Page 115 of Proof of Guilt

“It can wait a little while longer.”

He was pretty sure the breath she blew out was one of relief. “Then what’s wrong?”

“It’s maybe nothing.” And that’s why Theo hated to even say it aloud. Still, it was bothering him. “It’s about Lacey and Wesley. By any chance, did she ever mention him?”

“No.” Ivy had the reaction that Theo expected. Confusion and surprise. “Why?”

“Wesley didn’t even ask who Lacey was when she came into the sheriff’s office. At that point, we weren’t expecting her.”

“Yes,” she agreed after several moments. “But you don’t think Wesley could be behind the attack?”

Theo certainly didn’t want to believe it, but he just couldn’t shake this feeling. “I’ve worked with Wesley a long time. In fact, we were teamed up on our last case where a fellow DEA agent was murdered.”

She shook her head. “You believe the attack last night could somehow be connected to that?”

Theo scrubbed his hand over his face. “If it is, I can’t see it.”

That didn’t mean he would stop looking, though. He would also be more careful about the info he got from Wesley. After all, it was Wesley’s intel about the impending attack that had sent Theo running to the ranch.

“I called a DEA friend this morning,” Theo explained. “His name is Matt Krueger, and he’s someone I know I can trust. I asked him to look for any connections between Lacey and Wesley. Between Wesley and any of this,” he added.

“But why would Wesley want to go after you?” she pressed. “Why would he want to go after you like this?” Ivy amended. “By including our families?”

“This is just a guess, but the attack last night could be the ultimate smoke screen, a way of making sure no suspicion fell on Wesley.”

Still, that didn’t answer one big question.

Why?

Was it somehow connected to the botched investigation and death of the DEA agent? Theo had spent hours going over every transcript and all the surveillance footage he could get his hands on, and even though he couldn’t see anything wrong, he felt it. Deep in his gut. Something about all of it wasn’t right.

“Are you thinking that Wesley could be dirty?” she asked.

He had to shrug. “That whole undercover operation had hitches right from the start,” Theo explained. He couldn’t give her some details because they were classified, but he could tell her the big picture. “There was a militia group dealing arms and drugs, and some of those came from a cache of weapons that’d b

een seized in a federal raid. The agent who was killed was at the heart of both the bust to seize those weapons and the undercover operation of the militia group.”

And now that the agent was dead, there was no way he could answer the questions that were eating away at Theo.

“God,” she said. “If Wesley had anything to do with this…”

“Wesley doesn’t know the location of the safe house,” Theo told her when he realized all of this had put the alarm back in her eyes. “Only Jameson, Gabriel and the four of us know. And just in case something else goes wrong, if someone did manage to follow us, Jameson is working on setting up a second safe house. A backup.”

The sound of footsteps stopped him from saying anything else, and Theo automatically slid his hand over his gun in his holster. But it wasn’t a threat. It was Nathan.

“Aunt Jodi’s taking a shower,” he greeted. “Is there any cereal and milk? I’m hungry.”

Ivy went to the counter, where there were bags of groceries and supplies, and she rummaged through them. “No cereal, but there are some granola bars.”

Nathan didn’t seem disappointed with that, and he opened the fridge to take out the carton of milk. Since he couldn’t reach the cabinet and because Ivy was opening the box of granola bars, Theo got a glass for him and set it on the table. Nathan poured himself a glass, all the while keeping his attention on Theo.

“I’m not dumb, you know,” Nathan said. “I heard Aunt Jodi and Uncle Gabriel on the phone. She was whispering, but I heard her.” He had a big drink of the milk. “You’re my dad, aren’t you?”

Even though Theo could feel the question coming, it was still a shock to hear it. A shock for Ivy, too, because she stood there, her hand frozen while she reached out to give Nathan the granola bar.

“Yeah, I am,” Theo answered. He braced himself in case Ivy was going to blast him for revealing that, but she merely put the bar on the table and sank down in the chair next to Nathan.

Nathan nodded. “We look alike. Aunt Jodi said.”

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