Chapter 26
Felix
Distracted was too small a word for what Felix was after the previous night.
They had spent the rest of the evening in the room, making love, fucking and talking.
And though his ass smarted that morning, he wouldn’t change it for the world.
What he would change was Brett’s demeanour.
Although he sent plenty of smiles and touches Felix’s way, he was hiding something, but he would get it out of him, eventually.
That day would be working through their evidence again, with additional information from everyone who went to speak to others the previous day.
And what that additional information ended up being was huge.
Nick started. “Adelaide wasn’t happy about the questions because sources are supposed to be kept quiet, but she couldn’t give us a name, anyway.
Both tips came in anonymously, so she couldn’t trace them.
However, after some persuasion, she did give us the audio files and allowed us access to the phone records. Hopefully, we can trace something.”
“What did they say to her?” Brett asked.
“They told her Felix’s name and his role here, and they told her she needed to research any of the recent sniper killings. She admitted to doing just that and then coming to her own conclusions about what they meant.”
“So basically, she got lucky?” Felix said.
Nick grimaced. “Obviously, they gave her enough to pique her interest and send her story a certain way, but yes. She’s damn good at her job, unfortunately.”
“Felix, after this, can you go through the audio and phone records and see what you can find?” Brett said. Felix nodded. “Owen, what about the guest at the wedding?”
“The guest was Gloria Redmond. She is a cousin on Oscar’s side of the family.
When I spoke to her, she remembered a draft making her shiver, and then something fell behind her, but when she looked, she couldn’t see anything.
She didn’t mention it to anyone, thinking it was just something toppling over. ”
“Did she have any idea what it sounded like?” Dominic asked.
Owen shrugged. “The only thing she said was that it sounded like metal against the floor. Not sure if that helps much.”
Felix nodded. “It does because it gives me something to look back at the video for. If I can see something that was there in one frame and not in another, it might help. Don’t quote me on that, though.”
“I have been looking at that video and the other one we were sent several times,” Sam said. “I’m no expert, like Felix, but I couldn’t see anything other than the guest jumping.”
Felix narrowed his eyes, thinking. “Did you look at it while not looking at the guest? What I mean is, did you focus on the guest or did you block them out and view everything else but that?”
Sam shook his head. “No, I focused on the guest because then I knew when it happened.”
Felix grinned. “Okay. You and me, after this, we’ll go through that. It’ll add another skill to your already growing list.”
“Thanks.” Sam sobered. “I checked out the other video, too.” Felix thought he purposefully avoided the word ‘execution’ for Brett’s sake. “I found other very small parts that show it was not the same location where Felix was. The video definitely switched places halfway through.”
“Do we know who that guy was?” Felix asked. Had he been involved or just some innocent person whose life had been taken because of Felix?
Brett pulled up the document Brady had given him after the investigation. “I never actually checked the name once I knew it wasn’t you. The man’s name was…oh, shit.” He glanced at Felix. “Cameron Deighton. Neil’s second-in-command.”
“The guy who called in the Army earlier than you wanted him to,” Felix said. Brett nodded, and Felix frowned. “Why? What did he have to do with all this?”
“That’s yet another question I can’t answer,” Brett said.
“Do you think he knew stuff he shouldn’t?” Dominic asked. “If he knew stuff about this entire thing and they thought he was a loose cannon, they would’ve shut him up.”
“Either that or they just needed someone to get rid of,” Brett added.
“I spoke to Malcolm. He told me that it was definitely five of his men who had taken part in the kidnapping. Although I don’t know for definite if more did, and he only mentioned the ones who died.
He was extremely chatty for a cartel head but said a lot of stuff that had no bearing on the issue at hand.
” Brett glanced at Dominic. “Do we have anything else to add?”
Dominic changed position before nodding and glancing at Felix with a grimace. “I apologise in advance, Felix, but I needed to be sure about some things.”
Felix’s stomach rolled as he straightened. “Things about what?”
“Your family. Mainly your uncle.”
Felix rubbed a hand over his face and nodded. “Fair enough. What did you find?” He wasn’t sure if he wanted to know, but at that point, he needed to.
