Bonaparte's Belle: A SEALs of Honor World Novel (Heroes for Hire Book 24) by Dale Mayer (the beach read .txt) 📗

“Yeah,” he said, “I understand fully.” They quickly got into his vehicle, Angela was driving once more, and she went back to Isabel’s place.

As they got out, he looked up and frowned. “Doesn’t look like anybody’s home.”

Angela started to swear. “I sure hope she hasn’t run.”

“And, if she did, where would Isabel go?”

“I don’t know, but it would be the worst thing she could do.” Angela raced to the door and found it open. She called out, “Isabel?” But heard nothing except a weird empty hollowness.

He swore and raced to the backyard, just as he heard a vehicle firing up. He bolted through the alleyway path to find Isabel pulling out from there. He opened the passenger door, scaring her. She shrieked, and he hopped inside and sat there.

She looked at him, wild-eyed. “No, no, no, no!” she said. “I have to leave. You don’t understand. I have to leave now!”

“I know that you’re involved a whole lot more than you’re willing to tell your friend—your friend who’s gone to bat for you,” he said in a hard voice. “And you were just gonna bail on her, and that’ll never sit well with me.”

Isabel glared at him. “You don’t understand.”

“I know you’re in trouble,” he said. “I understand that part really well.”

“But you don’t know how much trouble,” she said, “and these guys are not fun to deal with.”

“And, since you’ve already committed a crime, they’re leveraging it against you, right?”

She nodded, sick, her expression revealing the level of stress she’d been under. “I didn’t do anything other than what my grandfather wanted,” she said. “It’s not fair.”

“And who else was involved?”

“My mom,” she said, “but we were both the recipients in the will anyway.”

“So, you just slightly jumped it forward and went ahead with the property sale.”

“We didn’t do anything wrong.”

“No, maybe not,” he said, “but it’s a fine line, isn’t it? Because, if Granddad had died, you would have just dealt with the courts.”

“And who needed that?” she cried out.

“Regardless of your bravado, you obviously feel like what you did was wrong because you keep falling into their blackmail schemes.”

She stared at him in shock, and then her shoulders sagged, and she nodded. “That’s it, isn’t it?”

“It absolutely is,” he said quietly. “And, once you fall into that trap, and they’ve got something on you, then you’re hooked. And so are they. Because now you’re somebody that they can wield as they need to. The question really is, how far are you willing to go, and how many other people in this town have they got in the same position?”

She slowly shook her head. “I didn’t even think of it that way,” she said, bewildered. “I’ve never done anything like that.”

“No, but you were trying to rush through something that your grandfather wanted anyway and that he had worked hard to get and that he needed for his care and your mother’s treatments, correct? So it makes sense that you were also confused and dealing with a lot of stress.”

“Yes, and you make it sound so reasonable,” she said, “but five minutes ago you made it sound like I was the worst criminal ever.”

“No,” he said, “that wasn’t me, that was you already thinking you were. That’s how people get you caught up in guilt like that.”

“And what am I supposed to do now?” she asked.

“You come and face the music, and, with any luck, your friend can get you off, particularly if you help her with this case.”

She stared at him in shock and then slowly said, “No, no, no, no. You really don’t understand. These guys play for real.”

“So do the courts of law,” he said.

Her face twisted up. “Now you’re doing exactly what they were doing.”

“Except that I actually understand the law,” he said. “They were just trying to manipulate you for totally selfish reasons.”

“So are you,” she said mutinously.

He laughed. “Good,” he said, “that’s what you should be saying. But the fact of the matter is, you already know you’ve done wrong and that there will be repercussions. Whether they’re light or heavy will depend on your actions right now.”

She opened her mouth and closed it several times. “I should never have done it,” she whispered.

And, with that, Angela arrived. She looked at her friend, disappointment on her face. “Were you really trying to run?”

Isabel looked at her and burst into tears. “You don’t know what these people are like,” she blubbered.

“No,” she said, “but I’ve known many like them.” She opened the door and motioned her friend back out of the vehicle.

“They’ll kill me,” Isabel said in a flat voice.

“Well, I hope not,” she said. “So tell me. How did these guys find out what you did in the first place?”

“I don’t know. They must have somebody at the nursing home or something,” she said, her shoulders sagging. “Somebody must have overheard the two of us.”

“Or they guessed,” Bonaparte said quietly. “People like that prey on people like you, and they can see when you’ve done something wrong because you act guilty.”

“Well, I probably did then, yeah,” she said. “It’s been a tough load to haul.”

“I’m sure it has been,” Angela said. She led her friend back into the house.

Bonaparte watched the area as they headed back inside. He had that feeling of being watched. He asked Angela, “Are you taking her back to the station?”

“I should,” she said. “We need to have a talk with her, and obviously she’s too spooked to be left on her own.”

“No,” Isabel said, “I’ll stay.”

“I can’t trust you on that,” Angela said firmly. “So back to the station we go.” She looked over at Bonaparte. “Why?

He stepped forward, and, in a low voice that Isabel couldn’t hear, he said, “We’re being watched.”

“Of course we are,” she said. “What do you want to do about it?”

“I’ll go for a walk,” he said, with a grin. “Take her back. I’ll meet you there.”

“You don’t want a ride?”

“Nope, I know the town enough