Page 64 of Charmed Forces
I pushed back my chair and walked over to the whiteboard. At the top, I wroteThe Victorsthen I drew an arrow down to each of the brothers and from them, wrote the names of the four deceased, and then my brother. “So, we know who did it. At least, we know who ordered it to be done. We have a guess for how and we definitely know how for Detective Wayne. But we can’t connect the dots.” I stepped back, tapping the pen in my palm. “Did Duncan know anything about a hitwoman?”
“No. But he heard rumors the Victor brothers are familiar with those kinds of connections.”
“How do we infiltrate Tom Victor’s business?” I asked.
Solomon folded his arms. “We don’t! He’s far too dangerous to get close to, especially now that his guard is up.”
“We need to get evidence somehow!”
“What evidence? He’s not going to have a Post-It note in his office that says ‘stitch up Dan Graves’,” said Solomon. “I know that isn’t what you want to hear but it’s the truth.”
“So we concentrate on the middleman. The facilitator who got into the safe house on the Victors’ orders,” I said.
“That’s easy. As soon as that coffee shop footage is found, we’ll know,” said Lily.
“It can’t come a minute too soon,” I said.
“That only proves whoboughtthe coffee. We need evidence for whodruggedit,” Solomon reminded us. “Ifthat’s what happened. We still have no proof yet beyond the missing cups.”
“Kind of a smoking gun for me. There’s no other reason to remove them from the scene except to eliminate them as evidence,” I replied. “Hey, what happens to the court case now that there isn’t a key witness?”
“It goes ahead but the case is considerably weaker,” said Solomon. “This will be a huge blow to the prosecutor. The Victors might even get off entirely. My guess is they’ll all lay low a little while before going back to business as usual.”
“I don’t imagine he’ll find it easy to hire a new accountant when word gets out about this one,” I said.
“You’d be surprised what people are willing to do if the money is right,” said Solomon.
Lily snorted. “I own a bar. I know what idiots will do for nothing more than a buck.”
“What about this guy’s personal life?” I asked. “Is he married? Got a girlfriend? Any kids?”
“All of the above. There’s a wife in Boston with their two kids. It seems they’re married in nothing but name now. She’s plays her part in keeping up appearances for Tom. The kids go to private school. They take a vacation together every year. You won’t find out anything about them on social media. Tom Victor insists on total privacy according to Duncan.”
“How old are the kids?”
“Seven and nine. Not quite old enough to ignore their parents’ wishes if that’s what you were thinking,” said Solomon.
“It was,” I said, with a shrug. “The wife?”
“Loyal to a fault.”
“You said there was a girlfriend?”
“Angelica Randall. Young and pretty says Duncan. She likes the high life. A real party girl.”
“Do we know anything else about her?”
“Just the name. Plus, she’s local.”
“She might be our way in,” I said.
“Did you miss the bit about giving Tom Victor a wide berth?” asked Solomon.
“We are, but she’s nothim. Plus, he might have revealed something to her or she might have overheard something,” I said.
“And you think she’s just going to tell you?” Solomon raised his eyebrows.
“She might.” I know I didn’t sound too convincing, but I didn’t need to be... not yet. So far, it was just an idea and we didn’t have a whole lot of competing ideas. “She might talk to a couple of women who are out to party and have a good time. She might see us as being just like her: women who enjoy the high life and the men who pay for it.”