Settling an Old Score - Delores Fossen Page 0,50

more of it when he silently read whatever was on his phone screen. Sanders showed the text to Waite, his eyes darting across the message, and he swallowed hard. Every drop of color seemed to drain from his face.

“No deal,” Waite said. His voice was suddenly as shaky as he was. “I’m not saying another word to you.”

Chapter Fourteen

Eli had already used every curse word he knew. Multiple times. And he would have used them all over again if he’d thought it would help. It wouldn’t. No matter how hard he’d pressed Waite, the man had just clammed up.

Or rather he’d been threatened if he continued to speak.

Eli knew that in his gut.

Waite had been ready to spill. Eli was absolutely certain of that. But the confession had been nixed because of whatever was in the text that Waite’s lawyer had shown him. Now, even after all that cursing and the phone calls, Eli still didn’t have proof of who’d sent that text.

Eli reined in any urges to belt out more profanity, and he stopped pacing when Ashlyn came into the kitchen. The moment they’d gotten back to Jack’s house, she’d gone into the bedroom to check on Cora, and judging from her expression and the fact that it was a short check, everything seemed to be okay there. He figured her raised eyebrow was for him and not anything going on with the baby. Ashlyn wanted an update on the case, especially since the danger was breathing down their necks.

“Nothing,” he volunteered, keeping his voice at a whisper since Gunnar was already asleep on the sofa. “It was a no-go on getting the lawyer to reveal any info about that text.”

Of course, Eli hadn’t expected anything different. After all, the lawyer could claim it was client-attorney privilege, but it still riled him to the core. Waite and the lawyer were on the same payroll, and Eli wanted the murdering SOB who was paying them behind bars.

“What about the tails you had on Oscar and Dominick?” Ashlyn asked. “Did they see anything?”

“Oh, yeah.” And that was the second source of Eli’s extreme frustration. “According to the deputy on Oscar, she saw him use his phone right about the time of the text which means he could have been the one to tell Waite to shut up. Of course, Oscar isn’t willing to just hand over his phone, so I’m having to work on a court order to get that, too.”

He’d get the court order, but if Oscar was truly behind this, then he’d likely used a burner, something that couldn’t be traced. Something that Oscar would have already ditched.

“What about Dominick?” Ashlyn walked closer, and she slid her hands into the back pockets of her jeans. “Did he come up with the receipts for the renovations?”

“More or less. There are receipts, all right, for the nursery redo, but we’ll have to check and make sure they’re legit. I still think that’s way too much cash for a single room.”

Proving that, though, wouldn’t be easy, and like the text, it could be impossible to get to the truth. Someone like Dominick could have easily paid a contractor to falsify receipts.

Since Eli didn’t want to dump that bad news on Ashlyn, he changed the subject. “Is Cora okay?”

She nodded. “Whoever brought in the crib put it in the spare room where Gloria’s asleep.”

“Good. It’s best if Cora’s not alone in the bedroom.”

The moment Eli said the words, he wanted to wince. On the surface, it was an innocent thing to say, but Ashlyn and he weren’t anywhere near the “surface.” There was the blasted attraction. And more. It was what she’d said to him earlier.

I’m in love with you, Eli.

That was definitely deep stuff, and Eli knew he couldn’t continue to step around it. However, before he even had the chance to bring it up, his phone buzzed to indicate he had a call. He scowled when he saw the name on the screen and immediately showed it to Ashlyn.

Remy.

Since Eli definitely wanted to talk to him, he motioned for Ashlyn to follow him to the bedroom he’d been using. That way, the conversation wouldn’t wake up Gloria, the baby or Gunnar. Eli shut the door and put the call on speaker.

“Hold on a second, Remy,” Eli told the man, and he texted dispatch so they could try to trace the call. “Where are you?” Eli demanded once he’d done that.

Remy didn’t jump to answer, though. It took him several long moments.