Epilogue
T erk picked up his favorite mug and filled it with coffee, then grabbed a second mug and filled it as well. With both cups in hand, he headed over to a couple easy chairs that sat in front of the fireplace. He handed one coffee cup to Jonas.
Jonas accepted it gratefully. “It’s a hell of a spot to be in,” he muttered, taking a sip, then sinking into the chair, cuddling in against the fireplace. “Life is pretty tough here for you guys, isn’t it?”
“Let’s just say, we’ve come through the worst of it, and we’re pretty happy where we’ve landed,” Terk clarified in a somewhat neutral tone.
Jonas gave him a sideways look. “I do understand, you know?”
“Good,” Terk replied, “because most of us have been to hell and back, so trust doesn’t come that easy.”
“Right, I understand that too,” he murmured, “and, in many cases, with good reason.”
“What about you? Did you find more moles?”
“We did,” he admitted in an abashed tone.
“Unfortunately another guy in MI5 was working with the new hire in MI6,” he added, with a wave of his hand.
“We figure more snitches are on the payroll at the hotels we are known to use, so we’re following up on all that too.
Regardless, with both of our inhouse moles tossed out, we’re hoping for an easier time going forward. ”
“Until the next one.”
Jonas nodded, as he stared down at his cup. “The sad thing is, there’s always a next one, isn’t there?”
Terk looked over at him and nodded. “There is. We keep thinking that we’re finally at a stage where everything will be fine. Then something happens, and it’s not fine anymore.”
“And here I was hoping you had good news.”
“Oh, I have lots of good news, just not necessarily anything that matters to you,” Terk noted. “I get that you’re here for healing, and believe me that the gals will do the best they can for you. However, I feel as if something else is behind your visit—something deeper.”
Jonas looked around to see if anyone was nearby. “You asked me to look into a certain matter a while back.”
Terk shifted and straightened. “I did.”
“I’ve got some interesting information.”
“What’s that?”
“The private investigator hired to look into the case was murdered not long after starting the investigation.”
Terk frowned at him. “That’s not in my files.”
“No, that’s because the family didn’t want it made public.”
“Yet that’s a big point in terms of what happened to Riff’s fiancée. That PI was the one actively trying to find out what happened to her. So, if he was murdered and not killed in a car accident, as Riff was told, that’s a big deal.”
“He was run over in a deliberate act, but there are no answers, no leads. We have nothing to point to who did it.”
“That makes me wonder if it was a professional hit.”
“Oh, don’t worry. It makes me wonder the same thing,” Jonas confirmed.
“I get that it’s very important, and, for some people involved, like Riff, it’s beyond important.
But that PI case was closed, and nobody’s willing to open it because it’s already been assessed and declared an accident.
However, a new look says it’s a deliberate hit-and-run.
We also have a family member saying they received a threatening letter that, if they pursued this any further, somebody else in the family would die. ”
“ Great ,” Terk muttered. “So, chances are, the private eye was on to something.”
“Exactly. So, what I do have, I admit it’s not a whole lot,” Jonas conceded, as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a USB key. “This is what we found on the investigator’s computer at the time of his death.”
Terk reached out a hand, taking the key, and nodded. “Thank you, Jonas.”
“I don’t know that it will be of any help.”
“No, but, if it gives us even one more little bit of information, it’s important. No matter how small, it’s still a piece of the puzzle, and we need it.”
At that moment, Riff walked in, his gaze going to the two of them. He joined them, frowning, looking down at Jonas’s leg. “How bad is it?”
“It will be fine, given a little time,” Jonas replied, with a formal tone. “Thanks for the assistance in the tunnel.”
Riff nodded. “No problem. That’s the way the world is supposed to work, right?”
At that, Terk held out his hand with the USB key. “Riff, Jonas came for a little healing assistance, but he also brought this for you.”
Riff stared at it, as if it would bite him. He looked from one man to the other and back again cautiously, as if he knew already. “What is it?”
Jonas replied, “It’s the contents of the private eye’s personal effects and computer files and diary at the time of his murder.”
