Chasing Bliss

Chapter Seventeen

Henry Flanders opened the door with a smile that faded when he caught sight of Gemma. “Miss Wells, this is a surprise.” He shut the door behind him a little as though trying to keep whoever was inside from seeing out. “If Nell has done something to upset you, you should just get over it. I’ll make sure she doesn’t bother you, but I’m not letting you hurt her feelings.”

God, she really did have a crappy reputation. “I’m not going to hurt her feelings.”

“She came here to talk to your wife. She’s not some monster.” Jesse stepped in front of her.

Nice. The Neanderthal hormones were taking over.

Henry kept the door closed. “I’ve read up on her. I know the kinds of cases she handled. I know women like my wife tend to annoy lawyers because she tries to keep them honest.”

Gemma rolled her eyes because she could feel Jesse getting brutally pissed off. If she was going to keep Henry’s head in one piece, she needed to bring in the big guns. “Nell! Nell, I’m trying to join the good fight and Henry’s standing in the way!”

Henry Flanders’s face went tight as the door opened and Nell smiled.

“Gemma! How lovely. Please come in. Henry, why didn’t you tell me we had guests?” Nell’s blouse wasn’t buttoned properly.

Henry wasn’t trying to protect his wife’s feelings. He was trying to keep from getting cock blocked. Unfortunately, she couldn’t worry about that this second. She needed answers, and Nell was the only one who might be able to help.

Jesse frowned, obviously figuring out what Gemma had. “Sorry, man.”

“Yeah.” Henry’s frown disappeared, and an evil glint appeared in his usually peaceful eyes. “It’s okay. Come on in. Nell made some lovely tofu burgers. I am sure you would love one, Jesse. We can make sure you get one while your woman is talking to mine.”

Gemma nearly laughed at the look on Jesse’s face. The meaning was clear. Jesse would be enjoying fake meat for as long as Gemma kept Nell talking. Well, unfortunately, Jesse was going to have to take one for the team.

Henry led Jesse away as Nell let Gemma into the house. Nell’s house was just about everything Gemma would have thought it would be. The roof was covered in solar panels and there was a little windmill. Inside the cabin was neat and sported a huge wall of bookshelves and all kinds of activist stuff. She had three working petitions laid out, and a bunch of stickers and T-shirts for her upcoming protest at Tremon Industries.

“How many letters have you written Tremon?” Gemma looked around the pretty living room. No TV. Was that the handle of a flogger poking out of the very sweet-looking flowered couch?

Nell used her ankle to shove the item in question out of the way. She didn’t even blush. “Probably a hundred or so. Please sit down.”

Yep, Gemma caught sight of a ball gag. Nell was a freak. It made Gemma way more comfortable. She took a seat across from Nell. “Have you ever written a firm called Giles and Knoxbury?”

“Oh, yes. Many times. I’ve been writing them for years asking them to rethink their corporate politics. I’ve asked them to review many cases and rethink taking them. It’s a horrible firm. It’s number five on my hit list. I have several hit lists.”

Gemma bet she did. Nell Flanders looked to be in her thirties, but there was a perpetual look of innocence that made her seem younger when she talked. “So they know who you are.”

“Absolutely. I’ve actually protested against the firm before in person. They were defending a corporation against a group of farmers who had their organic farms bought out under false pretenses. They were supposed to continue organic practices, but the company immediately started using pesticides.”

“Holy shit. You’re the one who sent four hundred pounds of rotten lettuce to Mr. Giles. That was legendary at the firm.” No one who worked there could possibly forget that day. Or that smell.

Nell smiled. “I was trying to make a point.”

“So they definitely know you. Tell me what you think is wrong about the Calvin Township case. And do you have any more of those pictures?” She was looking for anything to jog her memory.

Nell retrieved the photos and handed them over. “They’re mostly just family photos. I use them to humanize the victims. It’s too easy to see them as names and dates on a report. It’s harder when you see that they’re just people.”

