Chapter 14
Chapter Fourteen
Havel’s hand curved over Leeza’s shoulder lending her strength with his reassuring presence.
She wanted to turn into his arms, to beg him to hold her and promise her everything would be okay, but she couldn’t.
Not while they were interrogating the Silver Swan Hotel staff.
She had to appear strong, in charge of her emotions, even if she was screaming on the inside, the worry for her sister overwhelming her.
He bent to murmur in her ear. “It’s going to be okay. Saskia is intelligent and resourceful. She’ll find her way back to us if we don’t find her first.”
Leeza nodded, afraid if she spoke she would burst into tears. Saskia was in the hands of a ruthless warlord whose name made even the worst of villains shake in their boots. How could she possibly be okay? What was he doing to her?
“Trust me,” Havel said, his lips brushing the sensitive spot behind her ear before he straightened and took his place next to Jozef. Lined up in front of him in the hotel kitchen were the staff who had interacted with Saskia in the days leading up to her disappearance.
Havel translated as Jozef signed. “You were the last people to see Saskia Koba before she disappeared from this hotel.” Jozef’s fierce frown was enough to make several of the staff take a step back.
Coupled with Havel’s huge physical presence, scarred visage and permanent scowl, Leeza was surprised they weren’t running for the door.
“We will be speaking to each of you alone. If we believe any of you are withholding information, there will be consequences. Do you understand?”
Havel and Jozef received one nod and several blank stares.
Shaun touched Jozef’s arm. “Perhaps I can help.”
Jozef turned his back on their audience, his hands flying as he swiftly chastised his wife.
You are only here because I was unable to resist your pleas after…
He stopped, his hands halting in the air before he mentioned the miscarriage.
He continued, Otherwise I would never allow you to be part of this.
The agreement was that you would remain silent and not bring attention to yourself. It’s too dangerous.
“Yes, I understand, but I think I can be of assistance,” Shaun said calmly, caressing his arm, sending a visible shudder through him. “I think the issue is that Havel is translating your sign language into Czech, rather than a language these people are likely to speak, like English or Afrikaans.”
Havel’s face reddened at his blunder and Leeza would have been amused if she wasn’t so worried for her sister.
It was unlike Havel to make such a mistake.
Though his English wasn’t the best, he knew the language and knew to use it in moments like this.
His lapse told Leeza he was also quite worried for Saskia, which warmed her while also terrifying her.
“Perhaps you’ll allow me to translate,” Shaun said, then softened her voice to say for Jozef alone, though Leeza could hear them, “Please trust me. I look more like them than any of you and I’m not as threatening as you.
I want Saskia home as bad as you do but I don’t think these people are hiding anything. They just work here.”
Jozef stared at her, clearly at war with himself.
Should he allow his highly protected wife to take yet another step into his world or should he push her behind him and insist she go back to being invisible?
Lucky for the future happiness of his marriage, he chose wisely, nodding at Shaun to step up.
Shaun smiled kindly at those assembled, her gaze falling on the one person who’d understood Jozef and Havel. She looked frightened. “What is your name?”
“Sarah,” she whispered in English.
“And what language did you recognize?”
Sarah swallowed visibly, her eyes creeping toward Jozef’s feet. “My brother is hearing impaired. I recognized some of his signs.”
“Excellent, then you’ll be a great help to us.” Shaun spoke with authority, as though used to commanding a room, which Leeza supposed she must be as one of the world’s top neurosurgeons.
“I… I saw what happened,” Sarah volunteered. “I was… I was in the kitchen when the poor woman tried to hide from those men.”
Shaun beamed at her. “Then you will speak with Leeza and me privately.”
Leeza was surprised at Shaun for singling her out, but she guessed, as the only other woman in the room, Shaun thought perhaps she’d be less intimidating than the men.
Leeza tried to look small, moving her elbow to cover her sidearm as she nodded toward the manager’s office, which was vacant, the manager having been recently murdered, his body dumped in an alley near the hotel. “Let’s speak in here.”
Jozef stepped in front of his wife, blocking her, but she walked around him, squeezing his arm as she passed. “Trust me.”
He watched her walk away, his expression both annoyed and resigned.
Leeza couldn’t help the tilt to her lips as she passed him. “Trust her, cousin. She’s the only one of us who had a normal upbringing. She knows how to talk to people.” Without threatening them, she added silently following Shaun and Sarah into the office, closing the door behind her.
Leeza glanced at a picture of the hotel manager with his family. Nodding toward it, she said to Sarah in English, “Did you know him well?”
Sarah frowned, her gaze dispassionate as she glanced at the picture of her deceased boss. “A little, but he didn’t mix with the kitchen staff, or at least those of us he considered too low for his notice.” Her fearful stutter was gone.
“Why do you suppose he was murdered?”
Sarah looked thoughtful for a moment. “If I had to guess, I would say he took a bribe to give security the day off and abandon his post.” She gave Leeza a significant look.
“He was a greedy man.” She frowned. “A few of us noticed there wasn’t any security that day.
The head chef commented on it right before our dinner rush.
And there were none when those Russians chased that girl through the kitchen. ”
“That girl is my sister. Her name is Saskia,” Leeza said through gritted teeth.
Why did the Russians go after Saskia? It was suicide. The hit couldn’t have been sanctioned by the Bratva, yet the men involved were Russian. It was a confusing and dangerous mess.
