Chapter 13 #2
“Because there was a crack in the window. The window was covered in tape, so I couldn’t see out, but my position allowed me to hear everything in the basement and outside.“ His face turned more somber. “I heard your friend. When they killed him. He didn’t go down without a fight.”
Jason exchanged a look with Knox.
“And the video?” asked Knox.
“I waited a long time before I left the basement. I wanted to be sure they were all gone. When I came out . . . it was obvious where they fought with Mr. Branch. There was some blood . . .” He looked like he was going to be sick, then snapped himself out of it.
“Anyway, when I was glancing around, I saw his phone. It was still recording. It was set on a rock nearby. A branch covered part of it. I guess that’s why they didn’t see it.
There’s no way the men knew it was there or they would have taken it or smashed it or something. ”
Jason pinched the bridge of his nose again. “So, you stopped the video and took the phone. But by the time you got home, the phone locked. And you don’t have the password. You haven’t seen what’s on the video.”
“No. I haven’t. But the phone was right there. There’s no way it didn’t catch what happened. Isn’t that what you want? To find the men responsible for your friend’s murder?”
Knox looked at Jason. “If he’s making it up, he deserves an Academy Award,” Knox said, as if Frederick wasn’t still sitting at the table. “Wouldn’t hurt to look at the phone.”
“Wait, wait, wait,” Frederick said. “I’m not offering it for free.”
Their food arrived. Frederick shut his mouth. At least he knew when to clam up.
Frederick’s claims had almost squelched Jason’s appetite. But when the waiter set down the plate of bacon, the aroma coaxed him into a few bites.
After the waiter left, Knox dove into his pancakes.
With his mouth half-full, he nodded toward Frederick, gesturing with his utensils as he spoke.
“Frederick, buddy. You go ahead and ask what you want.
But the other fancy security agent“ he pointed his fork at Jason, “and I, will acquire that phone one way or the other.”
If it was possible for a man to smile in a threatening manner with a mouth half-full of strawberry pancakes, Knox just pulled it off.
Frederick stiffened.
Knox looked pleased.
“Go ahead and tell us what you want for it,” Jason said. “But I’ll warn you, I’m not feeling generous right now.”
Frederick fidgeted with his napkin, presumedly collecting his thoughts.
“Protection. That’s all. I want protection for myself, my men and my belongings while we move everything from the orphanage basement onto my boat, The Mermaid.
I’ll take everything back to my house on another island. I can keep it protected there.”
Knox wiped his mouth with his napkin. “You do realize Drakos hired us?”
“Yes. And he thinks he has some kind of right to my father’s things.
But he doesn’t.” He tossed his napkin on the table.
“Look, talk Drakos into agreeing, or don’t.
I don’t care how he feels about it. I just want what belongs to me.
And, with the items off Isadora Island, Drakos will no longer be in any danger.
So, you will have accomplished your goal in protecting your client, and you will have video proof of who killed Mr. Branch.
” He sipped his cappuccino with more confidence than a moment ago.
Apparently, he was pleased with his speech. “So, gentlemen, what do you say?”
Jason and Knox entered one of the lobby elevators and let the doors close. Jason leaned against the back wall and palmed his eyes. Knox pressed the button for the third floor.
“I do not like that guy,” Jason said.
“Me either, but forget about him for a second. Before we get to the room, I have questions for you.”
Jason lifted his hands from his eyes. “What?”
“What happened last night? Between you and Tayla?”
Oh, good grief. “I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he lied. If Knox really wanted to know something, he was going to have to press harder than that.
“I assumed after I went to bed that you two just said ‘goodnight’ and that was that. But this morning in the kitchen, there was some intense electricity between you two.”
Jason gave him what he thought looked like a you’re-crazy-so-shut-up glare. But apparently he didn’t school his expression enough. Because Knox started laughing.
“Oh, man! Wow. I was just messing with you. But obviously, something really did . . . oh wait, did you kiss her?”
