Eye of the Falcon (Psychic Visions #12)(83)

She winced. “Good point.” She waved at the box. “I don’t feel like we can leave this here.”

“We will return the box,” Eagle said. “But it will be empty.”

He quickly emptied the box and gave it back to Hawk with the key. Hawk disappeared out the door.

She motioned to the stuff on the bed. “How do we hide this?”

“I have room in my bag for all of it.” He opened his duffel, removed some of his clothing, and placed the money on the bottom. The bags of jewelry he tucked into the side pockets. “I don’t know what you want to do with the paperwork.”

“None of it makes any sense,” she said. “None of this is worth torturing me for, especially if they stole the money and the jewelry. Especially so if someone else had found the keepsake box and had just kept everything.”

“And that’s why we have to hit the bank to find out. We need to check out the safe-deposit box. Now get ready for bed. Hawk and I will stay up through the night on four-hour shifts. He’s next door, and we’ll be switching in and out. I need you to get some rest. You’re still healing. We can’t afford to have you get worse.”

“And what about Panther? And Tiger?”

He leaned forward. “I have to trust that the men are keeping themselves alive. But, even if they aren’t, there’s very little we can do.”

She bowed her head with a nod. “Well, tomorrow I want answers,” she said quietly. “I’ve waited a long time. This is long enough.” She got up and went into the bathroom to get ready.

*

Hawk returned just then. Eagle went over the plans for the night.

“You think she’s safe here?” Hawk asked.

“Honestly I’m not sure. If I thought I could spirit her back into town, hide her away in a different hotel, I would. We might still have to leave in the middle of the night. Do you have anybody you know in the local area or some nearby police department? Even Interpol might not be a bad idea. I’m pretty damn sure those gems will be on somebody’s radar.”

“You think that’s what’s behind this?”

“I don’t know. But, when you talk money, and as many deaths as we know about, … either somebody wants what is in that box or wants to make sure it stays hidden.”

Hawk nodded. “I’ll send some messages, making sure we have somebody watching over us tonight and following us tomorrow.”

“You do that. I’ll take first watch.”

Hawk left then.

Eagle sat down on the side of the bed. He went over the paperwork once again, searching for Angus’s full name. Finding it, he sent out the name to several people who could help track him down.

Issa came back. Sleep was the best thing for her. She crawled under the covers, rolled over so her back was against him, and closed her eyes.

He gently stroked her shoulder and whispered, “Good night.”

She mumbled a response, but he was grateful to hear it was sleep-blurred. It had been a devastating two days for her. He knew it would get a hell of a lot worse.

When his phone rang a few minutes later, he bounded off the bed and to the far side of the room so as not to disturb her. “What’s up?”

“Angus is in jail, convicted on four counts of first-degree murder, killing four men of one family,” his contact Charlie said quietly.

Eagle sent out a silent whistle. “I might have his daughter, who is also the remaining member of the family he killed.”

“Now that would be very interesting. Angus had a lot of land. It was seized by the locals. Apparently he attempted to bring the police in on a father and his three sons’ smuggling operation. The police were delayed. Plans went awry, and he ended up killing the family.”

“Not quite. The wife and daughter survived. The daughter might possibly be the lover’s—Angus’s—daughter, though, so it’s quite a love triangle.”

There was a long whistle on the other end. “He’s already served seventeen years of a life sentence.”

“And he might very well be guilty. As far as I understand, one of the men he killed had been up on criminal charges against Angus himself.”

“According to Angus’s trial testimony, they were betrayed, but he doesn’t know by whom. He was supposed to be outside on lookout. He heard shots and raced to the cove to find Rory McGuire already dying with a bullet to his chest. Two of McGuire’s sons were dead, and another one was dying. The police arrived just in time to find Angus, the only one left standing, and charged him for the whole lot.”

“Weren’t there other men involved?”

“Yes. Two other men were killed by a different gun. I believe by Rory, the father. Actually I think four other men were killed. Several escaped and disappeared in the chaos. Apparently the men who escaped were also badly injured. The few that lived said Angus had come in and shot up the place.”

“So, in other words, they were all Rory’s men?”

“Yes, and that’s what Angus’s defense team said. But something was always fishy about his story. And he had no alibi. There were only dead men left standing—and Angus.”

“Why was his story fishy?”

“He was supposed to be on the lookout. But, since he obviously didn’t give them a warning, the others believed he’d been waiting for the opportunity to come in for the kill.”