A Beautiful Funeral (The Maddox Brothers 5)

I scrolled down the partial messages before stopping at one and tapping the screen. It was a group message for Tyler, Falyn, Ellie, and me from Shepley.

A federal agent will be at baggage claim to bring you all to the hospital. He’ll have a van, plate number 978 GOV. DO NOT get a ride with anyone else. Not even a cab. Will explain later.

I frowned and looked back at my brother, holding up my phone. He was a few rows back but nodded, knowing what I meant. I tilted my phone to show Falyn, who was sitting across the aisle from Hollis and me with Hadley. She leaned over, squinting her eyes. She’d needed glasses for at least two years but refused.

“Can you see it?” I asked.

“Yes, I can see it,” she snapped back, confusing my need for her be informed with a dig.

“Baby,” I began, but she was already looking out the window, hugging Hadley to her side.

I sat back, resting my head against the headrest.

“She’s just tired,” Hollis said.

I patted his knee without making eye contact. We were all tired. It made me sad to hear Hollis trying to make excuses for why we didn’t listen to each other anymore. Somewhere along the way, we started hearing insults instead of questions. I sighed. I didn’t know how to fix it.

The seat belt sign turned off, and a ding sounded over the PA system. Hollis jumped up, opening the bin and handing Hadley her carry-on to her before getting Falyn’s and mine. He made me prouder every day. Moving to Colorado Springs had made him into a little man, trying to take care of everyone.

I hugged him to me, kissed his head, and then gestured to his sister. “I just got a text from Uncle Shep. Aunt Abby is having her baby, so they sent a driver. Don’t run off. Both of you stay where I can see you.”

They nodded.

“I mean it,” I continued. “It’s important. You can’t even go to the bathroom alone.”

“What’s going on, Dad?” Hollis asked. “Does it have to do with Uncle Tommy?”

“Yes, but we don’t know what.”

They nodded again, trading glances.

We moved in a slow line down the aisle and out of the fuselage, staying in one unit with Tyler’s family up the Jetway and into the terminal. I could tell Tyler was on edge, looking around with his family’s bags either on his back, over his shoulders, or being pulled by a handle. Ellie was holding their sleeping son, keeping his head steady on her shoulder.

“What do you think’s going on?” Tyler asked me. He kept his voice low.

I shook my head. “I don’t know. Sounds like Tommy wasn’t the only target.”

“Like they’re after the family? Why?”

I shrugged. “Could be a million reasons.”

Tyler frowned. “You have a better imagination than I do. I can’t think of one.”

“Dad was an investigator. Abby’s dad is a gambler. Remember when Trex came to question us about Travis and the fire? Everyone has an enemy. Maybe Travis or Abby inadvertently made the wrong one. Wasn’t she raised around mobsters in Vegas?”

Tyler didn’t respond, but I could tell his thoughts were spinning.

“Abby was raised around mobsters?” Ellie asked.

“Sort of,” Falyn said. “They don’t really talk about it. She was born in Vegas. Her dad was a fairly famous poker player. Then he started losing, but he didn’t stop gambling. He lost everything and got in pretty deep with some loan sharks. Abby had to go to Vegas just before she and Travis got married to bail him out. They were going to kill him.”

“Whoa,” Ellie said. “But she’s really good at poker, right? She went there to win the money?”

Falyn nodded. “She won most of it.”

“How did they get the rest of it?” Ellie asked.

Falyn made a face, drifting off into thought. “I’m not really sure. Do you know?” she asked me.

I shook my head. “They’ve never really said.”

“You’ve never asked?” Ellie said.

Tyler shook his head. “I figured if they wanted me to know, they’d tell me.”

We arrived at baggage claim, looking at the screens.

“Thirteen,” Falyn said, dragging Hadley by the hand.

“Hold on,” Tyler said, trying to get a handle on their roller bags.

“I can help,” a woman said with a smile. She was wearing dark slacks, a button-down shirt and a dark blazer, her sunglasses hanging from where the top button of her blouse was undone. She flashed her credentials that were clipped inside of her blazer and then tucked them away.

My stomach felt sick, and I looked back at Falyn, who was watching Alyssa Davies’s eyes turned soft when she looked down at Hollis.

“Cute kid,” Alyssa said. “I’ll be driving you to the Eakins hospital.”

Taylor and Ellie were unfazed, but Falyn looked at me, confused and angry. Alyssa was the woman I’d taken home from the bar during the week Falyn and I had broken up. Falyn needed space, so I left for California to visit my brother Thomas in San Diego. He’d taken me to a local bar to cry in my beer, and I met Alyssa, Thomas’s colleague. A few weeks later, Alyssa ended up pregnant and gave me the opportunity to take full custody before opting for an abortion. She carried Hollis to term, and Falyn and I stood outside the hallway of a San Diego hospital while she labored and gave birth. The nurses handed my son to me, and Alyssa returned to her life without looking back.

“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding up my hands. “You’re FBI?”

“I am,” Alyssa said. “I realize this is somewhat awkward ...”

“Somewhat awkward?” Falyn repeated.

“But you’re in advertising. With Thomas,” I said, bewildered.

Alyssa sighed. “You’re my assignment. I’m all you’ve got. If you ask me, I’m the best one for the job since I have slightly more invested in getting you from A to B in one piece than any other agent, and … I’m a badass.”

Hollis smiled. Falyn pulled him against her front with her free hand, hanging on tightly to Hadley with the other. Alyssa—or Agent Davies—represented more of a threat to our family than our failing marriage did.

“Can we see those credentials again?” Falyn asked.

Alyssa pulled her ID until it unclipped from her pocket and handed it to Falyn. “Look it over, but please be quick. We don’t want to stay in one place too long.”