“There wasn’t anyone in the Justice Department you could go to?”
“I went to the FBI and asked for protection. But when Valerie and I went to meet them, we were ambushed and shot at. Knowing what I know now, I think it was someone in Dillon Carver’s crime organization, at the behest of either someone at the firm or at the FBI. We didn’t know who to trust. Val told me she was pregnant and wanted to get sober. I didn’t want to leave her for you to deal with on top of Wes, and God knows that was more responsibility than was fair.”
Her father paused for a drink of water, clearly lost in the memories. “We left town thinking we’d give the FBI time to arrange something. We had every intention of coming back. But then the baby was born, and Val was having more and more emotional issues. I got the opportunity to take over a dead man’s identity—Bill Rudolph. I thought it was close enough to Randolph that no one would notice I said one thing and spelled it another way. I got a job as a dealer in a casino in Vegas, and started day trading. Things were…not bad. We were actually thinking about turning ourselves in so we could be with you and Wes, even if we all had to go into witness protection.
He sighed. “But then Val’s mind started slipping, and I knew if we all got together, you’d be shouldering the burden of Wes and your mom and your baby sister. Even if we hired people, to help, I knew emotionally it would be too much. So…we stayed away.”
“Until you saved my life,” Carlotta said.
“I’d bought our former house in Buckhead a few months prior, and because I trusted Birch, I was making more trips to fix up the house and I could monitor you and Wes enough to know what your lives were like. I think I had fantasies that if we could all just move back into that house, we’d have our old lives back. It was pure happenstance I was there the day you were attacked. I didn’t think about getting caught, I just ran over there.”
She squeezed his hand. “I’m happy you did.”
“So am I. I have no regrets. Especially since it started the ball rolling on the original case. My mistake was I didn’t know how involved Liz was in the counterfeiting. They were still doing it, but they’d gotten much better at it.” He gave her a little smile. “For what it’s worth, I don’t think Peter knew what was going on. He might’ve suspected, but I doubt they find his fingerprints on anything.”
She smiled. “Thank you. I’m very fond of Peter.”
A knock sounded at the door. Carlotta went to open it and cried out when she saw Wes on the other side.
“Can you believe what we did?” He hugged her tight and danced around. “We took Mashburn & Tully down.”
“You sure did.”
Wes’s head came up and he froze.
“Hi, son.”
Wes ran to Randolph like a ten-year-old boy, and from the way he held on, Carlotta decided he might never let go.
Chapter 28
“I’M HERE TO EAT CROW,” Hannah said. “Not literally, although I did eat a pigeon once and it wasn’t terrible.”
Carlotta squinted at her friend. “What?”
“Never mind. The point is, I might have been a little hard on Peter. And it’s not because I feel sorry for him that you dumped him and he’s going to jail. It’s because he contacted my parents earlier this week and told them to withdraw any investments they still had with Mashburn & Tully. He knew things were going south, and he didn’t want them to lose money again. I think that was a stand-up thing to do.”
“Thank you for sharing,” Carlotta said. “Um, speaking of your parents.”
Hannah’s eyebrows shot up. “What about them?”
Carlotta sighed. “Hannah, I wasn’t snooping. Okay—I was snooping. I came across an article that mentioned your mother committed suicide.”
“Right,” Hannah said.
“I just think it’s bizarre that you’ve never mentioned it.”
“I wasn’t close to my mother. My stepmother raised me. So when I say parents, I mean my dad and my stepmom.”
“But the article said she was a co-owner of HAL Properties.”
“Right. My dad started the business, and when they split up, he gave her some ownership in it because I think he was afraid it would be the only steady income she’d have.”
“Oh. That…makes sense.”
“So there is something else,” Hannah said. “I know I’ve been acting a little shitty the past few days. I was keeping something from you, and I want to come clean before I head back to Atlanta.”
“I’m on pins and needles,” Carlotta said. “What?”