Chapter 43
FORTY-THREE
G RANT
We get Jay into a room and have him secured in a chair across from us. Levi’s still not ready to untie him, and Jay’s livid about being held in these conditions, but we’re not killing each other, and overall, that’s an improvement for this family.
“Did you kill our parents?” Levi asks.
“No. You think I could kill my brother?” Jay glares at him.
“You were ready to kill us.”
“With bombs that he provided, not with a gun at close range.”
“’Cause you’re a fucking coward.” Levi sneers.
“Says the boy who’s got me tied to a chair while we have a conversation,” he snaps back.
“We’ll untie you as soon as we’ve established some common ground. Like the fact we’re in a mutually assured destruction kinda situation now, Uncle. We know your daughter and your lady’s name, plus where they live.” I remind him of his predicament. The man’s already grown used to giving the orders instead of taking them.
“I gave you that information to save them, not to threaten them.” His lips press together in a hard line.
“I’d love to. I don’t want to see anyone else in this family or anyone they hold dear at risk of losing their lives. That’s my goal. I need it to be yours too. You think we can come to an agreement on that?” I grab a bottle of water from the fridge in the room and screw the cap off.
“I never wanted any harm to come to either of you. I meant what I said. It was an impossible situation. He was going to try to kill you regardless. This way, I might have been able to save them from the same fate.”
“Good. So we can agree going forward the only way any of us win is if we all win. Right?” I ask, passing him the bottle and cutting one of his hands free so he can lift it.
He drinks it down so fast he sputters a little before he nods. “We’re agreed on that.”
“Glad to hear it.” I watch him take another sip. “Now tell us what we don’t know.”
“I don’t know much about what you do know, so it’s hard to say what you don’t.”
“Tell us why you and our father agreed to steal this relic in the first place,” Levi instructs him, constantly watching where he puts his hands and how he moves. He has zero interest in trust, but we’re going to have to learn to make it work.
“Abbott approached us years ago. Before he even started putting his plan in motion. He wanted these relics, said it was the key to getting something he needed. That the kind of money and power it would bring if he did would change his life, and in exchange, he’d change ours. ”
“Well, it definitely changed lives,” Levi mutters.
“It was supposed to get us both out of this life. Give our family a fresh start. We could start over, settle old debts, and take things legitimate if we wanted,” Jay continues to explain.
“I don’t recall Dad ever wanting to go legit. He never mentioned it to me.” I raise a brow.
“We didn’t have any real guarantees on that front. I think your dad just hoped he could hold true to his promises. Obviously, he didn’t.” He takes another sip, clearing his throat. “But now he has the relic. I don’t know how he got it, but he has the second one that you were meant to steal. All these years, he thought you had it. I did too. Your dad said you boys had done all right despite the botched robbery and the chaos. I thought when you took me to the vault, you were going to tell me that someone had stolen it.”
“Is that why he wants us dead because he thinks we had it?” I ask because, even if I’m trying to trust him, I’m not giving my hand away. I need those aces for later.
“In part. Mostly he wants you dead because he ordered his people to go after your dad, and you all won’t let sleeping dogs lie.”
“I don’t know many people who would let their parents’ execution be written off into a cold-case file.” Levi looks our uncle over with disdain.
“I don’t blame you. I’m just telling you the way he looks at it. If you were ever able to prove that he was a party to their murder, he’d lose everything. But right now, there’s no weapon, no motive, not anything to connect the two that he doesn’t have control over. The only hitch is the people who helped carry it out have disappeared, and he’s furious he can’t find them.”
“And the relic would only further connect the dots,” Levi adds helpfully, glancing over at me.
Jay nods and looks back and forth between us slowly, waiting for us to move the negotiations forward. I’m stuck in my head, processing exactly how fucked we are.
Abbott doesn’t know that we’ve already taken care of his witnesses for him. A thing I would’ve avoided if possible, but my youngest brother’s rage and trauma had conspired to make other decisions for us. We’ve also handed over the relic via the black market, the only thing that might have been evidence as a motive, and the chances we ever find a murder weapon are damn near impossible. The only silver lining is the fact that we sold the relic on the black market, and it led us to him. It at least makes it look like the Flanagans had taken the goods and run, selling the item on the market as a means to make their money and get away from Abbott in the process.
“But you could link him too.” I look at my uncle.
“We all could, together with what we know. Not enough to take it to a prosecutor. Not without more evidence or more witnesses. It would be our word against his, and he has an untarnished reputation and the support of half the state of Colorado. Not to mention all his connections in Washington and the corrupt underbelly that’s supported his rise thus far.” Jay’s brow creases with doubt. “Trust me. I’ve thought about it.”