The elevator doors opened. Mercifully. And the hallway was empty. Thank you, God.
Jason stepped out of the elevator. But Knox grabbed his shoulder, stopping him from walking down the hall to their suite.
“Hey, not so fast. I need answers,” Knox said, sounding downright giddy.
He studied Jason’s face, which still wasn’t cooperating.
Knox laughed again, then lowered his voice.
“You did. You kissed her. Oh, man. This is fantastic. Really. I mean, Leland will probably leave you in a shallow grave somewhere if you break her heart, but I’m happy for you. She’s great.”
“We’re not engaged, you idiot. I don’t know what I’m doing. We haven’t talked about it. Yes, I like her. But that doesn’t mean this makes any sense.” He started down the hallway.
Knox kept in step at his side. “I get it, I get it. But, hey, I’m going to say something I haven’t mentioned in a while, then I’ll drop the subject. Well, I’ll drop it for now.”
“What?”
“Leah wouldn’t have wanted for you to be alone forever. She’d want you to be happy. Some people are very happy staying single, and that’s great for them, but I think you’d like to find someone again. Maybe you have. Maybe—”
Jason stopped walking and silenced Knox with a hand on his shoulder. “You’re rushing things. I appreciate what you’re saying, but let’s just . . . just drop it for now.”
“Okay, I hear you.”
They resumed their trek through The Mandeville’s maze of hallways to their rooms.
“So,” Knox said, “just to be clear, you’re not going to tell me about the kiss?”
Jason didn’t slow his pace. And his low growl silenced Knox’s questions.
A series of knocks drew Leland to the suite door. Tayla stayed in the living room, but she heard him unbolt the lock. “The party paid off,” was her uncle’s only greeting to Jason and Knox.
“Good morning to you too, Leland,” Knox said.
Tayla was sure the micro-smile on Jason’s face was solely for her. But before it had the two seconds it needed to make her breath hitch, Leland slapped a notepad against Jason’s chest and said, “Read that.”
Jason took the notepad and looked at the first page.
“That’s a list of the people we tagged last night who were discussing a new job opportunity,” Leland said.
“Job opportunity?”
“Yes.” Leland pointed at Rowan. “The kid has several conversations recorded from last night. Someone is recruiting muscle for something scheduled to take place tonight.”
Jason looked at Rowan with his brows raised.
Rowan crossed his arms over his chest. “Tell him not to call me ‘kid.’”
Fixing a patient stare at the young IT genius—who was sporting a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles t-shirt—Jason decided not to address his complaint. “Show me what you found.”
Rowan sighed and returned his hands to his keyboard. “I’ve been listening to what our devices recorded last night. Most of the devices are still active, but since they were stuck to the clothes the targets were wearing last night, I’m not hearing much today.”
He clicked the keys for a second, then pushed back from the table to allow Jason to see his screen.
“Here are some interesting transcripts from the recordings. Word passed around last night that anyone who could lift at least fifty pounds, owned their own gun, and wanted to make a few hundred dollars in one evening should report to Rock Point Pier at nine tonight.”
Tayla watched Jason work his jaw, skimming the transcripts with interest. She was curious about this development.
She was also interested in what Frederick said at their brunch meeting this morning.
But she couldn’t look at Jason without thinking about that kiss last night.
And wondering what it meant, if anything.
His strong arms around her . . . felt so right, but she needed to be careful.
Dear God, please guard my heart. I don’t want to make a mistake. Not again. Please. Thank you for sending Jason to protect me over the last few days. He’s, without doubt, an answered prayer for my physical protection, of that I’m sure. But as far as my heart . . . I’m not sure I should hope . . .
“This is interesting.” Jason’s voice pulled her back to the discussion about the recordings. “But I don’t see a direct link to Drakos, Frederick, or their disputed items.”
“Except,” Rowan said, clicking some more keys, “when you look up the location of Rock Point Pier. It’s miles away from anything else on the island, but it’s less than one hundred yards from the property line of the orphanage.
