Once he got over the shock of the words he’d never thought he’d hear coming out of Wyatt’s mouth, Linc gathered his composure enough to ask, “Why is the FBI looking for Emmett?”
“They wouldn’t say,” Wyatt answered.
“Maybe one of the women he catfished finally pressed charges,” Poppy suggested. She glanced at Eva. “Maybe we should have. I guess we still can.”
Eva’s red brows rose high. “No. They’ve nailed him now. They don’t need our testimony too.”
“We can’t be sure,” Poppy said.
“I’m sure.” When Eva saw Poppy’s skeptical glance, she added, “It was only a matter of time before the snake did something to get himself into big trouble.”
Linc watched the exchange. He especially observed Eva and she did look pretty sure. The question was, why? How? Did she know something they didn’t know?
The FBI. That was a lot for Linc to wrap his head around. Things had moved far beyond just their family now.
What the hell had Emmett done that the FBI would be looking for him?
Amid all the tension radiating off everyone in the room, Eva seemed to be the only one not on edge.
Leaning on the counter, glass in hand, she said to Poppy, “I’ll pour us three egg nogs then we’re going up to Livvie. She’s gonna want to hear this.”
After a nod, Poppy glanced around at the stone-faced men in the room and said, “Uh, Darcy, do you want to help me bring some cookies up to Livvie?”
“Sure!” Darcy agreed, her eyes on the plate full she probably had visions of eating all herself.
“Okay, good. You carry the napkins. I’ll carry the cookies.”
Poppy’s instructions left Darcy’s anticipation visibly deflated but she took the stack of napkins anyway and said, “Come on, Bingley.”
When the girls were gone, Wyatt let out a breath. “What the hell?”
“You can say that again,” Ethan agreed.
Their father shook his head. “Can’t say it’s a surprise.”
“So what does this mean for the family vote about the will?” Ethan asked. He turned to Wyatt. "You change your mind yet about what kind of man Emmett is now that the FBI is calling you looking for him?”
Wyatt didn’t answer.
Their father’s gaze swept the room. “I think there’s one thing you’re all forgetting. He might not even still be in town.”
“You mean he might be on the run knowing they’re looking for him?” Wyatt asked.
“And if Wyatt’s PI couldn’t find him for almost a year—and damn, bro, maybe you need to get a better PI—but anyway, he could easily disappear again,” Ethan said, the excitement building in his voice.
“And no one will be able to find him,” Linc agreed. Hopefully for a long, long time.
“I say we go look and see,” Ethan suggested.
“You mean check the apartment?” Linc asked.
“Yup.” Ethan had his cell in his hand and glanced up. “And see why Emmett was texting all of us to borrow a truck. I got a text from him too and didn’t notice. Seems like a man desperate to get out of town to me.”
“If we go down to town now and he’s still there, and desperate to get out, he’s going to want our help. A ride. A vehicle. Money for sure.” Linc glanced at the others in the room. “I’m not certain if I’m up for being an accessory in the eyes of the FBI.”
For one of his brothers, hell yeah. He’d do it and risk everything. For Eva—he’d do it for her, as well. But Emmett had made his own bed.
“We have to check. Family is family,” Wyatt, who apparently, did not feel the same, said.
“Jeezus. Okay, fine. So we check out his apartment. If he’s still there, we’ll break the law, risk getting thrown in federal prison by the FBI and put him on a bus out of here. You better grab some cash from the safe so there’s no paper trail from us buying that bus ticket,” Ethan shot at Wyatt. “Bring enough to make sure he can get far far away and be good and gone for a very long time.”
Wyatt, mister upstanding and moral, actually nodded. Then, in the first logical thing he’d done since this Emmett debacle began, he turned to their father. “Dad?”
Never one to rush a major decision, he took a beat before saying, “We do this, put our family on the line by helping him, that business about John T’s will is as dead and buried as old John T. himself. No vote. No payout. Agreed?”
“Agreed,” Linc and Ethan chimed in at the same time, then all eyes were on Wyatt.
Finally, he nodded. “Agreed.”
It looked as if Emmett was going to get something from them after all. Not half the estate, but a bus ticket and a wad of cash to get out of town.
If he was still in town.
Was he? That was the big question.