Maya continued:
Maybe same rule.
Aaron stared at his daughter.
“You rehearsed that?”
She smiled slightly.
No.
Cole laughed.
Aaron did too.
The first shared laugh between father and son in fifteen years lasted less than two seconds.
It still mattered.
Then headlights appeared at the edge of the property.
Cole stood immediately.
Not police lights.
A dark pickup.
Maya’s face changed.
Aaron tried to rise.
Cole pushed one hand toward him.
“Stay.”
Aaron ignored him.
Pain stopped him anyway.
The truck rolled behind the abandoned station.
Stopped.
Cole stepped in front of Maya and Aaron.
Jonah’s SUV sat near the entrance, engine running.
Cole reached inside the open driver’s door and retrieved the heavy flashlight stored beside the seat.
Not a gun.
He had one locked beneath the console.
He left it there.
Sirens were already faintly visible down the highway.
The pickup door opened.
Raymond Voss stepped out.
Early forties.
Expensive rain jacket.
Work boots.
No hurry.
Cole recognized him from local business events.
Raymond looked toward Aaron.
Then Cole.
His expression changed.
“This just got complicated.”
Cole said:
“County deputies are almost here.”
Raymond smiled.
“Good.”
That surprised Cole.
Aaron shouted:
“He wants the ledger!”
Raymond looked toward him.
“I want what your uncle stole from my father.”
Cole’s eyes narrowed.
“The ledger?”
“Not just that.”
Raymond reached slowly into his jacket.
Cole raised the flashlight like a weapon.
Raymond stopped.
Then removed an envelope.
He tossed it onto the wet pavement.
“Read it.”
Cole did not move.
Raymond laughed.
“You people really do love dramatic entrances.”
Sirens grew louder.
Raymond raised both hands.
“I’m not armed.”
Aaron said:
“He ran me off the road.”
Raymond shook his head.
“My employee did.”
“Same difference.”
“No.”
Raymond looked genuinely angry.
“I told him to follow you.”
“I did not tell him to hit your truck.”
Aaron stared.
Raymond continued:
“I need that ledger because my father’s name is in it too.”
“Not as a creditor.”
“As a thief.”
Cole frowned.
Raymond pointed toward the envelope.
“My father and Dean skimmed that fund together.”
Dean had confessed to stealing the money.
Apparently not the whole truth.
Again.
Raymond continued.
“Dean took twenty-four thousand.”
“My father laundered more through fake club vendors.”
“Nearly ninety thousand over three years.”
Cole felt sick.
Iron Hollow charity rides.
Widows.