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Chapter 20
Travis had a bad feeling something was wrong. He convinced Matt to take a drive out to the house just to check on everything and be sure the family was safe. When they pulled up in the drive, the old truck was gone. Everything was quiet, too quiet. Travis knew immediately something was wrong. Jumping out of the car, he raced up the steps and into the house.
"Cassie!! Madison! Boys?" Travis yelled as Matt walked in behind him.
"Where the hell is everyone?"
"Maybe they went for ice cream," Matt muttered, hoping he was right.
Matt knew if the women left the house when they were specifically told to stay put, Travis was going to flip a gasket. Cassie wasn't the best at following directions under normal circumstances, but especially when it didn't suit her. His love life was a prime example of that. The burning knot in Matt's belly told him, unfortunately he was hoping for nothing. Trouble had found its mark.
The loud thud from upstairs had both men drawing their guns and carefully heading up the stairs. Travis took the lead with Matt close behind him. The hand signals they gave one another were the same as they had used since they were kids sneaking up on their younger siblings. It was silent on the second floor, except for the soft rustling in the last bedroom. One of the kids maybe or an animal, Travis thought, but definitely not any of the five people he should be finding here. Travis nodded to Matt and they assumed their roles. Travis stood on one side of the door, Matt on the other. Slowly, Matt took hold of the door knob, and silently, on the count of three pushed the door open.
There on the floor was Jack, the rookie cop that had been assigned to watch the family. His hands and feet were bound with laundry rope while he pathetically looked up at them. He had an old handkerchief tucked in his mouth and tied behind his head. They had even put one of Cassie's sleep masks over his eyes, which he had managed to push down to his chin. The poor man wiggled and squirmed on the floor trying to get himself loose.
Matt was surprised Jack hadn't been able to break the rope. The laundry rope the girls had used was strong, but Jack was definitely stronger. Matt had gone to the gym with him a time or two. The man could lift almost twice his weight. Jack was anything but a slouch. He was in very good shape and for two small women like Cassie and Madison to get one over on him would have been something to see.
Jack's eyes were red with anger as he looked up at the brothers, who didn't know whether to be furious or laugh at the situation. Matt quickly went to the officer's side to check to see if he was okay.
"Hold still," Matt ordered, slipping his gun back into its holster while he moved to Jack and began untying him. "Will you stop moving so I can get the knot out?"
As Matt pulled the handkerchief from his mouth, Jack coughed then cursed. "Your damn wife and that crazy girlfriend of yours are in a whole heap of trouble now, McKennan... kidnapping a police officer."
It was obvious Jack was upset. Travis couldn't blame him really, being tied up like a hog by two women half his size could piss off any man.
"You weren't kidnapped, you idiot. They tied you up good, and you're right where you're supposed to be. You are right, though," Travis sighed and walked over to kneel down next to Jack. "They are in a heap of trouble."
Matt looked up at Travis and shook his head. Cassie just didn't know when to sit tight. Travis helped Matt finish untying Jack and helped the old boy to his feet.
"Where did they go?"
"Damned if I know." Jack cursed under his breath while rubbing the circulation back into his wrists. "They said something about going to find the evidence for themselves. That even if the mother's house was gone there was another place they could look."
Travis shook his head. He knew what that meant. Cassie had asked too many questions the last couple of days about Pierce Stone's home. It had to be where they were headed.
If he hadn't been a cop, he would have gotten pulled over five times on his way into town. He was doing 80 in a 25 mph zone. Travis weaved in between cars, dodged pedestrians and almost ran over a dog. Matt white-knuckled in the passenger seat, clutched the dash, holding on for dear life.
"I'll kill her." Travis muttered as he pulled up to the mansion gate and saw the beat up old pickup truck in the drive ahead of them. "Those idiots let her in," Travis admonished in disgust as he slammed out of the car.
Matt laughed slightly, trying to hide his amusement from his older brother. Cassie had a way of getting her way whether you wanted her to or not. In this case, it could prove to be more damaging than good. Matt had to admit he would have enjoyed seeing Cassie and Madison pull the wool over some of the cop's eyes. Those two together were definitely trouble with a capital T.
