Chapter 60
She was indeed dead.
The small gap between her fitted top and her yoga pants exposed an area of bare skin on her lower back.
It revealed a glimpse of a Chinese character tattooed in the small of her back.
I was pretty sure this was the same woman who was caught on video leaving the marina after Preston's death. This was most likely his mistress, Molly Lewis. Perhaps his assassin. I was ever more convinced that Preston hadn’t killed himself.
"Can you describe the other assailant?" I asked Vanessa.
"I'm going to go out on a limb here and say this wasn't your average break-in. They were looking for something.”
"The data that Edward had compiled on Elias?”
I shook my head. "No. I don't think Elias had your father killed. This is something else entirely."
Vanessa's face wrinkled with confusion. "I don't understand. If Elias didn't have my parents killed, who did?”
I didn’t have answers for her at the moment. I called the sheriff and filled him in on the situation.
Squad cars arrived, and so did the medical examiner and the forensic team. We were keeping them busy tonight. Dietrich snapped photos of the deceased. Camera flashes bounced off the tile, filling the foyer.
Daniels grumbled at me when he arrived. “You’re supposed to be on leave.”
I shrugged innocently. “Just helping out a friend.”
“You have any idea who this is and what she’s doing here?”
I filled him in on my theory.
My phone buzzed with a call from Isabella. I stepped away from the chaos and swiped the screen. In an apologetic voice, I said, "I know it's late."
"I couldn’t sleep, anyway. Your perp is Erica Lang.
U.S. citizen. Works as an independent private security consultant/risk mitigation strategist under the LLC Sentinal Management Solutions.
Former Army intelligence officer." Isabella paused.
"Here's the interesting thing. Sentinel Management Solutions gets regular deposits from an offshore company in the British Virgin Islands, Tropimax United Capital Partners. There’s no beneficial ownership listed, but I did a little digging on the dark web. That company is owned by Kobalt Equity Holdings Unlimited, which in turn is owned by STT-X.”
That hung there for a moment.
My brow knitted as I racked my brain. "What does this have to do with STT-X?”
"Let me know when you find out. I'm rather curious about that myself. We know Preston's last scheduled meeting was with your reporter friend at the Coconut Key Country Club. Maybe that's where you ought to start.”