Shadows at Dawn Page 3

  Jax went back to her email, looked in her inbox, regular emails from some of her friends, ads from Amazon, Target, L.L. Bean, places where she purchased products online. He returned to the emails.

  There were messages from people she kept in touch with. Shelley Bachman was an acquaintance from high school. Kayla Hildebrand was one of the other temps at DeMarco Staffing, the agency she had been working for when she got the job at The Max.

  Jax went to the sent items folder and glanced through old emails from three or four months back she hadn’t bothered to delete.

  “When I worked for DeMarco, I did some bookkeeping on the side, mostly friends, people I knew. Susan DeMarco referred me to a couple of her acquaintances. A college student named Ricky Malone needed help getting his taxes done, and a guy named Ryan Shipman, whose company was barely making it financially. It saved them money and helped me make a little extra.”

  Jax moved through the rest of her trash mail, then went back to her inbox when a new message pinged. Her face warmed when she read the email from her best friend, Nicki Carson. Nicki wanted her to go out on a blind date with a guy named Thomas Koenig.

  Thomas has a PhD in psychology. He’s gorgeous and believe it or not, he’s got a super-hot body. Guys like him are usually wimps, but Thomas is an exception. I really think you’d like him. Say you’ll come out with Ben and me.

  Jax’s dark eyes swiveled in her direction. There was something in them, not disapproval, but something else she couldn’t read. “Not a good time for you to be out dating right now.”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not going on a blind date with some shrink that Nicki thinks I’ll fall all over. We have totally different taste in men.”

  “Is that right...?” Jax drawled, his mouth edging up.

  “That’s right.” Mindy’s tastes agreed more with Muffin’s, but she couldn’t say that. Not even jokingly.

  “Care to elaborate?”

  She couldn’t believe he had even asked. “No.”

  He turned back to her laptop. “There’s a notice here from the Texas State Bank. Your monthly statement is ready. I thought you banked at Wells Fargo.”

  “I’m authorized to write checks to pay Mom’s bills.”

  “Paying for a health care facility like that must be expensive.”

  “It is. The only good thing that came out of the accident was the settlement my mother received. The other driver was completely at fault. He was young, and his parents were extremely wealthy. The money my mother got is what pays for her medical care.”

  Jax’s head turned in her direction. “How much?”

  “After attorney’s fees, her portion was five million dollars.”

  His dark gaze sharpened on her face. “That’s a lot of money. How’s it handled?”

  “A trust fund was set up at the time of the settlement. A monthly check is deposited into the bill-pay account I manage at Texas State Bank.”

  “Who’s in charge of the fund?”

  “A lawyer who did work for my father, a man named Marcus Handley. He’s with Gibbons, Eckstein, and Riggs, Attorneys at Law.”

  “Like I said, five million is a lot of cash. Even if some of it was spent on your mother’s care, there’s probably still a lot left.”

  “Around three million according to the latest quarterly statement from Handley’s accountant.”

  “We need to follow up on this, Mindy. Someone tried to kidnap you. They didn’t want you dead, or they would have just shot you. That means they want something from you. Maybe access to three million dollars.”

  “It’s not my money. It’s my mother’s.”

  “If you were kidnapped, would Handley pay the ransom?”

  Mindy sucked in a breath. “Oh my God.”

  “Exactly.”

  CHAPTER FOUR

  JAX SILENTLY CURSED as Mindy’s pretty face drained of color.

  “It never occurred to me that the men in the van might believe they could ransom me for money from the trust fund.”

  “How many people are aware of the money?”

  She shook her head, shifting long mahogany curls around her shoulders. The scent of lavender teased his senses, and his groin tightened. Jax bit back another curse.

  “I never even think about it,” Mindy said. “It’s there to take care of my mother. Paying her bills is just something I do to help.”

  “So no one you can think of would know you have access to three million dollars.”

  “I don’t really have access. Mr. Handley controls the funds.”

