Chapter 2 - My Wife’s Secret
We didn’t speak until we reached home.
Rachel went straight into the kitchen.
I locked the front door.
“Tell me.”
“There’s nothing to tell.”
“That answer stopped working three months ago.”
She turned.
“You’ve been watching me?”
“No. I’ve been trusting you.”
That landed harder.
Rachel folded her arms.
“You don’t understand this town.”
“I understand intimidation.”
“Travis isn’t intimidating me.”
“Then explain the nod.”
She looked away.
I waited.
Silence makes people uncomfortable.
In my former life, I learned never to rescue someone from it.
Eventually, Rachel whispered, “He wanted you angry.”
“Why?”
“To see what you would do.”
I stared at her.
“Why would the county sheriff need to test me?”
“He thinks you’re investigating him.”
I almost laughed.
“I repair transmissions.”
“He doesn’t believe that.”
“Why?”
Rachel swallowed.
“Because someone accessed county financial records six months ago.”
“Not me.”
“I know.”
“Does Cole?”
“No.”
I stepped closer.
“What records?”
Rachel hesitated.
“County development funds.”
“How much?”
“Almost four million dollars.”
Now she had my full attention.
“Missing?”
“Redirected.”
“To where?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’re lying.”
“I’m not.”
“Rachel.”
“I don’t know where it ultimately went.”
That wording mattered.
“Ultimately?”
She closed her eyes.
Then she walked to the pantry and removed a cereal box.
Inside was a flash drive.
She placed it on the counter.
“I found invoices.”
“For what?”
“Road construction. Emergency equipment. Veteran housing grants. Most of the projects either don’t exist or cost a fraction of what the county reported.”
“And Cole?”
“His signature is everywhere.”
I looked at the drive.
“Why didn't you tell me?”
“Because Travis found out I copied the records.”
My anger disappeared.
Something colder replaced it.
“What did he threaten?”
Rachel’s eyes filled, but she held herself together.
“You.”
I said nothing.
“He knows you were military. He doesn’t know everything, but he knows enough. He said if I talked, he’d manufacture a weapons charge against you.”
“He threatened to frame me?”
“And shut down your garage.”
“Rachel, that doesn’t explain today.”
She lowered her voice.
“He wanted proof that he controlled me.”
“The nod.”
“Yes.”
I finally understood.
Cole hadn't been acknowledging a lover.
He had been giving a command.
Rachel’s embarrassment in the diner had been partly real—but it wasn't embarrassment about me.
It was fear.
“Why did you tell me not to make a scene?”
“Because he wanted you to hit him.”
I looked toward the window.
“He provokes me. I assault a sheriff. He arrests me.”
“And searches everything you own.”
“My house.”
“Your garage.”
“My computers.”
Rachel nodded.
“He thinks you have evidence.”
I looked at the flash drive.
“Now I do.”
Her phone suddenly buzzed.
A message appeared.
TRAVIS COLE
I picked it up.
Rachel didn’t stop me.
The message contained six words.
HE MADE THE CALL, DIDN’T HE?
I looked at Rachel.
“How does he know?”
Her face drained of color.
Then I heard something outside.
Tires on gravel.
I moved toward the window.
Two sheriff’s vehicles stopped in front of our house.
Rachel whispered, “Ethan…”
Cole stepped out of the first cruiser.
May you like
Four deputies followed.
And in Cole’s hand was a search warrant.
