or keep us in suspense?”
“We’re going to fix things.”
“Some details would be nice.”
I gave him a smile that I didn’t feel. “We’re going to pay a visit to the piece of shit who took Christie’s money.”
36
Riley
After Christie drove off, I spent the afternoon at the Ranger Station feeling guilty. I took a shower and then laid in bed, wallowing in my misery.
I shouldn’t have kept such a big secret from her. It seemed like such a small thing at first, but it snowballed over time. Growing larger and larger until it was out of control, too big to contain. And then for her to find out from her ex-boyfriend rather than from me…
It was the worst possible way for everything to go down. I had majorly fucked up.
Maybe she would forgive me over time. A couple of weeks from now after everything had died down. Maybe I would get a second chance. That was the best I could hope for.
Then Logan returned.
And he had a plan.
A plan that gave me a chance to fix things now rather than waiting.
And even if it didn’t fix my screwup, it could still fix everything else for her.
Harper and I drove to the South Kaibab Trailhead to pick Logan up. He was drenched in sweat and wore a determined look on his face.
“We’re going to pay a visit to the piece of shit who took Christie’s money.”
“Pierce?” I asked. “Her ex?”
“Christie told us he’s been dragging his feet since they broke up,” Harper explained while driving. “Refusing to transfer all the non-profit accounts into her name. Making up excuses about two-factor authentication. He’s the only one with access to the accounts. If money is missing, it has to be because of him.”
“So what do we do?” I asked. “Show up and what? Interrogate him?”
Logan responded in a soft, dangerous voice. “I want to ask him some questions.”
“You’re going to beat the shit out of him.”
He glanced at me. “If he doesn’t give us the answers we need? Maybe.”
“Nobody needs to get into a fight,” Harper argued. “I’m sure we can settle this reasonably.”
Doubtful, I thought.
We drove south to Flagstaff in silence. Once we reached the city Logan gave directions. “Take this exit. Drive for half a mile. Turn there—he’s the third house on the right.”
Darkness had fallen by the time Harper parked in front of the house. It was a nice rancher with a detached garage and icicle-style Christmas lights hanging from the gutters.
“What’s the plan?” I asked as we got out of the car. “Do you know what exactly you want to ask him?”
Logan stalked to the door without looking at me. “I’m going to wing it.”
“Wing it? That’s the opposite of being prepared.”
Logan banged on the door and glanced at us. “What I intend to do, I didn’t learn in the Boy Scouts.”
“This is a bad idea,” Harper muttered.
I thought so too, but we had to do something. I had to make things right with Christie.
The man who opened the door was not what I expected. He was big—almost as big as Logan. But his appearance didn’t match his muscular frame. He wore a green-and-red knitted Christmas cardigan and khaki pants. He looked like if Mr. Rogers had bulked up on steroids.
“Can I help you?” he asked.
“We’re volunteers for the Happy Bones fundraiser,” Harper said before Logan could speak. “We wanted to talk to you about the accounts.”
A sneer touched Pierce’s thin lips. “You’re Christie’s new volunteers. The criminals.”
Logan’s fist tightened at his side.
“Will you let us inside?” Harper quickly said. “So we can talk?”
“No. I don’t think I will let you into my house. In fact, I don’t have anything to talk to you about, so if you will kindly leave my property we can—”
Logan’s punch caught him in the gut, folding him like a card table. Logan shoved him backwards and Pierce stumbled into the foyer of his house.
“Damnit…” Harper muttered.
I hesitated a moment. I didn’t know what was about to happen, but I knew we were crossing a line. This was something far worse than just public indecency.
But I quickly realized that I didn’t care. I would do whatever it took to help Christie, even if it hurt me later. I followed Logan inside and closed the door behind us.
Logan had pushed Pierce into a side room, which looked like an office with filing cabinets and a desk covered with papers. Pierce was sitting at the desk, still holding his stomach. Despite his size, Logan had caught him off