Chapter 11 - The Wrong Road
They did not go to the sheriff's office.
Mason drove Caleb's SUV down an abandoned logging road with the headlights off for the final half mile.
"Where are we going?" Claire asked.
"A place Rusk doesn't know I use."
"You have a secret place?"
"I have a fishing cabin. Secret sounds dramatic."
Caleb muttered, "Everything is dramatic tonight."
The cabin sat beside a narrow reservoir, forty minutes from town. No cell service. No neighbors. Scout checked every room before allowing Claire inside.
Mason cleaned and bandaged his shoulder while Caleb copied the flash drive onto two separate devices.
"We need federal investigators," Claire said.
"We need proof that survives long enough to reach them," Mason replied.
Caleb opened another file from Noah's drive.
A spreadsheet listed shell companies connected to Voss Energy. One payment, repeated monthly, went to DR CONSULTING.
Daniel Rusk.
Another went to ES MEDICAL.
Evelyn Shaw.
A third name stunned Claire.
BENNETT AGRICULTURAL SERVICES.
Her own family company.
"Noah's company?"
Caleb leaned closer. "No. Dad's old company."
Their father, Richard Bennett, had died four years earlier.
Claire had loved him like her own father.
Mason traced the payment dates.
They began nine years ago.
"Your father was taking money from Voss," he said.
Caleb looked sick.
"Or someone was using his company after he died."
A floorboard creaked outside.
Scout rose without a sound.
Mason held up a hand.
No one moved.
Another creak.
Then a knock at the front door.
Three slow taps.
Claire's pulse hammered.
Mason whispered, "Stay back."
A man's voice came through the wood.
"Claire. It's me."
She knew that voice too.
Noah.
Caleb went white.
Claire reached for the lock.
May you like
Mason caught her wrist.
Outside, Noah said, "If Mason is with you, do not open the door."
