Chapter 15
Chapter fifteen
Katrina’s phone rang just as she left the resort restaurant after having lunch with Khloe, Lakelyn, and the rest of the bridesmaids.
Her heart leaped, hoping it was Darwin calling to let her know he was already coming back.
He’d had to leave so fast this morning, she hadn’t been able to tell him how wonderful last night had been.
And she wasn’t just talking about the sex.
While that had been awesome, she was thinking more about admitting how they felt about each other.
The idea that Darwin was falling for her as fast as she for him made her all gooey inside.
She quickly took her phone out of her purse, deflating a little when she saw the call wasn’t from him. In fact, she didn’t recognize the number on her phone at all. She was seconds away from letting it go to voicemail when she realized it might be Darwin calling from a different number.
“Hello?”
“Hi, Katrina. It’s Kyla. Can we talk somewhere you won’t be overheard? It’s important.”
Katrina hesitated. She’d been on her way to her room to grab her dress and shoes for the wedding. The plan was to meet up in Khloe’s suite and spend the rest of the afternoon taking pictures and leisurely getting ready. But they’d been waiting for this call from Kyla. She had to take it.
She was curious why Kyla wasn’t calling Darwin, though.
Looking around, Katrina realized there were way too many people around this part of the lobby. “Hold on a second. Let me find a quieter place to talk.”
Moving outside, she headed around to the side of the resort, making sure there was no one within hearing distance. “Okay. I’m outside where no one can hear me. What’s up?”
“Great. Is Darwin there?”
“No. He had to go back to San Nicolas Island again.”
On the other end of the line, Kyla sighed. “Since he’s not answering his phone, that’s what I thought, which is why I called you.”
For a moment, she wondered how Kyla had gotten her number, but then remembered she was a hacker. It probably hadn’t been that difficult for her to track down Katrina’s phone number.
“I took all the information you and Darwin provided, dug into everyone’s background, and then started looking for connections with people who might want to get their hands on a weapon like the Genesis drone,” Kyla said, getting straight to the point.
“Bottom line, it looks like your father and the other people from his investment group have gotten themselves involved with an international criminal named Nick Chapman. The man used to be in the Navy SEALs, but later became a soldier of fortune and a well-known arms dealer who travels the world acquiring and selling weapons. If he’s involved in this situation, that’s about as bad as it gets.
There’s a long history of people dying when they get in between him and what he wants. ”
“Slow down and back up,” Katrina said, realizing she’d started breathing hard somewhere along the way.
Probably at the part where Kyla announced her father was working with an international arms dealer.
“First, how do even know Chapman is involved? And how are you so sure my father is the one he’s dealing with? ”
“Over the past year or so, Chapman has become a big player in the world of weaponized drones,” Kyla told her.
“When he makes a move somewhere, people take notice. Chapman flew into San Diego International about a week ago, and a lot of people noticed. It’s a safe bet he’s in town to procure a new weapon.
When I did a little snooping of the airport video, I found several views of Chapman being picked up by another familiar face–Silas Forbes. ”
“But just because Silas is involved, that doesn’t mean it goes all the way back to my father,” Katrina said, even as her heart started sinking. “Silas might be doing this on his own.”
Katrina could practically feel the exasperation coming through the phone from the other woman, but at least Kyla didn’t call her on what was more wishful thinking than anything else.
“Maybe,” Kyla finally admitted. “I don’t have anything directly tying Chapman to your father or brother, other than the fact that the arms dealer is in town, meeting with Silas and several other members of the investment group run by your father.
But at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter.
Either your father is working a deal with Chapman to sell him the Genesis weapon, or he’s standing in the way of a deal to sell him the Genesis weapon.
One way or the other, it’s not going to end well for your father.
The first likely ends up with him in prison, the second ends somewhere much worse. ”
Katrina’s heart thudded all the way down to the pit of her stomach, fear threatening to overwhelm her.
“I need to talk to my father,” she said, trying to keep the desperation out of her voice. “I have to let him know who he’s dealing with. He needs to get out now before it’s too late.”
“Normally, I’d prefer if you had Darwin with you before confronting your father, but in this case, you may not have time to wait for him to come back,” Kyla said.
“Chapman is scheduled to fly out of San Diego International first thing tomorrow morning, which suggests that whatever is going down will happen tonight.”
Katrina’s head spun. This was all happening too fast. She and Darwin were supposed to talk to her father together, but now he was on San Nicolas Island, without any assurances that he’d get back in time for the wedding, much less talk to her father.
She took her phone away from her ear to look at the clock and cursed silently.
She didn’t have much time if she wanted to talk to her father.
Khloe’s wedding was tonight at eight, and the hours between now and then were supposed to be filled with plenty of girl time as they all got their hair and make-up ready, took pictures, and shared stories about guys.
It was all about spending time with her sister.
But she didn’t have a choice. She had to talk to her father and try to get him to see the danger he was putting himself and the rest of the family in. Even if he was too stubborn to listen.
“Keep trying to get in contact with Darwin,” Katrina finally said into the phone. “And let him know I’m going to talk to my father. Hopefully, everything will work out, and Dad will listen to reason, and we’ll be out of danger before Darwin gets back.”
