Chapter 52
I spentthe next couple of days completing the wine campaign for my trip to Monaco. Aside from the competition, other promotional campaigns for my Bambooze Series needed to be approved for TV commercials and social media outlets.
I caught up with my team regarding my other wine labels. Satisfied with their reports and the status of the ongoing projects, I deferred them to my management team for the next few months. That didn’t mean I wouldn’t check in now and then or that they couldn’t contact me if something urgent came up.
I wanted to focus on helping Vivian find Aimee and locate Ghost.My mind worked best when it zeroed in on a target. Too many targets scattered my energy. I had to concentrate. Ghost was a violent and unpredictable psycho. He’d lived a life in the shadows of a fucking clown mask. The plastic surgery to change his looks also revealed how mentally unstable he was.
An unstable man posed a more dangerous threat than a “normal” criminal. I had to protect the woman I loved at all costs.
In addition, I’d uncovered something that boggled my mind. The recording from the McDonald’s was missing for the day Aimee had been there. Someone had gotten to it before the PI.
So today, I took a trip back to the area to investigate. I entered a hole-in-the-wall restaurant attached to an apartment building. It was so tiny that they only offered takeout. I wouldn’t have noticed it if I hadn’t seen a customer exiting with food containers. They had an older security system, which told me they weren’t saving the recordings on any internet services that could be hacked into.
After telling the owner I was a detective looking for a clue about a robbery—which I’d heard on the news days ago—they let me review the recordings. I used my phone and recorded what I saw on their computer. If I had to rewatch it, I’d have a copy. A man walked by with Aimee in front of the restaurant. Though the walk was brief, I saw enough. He was the man I’d seen at the wine convention and at the scene of the dead girl.
Who was he? What did he want with Aimee?
This man had shown up at critical moments. Was he part of The Trogyn?
I had sent his image to Slash, the man who had given my friends and me a second chance at life back when we’d witnessed the crime organization kill someone. Slash was working on a project, so he might not answer me promptly, but I had to try.
Maybe Slash recognized the man since he’d been part of the organization for a while before they sent someone to kill him.
Arriving home, I sat at my desk and allowed my thoughts to stir. Vivian was still at work, and Kaylee was at school. I loved having them in my home. It felt strange to have the house to myself.
My gaze landed on the special bottle of wine Vivian had given me for Christmas called Bullseye. It wasn’t a bottle to drink, per se. I could hear something clanking against the glass from inside it. She had made a beautiful label with a tagline that made me smile. Aiming to fill you up with loving memories.
She told me to open it when I felt tired, lost, or unstable. Right now, I was bombarded with so many things that I didn’t even know what to feel.
I opened the bottle and saw several strips of bamboo card stock. Words were written on each strip.I pulled one out that read: When you asked me to inform you when I was ready for a date. That moment deserves to be bottled.
There were so many memory strips within the wine bottle, and I loved that she made the gift especially for me. I’d never received anything so thoughtful.
My phone buzzed on my desk, and I glanced at it.
Slash: Name is Orion Reimann. Extremely wealthy and powerful.
Arrow: Thank you. What business is he in?
Slash: Banking. Don’t know much about him.
Arrow: Is he part of The Trogyn?
Slash: Not sure.
Arrow: Thanks. I’ll take it from here.
Slash: (thumbs up emoji)
I sat back in my chair, letting my thoughts swirl. Who was this elusive man? Orion could be an elite member of The Trogyn. When Slash had been part of the organization, he didn’t meet all the elites. The secrecy made them powerful.
Orion seemed to know me. Had he been watching me?
He’d been at the wine expo at La Luna. I searched through the recordings from that day. Orion had somehow avoided all the camera angles. Something or someone was always blocking him.
I searched for his name on the internet but didn’t see any images of him. However, there were images of the Reimann family, one of the wealthiest in Europe. The great Howard Reimann was a finance mogul who created the Reimann Sienna Bank after World War I. Howard had a son named Hewitt, who then had two sons of his own, Rex and Ray. Their investments spread globally to the automobile industry, real estate development, beauty products, and even Hollywood.
Rex Reimann—Orion’s father—headed the Reimann Corporation. Why didn’t more people know about the Reimann family?
Most wealthy families wanted their names to be seen, heard, respected, admired, and feared. Money equaled power, and that kind of power got things done. I knew this because I lived it and took advantage of it. Though it annoyed me that my name was often attached to the fake news with celebrities, I ignored them because they boosted my business.
But the Reimann name wasn’t all over the news. Why? Was Orion Reimann working on a secret family agenda? What did that have to do with Aimee? Did he kill The Triad member to kidnap Aimee from her original kidnapper?
This entire scenario grew like a crazy web, making it difficult to decipher. The more I thought about it, the more Orion Reimann seemed like an elite member of The Trogyn. All the check marks were there: money, power, secrecy.
A peculiar thought nudged me, and I sat with it, looking at the possibilities of Orion’s connection to me and my friends. A moment later, a plan formed in my mind, and I sent my boys a synopsis of my suspicion.
My phone rang from a number I wasn’t expecting. Why was the Providence Police Department calling me?
“Hello?”
“Is Mr. Holt available?” asked a woman’s voice.
“How can I help you?”
“My name is Officer Juanita Lopez. We have a girl named Kaylee Leung at the precinct. She put your name down as her guardian. Can you please come down?”
What the hell?
“Yes. Is she okay? What kind of trouble is she in?” I slipped on my coat and headed out to my garage.
“She’s fine. It’s complicated to explain. You need to come now.”
Nerves gutted me. Was there an accident?