Page 32 of For Always
“So this shooter has to be someone you know personally, or someone who has the credentials to get onto this property,” the sheriff stated evenly.
“There’s fifteen year around staff here—ranch hands, wranglers and such,” Stephen stated. “And ten summer interns. They come on board early April and stay on until October. They all passed background checks.”
Alvarez was scribbling as Stephen talked.
“They all stay on property in the employee residences,” Tyler added. He’d made it a point to meet with Stephen for at least an hour each day to learn more about the ranch and the business that went on here. It hadn’t been as foreign as he’d first thought it would be, with so many things, memories—good and bad—rushing back into his mind.
“Anybody have security clearance that doesn’t stay on the property?” Alvarez asked without looking up from his notepad.
“Everybody’s got a security badge now,” Stephen spoke.
He was sitting in one of the guest chairs, elbows resting on his knees.
“The vet has one and his assistant. The project manager at the construction company Gabriella hired. That’s all. Everybody else has to be buzzed in. Suppliers didn’t like that change, but they’re getting used to it.”
“What about at the resort?”
Alvarez looked from Tyler to Stephen for the answer to that question.
“You can access the resort from the roads winding east behind the ranch. Could be someone staying at the resort, drives right over to the ranch and doesn’t have to go through the security gate,” he continued.
Tyler shook his head.
“We thought about that when we had the security specialists out here right after the vandalism. We drove the entire property looking for weak spots. There’s a new security gate at the road a couple miles out after the resort. We thought about making the resort room keys able to access it, in case guests were just out to see the views, but we decided that would cast too wide a net of unknown people on the property,” Tyler told him.
“So only the executive level employees at the resort have security passes to access that gate,” Clyde added.
He’d been sitting on the couch near the fireplace, staring down into the untouched gin on the rocks he’d asked Tyler to fix for him.
“Dessie and Audrey are the only ones from the resort that have passes,” Clyde finished. “I have a pass because Tyler kept me on as attorney for Westwind. Nobody else has access to the ranch.”
“What about your brother?” Alvarez asked.
Tyler frowned. “Jagger left three weeks ago. He’s probably enjoying his Jacuzzi in his Manhattan penthouse.”
Tyler hadn’t liked parting ways with his brother on such a sour note, but, in addition to the tension surrounding the ranch, Jagger hadn’t been open to Tyler’s suspicions about Brooke. Of course, telling his brother that he thought his fiancé was a manipulating gold digger might have come across better before he’d given Jagger a black eye and a busted lip. But there wasn’t much Tyler could have done about that at the time. Jagger always did run his mouth too much.
“Jagger left before the security systems were installed. So we never got a chance to give him a badge,” Tyler stated.
“But you would have given him one?”
Tyler didn’t like the question any more than he liked the way Alvarez was glaring at him at the moment. “Of course I would have. He’s my brother.”
“It’s no secret that you two had a run-in and you bought out his share of this ranch. Maybe there’s some hard feelings. A grudge to settle,” Alvarez continued.
“The West boys were raised better than that,” Clyde said, coming to a slow stand.
“Jagger is my brother, regardless of whose name is on the deed for this property. We’ve had many spats in our lifetime, but nothing changes the fact that we’re blood,” Tyler replied through clenched teeth.
Alvarez nodded. “Gotta cover all the bases.”
Tyler would have appreciated it if the bases didn’t include his brother, but he took another gulp of his drink instead of replying.
“Now, what do we know about this Gabriella Bennett?” Alvarez had moved on.
“She’s been on the ranch for three weeks now. Checked in to the resort on June 24th. Works for The Proctor Group, a national company.”
“Dessie hired her to help fix up the ranch for sale,” Clyde stated.