Levi looks at me. “He has a half dozen billionaires who supported his last run. Ones who are still advising him. The kind who make it look like he’s gunning for the presidency after he finishes this term.”
“Do you know how many relics he needs? More than two, I assume if he’s still out there looking.” I ask because I can’t worry about the future. I can only worry about right now.
“I always heard him talk about three. I don’t know if it was only three or if that’s just where he started.” Jay shrugs.
“Where do the relics lead? Why does he want them?” I ask because I still can’t make sense of it. Other than the historical or cultural value, there was nothing particularly special about it. According to Charlotte, the price was inflated because of the buyer, not because of its actual value. So why the willingness to do anything to get them?
“I don’t know more than what I’ve told you right now.” Jay shrugs.
Levi gives him a skeptical look in return, irritated that we’re not getting more answers and instead coming up with a bigger list of problems than we started with.
“I don’t fucking know. I’d tell you if I knew. I’ve already fucking told you enough to get me killed three times over,” Jay snaps at Levi, his face growing red with the force of his words.
“Do you know what they have in common?” Levi asks.
“Not a damn clue.”
“Helpful.” Levi looks at me. “So all we know after all this is that he wants relics. He’s still looking for at least one. He wants us dead, and he put our own uncle up to killing us to make it happen. Oh, and he has a daughter we didn’t know existed whose life is more important than dozens of ours.”
“Lev…” I say his name like a warning because antagonizing our uncle won’t help our cause.
“One who needs your help. She’s your family too, and she’s fucking innocent in all of this.” Jay glares at Levi and then turns to me. “This doesn’t work if you’re not gonna help her.”
“This works because if you don’t help us, we’ll make sure that she never gets any help. From anyone,” Levi threatens.
“Are you fucking hearing this?” My uncle looks to me to diffuse the situation.
“He’s right. It’s mutually assured destruction. We don’t have trust anymore. Not after you tried to kill us. All we know is that you value her life over ours. So all we can trust is that you’ll do whatever you can to protect her, exactly like you said.”
“What happened to common ground?”
“The common ground is that you don’t want anything to happen to us, and neither do we. We both need to slow your boss down to make sure of it.” I explain the facts like I see them. They’re not pretty but they’re all we’ve got.
“He’s not my boss. I’m as much a victim in this as any of you. He would have killed me if he didn’t think there was something I could do for him. He might still when he finds out I don’t have a backup plan to deal with you.”
“And yet we didn’t try to set off bombs to kill you and everyone you love.” Levi’s tone is cutting.
“Just tell him there was something faulty with the bombs. The first one went off early, right? I assume the one at Seven Sins was meant to go off at the same time as the rest?” I offer a solution.
“It was, and it wasn’t meant to be at the bar at all. I didn’t realize you were going to move some of the champagne.” Regret clouds his face.
My stomach churns. In trying to do something thoughtful for Dakota, I’d nearly killed her. But I couldn’t think about that now.
“So tell him the triggers were faulty. Or the wires. One went off early, and the rest didn’t.”
“And then what? He might buy that. He’ll be furious, but at least it’s the truth. Then he’ll want to know what my plan is.” Jay looks between us for answers.
“You just tell him you need time and that the bomb at the bar put us on high alert, so it’ll be difficult for you to get to us for a while. He’ll have to have patience. He’s waited all these years; you’d think he could wait a few more months.”
“He didn’t have the relic before. He has it now. The only thing he was worried about was killing you before he knew where it was.”
“Then do what’s necessary to convince him. This is your problem. Not ours. You want your daughter alive; you’ll figure out a solution to deal with him,” Levi says bluntly.
“And talk to him soon. I don’t want him sending backup down here to make more problems for us.” I add.
“I’ll do my best. But I’m one person.” I don’t like the doubt I see on Jay’s face.
“One fucking person who runs law enforcement for this whole fucking county. I think you can come up with some temporary solutions,” Levi snaps.
My uncle starts to wind up to say something more, but I cut him off before he can speak.
“He’s right. You can do this. You’ve been out of the game for a while, but you know the rules; you know the strategy. Make it happen. Our dad would have counted on you, and I’m hoping we can, even if you’ve made a few mistakes along the way.”
“I’ll do whatever I can.” He looks remorseful enough in the moment, and I hope he holds true to his word.
I agree with my brother’s assessment. We’ve got to put our energy into moving forward. That means finding out what these relics are for and how we find the one he doesn’t have his hands on yet. Because if all he needs are three, our time might be running out faster than we hoped.