41. Knox

"And then there were two."

Emmy leaned back in her seat and bit into a jelly donut. Knox had just swallowed the last mouthful of his own. Technically, he shouldn't have been eating a donut in the hospital, but Sky discovered that one of the nurses had a son who owned a donut stand and put in an order for three hundred. Now everyone in the damn building was eating donuts—doctors and nurses, admin staff and janitors, visitors and patients.

"Jubilee?" he asked. "You're serious?"

Emmy had finished telling the story of the stalker, and Knox was kicking himself. But who would have thought Jubilee would betray Luna like that? The two of them seemed so close. Was Jubilee jealous of her cousin? Was that why she'd done it? Or did she just have incredibly bad judgment?

"Yup, deadly."

Emmy was always deadly.

"I bet Luna's upset about that."

"I cheated and left Ryder to deal with her. She stopped screeching after we left, so I'm taking that as a good sign."

"Where's Jubilee?"

"We sent her to the sanctuary with Slater. She can clean up turtle shit or whatever."

"Is that safe?"

"Safe enough. The place is still full of cops and crime scene techs, plus there are twenty reporters outside the gates. It would take a special kind of stupid to sail in and start another shoot-out, especially after they lost the last one so spectacularly."

"What access do we have at the sanctuary?" Knox asked.

"Full access, now that the bodies have been removed. Fernandez knows he's out of his depth, so he basically lifted the crime scene tape and told us to have at it."

"I don't trust him."

"Neither do I, not completely," Emmy said. "But we need to know what the police are doing, and he's obliging when it comes to providing information."

"What if it's misinformation?"

"It's a starting point. We're cross-checking with other sources. And either he's the world's best actor, or he's genuinely cut up about Caro."

"If he's involved, he's been lying for years, so he's had plenty of practice."

"True. But there are other possible traitors—he says he told two people about the shark thing and the boat, Officers Roy and Beattie. Roy conveniently removed Ryder from the scene when the sanctuary was raided, and Beattie has a brother named David. Didn't you mention there was a David involved?"

"That was the name I overheard on the beach."

"Fernandez also wrote everything up and sent it to his boss—who is literally called Captain Boss—but he doesn't think Boss bothered to read the report until after the raid. Apparently, he didn't see turtle poaching as a high priority."

"Does he now?"

"I believe so. And if he still needs a push to get off his arse and do his job, Black's working to incentivise that."

"Did he really get James Harrison involved?"

"No, that was me. And I also asked a friend to have a word in the French president's ear, so I guess the prime minister will be getting another call this morning. Did you know that Franklin Baptiste's mum was born in Paris? He has dual citizenship."

Emmy was cunning and connected. Thank fuck they were on the same side.

"No, he never mentioned that."

The door crashed open, hit the wall, and bounced back into Dan, who was entering ass-first with a tray of coffee.

"Dammit!" she yelped.

Emmy leaped to help her, probably more out of concern for the caffeine than for her partner in crime.

"Got it."

"They only had decaf."

"Are you kidding me?"

Dan held her "I'm sorry" expression for three and a half seconds before her face creased into laughter.

"Of course I'm kidding. You really think I'd come in here with decaf? I don't want to die." She picked up a paper cup, then cursed again as spilled coffee dripped from the bottom. "We have a call with the IRS in two minutes."

"Cheating on your taxes again?"

"Ha-ha. I managed to get hold of the investigator in charge of the AquaLux case, and he's agreed to speak with us. Tony Goddard. Dana from the San Diego office was acquainted with him, so she did the intros."

The hospital room looked more like a conference room. A table, half a dozen swivel chairs, and a large screen had appeared while Knox was in the bathroom, and everyone had a laptop. Dan hit a few keys on hers, and Tony Goddard conferenced in from somewhere in California, but he'd changed his background to a Swiss ski resort—Knox recognised the distinctive peak of the Matterhorn. Zermatt was the dream right now. After this trip, Knox never wanted to see the damn beach again.

Introductions were made. Tony Goddard was a slender man in his late fifties, and judging by the deep lines etched into his tanned forehead, he'd spent most of his life frowning. Wispy salt-and-pepper hair curled around his ears, and his bald head gleamed under harsh government lighting.

"I understand you have questions about the AquaLux case?"

Emmy let Dan take the lead. "We do."

"Much of the information was already made public during the trial."

"We're not interested in the nuts and bolts of the case, only in Carolina Klein's relationship with the main players. Specifically Aiden Kingsley. Dana mentioned to you that Caro has been abducted?"

"Abducted? She said Caro had gone missing, but she didn't elaborate on the circumstances. Abducted? Are you sure?"

"Unfortunately, yes. One of our team was shot in the process."

Knox's left thigh twinged at the mention. If the bullet had hit an inch to the right, the doctors said, Emmy would be planning a funeral and not a search-and-rescue operation. Although she'd probably delegate the task to Bradley, and Knox would end up with a glitter-topped casket and fireworks instead of a cremation. Would his mom even show up? He did love her still, his mom, but she'd chosen the bottle over him. Preferred oblivion to her own flesh and blood.

"Your team?" Goddard asked. "Blackwood was providing security for Caro?"