Gemma had to agree. Nell was smart when it came to running her particular business. And apparently she had quite a reputation. It struck Gemma that she and Nell weren’t so unalike. They were both chasing something. Gemma had chased her career, and Nell chased justice. At least at the end of the day, Nell would have done something good.

Gemma looked over the photos as Nell spoke about how she became involved with the case. So many families hurt. The children were the hardest. They should have a lifetime of health, but they’d been unlucky. They’d been born in a place where the water they drank made them sick. Except it didn’t according to the EPA.

“What did the outside sources say about the water supply?” Gemma asked as she glanced at what looked like someone’s birthday party. The people were all milling around with drinks in hand, neon signs flashing behind their heads.

“We were only able to pay for one. It found the reservoir was plainly unfit for human consumption. I have a copy. Unfortunately, your firm has five separate reports that claim it’s fine. It’s going to be a hard sell. Juries don’t like scientific data as it is.”

She was right. Juries tended to sleep through lengthy scientific testimony. Getting an expert who could just tell them in simple terms whether or not the water was fine would be the key. She kept flipping through party pictures. The man in the shot smiled gamely as though he didn’t particularly want to celebrate his birthday, but wouldn’t disappoint anyone.

Everyone in the picture looked happy. Even the men in the background.

Her eyes caught on the familiar well-cut blond hair and perfect suit. Everyone else was wearing some form of Western wear, but not Patrick Welch. No. He would wear his Italian custom-cut suits even in the middle of the sticks.

Gemma turned the photo around. She pointed to the man sitting across from Patrick, though she suspected she knew the answer. “Who is this?”

It would have been easy to pay four of the experts. When Giles and Knoxbury took on a case like this, they hired at least four experts to run tests. But in this case, they were dependent on the EPA’s report as well. The EPA should have been the untouchable voice of truth.

Nell studied the photo. “Oh, that’s the man from the EPA. Kevin something. Michaels. I have it all written down. I protested him, too. I think his report was very lazy.”

It all fell into place. “His report was paid for by Giles and Knoxbury. Or rather the firm negotiated the bribe for Tremon. See that jerk-faced, son-of-a-bitch asswipe next to him? That’s Patrick Welch.”

Nell went stark white for a moment and then jumped up, her fist pumping in the air. “I knew it! Yes.” She stopped, her little dance ceasing in an instant. “Are you sure?”

Gemma shrugged. “Nope, but why else would he be trying to kill me?”

And it wasn’t just Patrick. If she’d gone back to New York, she would have been brought into the fold, maybe, but she kind of thought she would have met a very convenient mugger one night going home. He would have been paid by Giles and Knoxbury, too. And then the difficult Ice Princess wouldn’t be a threat anymore.

Nell frowned. “He tried to kill you.”

“Yep. With strawberries.”

“I don’t like that man. Strawberries are a gift. They shouldn’t be perverted.”

Gemma kind of thought they were more like her curse, but she didn’t mention that to Nell. “You understand what this means? All we have to do is prove the EPA was bribed, get new, clean reports on Calvin Township, and you’ll win your case.”

“How do we prove it?”

Gemma already had a plan. “We follow the cash, baby. The cash always leads the way.”

And it would lead the way this time. She just knew it.

Henry emerged, a little grin on his face as Jesse followed him. “Jesse and I have had a talk and a little snack. How are you girls doing?” He glanced down at the pictures. “Calvin Township? Gemma, were you serious about the whole ‘good fight’ thing?”

At least she could still surprise someone. “Yes. Although I have to admit, I’m also happy I get to send my ex-fiancé to prison. My old firm and Tremon Industries bribed public officials to fake the reports on Calvin Township. I can’t exactly prove it, yet.”

“You need to follow the money.” Henry’s eyes suddenly became deeply shrewd. “Start with the EPA guy’s accounts. We can even tap his credit cards. See if he’s paid anything off recently. He’ll almost certainly have been paid from a front account.”

