Page 34 of Wine, Whiskey, & Lipstick 2

Ben responded. “We don’t know yet.”

“I hope whatever Mike wants to talk about ain’t connected to the car accident.”

Ben was fully engaged. “Why would it? What did Tony say?”

Frustrated, Lucas exhaled, “I don’t know how to say this, so I’m just going to come right out and say it. He’s been pretty backed up at the shop and just now had a chance to look at it. The brake line on Cat’s car was severed.”

“Wait, what?” Ben wasn’t sure he heard him correctly.

Lucas repeated himself. “It was severed.”

“Was it cut on purpose?!” Ben asked.

“I asked the same thing. He didn’t have an answer, but let’s not jump to conclusions.”

“With everything going on, that is exactly the conclusion we must be jumping too! She could have died in the car crash.”

Lucas placed a calming hand on Ben’s shoulder. “I know. All I’m saying is that we need a cool head. If that is the case, we must consider the best way to protect her and everyone else.”

Wyatt walked back into the room carrying what Ben believed to be the security report. His face was like stone.

“This shit is serious.” Wyatt handed the papers to Ben.

Lucas read it over Ben’s shoulder. “What the fuck is going on?”

Ben was quiet as he consumed the report. The further he read, the more unsettled he became, and the hairs on the back of his neck started to stand on end.

“It could be nothing . . .” Wyatt started to say.

“You add this to Cat’s brake line being cut, and it adds up to a whole lot of something.” Ben glanced over at him.

Wyatt couldn’t possibly have heard correctly, “Wait . . . what?”

Ben answered, “Tony told Lucas that Cat’s brake line was severed.”

Wyatt’s facial expression went blank. His training was kicking in, and Ben saw it happening in real-time. “Dillyn was in Cat’s car. So, we don’t know if she was targeted.”

Ben thought back to that week. “Dillyn’s truck wouldn’t start, so she took Cat’s.”

“Has Palmer driven her car since all of this?” Wyatt asked.

Immediately, Lucas pulled out his cell and called Tony. He picked up on the second ring. “Can you get over to Dilllyn’s place? I need you to check Dillyn and Palmer’s vehicles for tampering. We’ll pay you whatever it takes to make it a priority. Thanks. Call us ASAP!”

Wyatt tried to calm the room, but he knew this was all connected. “I’ll update security. If the girls need to go anywhere, security should take them.”

“Agreed,” Lucas said.

“Can they enhance the video?” Ben asked as he read a particular section of the report.

Wyatt answered. “Apparently, they were working on that last night.”

“When did they capture these images?”

“A week ago,” Wyatt confirmed.

Ben remembered Dillyn when they had a late-night dinner in the woods past the orchard. She thought someone had been watching them.Was it possible?

“Based on these photos, it could be a shadow, but they’re too dark to make out if it was a person.” Wyatt tried to downplay it, hoping to keep things calm. “Out of an abundance of caution, we’ll need to beef up security and stay close to the house.”

---