by TJ Nichols
“He brought four friends to help take all of Connor’s computers, including his personal tablet and his phone. He tried to take mine.” Lily glared at him. “He wouldn’t take no for an answer, and when I threatened to call the police, he laughed. Something isn’t right, Cody.”
“Did you go through Connor’s things?”
“Only his tablet to get your email. I didn’t know the passwords for the others. He was very strict about client confidentiality when he worked from home. Your father took every flash drive and external hard drive he could find too.”
“Were there many?”
“A handful of flash drives, some of which weren’t even in the office. He wanted me to open the safe so he could look for more.” She shook her head. “He’s probably back there now that I’ve gone out, tearing the place apart. If I knew what he was looking for, I’d give it to him.”
“Connor hid it so Dad wouldn’t get it. He seemed to think that was all that was….” He stopped. Should he tell Lily that she was in danger? How much had Connor said?
“So you believe me? You managed to read the letter?”
He gave a careful nod. “There is definitely something going on, but I have no idea what, and I really don’t think it’s a good idea to dig too deep.”
“I need to know.”
“What if knowing gets you killed? If my father has goons tearing apart your house, how long until they want to talk to you?” It was entirely possible that Cody had seen one too many over-the-top films because he realized how stupid he sounded.
But Lily didn’t laugh or tell him to stop being so dramatic. “Whatever it is, we take it to the police.”
“The ones who called Connor’s death an accident?”
“What else can we do?”
She had him there. And he’d already decided he was going to find whatever was in that box. “Do you know anything about a safety-deposit box?”
“We have one. I have some jewelry in it.”
He didn’t want to tell her it was in his name. He wanted to keep her out of it as much as possible, the way Connor had tried to do. “No. Another one.”
She shook her head. “He never mentioned it, and I never saw any paperwork or bill for it. Why? What do you know?”
“That he has one, but he didn’t give me a number or key or anything.”
“Is that where the thing your father wants is?”
Cody shrugged. “Maybe. Probably. I really don’t know. I thought it was all drug-induced paranoia, but now….”
“Now you know that it’s real.” She dug the point of her expensive shoe into the grass. “I thought it was the drugs at first too. I begged for him to quit, but all that did was put distance between us. The more I watched and listened, the more I realized it was something more. I wasn’t supposed to be there when your father came round and they argued. I was supposed to be out at a book club, but I pretended to have a migraine and faked taking aspirin and going to bed.” She looked away as though embarrassed to admit it. “Do you know how it feels to spy on your husband?”
“Not married, so no.” And if things ever got to the point that he felt the urge to spy on his partner, what was the point of the relationship?
She glared at him as though he were making light of the situation. He wasn’t. He understood exactly how deadly it was. One of Benitez’s men had already warned him away. Get the info, hand it to the cops, and leave town—that had been his plan. But it wasn’t going to be as easy as that. And he couldn’t leave the thing in the box because he didn’t know how long it was paid for or where the bill would be sent.
No. It was better to deal with it. Then they’d all be able to move on.
“I’ll have a look for the key or paperwork or something. I hope it wasn’t on the computers your father took.”
“So do I.” But part of him wondered if it wouldn’t be better if his father did get what he wanted. Then all of it would be over.
How bad was the information that Connor had found? Bad enough that his father was tearing apart Lily and Connor’s house to find it. Bad enough that Connor thought it could bring down the family. But would his father have killed Connor just because he knew?
Cody still didn’t believe that. “Did Connor ever talk about problems with other people? There might be a third party involved.”
Benitez, his father… who else? Were they looking for the information too?
“No. But I think I’m still being followed. Or watched. I don’t know if it’s real or if I’m worrying too much. I just don’t know anymore. I don’t want to spend the next seven months looking over my shoulder and then the rest of my life worrying about the baby.”
“You don’t know anything. I’m sure they’ll realize that and leave you alone.”
“I hope so. Thank you for believing me. Your mother brushed me off. She told me I should see a doctor and get a prescription to calm me down.”
That sounded just like his mother. She did hate a fuss.
“I’ll visit her while I’m here, though she never used to get involved in Dad’s work.” It was more a visit of obligation than anything else. If his mother suspected that her husband was less than honest in his business dealings, she had decided to look the other way a long time ago.
Maybe it was karma coming to bite his father on the ass and drag him down to hell, and somehow Connor had gotten in the way. Or had Dad thrown Connor into the way? Until he knew what it was Connor had and who the other players were, it was hard to guess. It was like trying to unravel a trick from only one angle.
He glanced across at the other man in the cemetery. Had he arrived soon after Lily?
He wasn’t sure. Now he was jumping at shadows. The warning from Olivier was loud in his mind. “Does the name Benitez mean anything to you?”
“No. Should it?”
“I don’t know.” Olivier hadn’t said he worked for Benitez, but Cody had seen Benitez go into the church and Benitez was the only person Connor had mentioned.
Connor had also mentioned the bootlegger named Old Man Anders.