It’s, by far, the closest pier, or anything for that matter, to the orphanage. ”
“Good point.” He looked at Knox. “If this is a plan to steal everything out of the basement, and it’s clearly not organized by Drakos or Frederick, then this could be our mystery player—the one who killed Gus and hired the sniper.”
“Or someone else entirely,” Leland said.
“Drakos was right. Several parties are interested in what he has. We know that from the recordings. Not all of them seem keen to do much about it. Most who mentioned it didn’t even know where he has the stuff hidden.
Seems only Frederick, and possibly the person hiring extra muscle for tonight, know where Drakos hid the stuff. ”
“We need to fill you in,” Jason said. He and Knox spent the next few minutes relating everything Frederick shared at their meeting, including his negotiation.
“Humph.” Leland glared at Jason, but Tayla knew Frederick was the source of his frustration. “He’s over his skis in this mess. We don’t need to do a thing for him. I say we just go over to his singed suite and get the phone.”
“You need the phone before tonight,” Tayla said. All eyes turned to her. Apparently, they hadn’t expected her to speak in this ‘meeting.’ Leland, Knox, and Rowan looked surprised. Jason didn’t.
He looked at her and nodded. “I know. We need to know if the guy running things on Rock Point Pier tonight is also in Gus’s video.”
Tayla didn’t like the look in Leland’s eyes. “What are you thinking?”
Leland leaned back in the overstuffed chair and directed his answer to Jason instead of Tayla.
“If someone is cleaning out the basement tonight, and it’s not Gus’s killer, I propose we let them haul it all away.
They’re meeting on a pier, so it’s probably all leaving the island, maybe the country.
No more threats against Drakos. Problem solved. ”
“And if it is Gus’s killer?” Jason asked.
“We let them fill up their boat with the goods, arrest Gus’s murderer, then hand the boat over to Frederick. Or Drakos. They can duke it out for all I care.”
Jason stood. “Let’s hope it doesn’t come to that. But with those two, I wouldn’t be surprised.”
“Where are you going?” Knox asked.
“I’m going to scout around Rock Point Pier, in the daylight.” He looked at Rowan. “Can you give me four inconspicuous cameras? I’ll try to place them around the pier to give us more eyes tonight.”
Rowan started rummaging through a black backpack. “Yeah. We’ve got some more.”
“Actually, give me two more. I’ll leave a couple at the orphanage. That way, we’ll know if someone is cleaning out the basement tonight.”
Tayla was surprised when Jason turned to her next. “Want to come along?”
He wants me to come with him? Just the two of us?
She couldn’t read his expression. Maybe he wanted to talk to her alone so he could let her down easy—explain that last night was an emotional mistake.
The thought made her nauseous. It didn’t feel like a mistake to her.
But a relationship with Jason didn’t make any sense, either.
And she definitely didn’t deserve a man like him.
She wasn’t about to say no to speaking to him alone, though. She needed to find out what he wanted to say. Maybe he wasn’t interested. Maybe last night was just an in-the-moment thing for him. She realized she really needed to know. “Sure. Yes. I’ll grab my purse.”
She ignored the awkward silence hanging in the air and made a beeline for her room to fetch her purse. She could hear Jason explaining they wouldn’t be gone long, and that he, Knox, and Leland would go together to retrieve Gus’s phone from Frederick as soon as they got back.
“I think we can convince him to hand it over,” Jason said.
Leland stood as Tayla reentered the room. “Sounds good to me.” He seemed pleased with Jason’s plan, but the subtle look he gave Tayla made her pause. That was a look she knew. And one she knew how to handle.
She walked straight to Leland and squeezed his forearm with her brightest smile. “Stop worrying. I’m fine. Be nice to Rowan while we’re gone.”
Satisfied with the change in his expression, she didn’t wait for a response. There wouldn’t be one. Her uncle loved her, but words were not his forte.
Yes, her insides were doing cartwheels thinking about being alone with Jason again. But Leland didn’t need to know that.