. That’s possible too. I’ve checked the camera screens, and there’s no activity I could see at Joe’s cabin or the house.”

“No?” He scratched his head. “I’m not sure if that’s good or bad at this point.”

“I did get an update from Levi,” Galen said. “Sounds like the police are looking to close the case as a burglary. Whereas they should be looking at it as yet another connected break-in to the brewery.”

“Which would mean the murderer gets away scot-free,” Zack said derisively, shaking his head. “The cops don’t see this as connected.”

“Possibly. But we need a witness or a weak link in this that we can put some pressure on, to see if we could blow things up a bit.”

“I think the weak link is here,” he said. “I’m pretty sure Rebecca knows more than she’s saying.”

Galen looked at Zack, surprised. “Seriously?”

“I get the feeling she’s not telling us everything.”

“Such as?”

“Such as why Joe was at the office so late. According to the police report, he didn’t come home until eleven that night. And the break-in later that same night? Rebecca wasn’t home at the time.”

“I didn’t know that,” he said. “Was the little girl?”

“No. They were both away from the house. Convenient, huh?” he said.

“You expect her to be involved somehow? That would be tough.”

“I hope not,” Zack said fervently. “I came to help, but I’m not blind to who she is either.”

“You don’t think she’s the murderer though, right?”

“No,” he said, pausing. “Not the murderer. She isn’t quite innocent either. She can be malicious. You just have to watch her interact with his own sister to see that.”

“So it could have been a coincidence that she wasn’t at home that night.”

“Well, it sounds like we need to get some answers from her. I feel like Gemma has taken control of this, and we haven’t even gotten in the front door of the investigation.” Zack snorted. “Welcome to Gemma’s world.”

“Always taking charge?” Galen looked over where the two women stood on either side of the little girl, and a horse was up at the fence, her nose down so the little girl could pet her.

“No, not necessarily,” Zack said. “I knew her ex though.”

“She said he was ex-military.”

“He turned mercenary once he was engaged to her. She didn’t know about it.”

“Ouch,” he said. “I have a feeling she has very high morals, strong ethics, and wouldn’t have approved. Especially if he didn’t tell her. I doubt secrets fly with her either.”

“Exactly,” Zack said. “He, on the other hand, wanted more money, thinking he could provide better, and they could take off and have a better life. So, once he finished his time with the military, he used some of his connections to get private work in Africa. But, when she found out, she was in Switzerland. They had an almighty row, and