“I hope so, too,” Kyla answered, though she sounded doubtful. “Be careful. And if anything doesn’t feel right, get out of there and call me, okay?”
“I will,” Katrina said as she hung up, having a hard time believing she’d have to worry about being in danger from her father.
Slipping her phone into her purse, Katrina quickly walked through the shadows being thrown by the setting sun, making her way toward the pathway that led to her parents’ house. Maybe she could use the walk to clear her head and figure out what the heck she was going to say to her father.
That plan went sideways the moment she reached the back of the resort and saw the flashing blue lights of several police vehicles and the crowd of people gathered near the edge of the vineyard, effectively blocking the pathway she’d been hoping to take to her childhood home.
Torn between curiosity at what was going on and the urgent need to reach her father, Katrina kept going, intending to circumnavigate the whole mess when she saw Khloe standing near the front of the crowd with Asher and Upton, not more than ten feet away, talking to a cop.
Katrina hurried over to them. “What happened?” she asked her sister. “Why aren’t you getting ready for the wedding?”
Khloe turned in surprise, reaching out to pull Katrina into a hug. “We were heading back to the suite to get started when Asher called and said there was another murder.”
“What?!” Katrina blinked, glancing at Asher and Upton, where they stood talking to Detective Ferguson, who did not look thrilled to be here, by the way. “Who was it?”
“Harold Thompson,” Khloe said. “Apparently, Harold wanted to meet with Asher and Upton early this morning, saying he had something urgent to talk to them about, but he never showed up. One of the vineyard workers found him about an hour ago. He was shot, just like Arthur.”
Katrina’s heart thumped in her chest. It was happening all over again, and Darwin wasn’t here to help her figure out how to deal with it.
“Ms. Weber, it seems that you have a habit of being found in the vicinity of dead bodies,” a man said from behind her.
Katrina spun around to see Detective Ferguson regarding her with a frown.
“I was just on my way to my parents’ house to talk to my father when I saw the crowd and the lights,” she said. “Khloe mentioned the man you found was Harold Thompson?”
Ferguson’s frown only deepened as he turned to glare at Asher and Upton. “I’m assuming one of you felt the need to share the identity of the deceased?”
“I didn’t know it was something I wasn’t supposed to talk about,” Asher said hesitantly, looking at Khloe and Katrina. “Is it a problem?”
Ferguson stared at Asher for a moment, small notebook in his hand, before shaking his head and turning to regard Katrina. “No, I guess not. Though I suppose this does give me the opportunity to ask a couple questions, if you’re willing, Ms. Weber.”
Katrina was a little surprised by the detective’s sudden change of direction, but nodded anyway. She had a pretty good idea where this was going. “Of course. I’ll help any way I can.”
“Harold Thompson was killed in the exact same way as Mr. Davis,” Ferguson said, his gaze locked on hers.
“From slightly above, as if he had been forced to his knees. Strangely enough, though, there was no dirt or grass stains on his knees, so the medical examiner is still trying to understand what the evidence is saying.”
Katrina nodded again, waiting for the questions Ferguson had mentioned, and wondering how this all tied into the Genesis weapon she’d learned about last night.
“When Arthur Davis’s body was found a few days ago, you mentioned he and a few others had been arguing with your brother, Rhett,” Ferguson continued a moment, like he’d expected Katrina to say something about the details of Harold’s death.
“Would it be a safe bet to say Harold Thompson was also one of those people?”
“Yes, he was there,” Katrina said. “He and Arthur seemed to be trying to talk my brother out of taking part in some kind of business deal. Upton Haynes was there as well, though, so he might know more about what they were discussing.”
Ferguson turned his sharp gaze on Upton, who suddenly looked uncomfortable, his eyes darting between Asher, Katrina, and the detective.
“Um, well...” Upton stammered. “I was part of the conversation Katrina mentioned, but honestly, no one ever actually told me any of the details. All I could guess is that there was a previous agreement that Arthur and Harold wanted to stick to while Silas wanted to back out and go with another offer. Without knowing the details, there was little in the way of sound advice I could offer.”
The detective looked disappointed as he turned back to Katrina. “Where’s your boyfriend, by the way? I haven’t seen him.”
“He’s in the Navy and got called back to Coronado this morning.”
Katrina wondered if she should tell the detective what she knew about Genesis, but Ferguson’s phone rang, interrupting them. He stepped to the side with a frustrated growl, holding one hand up in the air for her to wait for him.
From the raised voice Katrina could hear coming from the other end of the line, combined with Ferguson’s rigid stance, it seemed clear whoever he was talking to was someone important.
Probably Chief Vaughan, if she had to guess.
It was also obvious Vaughn wasn’t happy.
Ferguson kept trying to explain the situation, but his boss wasn’t in the mood to listen.
A moment later, Ferguson hung up and moved over to join them again, shaking his head the entire way.
“That was from my chief,” he said with a sigh.
“He’s assigned someone else to the investigation into Thompson’s death, just like the previous murder.
It seems someone has informed the chief that the dead man was an unsavory sort who’d been asked to leave resort property last night.
It’s being considered another body dump. ”
Giving them a nod, Ferguson turned on his heel and walked away.
Katrina looked at her sister. “I’m going to talk to Dad. This has to end before someone he cares about gets hurt.”