How the hell did sweet Henry Flanders know about front accounts? It was why the corporate structure was so important. Accounting practices in really large corporations could be labyrinthine, with smaller companies paying into larger ones and even tinier ones taking the losses so the main front looked good to shareholders.

Nell just smiled up at her handsome husband, hugging him. “He’s so smart.”

Yes, he was. “You ever hacked a system, Henry?”

He laughed, an “aw shucks” kind of sound. “Of course not. I barely know my way around a computer. You need to talk to Cameron. I’m sure he’ll be glad to help.”

Nell practically gleamed up at him. Henry Flanders was roughly forty years old, but there wasn’t a hint of middle-aged paunch to him. He was good looking, with a lean strength and an almost Superman-like handsomeness behind his glasses. And Gemma thought he was full of shit. If he didn’t know how to work a computer, she would eat one of those tofu burgers that seemed to have turned Jesse a nice shade of green. She’d read jurors before, and she’d put Henry Flanders firmly in the no category. He would be a harsh judge.

But he was on her side. And she was kind of glad. She wasn’t sure she wanted to be on Henry’s bad side.

“Can you call Nate for me?” She reached for Jesse’s hand. He’d had a rough night, what with all the fake meat. “We have to go to Hell on Wheels and haul Cade home.” They were close to the bar. If they wanted to, they could walk. They might have to figure out how to walk home if Cade was too drunk to drive. If he would come home with them at all.

Henry nodded. “Sure thing. We’ll explain it to him and give Cam the name to start looking for. You be careful at that bar. It can be a dangerous place.”

“I’ll keep her safe.” Jesse wrapped an arm around her.

They walked out the door and into the star-filled night. There was a brisk chill to the air, and she wondered what this place would look like blanketed in snow. She would find out. She was going to spend her life here. Now she realized her mother had come here for more than one reason. She’d come here for Gemma, to reinforce the lesson her father had tried to teach her as he lay dying. Live. She’d existed before, but now far from everything she’d thought she wanted, she was finally alive.

“Did you get what you need?” Jesse asked.

He and Cade were what she needed, but she answered his question. She settled her bag around her shoulder, crossing it over her chest to settle on the opposite hip. “Oh, yes. And more. With a little help from my friends, I can put Patrick in jail.” Where they wouldn’t let him wear suits. Orange. He would look so good in orange. It really was his color. And he could be someone’s bitch in jail. “All I need is a little of Cam’s magic fingers. If he can get into the EPA guy’s bank account, we should be able to trace the money. And I have a whole corporate map of Tremon. I put it together. I know that company down to the last piddly ass storefront. I can find the money trail.”

Jesse gave her a grin. “This is the happiest I’ve seen you.”

She frowned back. “Not true. I seem to remember being much happier that I’m getting married. I am getting married, right?”

He leaned over and kissed her. “Damn straight you are. Now, tell me why you’re happy about this. Besides the fact that you get to dream about Patrick and his new prison friends.”

He was going to make her admit it. Damn it. “I get to help those kids.”

“And that’s what my Gemma can be.” He kissed her again, slower this time. “I love you.” He stopped, his eyes squinting in the darkness. “What’s wrong with my bike?”

She was just about to give him his words back when there was a muffled sound and Jesse staggered back. He touched his stomach and even in the moonlight, Gemma could see blood.

“Don’t scream or I’ll shoot him again.” Patrick stood in the middle of the dirt road, his hand shaking. “I didn’t want to do this. Damn it. I didn’t want to do this at all.”

Jesse fell to his knees, his strength fading.

“Jesse!” Gemma tried to get her arms around him. “Oh, god. Don’t do this. Don’t you die.”

She put a hand on his abdomen as though she could stop the blood flowing out of his body.

Fuck, getting shot hurt. “Get out of here.”

Her tears sparkled in the moonlight. “I won’t leave you.”

“Get up, Gemma.” Patrick. Patrick had shot him. Patrick was going to kill Gemma. “Unless you want me to finish off your boyfriend, you’re going to get up and get me in that house. You found the evidence, didn’t you? That idiot activist has it.”

