Big Easy Temptation (The Perfect Gentlemen #3)(89)

That made Dax sit up straight and focus on something other than his jealousy. “No.”

“It’s in the police report,” Freddy said.

Holland frowned. “I remember that when they arrested your dad, they logged the contents of his briefcase when he went through processing. According to that report he had ten pages of New York Times and Washington Post articles inside, dated a few days prior. How can you be sure the articles were about Joy?”

“The page counts match up with what he would have torn out of the paper. I reconstructed the main articles, pieced them together, and came up with a theory. It’s conjecture, but I feel strongly about it,” Freddy said with a nod.

“So you think the Russian mob learned about this trip and set him up?” During dinner, they’d gone over what they’d found out the day before.

Freddy had confirmed the pictures had not been taken at the same place or time the police believed. He’d also scanned one of the pictures into the computer and managed to isolate the numbers on a glowing clock far in the background. According to Amber Taylor’s police statement, the incident with the admiral had occurred between seven and ten p.m., while the clock in the pictures displayed a time of two twelve in the morning.

Dax had handed the rest of the photographs to Freddy. Lara’s former neighbor might be crazy but damn he was good.

“Not necessarily,” Connor said. “It may simply have been the easiest place to drug your father and set up the situation. I need to know why he was in London before I can really decide.”

“I’ll sneak back into town tomorrow and talk to my mother.” He would have to. His mother was the only one who might remember.

“Good. Ask her if she knows anything about a connection between your father and Zack’s mom,” Lara said.

“Constance Hayes?” Holland asked, obviously surprised. She turned to Dax. “They knew each other, right? You guys went to school together for years.”

Dax chuckled. How little she understood about their lives. “Zack’s mom wasn’t exactly the type to show up for parents’ weekend. Half the time his dad didn’t make it, either.”

“And when summer break rolled around, they would either put Zack in some summer academic program or leave him with a nanny. Excuse me, I believe they called her a companion. Most of the time they hired grandmotherly types, but I remember that summer we were all sixteen, someone fucked up and hired an undergrad.” Connor nodded Dax’s way. “Ah, the great cover-up. I was staying with Dax and we convinced his parents that we were going to spend a week in New York with Gabe and Mad.”

Holland smiled. “Who I’m sure decided to tell their parents that they were spending it with you guys. And Roman?”

“He was supposed to be interning at Crawford legal,” Dax admitted. “We all went out to the beach and convinced the undergrad to bring some friends. Good times, man. Well, for everyone else.” He was suddenly aware that he shouldn’t tell those stories with such relish anymore. “I was just there for the beer.”

“Me, too.” Connor gave him a thumbs-up. “But the other guys had an orgy.”

Lara groaned and threw a pillow at her husband’s head. “Such a manwhore. I’m going to bed, where we’re not having sex. Maybe ever.”

Connor’s lips curled up in a wolfish grin. “Want to bet?”

Lara’s cheeks heated. “No. You cheat.”

“Damn straight I do.” He followed his wife when she ran off to the bedroom. “See you guys in the morning.”

Freddy sighed. “So ask your mother about any connections between your father and Constance Hayes.”

Dax could barely remember a time the two had been in the same room . . . except when they’d interrupted his first kiss with Holland. “Any particular reason why?”

Holland scooted up and onto the couch beside him. It took everything he had not to pull her closer. “Do you think he was in England because of her?”

“Zack’s mom had been dead for something like five years by then.” It suddenly hit him. “Shit. But she died in England. And her name was on that list. I wonder if my dad knew about the dead pool? Have you made heads or tails of the other names on there?”

Freddy set down his marker and stretched. “I’m working on it. A few of the names are Russian nationals, and one or two died right around the time Natalia went to work for the Hayes family. It’s not easy to get almost-forty-year-old Soviet documents. It could take me a couple of days, if they even exist anymore. I have a network in place. It’s a matter of running them down. The Russian I know is a little touchy. Last I heard he thought Putin was after him, so he’s probably hiding in Siberia.”

“Isn’t Siberia where they send dissidents?” Holland asked.

“Yeah, hide in plain sight, man. That’s Oleg’s way. That and drinking a lot of vodka. I’m going to pop into town and pick up a few things. There’s an all-night Walmart about ten miles away. I need tinfoil. Who doesn’t have tinfoil? It makes me wonder about the guy who owns this cabin. Can I take your Jeep? I walked in.”

Dax tossed him the keys because he wasn’t certain if Freddy had walked in from the bus stop or whatever transportation he’d chosen, or if he meant he’d literally walked from the East Coast. “Sure, man.”