  “We need to talk to him, see if he can tell us something that will help us figure this out.”

  “It’s Saturday. His office is closed. I’ll call him first thing Monday morning.”

  “You have his home number?”

  “Yes, for emergencies.”

  “Sweetheart, the attempted kidnapping of one of his clients is definitely an emergency.”

  Her cheeks pinkened. He wasn’t sure if it was from the realization of just how serious this was or him slipping up and calling her sweetheart again.

  “I’ll phone him right now.” As she pulled out her cell, a text message appeared on her screen. “It’s from Nicki. I haven’t answered her email, so she’s texting me about tonight.”

  “The pretty boy shrink, right?”

  Her color deepened. “I told you I’m not going.”

  “You might want to tell that to your friend—unless you want a bodyguard along on your date.”

  Her chin went up. She started to argue, but Mindy was smart. At the moment, she needed his protection and she knew it.

  “Fine, I’ll tell her,” she said.

  “Not about the kidnapping attempt. The fewer people who know about that the better. At least for the time being.”

  She nodded, texted her friend that she wouldn’t be going out with Thomas Koenig, the pretty boy with the PhD. Jax wished he didn’t feel so relieved.

  “I’ll call Mr. Handley and see if he can see us this morning.”

  “You can call him from the office when we get there. I’m going to go get cleaned up. I won’t be long. Don’t open the door for anyone.”

  He headed for the guest bathroom at the end of the hall, took a quick shower, and was ready to leave in less than five minutes. As he drove to the office, he made a quick pass through Burger King for a couple of breakfast burritos for him, and an egg-and-cheese biscuit for Mindy, which they ate on the way.

  When he pulled the Dodge into the parking lot, Chase’s silver Mercedes sat next to Maddox’s big black SUV. When they walked through the back door, Lissa Blayne, one of the female PIs, was on the phone. Wolfe was just leaving.

  “Heard what happened last night,” Jonah said to Mindy. “You okay?”

  The bruise had darkened on her cheek, which Wolfe didn’t miss. “Jax was there,” she said. “He took on three men. Because of him, I’m okay.”

  Wolfe’s obsidian eyes swung in Jax’s direction. “Nice work,” he said. “Let me know if you need my help.”

  “Will do. Thanks.”

  “Chase and Maddox are waiting for you in the conference room,” Wolfe said.

  Jax nodded. He tipped his head in that direction and Mindy led the way. Chase and Jason stood up as they walked in. Both men were in their thirties—Maddox tall and brawny, taking up too much space, Chase dark blond, lean and hard-muscled.

  “You all right?” Chase asked. He noticed the bruise on Mindy’s cheek and his jaw clenched.

  Behind the lenses of her glasses, Mindy’s big blue eyes shot toward Jax. “I’m okay. But if Jax hadn’t been there...”

  Jax cleared his throat. He didn’t need any more reminders of what would have happened if he hadn’t walked out of the office when he had. “We need to figure this out,” he said, rolling out a chair at the long oak conference table for Mindy, then one for himself.

  “Where are we so far?” Chase asked as Jax and Mindy sat down.

  Jax didn’t miss the we. Mindy was important to all of them. She was part of The Max crew, a member of the family. They wouldn’t let anyone hurt her.

  “Best guess so far, it may have been a ransom attempt.” Jax went on to explain about the accident that had killed Mindy’s father and brother and left her mother mentally impaired. He told them about the three million dollars being held in trust for her mother’s care, and that Mindy handled the monthly disbursements.

  “I just get a check once a month I use to pay Mom’s bills,” Mindy said. “Mr. Handley controls the money.”

  “The kidnappers may not know that,” Maddox said.

  “That’s right,” Chase said. “We need to figure out who knew about the trust fund money.”

  Jax swiveled his chair to face them. “We’re hoping to speak to the attorney who manages the trust sometime today.” He turned to Mindy. “Why don’t you go ahead and call him.”

  “From here?”