“Don’t.” Jesse whispered. “He’ll still kill me. Run, darlin’.”

She stared down at him, leaned over, and kissed his forehead. “Can’t.”

“Gemma, if I see your hand move an inch toward that wretched bag of yours, I’ll put one through his brain. You don’t think I remember you carry a gun?” Patrick moved closer, but was just out of reach.

Gemma frowned. “The sheriff took my gun. He hasn’t given it back to me, yet. Nate Wright and I are going to have such a talk about that. The best I can give you is a little pepper spray.”

If he came just a little closer, Jesse might be able to get his damn limbs to function long enough to pull the fucker down to the ground. Gemma could run.

“Get up now, Gemma,” Patrick ordered.

Gemma kissed him one more time before getting to her feet and staring at Patrick. “You really did it. You bribed that official.”

“Of course I did, Gemma. They were never going to promote you. I always knew you couldn’t handle getting your hands really dirty. This is business, and business is always war. I didn’t like this part either, but I can’t get out and I’m sure as hell not going to let some backwoods idiot’s morality cost me my life.”

Gemma’s head swung toward the house. “They’re nice people.”

“Nice? God, what’s happened to you?” He looked down at Jesse, a sneer on his face. “This guy? Or the other idiot you’re shacked up with? What? You get a little cock and go soft?”

“I had a little cock, Patrick, or did you forget the years I spent with you?”

That was his girl. Sass to the end. Jesse watched Patrick. Just a little closer. His hands twitched.

Patrick sneered right back. “Yeah, well, you were an ice princess, sweetheart. You know what happens to cocks in the cold.”

Patrick leaned forward just enough. Jesse grabbed his ankle and pulled with all his might, adrenaline rushing through his system. “Run, Gemma. Now!”

The gun went off again. Jesse felt something burn against his left side. He reached out to get the gun. It had fallen. It glinted in the moonlight, but all the air left his body as Patrick planted a knee in his gut. Agony filled his world. Pain unimaginable overtook him. He grunted, trying to breathe.

He heard a knocking and a shout and then Patrick was on his feet again, gun in hand.

“Catch me if you can, asshole. Let’s see if you can catch me before I get to the sheriff.” Gemma’s voice trailed off.

Patrick took off after her.

It was only a second later that Henry Flanders’s face came into view. “How many?”

His voice was a flat monotone, not the light and sympathetic tone Henry almost always used.

“I think I got hit twice.” His gut was on fire. “You have to help Gemma. Call the sheriff. Call Cade.”

Cade would come. Jesse knew it.

“How many guns?” Henry corrected.

“Just one.”

“Excellent.” Henry looked over Jesse. “Nell’s coming. She’ll take care of you. Do not allow her to come after me. I don’t want her to see this.”

Henry was gone in a flash, but Nell’s soft hands were suddenly smoothing back his hair. “I called 911. They’ll be here soon. I am so sorry, but I have to cover this.” A wave of nausea hit as she pressed a hand towel to his wound. “It’s organic cotton. And it’s clean. Oh, Jesse, please hold on. Where did my husband go?”

Jesse reached for her hand. Whatever Henry was going to do would be rough. He’d seen it in Henry’s eyes. And he was also pretty sure Henry wouldn’t do it if his wife was around. He had to keep Nell with him. “Please. Don’t leave.”

Her eyes turned round and sympathetic. “Of course not.”

And then it didn’t matter because the world began to narrow. He looked to the sky. The stars were endless.

Cade practically tackled the sheriff in the parking lot.

“We can talk about this debacle back at the station house, Sinclair. Go and get Gemma and Jesse and we can all talk about how fucked up this whole situation is.” Wright stared back at the neon-lit bar, an angry look on his face.

Cade would love to know just what had happened to make those two men hate each other, but he had other problems. “I want the story now. I really want to know why no one bothered to mention this little operation of yours. How long have you known where Patrick is?”