Travis threatened the cop at the door before storming into the house and searching for his wife. He was going to throw her over his shoulder and haul her butt home. He would let her have a piece of his mind, Travis vowed to himself, knowing full well that he'd never make it home before he let her have it. Matt followed calmly behind looking for Madison. Knowing it was best to get her out of the way of his brother, before she caught his wrath as well.
"Damn it, Cassie!" Travis bellowed at his wife when he and Matt raced into the master bedroom. His eyes scanned the room, first focusing on Madison then Peyton with his wife, all three looking guilty as sin and annoyed at being caught. "I ought to redden your backside, woman! Where are the boys?"
Cassie shook her head in annoyance. He was concerned, she could understand that, but she knew what she was doing was right.
"They went to Derek's house. They'll be home by dinner. Travis, calm down and stop yelling at me like I'm a child!" At least that put Travis and Matt at ease, slightly. The kids were safe - that was important.
"What the hell do you three think you're doing here?" Travis demanded taking hold of Cassie's arm and leading her toward the door. Travis saw the look of dread on his wife's face, but Peyton and Madison were white as death.
"What's wrong with you two?" Peyton handed him the birth certificate. Travis dropped Cassie's arm immediately to take the paper from Peyton. Slowly he read what was on the paper. "Son of a....Tyner? You just found this?"
Travis was off balance with this new development. His boiling temper simmered down, but Cassie knew he could easily get going again if provoked. Peyton nodded her head slowly, waiting for the explosion to come from Travis.
Madison's hands shook when she held out the diary. It was all there in black and white. Samson Tyner was Pierce Stone's son. The page the diary was opened to explain in Candace's own words how Pierce Stone had taken on another man's life to become the person he had wanted to be. None of this, the house, the money, the image was real. Blake Tyner had killed the real Pierce Stone, had stolen his identity, abandoned his family to take over an empire and Candace knew it. She had held it over his head, using it to help herself and her daughter.
Everything was there. They now knew how he had met Pierce Stone, found the resemblance between them uncanny and killed the man on a business trip. When he came to Dahlia, no one knew him, only his reputation then he took over the man's world. Pierce Stone was not a friendly man or even a sociable one. It was easy to hide in that big house on the hill and not get close enough to anyone who would easily be able to see the difference in the two men. Blake Tyner had walked away from a life of poverty and into a world of power and wealth.
"What's this?" Matt asked, taking the diary. He read the pages silently looking up from Madison to Travis. Knowing what he held in his hand changed the whole dynamic of the case, Matt had to get all the information he could from the three women in front of him. "Where did you get this?"
The case would be ruined if the evidence had been tampered with or withheld. Matt knew if the evidence was tampered with in any way, the court would throw out any case they made against someone else. If Sam Tyner was truly Pierce Stone's son, then he had something to gain, not only by killing his father, but by framing Madison. This wasn't good for Tyner.
"It was here, hidden under the bed," Madison spoke softly and pointed toward the bed. "I pulled it out and read it, that's all, Matt, I swear."
Matt walked to her, wrapping his arms around her to hold her tight. He hoped that they would be able to still make a case with the new evidence even though it was found by the girls. Matt kissed her temple. He didn't know if his hands were shaking out of anger or out of being frightened that something had happened to them.
"We'll talk when I get back to the house, okay? Right now, you three have to get out of here before anyone else finds out you're here."
Peyton agreed and moved to the door. "I'll get them home."
Matt kissed Madison one more time before Peyton ushered Cassie and Madison out of the room. "We have to hurry. If the sheriff finds out we're here, any case against Tyner is history."
"You three don't say a word about this," Matt warned and waved the diary in the air. "You keep it quiet until we have a chance to read it over and see exactly what we have here. Got it?" All three nodded in agreement. None of them wanted to know any more than what they already did.
"Peyton, you stay at the house with the girls until we get there. No one, I mean no one leaves this time. Clear?" Travis pointed harshly at Cassie.
He wasn't happy with any of them, but they found evidence that apparently none of his men did. That was either saying a lot of the three women or not saying a lot for his men. He wasn't sure which was better.
"Cassie," Travis called before the women left the room. "You and I are gonna have a long talk when I get home. Just hope we can fix this."
Cassie nodded silently. The evidence they had found was the last thing any of them had expected. It was good news for Madison, but bad news for a friend. They had the evidence they needed to send the search in a different direction, one that could lead them to the truth and away from Madison.
