Page 101 of Shadow of Hope
“What?” His whiny voice grated through the computer.
But again Micha ignored his attitude for the greater good. “The first is that you cooperate with whatever we need in this investigation when we need it. No delays. When I say jump, your only question should be how high.”
“Okay.” Layne blinked at him as if innocent of all charges. “And the second thing?”
Micha glared at the man. “You stay away from Ava. No notes. No calls. No threats.”
“I can do that.”
“Then third, when this is all over, and we’ve found the person who murdered your mother—if she was indeed murdered—you will apologize to Ava and never give her a moment’s trouble again. Even if she doesn’t return the other half of your inheritance to you.”
“But I?—”
“No buts. You follow my terms, or I work with the police to bring charges against you.”
“Fine.”
Reid moved closer to the guy. “You do know we have the manpower and ability to keep tabs on you and will know your every move, right?”
He shrugged. “I didn’t, but okay.”
“So wait for my call on the blood test and stay away from Ava.”
“Just so you know,” Reid said. “Former FBI doesn’t mean I don’t still have contacts in the agency to help bring those charges. So heed Micha’s warning because I’d be only too happy to help send you to prison for terrorizing a woman. That’s the lowest of the low.”
Micha couldn’t have said it any better and let it lie at that.
“Hang on, Micha,” Reid said. “I need to talk to you in private.”
The camera moved down the hallway and out the door.
“You want me to keep eyes on this guy or go look for that will?” Reid asked.
“What do you recommend?” Micha asked.
“I go to Holly’s place.” Reid’s tone held unwavering confidence. “Despite what that guy just told us, the will speaks to a very strong motive to commit murder, and it would be good to confirm that it is indeed missing.”
21
Time for all of them to get some shut-eye, but Micha wouldn’t sleep. They’d heard back from Reid confirming that the will was indeed missing, giving Layne motive to commit murder. So Reid returned to Layne’s house, but his car was gone, though Colin’s tracker showed zero movement.
The only explanations that fit? Layne had found the tracker or they had technical difficulties. The device could have malfunctioned or the battery could’ve died. Neither should’ve happened, but they could. And once they’d told him they were watching him, he certainly could’ve gone looking and found the tracker on his vehicle frame.
Either way, Layne was in the wind, and Micha was rethinking the interview with him. If the guy wasn’t guilty, why take off? He could be a really good liar, and Micha had bought into it. Micha moved him back to the top of his suspect list and would be on the lookout for him all night.
Thankfully, Dev had eyes on Buck, so he wouldn’t be threatening Ava tonight. He’d hunkered down for the night in his little shack, and Dev would keep watch.
“Wait, what in the world?” Colin rubbed his face and blinked at his computer screen.
“What is it?” Micha asked, not liking his teammate’s tone. “You find something?”
“Yeah, something I can’t believe didn’t come up before now.” Colin looked up at them. “Holly Boyle isn’t really Holly Boyle. She changed her name when she turned eighteen. She was born Harmony Wiggins, daughter of Wade and Georgia Wiggins.”
“A surprise but not shocking,” Micha said. “Makes sense if she didn’t want her family to find her that she would want to change her name.”
“Yeah, I could see that happening,” Ava said.
“No wonder none of them ever did locate her or Layne, if they even tried to,” Micha said. “Can you do a deep dive into her family, Colin?”
