Chapter 11

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Vincenzo

I felt Zion before I heard him. "He doesn't trust you."

I chuckled lightly. "He doesn't trust anyone, and why should he?"

Never had I let anyone speak to me the way Fred had and walk away the same person. Then again, I'd never met anyone quite like that man, and he was suffering inside. I'd let him use me as a punching bag this once.

"He trusts Aiden."

I turned to look at Zion, noting a change in his tone. "Should he not?"

He had his laptop in hand and sighed. "Eden got back to me with more information."

"Should Fred hear this?" I motioned toward the pool house.

"Yes, but maybe only Fred." He narrowed his eyes. "Lex Talionis are the only people I feel are one hundred percent not responsible for this. More and more, the evidence we pull up is proving how unsafe Fred is, and one of us should be with him at all times."

I smiled. "You sound like you care, Zion."

"I've met with Fred many times. He's not a bad person. He's brilliant, and he's stuck. They could have just let him walk away. Why kill him?"

"If it's his family that is trying to kill him, that's easy to answer. You simply don't just walk away from the mob, Zion, you know that."

He tutted. "Ridiculous."

"We've dealt with many oddities; this one is actually tamer than most."

He shrugged. "Perhaps." He gestured to his laptop. "We need to go over what Eden discovered."

"I'll head to the pool house and ask Fred to meet us in the sitting room when he's done."

Zion spun on his heel and left, and I made my way to the pool house.

I was about to knock on the door, but Aiden's raised voice stopped me.

"So you're just going to believe that Lex Talionis isn't behind this?"

"If they can't be trusted, why'd you bring me here to recover?"

I couldn't see their faces, but Fred's voice was full of that brattiness I adored, and Aiden was clearly upset.

"I didn't have a choice. At the time I didn't think they were responsible, but now I'm not sure."

"Why, Aiden? What's changed?"

"Just a feeling."

There was a pregnant pause, and then Fred responded. "Even more reason to leave this place and for me to get home."

"You're not one hundred percent."

Fred chuckled. "That's why I have you. You'll watch my back, right?"

"Of course," Aiden answered without hesitation, and that was the moment I knocked.

"Come in," Fred shouted.

I opened the door and saw Aiden and Fred standing across from each other.

"Pardon the interruption. Zion has news and is waiting in the sitting room. Whenever the two of you are done, meet us in there." After eavesdropping, I realized how suspicious it would be to ask Fred to come alone. If they thought me and my people were behind this, I had to convince him we weren't.

I didn't wait for an answer. I left, wondering so many things. Why was I uneasy letting Fred leave? Was Aiden to be trusted? Who'd done this, and if he wasn't in my line of sight how could I prevent it from happening again? And why did I care so goddamn much?

Zion had linked his laptop to the large TV in the sitting room. Fred and Aiden entered and took the two seats on the opposite side of the room. It was telling, how he consciously or maybe subconsciously drew a line between me and him.

Before he began, Zion glanced at me. He really didn't want Aiden in this meeting and while I understood, it was far riskier to discount him. I nodded to Zion, and he began.

"Eden and Thomas were made point on digging into the shooting." Zion clicked a button, and a photo of shell casings appeared on the screen. "As you know I explained that nine millimeter, forty caliber, and forty-five caliber shells were found in the SUV."

Fred waved his hand in a "Get on with it" gesture, and I couldn't help the smirk that adorned my face. Fred noticed and simply narrowed his eyes.

"Right." Zion clicked another key. "These are the autopsy reports for Sean and Aine."

Fred sat up straighter and visibly swallowed. "That was done quickly."

"Connections." I shrugged.

Fred ignored me and Zion continued. "Aine was hit eight times with the nine millimeter bullets. Sean ten times in the back with the forty-five calibers."

I tilted my head when he didn't continue. "What about the forties?"

Zion pointed at me. "Exactly. Eden returned to where Sean's car was parked. He was parked a little ways down from the restaurant. Upon the shots being fired, the only thing behind Sean, Aine, and Fred was a brick building. Eden was able to extract a few bullets from there, all matching a forty-caliber gun."

"They missed?" Fred wondered, confused.

Zion scratched his chin. "No, and yes." He clicked another key, and an illustration popped up. "This is Aine, this is Sean, and this is you." The drawing was of the three of them standing by the car before the SUV had turned the corner.

"Okay." Fred stood now as if getting closer would make everything make more sense.

Zion clicked another key and the picture changed. Now Sean was in front of Fred, and Aine hadn't moved. "The forty-caliber bullets Eden pulled out of the building were directly behind where Sean would have been standing. This indicated that there were three shooters, and each of them had a target. By using three different bullet types, it would make it harder for police to nail a single person responsible. And while that's clever, it's also not, because it proves all three of you were targets, not just you, Fred."

Fred stood stock still and I turned my gaze toward Aiden, who was staring at the screen and clenching his jaw.

"Did you find out if Arnold Blessett reported his SUV stolen?" I asked Zion.

"He didn't."

"That doesn't mean anything." Fred's voice was a whisper. "He could just be protecting his grandson."

"Then perhaps it's time to pay Grandpa a visit," I said.