45. Knox

Fuck, that hurt. Knox glared at the crutches the nurse had brought and continued to hobble around the bed. The doctors didn't want him to leave, not yet, but they'd also admitted they couldn't stop him.

"What are you gonna do, tough guy?" Dan asked. "Hop into another gunfight?"

"I can't just sit here doing nothing."

He could join the canvassing team on nearby islands. Head out to the sanctuary and search for missed clues. Something, anything that might help to find Caro. This morning, when Fernandez had called to say the body found last night was an as-yet unidentified male, he'd also told them that whoever took Stacey didn't kill her right away. She'd been alive for at least a day after she was last seen, but the things they'd done to her… Knox shoved his injured leg into a pair of shorts, making a conscious effort not to wince.

"We're not doing nothing in here. We're sifting through clues. Not all investigation involves legwork."

That was true—Agatha had finally wormed her way into SG Telecom's records, and now they knew that Stacey's cell phone had last pinged a tower on Malavilla. Sky, Rafael, Emmy, and Xav had taken the first ferry over there while Dan focused on the search for Aiden. Knox didn't want to voice the fear at the back of his mind. That if they didn't find Caro soon, it would be too late.

"It feels as if I'm doing nothing. Somebody has to have seen something. A diver, a swimmer, a fisherman. Have we been to the fish market?"

"Yes," Dan said, her tone condescending. "And every harbour, tavern, and chandlery." Her phone rang. "Give me a second."

Knox stiffened, hoping for news, but it was just Slater calling from Valentine Cay for an update. Dan put him on speaker.

"Try to talk some sense into Knox, and then find Jubilee," she told him. "I want to know how Luna was paid for the hot-tub thing. There's a tangle of companies, related party transactions galore, very incestuous. No wonder the IRS struggled."

"How does that help to find Caro?" Knox asked.

"If Aiden's involved, he must be getting money from somewhere."

"Jubilee's right here," Slater said. "Come and talk to Dan."

Out of the corner of his eye, Knox saw Jubilee walk into view on Dan's screen, then focused on finding a shirt. The EMTs had cut his clothes away, but Slater had brought some of Knox's belongings from the sanctuary after Emmy refused to help and told Knox to stay put. Kory had shown up with the Cleopatra, and Ryder had made sure there were rooms ready for both of them, although getting down the stairs promised to be a challenge. Still, Knox would cross that bridge when he came to it. After he made it across the passerelle, obviously.

"How did Luna get paid for that modelling shoot?" Dan asked. "A cheque? A bank transfer?"

"I don't know. Our accountant would have handled that, but I can ask him. Although I think he might be sick this week. Usually, he replies real fast, but I emailed him about a payment a few days ago, and he hasn't gotten back to me yet."

"Try calling him. Wait… Can you hold that mug closer to the screen?"

A mug? What did that have to do with anything?

"It's just coffee."

"Havana Hills Cigars? Where did that come from?"

"The kitchen."

Dan tapped at the keyboard, and Knox paused his shoe hunt to watch her. Why was she so interested in…? Right. Havana. The note on the pad in Stacey's hotel room had mentioned Havana. Blackwood had been tracking ships bound for Cuba and Miami, but nothing had shaken loose there.

"Hmm, the Havana Hills plantation is in Ecuador. Does Franklin Baptise smoke cigars?"

Knox shook his head. "Not that I ever saw."

"Okay." Dan blew out a breath. "Okay. Jubilee, find me that banking information."

After the call ended, Dan stood, and she had a faraway look in her eyes. Unfocused. As if her thoughts were elsewhere.

"What?" Knox asked.

"I'm going to speak with Franklin."

The older man had come off worse than Knox in the Battle of Valentine Cay. He'd taken a round to the chest and another to the calf, and if Lyron hadn't jumped in to help, Baptiste wouldn't have made it to the hospital. Knox had visited him briefly yesterday, assured him that the turtles were being cared for and folks were searching for Caro, but Baptiste hadn't been up to talking much.

"I'll come with you."

Dan didn't seem thrilled, but she also didn't try to stop him. "Let me do the talking."

Baptiste wasn't looking much better today, still deathly pale, but the nurses had propped him up on a pile of pillows, and he was awake. Dan took the seat beside the bed, leaving Knox to lean against the wall by the door. He could have limped over to the chair by the window, but sitting somehow felt like admitting defeat.

"How are you feeling?" Dan asked.

Baptiste ignored the question. "Caro?"

"There's no news yet, but we have a whole team of people looking. I'm hoping you can help me with some information."

Baptiste nodded. "Anything."

His voice was hoarse, every word an effort. If Knox ever got his hands on the remaining men who'd invaded the sanctuary, he'd make sure to kill them slowly.

"Does the Havana Hills cigar company ring any bells?"

"The place on Malavilla? Been closed for years."

Knox's spine went rigid. Malavilla? Havana, Malavilla? Once, he'd asked Dan why she loved her job so much because, let's face it, there was a fuck of a lot of boring shit involved, and she'd said that in every successful investigation, there was one moment. A moment when everything changed, and that moment was better than sex. Knox figured she was talking crap, but now he understood exactly what she meant.

But Dan's expression didn't change. She didn't show a glimmer of the frantic hope Knox felt. "Can you tell me about it?"

"Not much to tell. They used to grow tobacco there. Make cigars. But then Leopold passed on, and his son decided it was too expensive to run the business here. He kept the name and moved production to Ecuador."

"What happened to the place on Malavilla?"

"The house is still there, last I heard. The fields are gradually returnin' to the way nature intended. Guess that's no bad thing."

"I didn't see the house on the map. Havana Hills?"

"The official name is Turtle Bay, on the north side of the island, but there ain't no turtles there, not anymore. The locals still call it Havana Hills."

The locals. Monique Constantine had grown up on Malavilla. Her parents still lived there. If she'd spoken to Stacey about the place, there was a reasonable chance she might have called it Havana Hills.

"You said the old owner's name was Leopold? Do you have a surname?"

"Voss. Leopold Voss."

"And his son?"

"Theron Voss."

Dan's smile was quick and, if Knox wasn't mistaken, satisfied. She squeezed Baptiste's hand gently.

"I hope you make a good recovery."

"You'll find Caro?"

"We're doing everything we can to bring her back."

Out in the hallway, Dan was hustling. Back to Knox's room, back to her laptop. She plopped into her seat and started typing before Knox made it through the door.

"That's it, isn't it? Havana Hills?"

"Voss was one of the names on the list from Tony Goddard. Aiden Kingsley sold three yachts to people in San Gallicano, and… Yes! Theron Voss. He's there."

"Wait, wait, wait… I thought Havana was part of the smuggling case?"

"Yeah, well, maybe it's part of both." Dan already had her phone in her hand. "Emmy? Head to an estate called Turtle Bay. North side of the island."