Finlay Donovan Is Killing It(Finlay Donovan #1)(72)

“Looks like they’ll be here for a while. Stay here for a minute. I’ll be right back.” Nick got out before I could ask him where he was going. He walked briskly toward the office, pausing when he dropped his keys behind Feliks’s sedan. I lost sight of him as he knelt to pick them up. A second later, he stood, slipping something into his pocket as he withdrew his phone. He pressed it to his ear, making a hurried call as he wandered back toward Ramón’s car.

“What was that about?” I asked him as he ducked into his seat and shut the door.

“Just checking a hunch,” he said, a little distracted.

“Now what do we do?” Every part of me from the neck down hoped we’d pick up where we left off. The other part was pretty sure that would be a very bad idea.

Nick’s eyes were glued to the office doors. “Now we wait.”

A moment later, Andrei emerged and held open the door. Feliks came out, his palm on the small of Theresa’s back and a smile on his face. His hand strayed lower as she dipped inside his car.

“See, I told you they’re sleeping together. Now that we know what Theresa was hiding, we can go, right?”

Nick started the engine. He waited a beat before pulling into traffic a few car lengths behind them. He was quiet, his brow furrowed as he followed them west onto the interstate, away from the city. We tailed Feliks’s Lincoln for the better part of an hour, forced to hang back when they veered onto an exit ramp and the roads narrowed with the rural terrain. They made four stops in front of large farm tracts with FOR SALE signs posted on their fences. Each time, the Town Car slowed to a crawl, but Feliks never once got out. After the fourth drive-by, the Lincoln returned to the interstate, doubling back to the city the same way we’d come.

“Looked like a pretty normal real estate meeting to me. Seems innocent enough.” I hoped Nick would agree and take me home.

“Nothing Feliks Zhirov does is innocent. He’s shopping for land.”

“So?” The plots they’d visited today were a lot like the ones Theresa had scratched out on her notepad. By the looks of it, he hadn’t liked these four options any better than the others.

“So the question is, what does Feliks want the land for?” Nick shadowed the Lincoln’s movements, careful to stay a few car lengths behind as it moved toward the exit ramp. “Feliks’s outfit runs drugs, weapons, and human traffic. He buys a lot of buildings and warehouses to keep his inventory moving. All the land he scouted today is west of Dulles, within close proximity to the airport and two major interstates, but far enough from the city to stay under the radar. Good for flying merchandise in, and then trucking it out.”

My stomach turned at the idea of my children’s soon-to-be stepmother sleeping with this man. “He sounds like a real winner.”

“Believe me,” he said as the Lincoln circled into the real estate parking lot. “I’d love nothing more than to put Feliks Zhirov away for the rest of his life.”

“Is that why we’re here?”

Nick barked out a laugh. “I’d have a better chance of winning the lottery than landing Feliks Zhirov in prison. We’re here because every ounce of Zhirov’s business is dirty and dangerous. And if Theresa’s working for him in any capacity, then she’s already in over her head.” We watched Theresa get out of the car alone and disappear inside her office. Nick didn’t follow the Lincoln as it pulled out into traffic again.

“Shouldn’t we be following him?”

Nick gave a thoughtful shake of his head, his eyes glued to the door of the office. “We’ll learn a lot more following Theresa. I find it a little too convenient that she’s a person of interest in a murder investigation while she’s acting as Feliks’s agent.”

“You mean a missing persons investigation,” I corrected him.

“If it looks like shit and smells like shit, it’s probably shit,” he deadpanned. “We found Patricia Mickler’s Volvo at the bottom of the Occoquan Reservoir last night.”

“Are you sure it was hers?” The car I’d seen in Patricia’s garage had been a Subaru.

“Her personal effects were inside, and the VIN was a match.” I sank back, a queasy feeling stirring in my stomach. Nick shrugged. “Harris and his wife will eventually turn up. Bodies always do.”

I rested my head against the cold glass. Harris’s body turning up was exactly what I was afraid of.

Nick reached over, gently tugging the string of my hoodie. “Hey, it’s gonna be okay. I promise.” His hand slid over mine, his thumb tracing slow circles over my knuckle. This was wrong. I couldn’t get involved with Nick. It would only complicate things.

“Nick,” I said, turning in my seat to face him. “About earlier. I think maybe…” My thought trailed as a flash of red caught my eye.

Nick’s head started to turn, following the direction of my stare as Aimee came through the vestibule door in a bright red scarf with Theresa at her side. If Nick spotted Aimee and recognized her from Harris’s photos, this could all go very, very wrong.

I clamped a hand over my face. “Oh, crap! I think I’ve got something in my eye.”

Nick whirled back to me, ducking closer to see as he gently pried my hand away. “You okay?”

“I don’t know.” I squeezed one eye shut hard enough to make it water. I struggled to see past Nick’s head with the other as Theresa and Aimee dropped into Theresa’s car.