Page 72 of Protecting the White Bear

That’s what Monica liked to hear. No loyalty among criminals.

“When I saw Lionel running down the hill, I followed him.”

“You weren’t after me?” She raised her brows. She knew he had planned to take her down. Maybe not kill her, but stop her from going after Lionel and him, had he reached her in the snowdrifts.

Teague said nothing; he stared at the table and tapped his foot on the floor.

“I don’t understand why Eloise was with Denny when he and Helen were together.”

Teague frowned at Monica. “Eloise is with Denny. He and Helen are old news.”

“But…” That’s certainly not what she saw when Helen was with Denny at the cabin before they took them into custody. Had she made the mistake of thinking Helen was in on the faux kidnapping scheme when she was a kidnapped victim? But it sure didn’t look like it.

Teague was eyeing her, waiting for her to finish what she had to say.

“Where are Helen and Wendell?”

“Hell, if I know. Listen, I’m not the boss of this thing, get that? I was just one of the deliverymen.”

“Why did you go to Pierre’s house instead of arranging to pick up the money at some other location? Somewhere that no one could identify you?”

“He disabled his security cameras.”

“At Wendell’s request?”

“Hell, no. He didn’t want to be caught in this whole thing.” Teague looked at her like he thought she was an idiot.

“Because Pierre was behind the whole kidnapping?” She was sure she looked shocked.

“Bingo, lady. You get the prize.”

“Why?”

“Because you figured it out. Hell, I thought you already knew all this.”

“No, why would Pierre want to do this?”

“The money? Maybe? Come on, I thought you had figured out this whole thing. Wait, you thought Denny oversaw the operation?” Teague laughed. “That would be the day.”

“How did you know to cut my brake lines, but just enough so that I would be out in the wilderness and in danger?”

Teague didn’t say anything for a moment.

“Someone had to tell you to do it. You wouldn’t have known I would go after Helen and Denny otherwise. So who did?” She leaned forward again, getting closer to him, demanding he tell her what she had to know.

Teague looked at the floor.

“Unless you’re just a maniacal sadist.”

He frowned at her. “Helen told me, all right?”

“Helen?”

“Yeah. On the news, she saw you had rescued a kidnapped victim, and even the vehicle you were driving as you left the scene. We were nearby because we were going to grab Pierre's money. The others stayed in the vehicle. I was a car mechanic, so I knew how to handle it.”

That finally sounded plausible.

“She said Pierre had the hots for you, which really bothered her. He knew Helen had been with Denny at his grandparents’ cabin. Helen bet any amount of money that he would call you up since you were in the area, his old girlfriend, who solved kidnapping cases, and ask you to go to her rescue because he was still hung up on you. So she told me to make it impossible for that to happen just in case she was right.”

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