Page 116 of Never Fall Again

Meredith scrolled down. “This article says that his contracts for the next several years included massive penalties if he didn’t show. But that once he appeared to be settled in, they dropped that clause.”

“How is that even possible?”

“It’s Hollywood. People get addicted, go to rehab, don’t want to talk about it. Come back. People don’t ask.” Meredith rattled this off as if she were a society reporter and knew what she was talking about.

The crazy thing was, it kind of made sense.

Mo continued typing. “This afternoon I realized that I wasn’t going to find him in Europe because he isn’t there. I found one thread that might be him, and when I pulled it, it led me back to North Carolina. Specifically, a real estate deal somewhere around here. I was digging into his possible whereabouts when Connor called.”

“Do you have any proof?”

“No. It’s all circumstantial evidence at the moment. But it won’t be for long. I’m about ten minutes away from his banking records, so if you two want to keep it down, that would be great.” Moaccentuated the point by pulling on a pair of noise-cancelling headphones.

“Okay.” Cal turned to Meredith. “If I were Ignacio and I wanted to buy real estate around here but didn’t want anyone to know where I was, how would I do it?”

Meredith tapped a finger to her lips. “I’d buy the old Drake place.”

“Mer, that place is condemned.”

“The land’s worth a fortune. Tear down the house. Build fresh.” Meredith shrugged. “It’s beautiful property.”

“Yeah. It is. But I was out there with Chad and Connor a couple of months ago, looking at a nearby property. There’s one gravel road, barely more than a path, in and out of that place. We parked near the path and hiked in just to check on it. There’s nothing out there.”

Cal closed his eyes.Please help me. Where would they be?He mentally made a circuit around the county. The old homes where no one lived anymore. Property that would someday sell for an outrageous sum but so far remained untouched. When he circled back to Quinn land, he expanded his search.

His eyes popped open. “Mo. Mo!”

Mo lowered his headphones.

“Who bought the old Bradsher place?”

Mo’s eyes widened, then his fingers flew.

“Someone bought it?” Meredith put down her laptop and stood behind Mo.

“Yeah. It was anonymous. I thought at the time that it would make sense for it to be some celebrity from The Haven.” Cal smacked his hat on his knee. “I should have thought of it sooner. But it was at least two years ago.”

Mo sat back. “Ignacio.”

Cal looked at the screen. “That says John Smith.”

“And John Smith”—Mo opened another screen—“has the same social security number and date of birth as Ignacio.”

Cal took Meredith’s phone from where it lay on the counter and dialed Gray. “We need to go to the old Bradsher place. It’s technically in Chief Kirby’s jurisdiction. Can you call him and let him know what’s going on?”

“Cal, you can’t storm private property, and I have no authority there. You—”

Cal handed the phone to Meredith. “You talk to him.” He turned to Mo. “You in?”

Mo stood and grabbed a jacket. “Let’s go.”

Before the door closed behind them, Cal heard Meredith. “Gray, they’re gone. You need to tell Kirby that if his guys do anything to block any of the Quinns from going after Landry, he won’t spend another day in office.”

He didn’t speak until he and Mo were off their property and blazing down the road toward the old Bradsher place. “Mo?”

“Yeah.”

“What’s Meredith got on Chief Kirby?”

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