  Jax nodded. He wanted to make sure the guy didn’t try to put her off.

  Mindy pulled out her cell and hit Handley’s contact number. The phone rang several times before it was answered.

  “Marcus? Hi, it’s Mindy Stewart. I know you’re busy and it’s the weekend. I’m really sorry to bother you—”

  Jax took the phone out of her hand. “Mr. Handley, this is Jaxon Ryker. I’m a private investigator with Maximum Security. Last night a kidnapping attempt was made on Ms. Stewart after she left the office.”

  “What?”

  “Fortunately, the effort failed. I need to speak to you. I’m hoping you have information that can help me find the men behind the attack and keep Ms. Stewart safe.”

  “Is Mindy all right?”

  “She managed to escape unharmed, but until these men are stopped, she’s in danger.”

  “I see. I’m not sure how I can help you, but I’m more than willing to try.”

  “Thank you so much, Marcus,” Mindy chimed in.

  Jax set up a meeting at Handley’s house that morning and ended the call.

  “You brought your laptop,” he said to her. “I want you to make a list of anyone who might know about the trust fund money. Girlfriends, old boyfriends, people you worked with before you came here. I need addresses and phone numbers if you have them.”

  Maddox spoke up. “If there’s anyone at your mother’s health facility who’s shown more than a passing interest in how her bills are being paid, you need to list them, too.”

  “Good idea,” Jax said.

  Mindy took her laptop out of its case, set it on the conference table and went to work.

  Jax tipped his head toward the door and the men left her to her task.

  Chase paused outside the conference room door. “What about the van? Any way to track it?”

  “I’ll phone Detective Gunderson, see if any sign of it’s shown up. Maybe the parking lot or street cams caught something useful.”

  “We need to set up a protection detail,” Maddox said. “You don’t have to do this by yourself.”

  “It’s not a problem,” Jax said. “I’ll stay at her place at night. During the day, she’ll be here working. As long as one of us is with her in the office, she should be safe. While she’s here, I’ll have time to do some digging, follow up on whatever we come up with.”

  “Looks like you’re taking the lead on this,” Chase said.

  “I was there when those bastards went after her. I’ve got a personal stake in bringing them down. So yeah, I’m taking the lead.”

  Chase nodded. “Good enough. Just keep us in the loop and let us know if you need more help.”

  “Will do.” As Chase walked away, Jax started to head back to the conference room, but Jason caught his arm.

  “You gonna be able to stay objective on this? Like you said, you’ve got a personal stake—and I’m not talking about the men in the van.”

  Jax eased out a slow breath. There was no point in lying, not to Hawk. “I want her. You know it, but no one else does, including her. She needs my protection. I won’t let my feelings get in the way.”

  Jason nodded. “Good enough.” He grinned. “Can’t be easy sleeping on the sofa with the woman you want in a bed down the hall.”

  Jax just grunted. It wasn’t easy. It was damned hard—for about half the night. Inwardly cursing at the pun, he walked back into the conference room just as Mindy finished typing up her list.

  “I sent the names to your phone. I’ll print us a hard copy.”

  He took out his cell and studied the list. There weren’t that many people. He knew who Nicki Carson was, the friend who wanted to set up her up with the shrink. Marcus Handley’s name was there. “Who’s Blake Davis?”

  “The CPA Mr. Handley uses. He does the quarterly reports.”

  “What about Curt Wyman?”

  She glanced away. “He’s a guy I dated for a while before I started working here.”

  “He knew about your mother’s trust fund?”

  She shrugged. “We were pretty serious for a while. So, yes, Curt knew. Then he started drinking too much and using drugs. We started arguing, and then he got arrested, and I broke up with him.”

  Jax’s senses perked up. “Arrested? What was he charged with?”

  “Burglary. He...um...broke into a bunch of rich people’s houses and stole jewelry and things.”