It took Riff a few minutes to blink his way through that. “ Murder . It was declared an accident.”
“That’s how the family wanted it portrayed and reported.
I spoke with them recently, and they received a death threat in a letter just prior to a public announcement about the loss of their family member.
The letter promised the immediate death of another family member if they didn’t go along with the accidental death report on the PI and didn’t drop all attempts to prove it was anything other than an unfortunate car accident. ”
He stared at Jonas in shock. “So, you’re saying the investigator was murdered.”
“That’s our belief, yes,” Jonas confirmed. “I figured you would want first crack at it.”
He snatched the USB key from Terk’s hand and stared down at it, his jaw working. Just then Angela walked into the room. He looked over at her. “You always seem to turn up just at the most inconvenient time.”
“Or the right time,” she argued, staring at the USB key. “Did I just hear what I thought I heard?”
He nodded. “Apparently.… I don’t know what’s on here yet.” He looked back at Jonas.
Jonas shrugged. “I don’t either,” he admitted.
“But one good turn deserves another, so thank you for keeping me alive back there in the tunnels. I have a hunch you may have done more than just pack me out.” When he saw the quick grin cross Riff’s face, Jonas nodded. “Let’s hope this helps your hunt.”
As Riff headed out of the room, he looked back at Terk and announced, “I’ll go check this out.”
Terk nodded.
Angela rushed to follow Riff, calling out, “Wait for me.”
He looked back at her and frowned. “You know you don’t need to be involved in this.”
She glared at him. “I lost someone too. She was my sister, after all.”
He hesitated, then nodded. “Fine, but it’s unlikely you’ll be happy with anything we find.”
“I haven’t been happy about anything over the last five years to date,” she added bitterly. “So at least let me find some closure.”
He hesitated, then turned to Terk, who nodded. Riff sighed. “Fine, but don’t blame me if you don’t like where this ends up.”
“I won’t blame you at all,” she declared.
He laughed. “That would be a first. So far, you’ve done nothing but.” And, with that, he turned and walked out.
She now cast a glance back at Terk.
Terk again nodded. “If you don’t go, you won’t ever get answers. If I must weigh in, don’t let him push you around.”
She snorted. “I haven’t ever let him push me around so far,” she declared. “Damn, I’ve all but moved into your place, trying to stay close, and all he does is try to push me away.”
“He needs answers first,” Terk noted, his tone steady as he studied her. “Give him some room but maybe not too much.”
She nodded and flashed him a bright grin. “Thanks.” And, with that, she was gone.
Jonas groaned at his side. “Young love.… Nothing hurts quite like that.”
Terk looked over at him and nodded. “Particularly with star-crossed lovers like these two, but maybe now they can finally find some answers about the past and can head into the future.”
“I hope so.… Now, what about you running a government department for me?”
Terk sighed. Jonas was apparently still serious about this, given everything they had been through.
“If I take it up with the team and if they all say yes, I might be interested,” Terk explained.
“But you know for a fact that every fricking one of them will say not only no but hell no .” Then he gave Jonas a fat smile.
“Let’s just continue the way we are for now.
Maybe before long we’ll have Riff’s case fully closed, and I can get him to come on board full-time. ”
“He’s good, isn’t he?” Jonas asked, as he studied the doorway the two had gone through.
“He’s one of the best,” Terk replied. “He just doesn’t believe it. Something,… well, finding these answers,” he added, “will make all the difference.”
“I hope so.” Jonas looked far off into the distance. “The world is a mess out there, and, if we don’t have people like you and me and them to straighten out all the problems,… it’ll only get worse.”
And, with that, the two men raised their coffee mugs, clanked them together, and each had a sip. Terk noted, “You know, if you didn’t have a busted-up leg, we could be drinking whiskey.”
Jonas stared down at his coffee mug and then frowned at him and declared, “I don’t have a busted-up leg.”
Terk laughed, then got up and grabbed the whiskey bottle from the nearby shelf, quickly pouring a healthy slug into each cup. “Now, let’s have some proper coffee.”
And together they sat here and enjoyed the moment.