"No, our presence was a coincidence. Our client and Caro were both volunteering at a turtle sanctuary in the Caribbean. We're not certain who the main target was, and we have two suspects for the abduction—a band of local poachers and Aiden Kingsley. Truthfully, the poachers seem more likely, but Caro was scared of Aiden, and there's a possibility her location was recently revealed on social media. So we can't rule him out yet."

"I see. Well, I'm not giving away any secrets when I say he's a real asshole. The consummate businessman on the outside, as crooked as they come underneath."

"But he didn't go to jail?"

"No." Goddard gave a weighty sigh. "No, he didn't, and that's one of my biggest regrets. Aiden Kingsley is a slippery son of a bitch, and he charmed the jury. His lawyer painted Carolina as a bitter ex out for revenge and riled her on the stand."

"Was she a bitter ex?"

"Bitter? A little, maybe, but for the most part, she was scared. Scared of Aiden Kingsley, scared of what she'd discovered in AquaLux's finances. At first, she thought she was spotting simple mistakes, and the financial controller provided semi-plausible explanations. But over time, she realised that what she was looking at was systemic, collaborative fraud. Our calls took place over many months, snippets of conversation here and there, often when she went out to grab lunch. Toward the end, she didn't have much freedom. On several occasions, we had a female agent meet her in the locker room at the gym because it was the one place Aiden couldn't watch her."

"He was controlling?"

"Controlling and possessive. A manipulative liar who preyed on a grieving young woman for nearly three years."

"Grieving?"

"Carolina's mother died right after she graduated college. She once told me that if she hadn't been consumed with grief, she might have seen him for the monster he was. Did you know a previous girlfriend of his disappeared without a trace? The sheriff couldn't pin that on him either. Caro firmly believed that she could never be free unless Aiden wasn't."

Every word from Goddard's mouth made Knox's heart ache more despite the heavy-duty painkillers. He hated that Caro had been so terrified of a man that she'd felt she had no choice but to leave her life behind and relocate to the ass end of San Gallicano. No wonder she'd held back with him. The last time she'd opened her mouth, to the IRS, they'd let her down.

"Did you promise her you'd get a conviction?" he asked quietly.

"I never make those kinds of promises."

"Did you tell her it was a sure thing?"

"I told her it was more likely than not. I thought we had enough. So did she, and we did have enough. But we didn't count on Aiden Kingsley throwing his own father and former colleagues under the bus while painting himself as an innocent party."

"You brought this on her. You were the one who made her move?—"

"Not helping," Emmy said, cutting Knox off. "We get it—Aiden Kingsley is a gigantic shit. But is he a gigantic shit with the connections to hire an armed gang to snatch his ex from a turtle sanctuary in the arse end of nowhere? Because that's what happened. It's a big leap from tax fraud and being a terrible boyfriend to rounding up a band of psychos and riding in, all guns blazing."

Goddard pondered for a long moment, tapping a finger on his bottom lip as he considered. "Aiden's not a man who would get his hands dirty, but your suggestion isn't as farfetched as you might think. AquaLux's clientele… Let's just say that if a businessman of dubious reputation was in the market for a new yacht, Aiden Kingsley was the man he called. That's partly why it was so hard to get a conviction—there was so much cash floating around."

"Is he still involved with AquaLux?"

"Not that I'm aware of, although it's possible he still holds an equity interest. I'm not convinced that Carlos Davila—the new CEO—is entirely aboveboard either, but he's not catering to the same market. He's using influencers and going after celebrity money." Goddard shrugged. "This case is one that stuck with me, so I keep an eye on the company."

"And Aiden Kingsley? Do you keep an eye on him?"

"I believe he moved to New York, but I lost track of him after that. If it would help, I could put out feelers?"

"At this stage, any snippet of information could help. We'd be especially interested in any links he might have to San Gallicano."

"If memory serves correctly, he had a bank account or two there but no office. I'll pull the files and check."

"Where did AquaLux have offices?" Dan asked.

"California, Florida, the Bahamas, and the Caymans."

"Combining their love of the ocean with their love of not paying taxes?"

Goddard cracked a smile for the first time. "I have your number—I'll let you know if I find anything useful."

The screen went dark, and it was Emmy's turn to sigh. "I'd hoped we'd be able to eliminate Aiden. Bloody poachers are still in the wind too."

"How the fuck can they just disappear?" Knox asked.

"Practice. I mean, we thought the Richmond PD under Chief Garland was bad, but those assholes had nothing on the San Gallicano PD. The officers that aren't corrupt are underfunded, undertrained, and unmotivated. A decade ago, things were better by all accounts, but the old chief retired early."

"The job wore him down?"

"Maybe? He quit soon after one of his officers arrested the then-prime minister's son for a drug offence, but I'm sure that was just a coincidence." A shrug. "Bloody politics. The current chief is better at PR than he is at police work, which is why you get show trials like Luna's instead of actual crime-fighting, and when you couple that with the geography… A hundred islands, half of them overgrown and uninhabited, and a populace that doesn't have much respect for authority makes it easy enough to disappear in a small boat. Hell, they could even have transferred her to another vessel."

