Read Online At Wolf Ranch by Jennifer Ryan - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Jennifer Ryan
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yesterday.”
“Yesterday? What time?”
“Around eleven-thirty.”
“After Lela’s death and that damn phone call.”
“Yes.”
“Did you trace her phone?”
“She shut it off.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know. She used her cards at an ATM to get cash inside the terminal. She must have bought her ticket with cash because the machine she used is past the security checkpoint.”
“Check all the airlines. Find her.”
“I’m working on it. So far, I haven’t found her name on any airline.”
“Do you think she used another name?”
“If she did, she’d need a damn good forged ID to buy the ticket and get through security. I’m trying to get the security video from inside the terminal to track her to a gate. If I can do that, I should know which flight she took. For all we know, Ella got on a private plane with some random guy and is half naked on a white sand beach somewhere.”
The lust in Detective Robbins’s eyes didn’t surprise Phillip. Ella and Lela were as beautiful as their mother had been.
“If she left town yesterday and didn’t use her name to do it, she must know something, or at least suspect.”
“You think Lela told her what she found.”
“She didn’t just decide to hop on a plane without reason. Did you find out where Lela went over the last few days?”
“If she took a flight the same way Ella did, I have no idea where she went. I’m still checking her credit cards. Ella took priority.”
“If you’re not up to the task of finding her, I’ll get someone else.” The implied threat that he could quickly become dispensable registered in the detective’s wide eyes, which narrowed with concern.
“I’ve got this. I’ll find her.”
“Do it soon before someone else does. Like the press. She isn’t exactly anonymous anywhere she goes. Someone is bound to recognize her.”
“Maybe we should use that to our advantage. Instead of keeping the details from the press until we find her, let’s name her a person of interest in the investigation. I’ll bring her in for questioning when someone else tips us off to her location.”
“Let’s handle this quietly. If you don’t find her in the next couple of days and things heat up with the press demanding answers, we’ll have no choice.” It might make things harder to stage Ella’s overdose.
“Go. Find her. Now.”
The detective left to do his bidding. Phillip wrapped his hand around the tumbler, his knuckles going white as he squeezed. He’d like to wrap his hand around Ella’s neck for disappearing. He took a deep swallow. The bourbon burned its way down his throat to his already sour gut.
The damn girl never did anything that was expected of her.
Chapter 6
E lla woke up stiff and disoriented. Her ankle hurt, her side throbbed, but her heart felt broken in a way that would never heal. She gave in to a fresh round of tears. They ran down her cheeks, into her mouth, each one tasting of sorrow and pain. Uncle Phillip murdered Lela. Why? What secrets did Lela discover? What was this really about? Money, the company?
Nothing made sense.
Lela had their father’s sense of trends in the marketplace. The ingenuity to take an idea and bring it to life. Ella had been the more practical of the two of them. If you ran the company and wanted to do it well and efficiently, you had to know how all the moving parts worked. She’d started in the mailroom and worked in every department from the ground floor up. Oh, she sat in all the executive meetings, listening to one pompous ass after another talk about productivity and efficiency, but not one of those asshats knew how their mail got to their desk, how the IT department kept the computer systems they relied on up and running, how shipping and receiving kept the inventory in check and the customers happy. The marketing execs had big ideas and grand plans, but they often conflicted with engineering deadlines for having the products ready and shipping’s
“Yesterday? What time?”
“Around eleven-thirty.”
“After Lela’s death and that damn phone call.”
“Yes.”
“Did you trace her phone?”
“She shut it off.”
“Where did she go?”
“I don’t know. She used her cards at an ATM to get cash inside the terminal. She must have bought her ticket with cash because the machine she used is past the security checkpoint.”
“Check all the airlines. Find her.”
“I’m working on it. So far, I haven’t found her name on any airline.”
“Do you think she used another name?”
“If she did, she’d need a damn good forged ID to buy the ticket and get through security. I’m trying to get the security video from inside the terminal to track her to a gate. If I can do that, I should know which flight she took. For all we know, Ella got on a private plane with some random guy and is half naked on a white sand beach somewhere.”
The lust in Detective Robbins’s eyes didn’t surprise Phillip. Ella and Lela were as beautiful as their mother had been.
“If she left town yesterday and didn’t use her name to do it, she must know something, or at least suspect.”
“You think Lela told her what she found.”
“She didn’t just decide to hop on a plane without reason. Did you find out where Lela went over the last few days?”
“If she took a flight the same way Ella did, I have no idea where she went. I’m still checking her credit cards. Ella took priority.”
“If you’re not up to the task of finding her, I’ll get someone else.” The implied threat that he could quickly become dispensable registered in the detective’s wide eyes, which narrowed with concern.
“I’ve got this. I’ll find her.”
“Do it soon before someone else does. Like the press. She isn’t exactly anonymous anywhere she goes. Someone is bound to recognize her.”
“Maybe we should use that to our advantage. Instead of keeping the details from the press until we find her, let’s name her a person of interest in the investigation. I’ll bring her in for questioning when someone else tips us off to her location.”
“Let’s handle this quietly. If you don’t find her in the next couple of days and things heat up with the press demanding answers, we’ll have no choice.” It might make things harder to stage Ella’s overdose.
“Go. Find her. Now.”
The detective left to do his bidding. Phillip wrapped his hand around the tumbler, his knuckles going white as he squeezed. He’d like to wrap his hand around Ella’s neck for disappearing. He took a deep swallow. The bourbon burned its way down his throat to his already sour gut.
The damn girl never did anything that was expected of her.
Chapter 6
E lla woke up stiff and disoriented. Her ankle hurt, her side throbbed, but her heart felt broken in a way that would never heal. She gave in to a fresh round of tears. They ran down her cheeks, into her mouth, each one tasting of sorrow and pain. Uncle Phillip murdered Lela. Why? What secrets did Lela discover? What was this really about? Money, the company?
Nothing made sense.
Lela had their father’s sense of trends in the marketplace. The ingenuity to take an idea and bring it to life. Ella had been the more practical of the two of them. If you ran the company and wanted to do it well and efficiently, you had to know how all the moving parts worked. She’d started in the mailroom and worked in every department from the ground floor up. Oh, she sat in all the executive meetings, listening to one pompous ass after another talk about productivity and efficiency, but not one of those asshats knew how their mail got to their desk, how the IT department kept the computer systems they relied on up and running, how shipping and receiving kept the inventory in check and the customers happy. The marketing execs had big ideas and grand plans, but they often conflicted with engineering deadlines for having the products ready and shipping’s
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