In the soundless recording were three people. Two wore ski masks, one of whom carried a sledgehammer. A third stood just out of the cameras view, but part of that persons shadow could be seen against the side wall.
Mac watched as the one with the sledgehammer worked to break through some expensive-looking wood. The other man in the ski mask had his back to the camera. The third appeared to be just watching, but the other two would glance back at him from time to time and say something Mac couldnt make out.
After a few minutes the hammer had made a large hole in what appeared to be a hidden compartment in the wall. The other masked man pushed the one with the sledgehammer out of the way and took a metal box from inside the compartment. The box looked to be about eight inches square and three or four inches deep. There didnt seem to be anything else in the hole in the wall because the men turned and left, disappearing from
the cameras lens.
The videotape flickered, and the setting changed to outdoors. An old Ford van, dark in color, sat with the engine running, and the drivers face was captured on film. He was watching out the windshield, looking very young and very nervous. He was the only one not wearing a mask.
An instant later the two men in ski masks emerged from the house and ran toward the van. As they ran, they ripped off their masks. Macs heart stopped.
One of the men was Macs nineteen-year-old nephew Shane Ramsey, who was supposed to be in Whitefish with Macs sister.
The other man running toward the getaway van was Trevor Forester.
Chapter Three
Even the pleasure was painful. Hed promised himself in his youth that he wasnt going to be one of those men who had regrets. Not like his father. Or his father before him. That was why he lived the life he did. On his own terms.
What a joke. He knew regret as keenly as he knew sorrow. And tonight would be a night he knew he would live to regret.
He gave up on sleep, got up, pulled on his jeans and, taking a cold beer from the fridge, wandered out on the deck to sit in the cool darkness.
The marina was dead quiet. The lake was calm under a limitless sky of dark blue velvet and glittering stars. He closed his eyes and tilted the mouth of the bottle to his lips. The glass was cool and wet, the beer icy cold as it ran down his throat.
He opened his eyes. It was the darkness, he realized. The blackness behind his eyelids that stole any chance of sleep. The same kind of blind darkness that would always remind him of the intimate inkiness inside the cottageand her.
He smiled to himself wryly, remembering. Hed been lost the moment his lips touched hers. Shed stolen his breath, taken his pounding pulse hostage and carried him away to a place hed sworn to never go again. Never find again even if hed been tempted to look.
And what surprised him was that shed seemed as blown away by the experience as hed been. Something had happened tonight in the cottage, something that scared the hell out of him, because it made him feel as if hed boarded a runaway freight train that couldnt be stopped. And now all he could do was wait for the inevitable train wreck.
Hed known that in one split second, one moment of weakness, life could irrevocably change. Mac had seen his father go from wealthy to piss poor in one of those seconds. The mans reputation ruined. His life destroyed. How many times had his father wanted to take back that instant in time?
Mac had always sworn he wouldnt end up like his father. Hed live his life, take on little baggage and never care too much about anything. Hed screwed up once and it had cost him more than he could bear. He wouldnt let it happen again.
Hed slipped up tonight in the cottage. He just hoped to hell he could weather the storm he feared was coming because of it. Every action had a consequence. The moment hed kissed her. The moment he saw his nephew and Trevor Forester on that videotape. Both life-altering in ways he didnt even want to think about.
And now he was working for Pierce. He swore. Mac had few ways he could be coerced. His sister and nephew were the only family he had.
Mac swore as he looked out over the dark lake and thought about his nephew, a spoiled kid whod hated his grandfather for losing the family fortune. Thanks to previous Cooper generations, though, both Mac and his sister had substantial trust funds. Just enough, it seemed, to make Shane crave real wealth. Apparently the kind Nathaniel Pierce had.
Mac took another long drink of his beer, dreading what Pierce would tell him in the morning. There was a reason Pierce hadnt called the sheriff when hed been robbed. Mac knew Pierce hadnt done it out of some loyalty to either Mac or his nephew. Not Pierce. No, Pierce didnt want the cops knowing about the metal box. Now why was that?
Not that it mattered. There was no way Mac couldnt take the job. Not if he hoped to save his nephewalthough it might already be too late for that. Someone had murdered Trevor Forester tonight. What were the chances it wasnt connected to the robbery?