Frederick relaxed in his seat and smirked. “What you gentlemen need to understand about the beautiful island country of Morghana is that there is only a small pool of men for hire for . . . delicate matters.”
“Ah,” Jason nodded. “Let me make sure I understand. The goons you hire to shoot at people are also sometimes employed by Drakos, Enzo, or a handful of others.”
“I don’t appreciate your tone, but yes, you get the idea. Although some of Drakos’ security are very loyal and only work for him.”
He paused and eyed Jason with curiosity. “Interesting you mentioned Enzo. I heard you two had a misunderstanding yesterday.”
Jason fixed a hard stare on Frederick, but said nothing.
Frederick appeared even more curious. “I only mention it because he’s one of the few people I’m certain has no interest in my belongings in Drakos’ possession. So, that raises the question, why were you interested in him last night?”
“We’re not here to discuss Enzo. Unless you think he’s linked to the attacks in the past few days.”
Frederick shook his head. “Oh, no. He hasn’t been involved in any of that. He has other interests that occupy him. I will say, you’d do well to steer clear of him from now on. He can be a dangerous man.”
No kidding. “Thanks for the tip. Now, get back to your explanation about how you know who we are.”
“Certainly. Fortunately for me, a few of Drakos’ men do talk enough that I eventually learned about you. Yesterday. I was told Drakos hired a fancy security team from theUS. Like the American FBI. Only I bet you get paid more. WhiteRock, isn’t it? Drakos didn’t just round up some help from another island, like I thought.”
Knox looked at Jason. “We’re fancy? I don’t think we’ve been called that before.”
Frederick wagged a finger at Jason. “But as far as shooting at people, my men were only hired to scare you off. They weren’t going to hurt anybody.Youwere the only one who shot someone.“ He narrowed his eyes at Jason. “I had to pay that poor man’s medical bills. If you hadn’t been such a cowboy—”
Frederick was ridiculous. Jason was starting to feel as irritated as Knox looked. He leaned into Frederick’s personal space. “He pointed a gun at us. After breaking into my suite. Drop the subject. That’s not what we’re here to discuss.”
The waiter chose that moment to bring the coffee and cappuccino. As if anyone at the table needed caffeine.
Jason took a sip, giving the waiter time to return to the kitchen. He had to admit, the coffee here was very good. He should take some back up to the room for Tayla. Or not. What would that look like? Never mind. He needed to focus on Frederick.
He set down his coffee and angled toward Frederick. “If you do have Gus Branch’s cell phone, how did you get it? You act like you have a bargaining chip—for what, I don’t know—but why would we want his cell phone so badly?”
Frederick’s proud grin returned. “I was there. At the orphanage when he died. I probably came across the same intel that he did—that someone was coming to appraise my father’s items in the basement.”
“Appraise them?”
“Yes. Someone wanted all the items valued. They hired some sort of assessor who flew in from France. Drakos didn’t hire him. And neither did I.”
“And you don’t know who it was who hired the Frenchman?”
“Unfortunately, no. But the gossip mill in these islands is reliable, albeit limited.”
Jason nodded. “So you came to stake out the same meeting Gus was staking out.”
“Yes. I arrived early. I had one of my men drop me off so no one would see my vehicle. I let myself into the orphanage—”
“You have a key?” Knoxasked.
“Let’s not get sidetracked on trivial details.” He looked back to Jason. “I hid in the basement. I wanted to hear everything—who they were and what value they were attributing to my belongings.”
“So, you got an appraisal for free,” Knox said.
“Yes. And I will say it was much higher than I previously thought.”
Jason sipped his coffee while he studied Frederick. “How much higher?”
Frederick traced the handle of his cappuccino cup, looking rather smug. “Three million more than my estimate. But that’s not any of your concern. What I came to tell you is this—there is a video on Mr. Branch’s cell phone you will want to see. It clearly shows who killed him.”
All of Jason’s muscles tensed. He had to remind himself of all the reasons he shouldn’t lay a finger on Frederick Kost right now. Though the temptation was strong.
