“But that makes no difference,” Nico said.
“No, the only difference is the fact that he never would have worked for this person in the first place.”
“And why is that?”
“Because he’s basically a mercenary.”
“So that makes no sense still.”
“I think our kidnapper’s problem is the fact that, had he known the merc had hired him, he would have realized that the job would be terminal. And he wouldn’t go there because of that.”
“Ah, so our kidnapper wouldn’t have worked for him in the first place, but now that he realizes who was his ultimate boss, then our living kidnapper knows he is in major trouble.”
“Yes.”
“So, what is he offering?”
“He said an Australian ultimately hired them.”
“Well, that’s a good start.”
“Yes, but it’s not enough.”
“I know,” Nico said.
“I was basically thinking that we need to keep the search centered on Australia.”
“I want the search centered on that dead kid,” Nico said. “It’s about the only reason anybody would have something against Charlotte.”
“You don’t think it’s the brother?”
“The timing doesn’t completely work,” he said. “We can’t rule it out yet because obviously something else could be going on that we don’t know about, but it seems like a stretch at the moment.”
“But it seems like a stretch that this kid would have died three years ago, and now they’re finally seeking revenge? Plus whoever hired them would have wanted all these men killed?”
“I know,” he said.
“Oh, I did find out one thing though.”
“What’s that?” Nico asked as he went to hang up.
“The kid was adopted.”
At that, Nico froze. “Yeah, so now we need to know who his birth parents were. That could make the difference. I was looking for any connection to Maggie, and I wasn’t finding it. So let’s find that connection there.”
“And you’re thinking this still has something to do with Maggie?”
“Let me tell you this,” he said. “My gut says Maggie’s involved. My gut also says that dead kid’s behind it. And now that you’ve told me that he’s adopted, I’m pretty sure this will all make more sense really fast. So, whatever records you need to get into, get into them fast.”
“On it,” he said. “We’ve got connections inside the Australian government now. Let’s see what we can find.” He hung up.
Smiling, Nico walked back inside and turned to look at the three of them, who were all watching him. “Well,” he said, “the prisoner’s talking, and he said that he was hired by an Australian. The other thing is that the kid who died was adopted.”
Immediately Keane’s gaze lit up. “Ah,” he said, and he tapped away at his laptop.
Whereas she looked at him in surprise and asked, “What difference does that make?”
“It makes all the difference in the world.”
Chapter 12
Hours later Charlotte had collapsed on the couch yet again.
Not long afterward one of the men shouted, “Eureka.”
She wanted to sit up and figure out what he was talking about, but she was just so damn tired that it was hard to move. She wanted to go to bed, but she’d also been the one who held off leaving because she didn’t want to leave her guests down here. And, if something was going on, she didn’t want to miss out on anything. But now that something was going on, it seemed like her body was moving in slow motion to get anywhere.
When she finally made her way into the kitchen, rubbing her eyes, Nico hopped up and said, “You should just go to bed.”
“Sure,” she whispered. “I should, but …” She sat down on the chair as he pulled it out for her. She smiled up at him. “Thanks. You’d make a great nurse.”
Keane snorted at that. “He wouldn’t do it for just anybody.”
She was surprised to hear that, and she smiled at Nico, who tossed Keane a disgusted look. “He’s just teasing you,” she said gently.
He glanced at her in surprise. “Now you’re defending him?”
“I must be having a good moment,” she said, stifling a yawn. “Somebody yelled eureka. What was that all about?”
“That was me,” Keane said, almost mockingly dancing in his seat in front of her.
She rolled her eyes at him. “So, will you tell me what that’s all about or just sit there, like a rooster, who knows something nobody else does?”
“Maybe I’ll do that,” he said, laughing. “But all games aside …” He immediately launched into a discussion. “So the kid who was killed was adopted, and there had been several disputes when he was young between his adopted family and his original family. The adopted family won, and the birth family disappeared from sight.”
“Interesting,” she said. “I would probably always want to sit there and monitor how he’s doing though.”
“In some cases,” Keane said, with a narrowing look, “that’d be called stalking.”
She glared at him.
“Continuing now,” Keane said. “Apparently, according to the kid’s adoptive family, the birth parents had contacted him when he turned eighteen. They didn’t have the benefit of anonymity because of how the adoption process had come about, so they knew who he was and essentially where he was.” Shooting a look over at Charlotte, he said, “And likely had kept an eye on him from a distance.”
“So the birth parents are stalkers. Got it,” she said. She watched as her brother tried to hide his grin. And then she glanced back at Keane. “So, will you continue to be melodramatic about this, or will you finally get to the point?”
He sighed. “You don’t have to be difficult all the time.”
“How would you know?” she asked. “You don’t even know me most of the time. Maybe I’m like this normally.”
“No, you’re not,” Nico said. “We’ve talked to lots of people about you, and apparently you’re one of the most giving and respected people in the group.”
“How much did you pay them to say that?” she asked. But inside, she was pleased. She really was somebody who stepped out of her