Cody scanned the family plot and then walked over to the older area, where Finlay and Fergus Anders were buried. According to the news article, they died on the same night 1925, but there wasn’t much more information. Fergus had been killed by the cop who also died that night. There were rumors that Old Man Anders was involved and that Finlay had been selling information, but nothing substantial. After that night the Anders family worked hard to become respectable.
Connor had pointed him in their direction. Had he been selling information? Or was the blackmailer after information? Why point out that piece of family history?
“There’s another set of twins buried over here. Two little girls. They were only five. Measles.” Lily had followed.
“My grandmother’s sisters, Ruby and Rose. She used to talk about them and say we were so much like them.” Eerily, at age two there had been a resemblance. It was a little weird that so many of the twins had died on the same day. Yet he was still breathing. The universe had been knocked off-kilter.
“Did Connor have any secrets?”
“Aside from the drugs? No.” Lily pulled her coat tighter around her.
Maybe he’d kept secrets from Lily—secrets that were on the computers currently in his father’s possession. “What do we do now?”
“I guess we try to find the box number and key. Maybe it’s mentioned in his will? Will you attend the reading?”
Cody shook his head. He was tempted, but that would only annoy his father. And his father was already wound up tight. “No. I don’t think my father would appreciate it, and I already know what Connor left me.”
“How do you know that?”
“It was one of the bits of paper. Some antique wardrobe. I have no idea what I’m going to do with it.”
Lily’s eyebrows drew together. “I know the one. Why that? Why not money?”
Cody shrugged. “Because he wanted to make one last joke at my expense,
and he knew I’d sell it and feel guilty or keep it and be stuck with it because it was his.”
“I’ll make sure you get it, no matter what your father says.”
“Thanks. I think.” If Cody were dead, he wouldn’t care what people did with his things. But he would be pissed if he’d taken the time to leave a final set of instructions, only to have them ignored. He’d come back and haunt his family until they complied.
The thought lodged and wormed its way deeper.
What had Olivier said? Benitez scares easy. Benitez had thought he was Connor. And he’d been worried. He could haunt Benitez and see what happened.
It was a pity he couldn’t do the same to his father.
Why hadn’t Connor just called him? They could’ve worked it out. Figured a way around the problem. It’s what they did. They’d learned to rely only on themselves through school because they couldn’t rely on their father if one of them was in trouble. He should’ve kept in contact with his twin instead of scorning the way Connor had stayed and obeyed. He owed him. “Connor was killed, and the killer needs to be brought to justice.”
Lily nodded. “We can do this.”
Cody wasn’t as convinced. He wasn’t even sure it would make things better, but he needed to do something. Connor had expected him to act, not run.
Right then, Benitez was the best lead he had. How many warnings would Olivier give him? How many warnings had Connor received? If… when he crossed paths with Olivier again, he would be tempted to ask.
OLIVIER STOOD by a random grave, far enough away from Lily and Cody that he couldn’t hear what was being said—far enough away that Cody wouldn’t recognize him if he looked. Olivier wore jeans and a jacket with the collar turned up and his hair in that awful man-bun style that some men loved, but the look suited his purpose.
Cody and Lily looked pretty standing together. Exactly the way Connor would’ve looked with his wife. Something in his gut twisted. He’d spent two weeks watching Connor, but in that time, he had never once seen the accountant with his wife. He’d always been at work or with his father or meeting his dealer.
Men like him didn’t deserve what they had.
He wished he could hear what they were talking about. If they were going to meet there regularly, it might be worth putting a bug among the flowers. Cody walked away and stopped by another set of tombstones. He didn’t look happy.
Olivier knew he was the cause of Cody’s misery, and his gaze lingered on Cody’s back. He wanted to go up and talk to him. Pretend they hadn’t met the way they had, and start over. It was a little fantasy he’d been building for his own pleasure while he staked out the widow and had plenty of time to think and dream.
He should probably report this meeting to Benitez. But that would mean admitting he knew who Cody was. Or maybe not. Lily spoke to a man in the cemetery. Big deal. Benitez was more worried that she would speak to the police.
Olivier made his way back to the car. A few minutes later, Cody left. Olivier wanted to follow him and see what he was up to. Why hadn’t he left the gray skies of New York for Nevada? It would be nice to visit Vegas, Death Valley, and the Grand Canyon. Olivier had never even left the state, never had a holiday.
It was another few minutes before Lily left. On her way past her husband’s grave, she kicked the flowers and stamped on them. Then she carefully picked them up and put them back in place—a little more bedraggled than before.
She was clearly very angry with her husband and Olivier didn’t blame her. Connor had pissed off a lot of people.
He eased into traffic to follow Cody. He’d put a tracker on Lily’s car and would check later to see where she went. He should follow Lily… but there was something about Cody that he found intriguing and disturbing. Cody clearly hadn’t taken his warning seriously, which meant he could become a serious problem. Olivier would hate to have to find a way to kill him and make it look accidental.
There were other things he’d much rather do with and to Cody Anders.
