Page 39 of Mine to Protect

“Who, exactly?” Rhett asked as he pulled out a chair for Shelby.

She eased into her seat.

Rhett stood behind her with his hands on her shoulders, rubbing gently. He half-expected her to push him away, but, thankfully, she didn’t.

“Emmett is working that exact part of the equation, but there were two men in a dark sedan in the parking lot. They saw us and split.”

“How did they know what bank if they didn’t have the key?”

“That’s where Chris might have made his first big mistake,” Emmerson said. “It’s a Florida SunTrust, so they have branches as far north as Jacksonville, and both he and Jackie have personal accounts there. We only have one branch in a fifty-mile radius, and since they knew Chris had been in the area, it made sense.”

“Okay. So how did they know Chris was here?” That question had been bothering Rhett for days.

“Another mistake that Chris couldn’t have known about. We found a tracking app on Jackie’s phone. So, whoever the bad guy is, they followed them right to Lighthouse Cove.” Emmerson pushed a stack of papers across the table. “And it appears the bad guy is her uncle.”

“What’s this?” Rhett reached across Shelby and snagged the paperwork.

“The contents of the safety deposit box. I’m not exactly sure why they don’t want this to go public unless they are protecting her uncle—which doesn’t make sense. You’ll see when you read it,” Emmerson said. “But to paraphrase, when Jackie was six, her parents were murdered, and it went unsolved. Only, it didn’t.” Emmerson tapped his knuckles on the table. “That right there is proof that Joe Staub murdered his own brother and sister-in-law.”

“Are you serious?” Shelby asked. “Why? That makes no sense.” She turned and stared at Rhett. “Is he joking or something?”

“No. This is real.” Rhett continued thumbing through the file that was filled with images, police reports, and other shit that’d somehow been suppressed and tossed out the window like it didn’t matter.

Someone had paid a lot of money to ensure that this never saw the light of day, and someone else took the fall.

Well, not literally, since no one ended up in jail.

“We don’t have all the connections yet,” Emmerson said. “But I have to wonder if this is why Joe Staub came running to Florida.”

“Sounds more like he was banished to the south,” Rhett said.

“And when he came here, he made a connection to the Mortellis by taking out abusinessloan. But what’s weird about that, is it’s the only thing her uncle ever did with the Mortellis that is questionable.”

“That is odd,” Rhett said. “I know some people who can ask around inside the Gorga organization to see if Joe is on any shit lists of any kind, or if they are looking for proof. Although, I can understand why Joe Staub wants this hidden.”

“My head is spinning,” Shelby said softly. “I looked into this when Jackie and Chris started dating. Sort of.”

“On the surface, there are only rumors about the Staub brothers and their connection to the Gorgas. Jackie’s parents’ murder was the biggest one, but nothing was ever proven,” Emmerson said.

“Based on what is in this file,”—Rhett turned a page—“there has been one hell of a cover-up.”

“I know,” Emmerson said.

“The Gorga family denied any connection, so the police looked elsewhere. According to what I found, there was some buzz at the time about the Gorgas and the Staubs, but it died down, and now it’s a cold case.”

“If that police report comes out, which it has to, a bunch of people will have a lot to say.” Emmerson sat on the edge of the table. “We can’t suppress this for very long.”

“Why not?” Shelby pushed her chair back and reached for the papers, but Rhett jerked them back.

He knew that if his mother were in the station, Shelby would be sitting in the waiting room. She wouldn’t want this discussed in front of a family member. Rhett owed his brother one for allowing Shelby to be part of the process. He knew his brother was putting himself on the line, and he appreciated the gesture. But he also knew that showing Shelby the documents wasn’t a good idea. While Rhett wasn’t done going through them, he handed them back to Emmerson. If Emmerson wanted Rhett to know something, he would get Rhett that information one way or another.

“Someone committed murder, and then a cover-up happened. It needs to be investigated. This all needs to go up to New Jersey,” Emmerson said. “Mom hasn’t seen these, and she’s letting me be the lead on this. She’s tied up for a few more hours, and I’ll be able to get her to give us probably until end of day tomorrow to find Chris and Jackie. Even she’ll see the urgency of hearing their side, and she’ll want the opportunity to review everything before bringing in other agencies and possibly jumping the gun on something we don’t fully understand.”

Shelby stood, smoothing down the front of her jeans. Her jaw was tight, and stress lined her forehead.

Rhett puffed out his chest, impressed by how she kept her composure, even though he could feel the anger and frustration filling the air around him.

“Why would Jackie and my brother want this hidden? I would think they would want to expose this, especially if her uncle’s the one chasing them.”

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