Page 36 of Heartbeat

At that point, Jack got down to business. It took four phone calls and being put on hold for a total of forty-five minutes during those calls to get the name of the federalagent in charge of Outen’s murder investigation, and then he blinked when he saw the name.

It was his stepbrother, Colin Ramsey! What were the odds?

Special Agent Colin Ramsey was at his desk when the phone rang. He hit Save on his computer and swiveled his chair around to answer.

“Ramsey speaking.”

“Colin, it’s me, Jack. Long time, no see.”

Colin blinked. “Jack as in my brother, Jack?”

Jack chuckled. “Has it been so long you also forgot what I sound like? Hell yes, it’s me.”

“What’s wrong? Is it Dad?”

Jack sighed. “Nope. The old man is fine, or was last week when I saw him. I’m actually calling on business. I’ve been given to understand you’re handling the chopper explosion outside of Jubilee, Kentucky.”

Colin frowned. “Yes…and?”

“I’m Wolfgang Outen’s go-to man when he needs things investigated, and I have some very important info to share with you.”

Colin hesitated. “Look, Jack, I know we’re family but I can’t discuss anything to do with the—”

“Wolf’s not dead.”

“What the fuck?” Colin muttered. “How do you know? Can you prove that?”

“I know because I got a text from him last night and another one this morning.”

“Then who was on the chopper?” Colin asked.

“Stuart Bien, Wolf’s personal assistant. Apparently, there was an emergency at Wolf’s refinery in Brazil, so Stu took the chopper to Jubilee with Wolf’s proxy to sit in on some board meeting, and Wolf flew to Brazil on his private jet. Wolf didn’t know shit about what had happened to Stu until he landed in Sao Paulo, but he believes it’s someone in his inner circle who tried to take him out. And there’s another angle to this story. Before Wolf left, he hired me to tail his wife. Something happened between them that led him to lose trust in her. But here’s the deal. For the time being, Wolf doesn’t want anyone to know he’s still alive because he thinks they’ll just try it again. I’m going to send you a screenshot of the texts between us. And at Wolf’s instructions, I am also going to send you a video of his wife, Fiona, and his golf buddy Hank Kilmer sneaking around in the cabana outside of the big house.”

Colin shifted focus. “Okay, but I’m going to have to talk to him face-to-face before I can act on any of this. I believe you. But I need to make sure someone isn’t trying to pull something on you.”

“Fine, but just for the record, I’ve worked for Outen off and on for a good ten years, and believe me, I know the man’s voice better than you know mine.”

Colin groaned. “You’re not gonna let that pass, are you? So how do I contact him?”

“You don’t. I need a safe number where he can call you that you know for sure won’t be traced, or he’s not having it. He’ll FaceTime with you, but he’s not gonna tell you where he is. I don’t even know that.”

“Then give him my personal number,” Colin said. “I assume you still have it?”

Jack pulled up his contact list and read off the number he had.

“Yes, that’s it,” Colin said, “and out of curiosity, why does he suspect his wife? I mean, wives cheat, but they don’t blow up a plane to get rid of the husband when it’s a hell of a lot simpler just to divorce them.”

“But it’s a lot more lucrative to be the sole heir when they’re worth a cool billion, don’t you think?” Jack said.

“Noted,” Colin said. “Good to hear from you, brother. We’ll talk again.”

“Thanks,” Jack said. “Check your email in a bit. I’m about to hit Send.”

Colin hung up, then turned back to his computer, pulled up his email, and waited. A couple of minutes later, the email popped up. He saw their texts. He watched the video, and then he got up and headed for the chief’s office.

A half hour later, he was back at his desk. For now, they were going to adhere to Outen’s request, but only until the DNA results came back. After that, Outen would have to come forward. And they were still going to continue with the investigation as it stood. Someone had blown up an aircraft in midflight and killed two people. Nobody got a pass on that.

Colin updated his partner, Mike Brokaw, on what was happening, and then while Colin was following up on the pilot who died, Mike was checking in with the lab to see if there were any updates from debris gathered at the crash site.

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