“But this is land that my father somehow bought up in bits. I think he’s been quietly sitting on it for years. It looks as if someone bought it up under another name, even though the sales are public record. I couldn’t understand why Laura would be interested in that until I studied these reports.”
“What did the reports say?”
“From what I could gather, the land has been in a holding pattern with a company called Wind Drift Pass. Laura’s notes indicated it was some sort of shell company. No one knows that Conrad Oil is involved with the transactions. But I think Laura found out something regarding this land, something that caused her death. She’d made notes indicating that Conrad Oil owned the land. I believe she was gathering information to confront someone. Or expose someone.”
He sat back in his chair. “Big corporations use shell companies a lot to avoid paying taxes.”
“Yes, but why would Conrad Oil use one for land that hasn’t been developed yet? What are they trying to hide?”
“Why don’t you ask your father that question?”
She sat silent for only a second, but Hunter’s eyes turned a deep gray. So he answered the question for her. “Because you don’t trust him.”
Chloe hated to admit it, but it was the truth. And Hunter had asked for the truth. She gave him as much of it as she felt necessary for now. “I don’t trust anyone.”
He nodded. “Ah, so that explains it.”
“What do you mean?” she asked. Had he already figured it all out?
He leaned up in his chair, his gaze pinning her. “Why you came to me.”
Chloe slid around so she could face the water, sweat beading on her upper lip in spite of the cool air. This was a peaceful, secluded spot, but she felt anything but peaceful.
“I told you—”
“You know I hate your father, right?” Hunter asked, his hands gripping the wide arms of his chair. “So...you can’t trust him, but you think maybe I’d be the perfect person to help you bring him down? Maybe because you think I need to seek revenge or retribution against your family? So you’ll use me to handle the unpleasant tasks, the same way your father uses people? Is that it? Am I right so far?”
He made it sound so sordid she wanted to bolt right out of here. But where would she go?
“That’s not my reason for finding you,” she said, fatigue warring with hope, regret merging with resentment. “I thought maybe if we worked together on this and if I could find out who did this to Laura, you might finally forgive my stepbrother for what he did.”
Anger clouded his eyes. “I doubt that’s gonna work, since getting justice for you will not absolve anyone—not even me. Besides, I don’t have to forgive Tray Conrad. He’s dead now and I’m thinking he’s not in a better place.”
“But—”
“But hiring me is one thing. Trying to redeem Tray is another. We do this my way and that means we aren’t going to speak of that lousy piece of humanity again, understand? And it also means I’m not anybody’s whipping boy or killer-for-hire.”
He stared out at the water for a moment and then gave her a look full of defiance. “I’ll help you find the truth about your sister’s death, but this doesn’t have anything to do with my feelings toward your family. Nothing will ever make me change my mind on that. Understand?”
She nodded again and stared at her boots. “I’m sorry, Hunter. For what he did to your sister.”
Hunter’s brooding expression turned black with anger. “Save it and get on with things.”
She told him more about the files she’d found, but she was still afraid to divulge everything. “I separated the files and kept some on my laptop and then hid part of them in a safe spot.”
“Nowhere is safe if someone is after damaging information.”
“I also took pictures of the papers and contracts that show the land sale. My father’s signature is nowhere on those papers, but somehow Laura found out he’s behind those buyouts.”
“He probably had someone strong-arm the landowners. You know how he lets other people do his dirty work.”
Hunter’s disgusted tone was undeniable. He’d never forgive Wayne Conrad for trying to cover up what her stepbrother, Tray, had done. Why had she come here?
She stood, needing to be away from him. “This was a bad idea. If you’ll take me back to the Millbrook Inn, I’ll call a cab and get a flight home.”
Hunter stood, too, and blocked her way, his broad chest shadowing the last of the sunset’s show-off rays. “Not gonna happen.”
“You said you hate my father.”
“I do. But if I let you go back and something happens to you, I’ll have to live with that, too.”
“I don’t want you to live with any more grief,” she said, hoping he’d see the sincerity in her eyes. “I came to you because you know Oklahoma. You grew up there. You know the oil fields and you know how things work.”
And because her sister had written his name with a question mark beside it in her notes. There were some other interesting revelations in her sister’s papers, but Chloe figured she’d have to dole out those details one at a time with this man. Had Laura planned on finding him?
“Yeah, I know it all,” he said in a taut whisper. “I watched my parents scrape and grovel just to keep a roof over our heads. My daddy worked himself to death and my mother’s health is so bad now she had to move in with her sister in another state. I blame their misery on Conrad Oil.”
“And you blame your own misery on my family, too,” she said, unafraid of him now. “You understand, Hunter. It might hurt and you might not like it, but you’re one of the few people who can find the truth on this.” She stopped, took in a breath and wished she could blurt out all her findings. “In the same way you fought against my father to find out the truth about your sister’s accident.”
He took her by the arm, his expression brooding and brittle with rage. “I’ll find the truth, all right. But you need to think long and hard on what’s about to happen. I won’t forgive and I won’t forget. If I have to, I’ll put them all in jail. So if you came here on some rich-girl mission to rebel against your daddy, you won’t be having any fun.”
Anger poured over Chloe in a heated rush. She glared up at him, matching the fire in his eyes. “Do I look like I’m having fun?”
He dropped her arm. “No.”
Chloe saw the trace of regret in his stormy eyes and played on it. “If you can’t find it in your heart to help me, then...I’ll go home and keep digging on my own. I’m used to doing things on my own.”
“And you’ll die trying.”
“Maybe.
