“They always blame the border crossings on us,” he said. “But lots of people come through here, looking to get away from their own law,” he said with a sneer.
“It’s the dog I’m interested in,” Caleb said. “It’s a very well-trained animal, and I’m worried about him.”
“Why? It’s just a dog.”
Caleb had seen that attitude more than a few times himself. “That’s true,” he said, “but I want it back.”
“How come it took you so long then?” he asked in a challenging manner.
And Caleb got his first inkling that the guy might know more than he had let on. “Well, there’s money in it,” he said. “So, if you find anything out about the dog, let me know.”
“What kind of money?” he asked with a raised eyebrow. “It’s still just a dog.”
“It is just a dog to you,” he said calmly, “but it’s my dog.”
At that, the guy nodded slowly. “I see.”
“So let me know.” He opened his wallet, so the guy saw he had plenty of cash, which was a risky move in many ways, but sometimes witnesses needed to be convinced. And he carefully pulled out a Titanium Corp business card and wrote his cell phone number on the back. “There’s money if the information’s good.”
Caleb nodded, slowly paid for his beer, got up, and walked out. As he stood outside, he wondered how long before somebody would come after him. That was the thing about cash. Absolutely no reason to give up any info if they could just take the cash from him. And the attack would come sooner than later. Particularly when he was on foot.
Chapter 6
Not one to waste time, Laysha quickly settled into doing the refinishing work on the now heavily sanded hardwood floors upstairs. It would take days and days of coats and coats, sanding between each, and more coats. But she hadn’t gotten a coat on last night because they were so late stripping down everything. She would start fresh this morning. She kept checking her watch, wondering when Caleb would come home today, and it was a terrible thing because, with the wedding tomorrow, he needed to at least contact his brother. Just when she had finished the bedroom floor she had been working on, she sat in the hallway, ready to start the other bedroom, when her phone rang. She pulled it out. “Hey, Jackson. How are you doing?”
“Have you heard from my brother?” asked the groom-to-be.
“He’s here but not right now.”
“He’s in town?” Jackson asked, his voice rising.
“Yes. He did arrive.”
“He could have at least let me know,” he said.
“I think he’s of two minds as to whether he wants to show up for the wedding or not.”
Jackson went quiet for a long moment. “I guess I can understand his feelings about it,” he said, “but she was my girl first.”
“Which is, of course, why he’s struggling because he knows now full well that it was your baby that she tried to pass off as his. It’s never a good idea to keep secrets.”
“Yeah, don’t worry. She and I have had that one out several times too,” he said, but fatigue hung heavy in his voice.
“That may be, but you never broached it with your brother. So he’s afraid that you guys carried on the whole time he was away on missions.”
At that, Jackson paused. “Not the whole time,” he admitted. “Just at the end, when it was obvious their marriage was over.”
“Obvious to who?” she asked sharply. “He was overseas. Just because she decided to walk out, she still hadn’t walked out. So you guys were cheating behind his back.”
“Look. I don’t want to argue with you over it,” he said. “Sarah and I were meant to be together always. We had some rocky roads, and obviously there was some roadkill on the way. Unfortunately that was my brother.” He added, “But I really want to make it up to him.”
“And yet you’re calling me,” she said.
He snorted. “Of course I am. My brother’s one scary dude when he gets angry.”
“Yeah, he is. But still, you’re the one who’s trying to make good with him, so you need to buck up and apologize.”
“What do I have to apologize for?”
“Oh, I don’t know. I could think of a few things,” she said, “like part of what you just told me.”
“Damn,” he said. “I was hoping to do it well before the wedding, not with the wedding on the immediate horizon.”
“The rehearsal’s tonight. The wedding’s tomorrow,” she said. “You don’t have a whole lot of time.”
“He refuses to be my best man, so no way I can get him to the rehearsal dinner. Yet, if we have a big fight about this, Caleb may not even show up at my wedding.”
“Do you blame him? You didn’t show up at his wedding.”
“He was marrying my girl.”
“Yeah,” she said. “The girl who was still in love with you and carrying your baby. Do you want to explain that to him? How do you think he feels, except cheated and betrayed on all levels by both of you.”
“Ouch,” he said. “Fine. Okay. Okay, I get it. He has reasons to be pissed off and upset, and we’ve cost him years of his life, et cetera, but I still want him to show up at the wedding.”
“Well, then you need to call him,” she said. “I made it so that he’s here. Now you should probably come over and talk to him.”
“But he’s not even there now.”
“No, but I suspect he’ll be home in a little bit,” she said.
“How about in an hour?”
“You can try. You could also just call and ask Caleb if he’ll be here then,” she said.
“I know. It’s a unique idea. Talk to him directly, right?”
With that, she hung up. She had known the family forever, but Jackson was one who definitely pissed her off the most. Particularly after she realized what he and Sarah had done to Caleb. As far as Laysha was concerned, they could just keep her out of their continuing drama. Jackson had been desperate for Caleb to show up for the wedding, so she had arranged it.
And she had no problem arranging that because she did feel like the two brothers needed to sort this out, but, at the same time, she was pretty damn sure that the brothers’ feelings were not quite so easily assuaged. As for Sarah, well that was a whole different story. She had really screwed Caleb over. Just to hear that they had cheated on him also would hurt. Again, Caleb had a high level of honor about right and wrong, and his brother and Sarah obviously didn’t.
No matter how much you cared about somebody, you ended one relationship before starting another. Otherwise, it was exactly that—having an affair behind his brother’s back. Who the hell needed that shit? She felt sorry for Caleb because it was another blow that he didn’t need or deserve.
She groaned as she thought about it and quickly sent him a text. Heads-up. Your brother’s about to call.
Instead of responding by text, he called her. “What does he want?” he asked.
“To talk to you and make up,” she said honestly.