Olivier shook his head. He really needed to get out more—have an affair, one night of fun. Anything so he wasn’t distracted. The only person he wanted to have an affair with was Cody. He glanced at his hands on the steering wheel and knew exactly how wrong and how unlikely that was.
CHAPTER EIGHT
OLIVIER STOOD in the beautiful office as Benitez considered his request. Marie would have kittens, but one of them needed to get out. It made sense that it was her. That way Dani would grow up safely. He tried to imagine himself on the other side of the desk… and failed. He wouldn’t run a business like that even if there was money growing on every tree Benitez planted.
Benitez blinked but otherwise didn’t move. He sat motionless in the leather chair. It was like being sized up by an alligator. Was Olivier a worthwhile dinner or should he be allowed to live? Cold trickled down Olivier’s spine. “You would need to do double what she owes.”
“I understand.” He knew it wouldn’t be a simple one-to-one deal. That Marie was nearly thirty-five was in their favor. Most men wanted a younger woman.
“I’ll think about it.” Benitez looked at something on his desk. “You’ve had nearly a week of watching the widow, and you’ve got nothing except the removal of some office items from her place?” Benitez didn’t like fidgety people. Olivier always made a point of being almost statue-like, like a predator waiting and watching for the best moment to strike.
“Nothing. She saw her friends, her therapist, and her doctor. She went to the grave twice.” Once alone and once to meet with Cody. “She’s grieving.”
Benitez wasn’t impressed. What was he hoping? That Lily would call the cops and spill on her father-in-law? If she were going to do that, she would’ve done it already. There would’ve been a murder investigation.
A murder investigation that would end up at his door.
Benitez wasn’t happy with his work. If Olivier had more to offer, maybe Marie would’ve been able to walk away more easily. Cody’s name was on the tip of his tongue, but he swallowed it down. There was no guarantee that Benitez would agree to let Marie go, even if he was thrilled with Olivier. The devil could never be held to his word.
He’d known that, yet he’d still signed on. He would go back and shake some sense into his younger self if he could, tell Marie not to be a fool. But when Benitez heard about their mother’s illness and offered his assistance, accepting the offer had seemed like a reprieve from heaven.
The silence swelled and filled the large office. Olivier didn’t move. That was when people broke, started to blab, and exposed their soft bellies. That was when Benitez would strike.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
No need to mention Cody Anders, who should be back in Vegas playing card tricks or whatever it was he did in his little shop. But he wasn’t. He had his hotel room and showed no signs of leaving.
Benitez stood, which was better than him opening the drawer to his desk and pulling out the pistol he kept in there. Olivier had seen it happen six years earlier. He watched the blood spread in the corner of his vision, but he didn’t turn his head and look. That would’ve been an invitation to be shot and join the body on the floor. The man had been seeing one of Benitez’s hookers on the side. Nobody got anything for free.
The office had been redecorated after that. The new carpet was much nicer. Chocolate brown—didn’t show the blood the way blue did—with an embossed checkerboard pattern.
Olivier waited as Benitez checked the view outside the window. He’d be plotting his next three moves and wondering which pawns to sacrifice.
“Stay on the widow. Befriend her. Find a way to get her to talk. I want to know what she knows.”
That wasn’t what Olivier did. He couldn’t just ease into people’s lives. He was employed to end them. Was Lily next on the list?
“And Anders?” he said meaning the father.
“I will meet with him to ensure there are no problems with our arrangement.”
Olivier
didn’t want to know the details of that arrangement.
THE CAB pulled into the driveway of his parents’ place. Cody stared up at the big white-and-yellow painted house. Nothing had changed in the years he’d been away, and he’d forgotten how green and leafy his parents’ suburb was. His father would be at work, but his mother was at home. He’d called to ask if he could visit, and she suggested the time.
Neither of them wanted the meeting to happen when his father was home, and Cody didn’t want to cause trouble for his mother—any more trouble for his mother. Given that his father’s opinion of him hadn’t changed any over the years, he suspected reconciliation was also out. But she was still his mother, and he needed to see her, because he had no plans to ever come back.
He paid the driver and walked up the driveway. He didn’t rush because he still wasn’t sure what he wanted to say. He couldn’t walk in and accuse his father of doing anything underhanded. There was no proof. No proof. He had to remember that. He had to act like he still believed that Connor had accidentally had too much of a good time. If not for Lily, he might still believe it.
Part of him wished he still did.
Instead he had to work out what Connor wanted to tell him, and he wished his brother had just picked up the phone, instead of being all secretive.
The door opened before he even reached the steps. His mother wore neatly pressed cream pants and a peach cardigan set. She smiled, but it was tight. For a heartbeat he thought she would tell him she changed her mind and that he should leave.
She took a step forward and then hugged him. The frost he felt at the cemetery melted briefly. “I’m so glad you came back.”
He wasn’t back. He was just visiting, but he didn’t argue. He put his arms around her. She was as thin as always. He’d been as tall as she was since he was fifteen. By the time he left home, she barely reached his shoulder. All of his siblings were tall. Were Peter and Julia there, or had they gone home already, back to their busy, executive lives?
