Page 71 of Betrayal In Calusa Cove
“Jesus, that’s a profound statement,” Baily said.
“That was two years before he died.” Fletcher flipped the page. “Holy shit.”
“What?”
“Listen to this.”
I was able to shuffle all the money that was meant for the marina—for my dad and Baily—into an offshore account. I learned from my in-laws how to create dummy LCCs and shell corporations, so the money’s hard to find and his name won’t be easily found on the accounts. But it’s there, and all of it can be found in the box I left at Fletchers. When the time is right, I’ll come clean, and my sister and my boys won’t ever have to worry again.
“I’m not sure I understand,” Baily whispered.
“It sounds like he hid money for you.” Fletcher threaded his fingers through his hair. “Only one entry left, and it’s dated a few weeks before our last deployment.” He glanced up. “I didn’t know Ken visited you then.”
“He didn’t. Not that I know of.”
“Strange because that’s the only way he couldn’t have gotten this last entry in here,” Fletcher said. But as he was learning, there was a lot about his friend he hadn’t a clue about.
I’ve been collecting evidence. Little things here and there. Financials. Records that came across my desk as they taught me the business. Notes I’ve taken on how they streamline things. How they muscle people. Pressure people. Find their weak spots and exploit them. Though I don’t have a lot on that. My role is the money. The books. I’ve always been good with numbers. They want me to sweet-talk people with investments. Jesus. I’ll be walking into small towns, all smiles and unicorns, to quote my sister, and getting people to invest in bogus shit. Then, the Barbaros take over everything. It’s crazy. And they’ve been doing this for years. Well, they’re not doing it to my town. Baily has been keeping up with the payments. I hate that she has to do that, but soon, I’ll be able to help her come out from under that. We don’t talk much about things and when we do, we fight. I need to ask her questions about stuff, but it’s not because I’m needling her. I need to know how to protect her through the storm. Because it’s coming. Sooner rather than later.
The journal ended abruptly. But the information inside the box didn’t.
He pulled out folders. Receipts. Wire transfers. Ledgers with fake names and flagged invoices. A hard drive. USB sticks.
Photos.
Documents tying the Barbaros to laundering, drug runs, and even arms deals. Fletcher’s pulse pounded in his ears. “I’ve got to call Dawson. Get him, Chloe, and maybe even Enzo over here.” He handed Baily a few things to rifle through.
“I can’t believe that for three years, we’ve been sitting on this stuff. That it’s been right under our noses,” Baily said. “I wonder what would’ve happened if Ken hadn’t died.”
Fletcher found a file marked Legal. He opened it and gasped. “I think this might give you some insight into that.” Inside were the early makings of divorce papers…Ken’s divorce papers. A signed will…dated only a few weeks before the deployment. A letter to a lawyer outlining Ken’s wishes to leave his wife, file for custody of the kids, a note stating that if something happened to him, his death should be considered suspicious, and that they should look at his wife and/or in-laws as suspects, and finally, his re-enlistment papers…signed.
“Oh, my God.” Fletcher held the last piece of paperwork in his shaking fingers. “He told us he was done with the Navy. But these are signed. Ready to be processed. He was going back in…with us.”
Baily took the folder, thumbing through all the other documents. Her forehead scrunched. Her lips pursed. “There’s a sticky note that says if they find out I’m leaving, they’ll kill me.”
Fletcher stared at the box. At the pieces of his friend.
A man who had betrayed them.
A man who had been a prisoner.
A man who had tried to make it right.
His eyes burned.
“This is what they must’ve been looking for,” Fletcher whispered. “He might’ve screwed up, more than once. But he was trying to fix it.” He leaned back against the bench. “When that mission ended, we were all supposed to come here for a little R & R. Even Ken had agreed, much to Julie’s dislike. He even mentioned he had something he wanted to discuss with all of us. Dawson had been the first one to roll his eyes, believing it was just Ken with another one of his, Oh, be happy for me. I’m leaving the Navy, and I’ll be wearing a suit from now on, pep talks. Hayes thought maybe Julie was pregnant again, and Keaton was being a dick by suggesting that Ken wanted all of us to invest in some new business he was going to start under the Barbaro name. But none of us would’ve expected this.” Fletcher waved his hand over the mounds of paperwork. “This had to have taken him years to collect. He put his life on the line. He risked everything to…make this right. But he never got the chance. He died, and I couldn’t save him.”
“Don’t do that to yourself, Fletcher. That wasn’t your fault.” She pointed to the box. “But this? Well, I do blame my brother. And while I want to forgive him because I can’t imagine the hell, he’d been living for all those years, he brought this shit on when he decided to sell drugs. Or lie to Audra. Jesus, Fletcher. Think about what this is going to do to Audra when she finds out that Ken knew Massey killed her dad, but let her believe she was the one who was nuts?”
Fletcher set the files back in the box and stood. He helped Baily to her feet and cupped her face. “None of this is easy. Ken’s not here to defend any of his actions, and I’m not making excuses for him. He had to live with his choices, and it’s obvious to me how many of them were eating him alive. But now that we know, we have to act. Ken made a lot of stupid mistakes, but he just gave us all the knowledge and power we need to bury the Barbaros.” He pulled out his cell and sent a text to Dawson, Chloe, and the rest of the team, informing them of what they’d found. “There’s enough evidence here to put them away for life.”
“What about Chad and Todd? What’s going to happen to my nephews? Who will take care of them if their grandparents and mother are in prison?”
“We will,” he said softly, tugging her to his chest.
“What?” She blinked, staring at him with confusion etched in her sweet eyes.
“You’re a blood relative. We can petition the courts after all this plays out. We can raise those boys together. You and me.”