Sarah’s eyes darkened with compassion. “She was very frightened but brave. She grabbed a knife before going into the basement.”
Shaun and Leeza exchanged glances before Shaun asked, “You saw all this yourself?”
Sarah nodded. “I was working in the prep station which is nearest to the storage room in the basement. She hid near me and I told her….” She stopped, biting her lip and dropping her gaze.
“What did you tell her?” Leeza asked eagerly.
Sarah looked frightened, her gaze dropping to Leeza’s waist, where her gun was visible.
“I didn’t tell her anything, but I indicated she should go to the basement.
” She shook her head, as if trying to banish the memory.
“I’m so sorry, I think it was my fault she was hurt.
They followed her and she was trapped down there. ”
Leeza wanted to grab the woman and shake the rest of the story from her, but instead spoke in soft, measured tones. “It wasn’t your fault, Sarah, but we need to know exactly what happened. You say Sakia was hurt?”
Sarah looked down at her intertwined fingers which were resting in her lap. “She was unconscious when the General brought her up.”
“General?” Leeza repeated the name.
Sarah nodded. “General Radik. We all know of him though this was my first time seeing him in person.” She lifted shining eyes to the two women.
“I think he was helping her. The way he was holding her, it was protective, and he looked worried about her. Once he left, we discovered the two men in the storage room. They were both dead. I think General Radik killed them.”
“Where did the bodies go?” Shaun asked.
Sarah shuddered. “Out the back door. I think it was the General’s people who took them. I don’t know what happened to them after that.”
They questioned Sarah for a few more minutes, but she had nothing else useful to pass along. They dismissed her and rejoined the rest of the team.
“Radik definitely has her,” Leeza murmured to Havel, confirming.
“No one here has any information on him,” Havel said.
Jozef took Leeza and Havel aside, signing, Shaun wants to stay and see if she can get anything else from the staff. I need you to go to the morgue and find out what you can about Saskia’s dead colleague.
Leeza and Havel agreed, taking a taxi to the morgue where they were met by the detective in charge of the murder investigation.
“What is your interest in this case?” Detective Botha demanded, blocking them from entering the autopsy room.
“We were hired by the family of the deceased to find out what happened to Aurelia,” Havel lied smoothly, showing Botha his identification for Guard Dog Securities.
The detective barely glanced at it. “Private investigators.” His tone suggested disdain. He jerked his head toward the door. “If you have permission from the family, then you may view the body, but don’t touch anything.”
While Leeza considered herself tough, dead bodies were never going to be her favourite part of working for Guard Dog.
She schooled her features into icy neutrality as the coroner, a woman in her 40s who introduced herself as Dr. Williams, showed them Aurelia’s body.
It was clear by the wound on her neck how she died.
Dr. Williams confirmed it. “The damage to her throat is extensive. In fact, she was nearly beheaded. It would have been a very quick death.” She glanced at Leeza and Havel, “If you’d like to let the family know.”
Right, they were supposed to be working for the family.
She continued. “The only other damage to the body is a couple of broken fingernails and some bruising on her arms, indicating she probably fought back.” She lifted Aurelia’s hand, showing them the broken fingernails and giving them a significant look.
“Your attacker will likely have damage to his face, neck, or arms. I took scrapings from beneath her fingernails so we should have a DNA profile in a few weeks.”
Havel pulled a roll of bills from his pocket. American currency. Peeling off several 100-dollar bills, he handed them to the coroner. “You will expedite the process, yes? We will have those results sooner.”
Dr. Williams looked shocked, glancing at Detective Botha.
“You can’t just bribe the coroner in front of me,” Botha sputtered. “I can have you arrested for that.”
Havel gave him a stare that could make a person piss themselves in fear.
“The money is to cover the expense of the testing. It’s what her family would want.
” He nodded at Aurelia’s body, then peeled several more bills from the roll.
“A donation to help you with your investigation.” He pressed the bills into Botha’s hand, squeezing his fingers harder than necessary before releasing the detective.
“I hope we can work together harmoniously.”
Leeza smothered a laugh. Harmonious was the last word a person would use to describe Havel. The man looked like he was carved from marble for the explicit purpose of going to war.
Detective Botha looked down at the crushed bills in his hand, his expression torn. He pocketed the money. “Of course, we will work together to discover who committed this grievous crime.”
Leeza and Havel left, going back to the house Jozef had secured as their ops centre while they were in Pretoria. The house was dark and empty when they entered. Havel turned off the security system.
Hours of holding her fear and anxiety inside spilled over as tears trickled down Leeza’s face. “Havel,” she whispered brokenly. “I’m so scared.”
“I know.” He pulled her into his arms and held her tight, his hand curving over the back of her head. “We’ll bring her home safe.”
“You can’t promise that.” Her voice shook. “Radik took her. One of the most dangerous men on the planet took her and we have no idea why. What if he kills her?”
“He has no reason to kill her,” Havel said gruffly. “And I’d argue I’m the scariest motherfucker on this planet.”
Leeza gave a watery laugh and rubbed her nose against his chest. “Yeah, you are.” She looked up at him, blinking the tears away. “Maybe he has no reason to kill her, but as far as we know he didn’t have a reason for taking her either, yet he did.”
“Radik has a reason. We just don’t know it yet.”
She snuggled against him, closing her eyes with a sigh, allowing exhaustion to take over. “That’s what I’m afraid of.”
He picked her up and carried her to their bedroom.