"Do we have any satellite images?"

Rumour said that Emmy and Black had investments in satellite technology, and they sure as hell had government contacts.

"Not twenty-four-hour surveillance. If Caro had been kidnapped in, say, Russia, we'd have a lot better chance of getting something useful."

"AIS?"

The Automatic Identification System transmitted a ship's position, but it was only mandatory on larger vessels and those carrying passengers.

"On a dinghy? No. We have a list of all the vessels using AIS in the area, but without anything to cross-reference against…"

Emmy and Dan turned to stare at each other, some silent communication passing between them, and Dan nodded.

"I'll send the list to Goddard."

This felt…wrong. The poachers were the threat. They were the men Knox and Caro had been chasing, Stacey too, and look what had happened to her. Knox wanted to break Aiden Kingsley's nose for treating Caro like dirt, but more than that, he wanted to get her back.

"What about the poachers? We should be spending our time on them."

"We can look at both."

"How likely is it that Kingsley spotted Caro in a five-second video clip on Luna's Instagram account?"

"About as likely as Emmy escaping from an army base with five hundred troops shooting at her." Dan shrugged. "Which is why we're going to follow up on it."

Emmy chuckled and took a sip of lukewarm coffee. "Man, what a week that was. I mean, I nearly died, but I look back on it fondly now."

Gingerly, Knox pressed on his leg, wincing when pain shot through it. No matter, if Emmy and Dan hadn't made progress by tomorrow, he was walking—hopping—out of here and joining the search himself.

* * *

"I hope you feel better soon."

Knox stared blankly at the gift-wrapped box of candy Luna was holding out. Was that supposed to help? When he didn't gush thanks, Ryder gently took the box from her hands and placed it on the overbed table that held the dinner Knox hadn't eaten.

The hospital sucked.

"Luna wanted to come by and see how you were," Ryder explained.

"Terrific."

Everyone except Dan had left, to sleep or to scheme or to ask questions. Fernandez had officers going door-to-door on Valentine Cay and the surrounding islands—not Officers Roy or Beattie, he'd been at pains to stress—and Emmy had offered herself, Sky, Rafael, and Xav to assist. Nobody saw much. A couple of folks near the turtle sanctuary thought they might have spotted an SUV around the time of the shooting, but one witness said it was dark green, and the other said it was blue. Dan had spent the last two hours staring at the whiteboard, scrolling on her laptop, muttering to herself, and chewing her hair.

"I'm so sorry," Luna said, sounding oddly sincere. "What can I do? How can I help?"

"There's nothing you can do."

"You can get coffee," Dan said at the same time. "I'll have milk, or whatever passes for milk in this place, no sugar."

Luna disappeared with Ryder as her shadow, and Knox gritted his teeth against pain that throbbed with every heartbeat. He could have asked for more painkillers, should have asked for more painkillers, but the guilt was almost as bad as the bullet wound. If Caro was still alive, she couldn't ask for help. Couldn't cheat her way out of her predicament. If she was suffering, then he would suffer too.

This was why he'd vowed never to let anyone else matter. Why he'd sworn to keep his distance. Yes, he cared about his team, about Ryder, about Slater, even Emmy, the cold-hearted bitch. But that was different. With them, he kept a cage around his heart, a bitter edge that sliced away the warmth that had once been his weakness and locked it into a colder, darker place.

Not like Ryder, who let his feelings spill over the sides, a river he sometimes struggled to contain.

When Knox loved, he lost.

Luna returned with Ryder, each of them carrying two paper cups from the vending machine. When were the pair of them going to stop dancing around each other and fuck? Principal or no principal, it was inevitable. Emmy might pretend to be mad, but one night, one freezing night after she'd returned from the type of job she didn't like to talk about, she'd told Knox that love and hate were the two most powerful forces in the world, although she wasn't always sure which was stronger.

But had Ryder even told Luna he was straight yet?

"There were no trays," she said, depositing one of the cups beside Dan. Then her delicate nose crinkled. "Ugh, is that a dating site? You should avoid that guy."

"Why?" Dan asked.

Wait, why was Dan using a dating site? She was practically married, and Caro was missing. There was a time and a place, and this wasn't it.

"Because he's a sleaze," Luna said.

"You can tell that just by looking at him?"

"Okay, so firstly, if a guy's straight and that hot, he's gonna take advantage, trust me on that. And secondly, I'm ninety percent sure I met him at a work thing once, and he was definitely slimy. You can do better."

"Really? What kind of a work thing?"

"Some modelling gig on a boat. I guess he thought his money bought more than the pictures."

"He hit on you?"

"He walked into the cabin I was using as a dressing room and said there was a limo waiting to take us to dinner. Like, he didn't even ask. Just assumed."

"So you turned him down?"

"Yes, and he didn't much like that. But he was standing between me and the door, so I had to smile and be polite until Mom showed up and kicked him out."

"Can you remember his name?"

"I hardly remember anyone's name, and it was four or five years ago. Mom might know it."

Dan blew out a long breath. "Fuck," she said, and turned the laptop around to face the others.

It wasn't a dating site. It was Providence. And Dan was looking at a photo of Aiden Kingsley.