Once alone Matt sat down and flipped through the pages of the diary. He read through excerpts here and there. The woman had been meticulous about recording everything that had to do with Stone. She had the information needed to blackmail the man for life. If she had used it at all, no one would have known. He deduced both Candace and Stone kept very good secrets or she never had the chance to use what she had before she died.
"You don't think Candace ever used what she had?" Travis saw the look on his brother's face and knew immediately what was running through his head. It was a little frightening how well they knew each other's thoughts.
"You don't think Tyner was the killer?" Matt responded, knowing Travis had another suspect in mind.
"No, Tyner's an asshole, yeah, but a killer?" Travis wasn't sure it was Tyner. " He would have been pissed, hurt even, but he's not someone I would have thought to kill his own father."
"How much do we really know about him, Travis? He likes to watch the ladies pretty closely," Matt reminded him, remembering Cassie saying a few times how she got the willies when Tyner was around. "Maybe it started with watching girls and something snapped."
It wasn't like that kind of thing never happened. Matt had seen some very ordinary, very normal guys go to prison for some crazy stuff in D.C. He just wasn't as certain as Travis that Tyner wasn't guilty.
"He can bully with the best, but he never did anything that I saw to hurt anyone we know. Matt we've known him for years, how did we not know this?" Travis held up the birth certificate and shook it. "He may be Stone's kid, but he doesn't have it in him to kill somebody in cold blood. I remember when he ran over that cat during basic training. God, I thought the kid was gonna cry on me. That was an accident," Travis took the diary out of Matt's hands and began reading it himself. "No, Tyner didn't kill Stone, but whoever did, had to have killed Candace as well. My bet is they were looking for this."
"Somebody we know?" Matt asked, already knowing the answer as his brother nodded. "Then we better keep this to ourselves until we can prove what we've got."
Travis agreed. The idea that they were withholding evidence wasn't making him feel any better, but at the same time, if the killer was a cop, if it was who he thought, then this diary was a hot commodity and whoever had it would be in a lot of danger. If he turns it in, he risks it disappearing from the evidence room or he could keep it and see what happened. He went with the latter.
"Let's get home. I need to have a chat with my wife, Peyton, and Madison," Travis decided tucking the book inside his coat. "No one, I mean no one, knows we have this. We have to keep it quiet until we've got more to go on." Matt nodded, following Travis out the door. The scene at home wasn't going to be a pretty one.
He had waited for everyone to finally leave before he had been able to sneak into the McKennan house. The idiot cop at the front door had slipped away to pee in the bushes and the one inside was on the phone with somebody complaining he had been tied up by two crazy women.
It was perfect timing if he did say so himself.
Quietly slipping upstairs, he made his way into her room. He had been watching since they had moved her in and saw which window was hers. The upstairs corner. It was convenient that it was closest to the big oak tree and he could easily climb up at night and watch her. Almost romantic, he thought. Once again he was courting her. It was a pleasant thought to have as he began to rummage through her drawers.
He fingered through her lingerie, pulled a t-shirt and sweatshirt out of another drawer just to smell her scent. It wasn't the same as her mother's had been, but it was still pleasant. He was surprised she hadn't used the perfume he had left for her. He thought the familiar scent might have been comforting for her now. He pulled out the pills he had crushed and saw the full water bottle on the nightstand. It was time he let her in on his secret.
He unscrewed the top and took half of the crushed pills and dumped them into the water. Tonight when she drank it she would sleep, a nice deep sleep. When he took her tonight to play, she wouldn't notice a thing until it was too late. She wouldn't know what happened until after he had his way.
The sound of the car door slamming outside pulled him to the window. Keeping himself behind the curtain he watched as the boys climbed out of the older SUV and headed into the house. He watched as the SUV drove away leaving the boys all for him. The sound of the three boy's feet pounding up the stairs made him rethink his actions. Perhaps it was time to change his choice of toys.
"Dad?" Josh yelled. "Cassie? Madison? You home?" Josh stood outside of Madison's door.
Josh knew she hadn't left the house since his father had brought her here. She seemed nice, scared and really shy, but nice. Josh had tried to be friendly and Madison had responded to him. Now, he wondered where everyone had gone.
"Madison?" Josh called again, pushing open the door.
A new game was about to begin....
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