Page 66 of Axe Backwards
“We can’t move on what Cole found yet?” Finn asked. “And what about Huxley?”
Gus shook his head. “Working on it. Legal channels, blah, blah, Fourth Amendment.”
I sat, studying each brother, piecing together what I could from this conversation. For a decade and a half, I’d been worlds away from the business and my father’s dealings, which meant I didn’t even have most of the basics.
Most of what they said went over my head.
“Back up for a minute,” I said. “What did you say about Charles Huxley?”
The guy gave off a weird vibe, and his son was a super creep. And with the financial state of the food pantry and the need of the community, Vic was constantly being forced to meet with them. She seemed to think they were going to make a big donation, but I was dubious.
“He’s dirty,” Cole declared.
My lungs seized up. Wasn’t he the richest guy in town? The former lieutenant governor? Didn’t he cut ribbons and make donations?
“We’re working on it,” Jude assured me.
“Cole connected some of the dots,” Gus said, slapping our baby brother on the shoulder. “Got us our best lead so far. And we know he was mixed up with Chief Souza.”
“I caught the chief wearing one of Dad’s watches,” Cole explained from where he sat on the floor. He had one leg stretched out, and he was massaging the muscle.
My father collected rare and expensive watches. I knew nothing about them—hell, I knew next to nothing about the man himself; he’d taken no interest in me whatsoever—but apparently Cole did.
“When the police seized his collection, one was missing. I recognized it when I met with him one day, and he knew I knew.”
“What does it mean?” None of these pieces were coming together to create an image I could decipher.
Gus sighed. “Dad was the tip of the iceberg. There is a whole network of people involved in the drug trafficking and fuck knows what else. They’re still under the radar. We’ve partially exposed Chief Souza, and we know Huxley and his son are mixed up too.”
“Owen and Lila found evidence of potential money laundering,” Jude explained. “Chloe had some strange encounters. Cole got mixed up with the police when he was asking questions about shell companies owned by the Huxleys.”
I shook my head, my heart rate picking up. What the fuck?
“And no one has been arrested yet? You said the FBI has been all over town for months.”
Cole grimaced. “They’re working on it.”
“But we’ve hired Parker Gagnon,” Gus said, finally sitting again. “She’s an excellent PI. She’s made more progress in the past couple of months than the FBI has in the past year.”
I took off my hat and scratched my head, realizing that I wasn’t only out of the loop. It was like I’d lived on another fucking planet for years. “Our sleepy little town has a PI?”
Cole nodded. “She’s ex-state police, married to Pascal Gagnon, and it’s very likely she’ll be named the new police chief.”
“How do you know that?”
“He’s got all the connections at city hall,” Finn explained.
“And knitting club.” Jude chuckled.
Cole’s smirk was smug. “You do not mess with the knitting club ladies.”
“We keep telling him to run for mayor.” Gus’s chest puffed out a little as he made that statement.
Cole’s cheeks went pink above the scruff on his face. He’d certainly turned his life around and found a place for himself in this town. Less than a year ago, according to Jude’s updates, he’d been a washed-up former hockey pro who was self-sabotaging and spiraling.
If he could build a life here, maybe I could too.
After the rest of the guys left, I took Ripley out for a walk, then helped Jude clean up. He taught me how to rake the ash out of the pizza oven and check the chimney for blockages.