  “Bingo,” Jax said.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  THEY WERE ON their way to Marcus Handley’s house. Mindy brought up the subject of Curt Wyman again. “I know you think Curt is the guy who tried to kidnap me, but I would have recognized him even in a mask, and besides, he’s still in jail.”

  As the pickup rolled along, Jax flicked her a sideways glance. “Actually, he’s out. He cut a deal with the DA’s office to testify against the jewelry fence he was working with, a guy the cops had been after for a while.”

  She mulled that over. “I’m not really surprised. Curt was a stockbroker when he lost all his money. He’s a decent guy or at least he was.”

  “I take it you haven’t heard from him since his release.”

  “No, and I don’t expect to. He accepted the breakup when it happened.”

  “How did you feel about it?”

  She glanced over to where he sat behind the wheel. It seemed an odd question. “What does that have to do with anything?”

  “Nothing. Forget it.”

  She didn’t like to talk about Curt. She should have left him sooner, when things first went downhill, but she’d felt sorry for him. She hoped he didn’t screw up his second chance. “The truth is I was glad when we finally broke up. I was ready to end things way before it actually happened.”

  Jax nodded. She would have sworn he seemed relieved.

  “Even if Curt’s out of jail, he definitely wasn’t one of the men in the parking lot.”

  “Maybe not, but I looked into his case. The guy was no dummy. If he hadn’t gotten careless, he might still be lining his pockets with money from stolen goods. No doubt he’s smart enough to come up with a kidnapping scheme if he thought the payoff would be big enough.”

  “I don’t think Curt would do anything to hurt me. He just liked living the high life—expensive cars, Armani suits. We had fun at first. But I didn’t really care about the money, and Curt did. When he ran out, he went a little crazy.”

  “Crazy enough to kidnap you for ransom?”

  She sighed and leaned back in the passenger seat. “I don’t think so, but I don’t know for sure. I didn’t think he would burglarize people’s homes, but he did.” She said nothing more as Jax pulled up in front of the address she had given him for Marcus Handley’s house, an impressive two-story red brick Georgian with white shuttered windows and doors.

  Marcus personally greeted them, a thin, silver-haired man dressed in khaki chinos and a yellow button-down shirt. He leaned over and hugged her in a rare show of emotion.

  “I’m glad you’re all right,” he said.

  “Thank you.” She made the introductions, and Marcus led them into a private study lined with bookshelves loaded with heavy leather-bound volumes. Marcus sat down behind a wide mahogany desk, and she and Jax sat in dark brown leather chairs across from him.

  “Would you like some refreshment? Coffee or a soda, perhaps?”

  “We’re fine,” Jax said.

  “All right, then.” Marcus focused on Jax. “Tell me what I can do to help you find the men who tried to abduct Mindy last night.”

  “First I need to know what you would have done if you had received a ransom demand from the kidnappers. Would you have paid the money for Mindy’s release out of her mother’s trust fund?”

  Marcus didn’t hesitate. “No.” He looked at Mindy. “I’m sorry, my dear, my power only extends as far as the distribution of funds for your mother’s care and personal welfare. I could have gone to court and tried to obtain permission to release the funds to the kidnappers, but it would have taken time, and I’m not sure the judge would have granted my petition.”

  Mindy shifted in her chair. “Can you think of anyone who might have thought you’d pay the ransom?”

  “Very few people know about the trust fund. The settlement wasn’t highly publicized at the time, and it was almost twelve years ago. Whoever tried to kidnap you must be someone you’ve met or dealt with recently. At least that would be my guess.”

  “How about you?” Jax asked. “Any new hires, people who recently gained access to the fund?”

  “We have a few new employees at the firm but none who have any connection to the trust fund or would have any knowledge of it. Mindy handles the day-to-day business of her mother’s care. She submits a monthly request for the money, and I grant it.”

  Interest moved across Jax’s hard features. His stare remained on Marcus. “What if Mindy submitted a request for a few million dollars? Would you be obliged to grant that request?”