“Frank Jamison, brother to Stephen Jamison, son to Antony and Elizabeth Jamison.” Dominic glanced at Felix again, and then Brett, and nausea threatened. “Frank was a lieutenant in the Cage cartel.”
Felix’s mouth dropped open, but it was Brett who said, “What the fuck? He was in the Army!”
Dominic continued as if wanting to get all the information he had out of there.
“From my sources, he got roped into it when he was twenty years old, just before starting in the Army. He was a snoop to begin with, finding information that would be helpful to the mafia and providing false intel back to the Army. He was paid a lot of money for it but apparently didn’t take too kindly to his family being threatened.
At twenty-four, he gave them an ultimatum, and he left.
From what I’ve gathered, after that, he had nothing more to do with them, though he continued in the Army, but it coincides with when he started ‘training’ your father, Felix.
It seems he was making sure your family could defend itself in case his past came calling. ”
Felix wasn’t sure what to say or how to feel. It was crazy to think his uncle had been part of Brett’s family before they even knew each other. He stared at Brett, who stared back, both seemingly unable to believe the coincidence.
“That can’t be a coincidence?” Brett said, proving they must have some psychic connection.
Dominic shrugged. “I honestly don’t know. It seems a little far-fetched that this entire thing started years ago, before you and Felix were even born.”
“And there are no other connections that you could find?”
“None.”
Brett shook his head slowly. “That’s crazy.”
“I wonder if Dad knew about it,” Felix said. “He would’ve been fourteen when Uncle Frank started training him, so around ten when he got involved with them.”
Brett shook his head and then explained his full conversation with Malcolm, the conversation he had with Venus at the wedding and their past. Where was her head at that she could do this to her own brother?
“We need to dig into Alastair Moore to see if it sheds any light on why she was so interested in him having a clean record,” Brett said, standing.
“Okay, Felix and Sam, please look at the videos again and run traces on the audio from Adelaide Thompson and the tip from Brady. Owen, can you visit Austin and persuade him to give us his laptop? I’m going to dig into Alastair Moore, and then let’s reconvene and see if we can figure this shit out.
It’s more convoluted than a crossword puzzle,” Brett muttered, but Felix was sure no one was supposed to hear it.
They all dispersed. Brett headed for his desk, and Felix followed, stopping on the opposite side so he didn’t cross too many boundaries at work.
“Are you okay?” he asked.
Brett exhaled. “Yeah. We were never best friends, but it sucks to be on the receiving end of such hatred from a family member.”
“I can imagine. I can’t believe Uncle Frank was involved with your family.” Felix shook his head, the news still buzzing around his brain. “I’ll speak with Dad later and ask him about it.”
“Only do that if you think it’s the right thing to do. I don’t want them to get upset.”
Felix smiled. Only Brett would be concerned about upsetting the family of a potential mafia spy. “Dad will be fine. He might know something he doesn’t realise.”
Brett sighed again. “I feel like all we’re doing right now is talking about loose threads that aren’t connecting.
There has to be something that connects it all, and to be honest, the only answer I have is Venus.
” He rubbed his hand over his face. “It all leads back to me, but I don’t get why. That’s what’s pissing me off.”
He wanted to go to him and wrap him in his arms, but he refrained. “We’ll figure it out. We will.” He gave a small smile and headed over to Sam, who was already watching the wedding video over again. “Any luck?”
“Not yet. Can you show me your trick?”
“Sure.”
They spent the next hour going through every frame of the video, even though they didn’t necessarily need to do it from the beginning. When they got to the part where the guest jumped, Felix rewound it and then zoomed in and covered the part of the screen that showed the guest.
“Now we watch it again, but we don’t know exactly when the guest jumps, so we need to look at anything that happens from here.”
They watched it, and Felix saw it, but he waited to see if Sam did.
“Again,” Sam said, leaning closer.
Felix took it back and started it again.
“There,” Sam said, pointing to the corner of the screen where Felix had seen the change in the image.
“Exactly.” There was a metal bowl on the shelf one minute, but it was nudged and fell, only to disappear a second later. “Using that as a guide, we might be able to figure out how big the frame of this thing is.”
“Do you think it was a blanket or something more solid?” Sam asked.