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.