Page 60 of Risk Everything

“I thought that too. But it’s almost like they have a plan. They aren’t worried at all. And that worries me. I know confidence is his business, but I have no idea how Oscar can look at this evidence and be so sure Jared’s not going to jail.”

“Maybe they plan on paying off jurors or something. I know most of Jared’s accounts are frozen, but you know he has to have stuff stashed away somewhere.”

“Yeah, I’m sure he’d be great at finding the weakest link in jurors.” Tanner took a sip of beer, another thought coming to his head. “Or maybe they don’t plan on going to trial at all.”

“You mean making a run for it?” Noah’s eyes lit up, and Tanner knew he relished the chance to go after Ellis if he ran.

Tanner shook his head. “He would have to go before the trial, but the ankle monitor is unhackable. Bree would’ve found it. You saw how quickly her program worked to let us know Jared had even messed with it tonight. There are no weak links in the computer system.”

Damn it. Of course not. Jared knew that.

Jared wouldn’t be looking in the computer system for weakness. He’d be looking for weakness in people.

At the end of the day, Jared Ellis was a bully. He wouldn’t try to buy people off when attempting to get them to do what he wanted them to do. He would use what he knew worked best. Force.

Tanner pulled out his phone and hit Send on the last call he’d made.

Noah had already noticed Tanner’s tension and was pushing his drink to the side. “Who are you calling?”

“A hunch. It may not lead anywhere.”

Noah just nodded.

The call went straight to voice mail. Tanner tried it again, but the same thing happened. Sowers wasn’t answering.

“Adam Sowers, the guy who was checking on Jared, isn’t answering.”

“You think that means a problem?”

“I just don’t like it,” Tanner said. He tried one more time for good measure, but still nothing.

His next call was to Marshal Brickman to see if Sowers had checked in.

“Dempsey. I don’t have any new information for you. I assure you, as soon as I have info, you’ll be the first to know.”

“Marshal, has Sowers checked in? I just tried to reach him on his phone and there was no answer multiple times. I was wondering if you’d heard from him.”

“I personally haven’t. Hold while I get in touch with the appropriate person.”

Tanner pushed his beer to the side as he waited for the marshal to come back. He’d definitely lost his taste for it.

“Nobody has heard from him. I’m sending someone over to Ellis’s house right now.”

But if Jared was doing what Tanner was afraid he might be doing, sending more officers to the town house wasn’t necessarily going to help.

“Instead of sending someone to Ellis’s place, will you send someone over to check on Sowers’s wife and baby?”

There was silence from Marshal Brickman for a long moment. “What exactly do you think is happening?”

“I’m just wondering if maybe Jared Ellis didn’t find a weakness none of us were considering.”

“Adam Sowers is a good man. A good cop.”

“Everybody has their weakness. We all know that’s true.”

Marshal Brickman muttered a curse. “Fine. I’ll keep you posted if we find anything of interest.”

Noah was already paying for the beers by the time Tanner disconnected the call.