Nate sighed. “He talked to Mike last night. We thought this would be the best way to gather the evidence we need against him. I was very certain he wouldn’t make a move on Gemma. Rafe trailed her all day until she left with Jesse. She’s safe in the valley. Everyone’s watching out for her.”

McMahon tugged at his shirt, pulling out a small microphone that had been taped to his body. “Won’t need this now.”

“He might call back, try to arrange another meeting,” Cam said.

“Doubt it. Even if he didn’t see the law here, he got spooked really easily. And he said he had a deadline. She had to be dead by tomorrow morning, or he would be the one in a casket. He was very specific. She had to be dead by dawn or I wouldn’t get my money.” McMahon ran a hand through his longish hair. “I’m done with this shit. I’m not coming off my mountain again.”

Fuck, he had to get to Gemma. He would tell Jesse what was going on, and then they wouldn’t take no for an answer. They would just get the hell out of here and hide out until this whole thing was sorted out. His fear didn’t matter now. He was way more afraid of a world without Gemma in it than he was of anything else.

Cam cursed as he pulled out his cell phone. “Rafe says Jesse and Gemma left a half an hour ago on Jesse’s bike. He stopped them as they were leaving. They were headed to Nell and Henry’s. Do you want him to go up there with them?”

Nate scrubbed a hand across his head. “Damn it. No. I’ll go do it. Maybe someone will off this little shit and then we won’t have to worry about him.” He sighed. “Then we can worry about whoever killed him.”

It was bigger than just Patrick. Cade’s mind spun with the implications. Gemma was involved in something big, and she didn’t even know it. “Where do Nell and Henry live?”

Jesse had been out to their place to help Henry fix their biodiesel car, but Cade hadn’t been.

“Just come with me.” Nate started for the parking lot. He’d left the county Bronco behind. Cade recognized Zane’s black truck.

Cade went along because he didn’t really have a place to stash thirty grand on his bike, and the sooner he got to Gemma, the better.

He slipped into the backseat just as the radio squawked.

“Sheriff? We have a 911 call from Nell Flanders. She says someone’s shooting outside her cabin, and we already have one down. I’ve dispatched the Creede boys out, but if you’re still at Hell on Wheels, you can get there faster.” Laura’s voice came over the radio. “Rafe’s on his way, too. I’ve called for Caleb and Ty, so expect a bunch of sirens coming your way.”

Nate already had the truck in gear and the gravel was flying.

“Who’s down?” Cade asked from the backseat. Don’t be Gemma. Don’t be Gemma.

Nate handed the handset to Cam as he flew down the mountain.

“Laura, do we have an ID on the vic?” Cam’s voice was perfectly steady.

Laura paused, sending Cade’s stomach into knots. “Jesse McCann. No word on his status. The situation is fluid and dangerous. Use all caution. I’ll update you if I can.”

Status. No word on Jesse’s status. They didn’t know if he was dead or alive. The situation was ongoing. Patrick had made his move, and Jesse had paid the price.

Guilt swamped him. He’d caused this. Like he’d caused everything else. Patrick would have been arrested if he hadn’t bumbled like an idiot into everything.

“I should have told you,” Nate said, his words tight. “If I’d been in your same position, I would have gone after the bastard, too.”

Cam talked as he checked the clip on his gun. “We got the message from Mike this morning. He didn’t give us a lot of time to make reasonable decisions. He basically walked into the station house and invited us along.”

Nate’s hands tightened on the wheel. “As fucked up as Mike is, we should be glad he didn’t just kill the guy himself.”

“Can you go faster?” Cade asked, keeping his voice even when all he wanted to do was scream.

“Not if I don’t want us to die,” Nate replied. “When we get there, you stay in the car, Cade. You let us do our jobs.”

Cade kept his mouth shut because he couldn’t promise that. If he could save Gemma, he would. If he could save Jesse, he would. His love. His brother. And if he couldn’t save them, then nothing mattered anyway.