While everyone reviewed the information, laying out all possibilities, Samson sat back in the comfortable leather recliner, staring out the window. Harris wasn’t just his boss and commander. He was a friend and mentor. He was a good man who’d tried to do everything right, including preserving his marriage.
When his phone rang, he was shocked, considering they were thirty thousand feet in the air.
“It’s okay, brother. We’re connected up here,” smiled Garr.
“It’s Isaac, Jr.,” he said, looking down at his phone. “Isaac. I’m so sorry about your father.”
“Thank you, Jonas. We’re obviously distraught but not shocked. The agents told us they suspect Mom and Uncle Brad. We weren’t surprised at all.”Samson put the phone on speaker, and the others turned as he spoke again.
“Isaac, I’m here with some very important friends who are helping to track them down. Is there anything you can tell us that might help?”
“Well, first of all, thank you for helping in any way. Our mother has been unwell for our entire life, and it was always Dad who protected us, made sure we weren’t near her any more often than we had to be. We had a relatively normal life because of him.”
“We’re sorry for your loss,” said Garr.
“Thank you. Uncle Brad called me a few weeks ago asking a lot of questions about boats. I’m an avid sailor and own a sailboat, as well as a pontoon boat. He said he was considering buying a boat for himself.”
“Did you believe him?” asked Garr.
“Not even for a moment. He hated the water. He wasn’t a sailor. He was a soldier and a crappy one at that. Dad protected him his entire career. Jonas is aware of this, but I’m in law school, and I recently had to review an old case as part of our curriculum. I chose the one that involved Uncle Brad and the man that attacked my mother.”
“Did your father know this?” asked Samson.
“I didn’t get a chance to tell him. I wanted to, really, I did. Especially after what I found.”
“What did you find?” asked Luke.
“The man that broke into their home and attacked my mother was paid by Uncle Brad. They went to school together, him, Uncle Brad, and my mom. They all knew one another and had been meeting on and off for weeks. The man was married and desperate for money. He’s reconnected with Mom and Uncle Brad because he asked them for a loan so his family wouldn’t lose their home. According to his wife, he came home the day before and handed her a check for ten thousand dollars. That was the last time she saw him.”
“It was all a setup,” said Jonas. “Everything they did was a setup to control your father.”
“I believe that’s correct.”
“Isaac, did your uncle end up buying the boat?” asked Garr.
“He bought two. Two pontoon boats that he picked up over a week ago.”
Samson spoke to the young man a few minutes longer, again expressing his sorrow at the loss of his father. When he ended the call, he stared at the VG men, shaking his head.
“He has those boats, and he’s planning something. We need to find him, but how do we do that?”
“Easy,” smirked Garr. “We call the church ladies.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
“Isaac will be home soon,” said the woman sitting across from him. She was rocking back and forth, rubbing her arms as she always did. When she was younger, she would rub them so much they would bleed. She was mad. Truly mad.
“Isaac is gone, Marilu. He’s not coming back, remember?”
“Gone? Gone where? Did he go overseas again? Is he at war?” Brockman took a deep breath and shook his head, sitting beside his sister.
“No. He died. I told you that. He had to die in order for us to get what we needed.” She stared at him, seemingly unaffected by the news.
“What do we need?” she asked.
“Money, darling. We need money. Lots and lots of money, and then I can buy you all those pretty jewels you like so much, even the green sparkling ones.”
“Ohh, I like the green sparkly ones,” she smiled.