Page 47 of Taming His Honeydoll
“And that’s when he called you? And Ty and Chessy found you and took you into the coffee shop?”
“Yes.”
Nat carefully recorded everyone’s timeline and then studied it. “No doubt they must have been watching the house and put the bug in your car sometime during the night.”
“I can’t believe my mother would stoop so low,” Henry said with a scowl. “I think the old bat has really lost a few marbles. I’ve always known she was extreme in her views, which is why I didn’t want her to know about Everett, but what the devil does she want with Levi? It really doesn’t make sense.”
“Have you tried to call her or talk to her since you left London?”
Henry shook his head. “No, and I won’t be calling her either. I’m done with my family.”
“This is such a mess,” Sawyer growled. “There has to be a way to stop her.”
Denver chose that moment to enter the study. “The security system is back online; you should be able to see what was recorded now.” Then he dropped a small silver disc in Nat’s hand. “The bug on Emma’s car. You were right.”
“Thanks, Denver,” Nat replied with a frown. He took out a baggie from his pocket and put the disc in it. “Probably too late to get a print, but we can try.”
Sawyer swore under his breath.
“Let’s check the security app now,” Nat instructed.
Sawyer went into the application and quickly pulled it up. When he played back the tape before the perimeter breach alarm, all he saw was a male figure suddenly appear about twenty yards behind the barn on a four-wheeler. He froze the screen and zoomed in, but the man had a stocking hat with eyeholes over his face. The man stopped, took out a tablet from a bag in a holder behind his seat to punch in a few buttons and then the recording ended. Sawyer swore again. “This could be anyone,” he said in disgust.
Emma had it pulled up on her phone and Henry looked over Emma’s shoulder at the man on the four-wheeler.
“Bloody hell,” he exclaimed, “let me see that.” He took the phone from Emma and enlarged the picture around the man’s hand holding the tablet. His face paled and he looked over at Emma. “I think that’s Everett,” he whispered. “How can that be? He’s not even supposed to be in the States, he said he was going over to Edinburgh.”
Sawyer felt his blood beginning to boil but he maintained control. “Why would your friend be after my son,” he gritted through his teeth.
“What makes you think it’s Everett?” Nat asked Henry in a steely tone. He sent April a text asking if she had the info on Everett Cooper yet.
Everyone was glaring at Henry and he seemed to shrink. “T-The ring he has on. I had one just like it made for Everett.”
“How well do you know Everett?” Oliver growled.
“Not as well as I thought I did if he’s behind all this,” Henry replied, sounding bewildered and lost. “He can’t stand my parents either, so none of this makes sense. He wouldn’t stop for Mum if she was lying in the street and pulling on his pantleg.”
“You’ve met Everett, I’m assuming,” Sawyer said to Emma. “What’s your impression of him?”
“Everett is very sweet and kind,” Emma replied, looking almost as bewildered as Henry. “I can’t imagine him doing something like this. He adores Levi and he hates guns! Those men on the freeway had guns.”
“I’ll settle this,” Henry said, standing up and rearing back his shoulders. He walked to the window and took out his new cell phone and punched in some buttons. After a few seconds, he spoke. “Everett! This is Henry. If you are lurking about in the trees behind the barn on Blackland properties, you had better get your arse on that four-wheeler and back down here immediately! Yes, I know it’s you. I recognized our ring on your finger. If you are in league with the devil’s mouthpiece in my life, you have some explaining to do and you are not the man I thought you were.”
Then his voice softened. “Look, old chap. Whatever is going on, you need to explain to Levi’s mother and father—yes, his real father—why you are trying to nab Levi. You have thirty minutes to be here or to call me before I turn the evidence you left over to the local constabulary. I love you, please don’t disappoint me. Do the right thing and come in. We’ll be in the barn.”
Henry turned around to face them, tears in his eyes. “I didn’t think you’d want him in the house in the event he has gone full-on rogue and would try to snatch Levi out from under us.”
Nat took over. “Charlie, you station by the back door of the house just in case. Bud, you take the front. The rest of us will go to the barn.”
The men snapped to attention and started checking their weapons.
“Please don’t shoot him,” Henry squeaked, clearly distressed.
“Don’t worry, we won’t use lethal force unless he precipitates it first,” Nat replied. Then he turned to Sawyer who was getting a 9mm out of his gun case. “Why don’t you stand down on this one, Sawyer. We have enough guns with me and the boys, plus you have a personal stake.”
Sawyer’s eyes narrowed. “Are you saying you don’t trust me to keep a cool head?”
Nat’s eyes narrowed too. “I’m saying I like you, but I don’t know you and how you respond under stress—especially when it’s personal. Any of us can be off our game when it comes to our family.”
