Secret Twins For The Texan

Stanton nodded and scribbled down a few notes while her partner, Bird, raised his hand. “We’re still tracing the payoffs from Lowell to Orson. There’s a chance that some of it was cash, but I have to think for this big of a cover-up, it would’ve been too much money to go that route.”

“Orson is a greedy man,” Cole said. “He has a massive house up in the hills. He’s got his fingers in everything within his jurisdiction. The more I dig, the more dirt I find. All kinds of shady dealings and a lot of evidence of bribes and kickbacks. I’m sure Rich had to make a substantial payoff.”

“Everything hinges on Orson right now,” Sheriff Battle said. “If we can find a way to get him to talk and admit that Rich bribed him to have Jason’s body cremated and falsely identify the body as Will, we could blow the case wide-open.”

“And find the money,” Bird added. “We still have to find where Lowell has stashed the small fortune he stole. That’s crucial to our case against him. A big part of his apparent motive for impersonating Will Sanders was to siphon cash from his personal and business accounts. My search for offshore and shell accounts has turned up nothing. I think we’re looking for a physical stash, and my gut is telling me we’re looking for gold.”

“Really?” Deputy Baker asked. “Isn’t that a little impractical? How do you skip the country with gold?”

“It’s not about the how. It’s about the why. It’s the one currency that works anywhere. The disclosure laws are easy to work around, especially if you know what you’re doing, and gold is untraceable by electronic means.”

This really got Cole’s mind going. Did Rich have a stash somewhere in or around Royal? That might explain why they were still sporadic Rich sightings, most recently when Aaron thought he saw Will at the Glass House, when the real Will was miles away at the Ace in the Hole. Was Rich still trying to hide in plain sight, waiting for the perfect time to get to his money? If so, they had to act quickly.

Cole cleared his throat. Time to make his pitch. “Orson is hosting a cocktail party in a few days for potential investors in a pipeline project he’s trying to get in his county. It just reeks of more kickbacks and skimming. What if I posed as a bigwig money guy and wore a wire and tried to get him to say something stupid?”

“Yes. That’s an amazing idea. I could go with you,” Bird offered.

Stanton cast him a doubtful glance. “At a cocktail party for rich people? You’re too socially awkward. You’ll stick out like a sore thumb.”

Bird pressed his lips into a thin line. “Thanks for that.”

“Hey. I call ’em like I see ’em.” Stanton tapped her pen against her pad of paper. “You need bait. You need a lure. You’re a handsome guy, but something tells me you aren’t Sheriff Orson’s idea of a good time.”

Cole leaned back against the wall and crossed his legs at the ankle. “What’d you have in mind?”

“If you do an internet image search for the guy, you get a lot of pictures of him with women, and they are never the same. We’re talking a real revolving cast of characters. I think we need to send you with a female. A damn good-looking one.” Stanton rubbed her round belly. “I’d do it myself if I wasn’t carrying around a baby disguised as a bowling ball.”

For a split second, Cole had an idea, but it was crazy. Maybe it was the mention of a “damn good-looking” woman that had him thinking of Dani. But she was a mom with two small kids. That was too crazy to make any sense. He couldn’t put her in that kind of danger.

“Sheriff, you have any female deputies right now?”

Sheriff Battle shook his head. “Unfortunately, no. We had one last year but she moved away.”

Stanton eyed Cole, but he could see that the gears in her head were churning. “I doubt the bureau will let me steal an extra agent right now. But I can look into it. Otherwise, you might have to find someone, Sullivan.”

“You really think it’s necessary?” Cole was truly drawing a blank on who he should ask. His brain just wanted to circle back to Dani.

“Honestly? I think it’s essential. I don’t see you catching this guy without a beautiful woman on your arm.”

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