Fourteen
Grant lookedup as Kiernan walked into his office.He turned all his focus to his brother, anxious about what he had to say.
“I didn’t find a thing,” Kiernan said.
Not what Grant wanted to hear.“What do you mean?”
“Her apartment is a shithole, but there was nothing there that gave me anything we can use against her.And nothing that makes me think she’s involved.”
“There has to be something,” Grant growled.He was getting anxious.After Pamela fucked up and let Harmony Gibbs get away, Grant needed someone he could trust to look into her.Grant was sure his brother would find something.
“We already know she needs the money.What if you pay her more?”
Grant shook his head.“She hasn’t touched the money.”
“How do you know that?”
Grant gave his brother a look.Kiernan should know better than to question Grant’s hacking skills.It was how they both created new lives for themselves.New social security numbers, new identities, new everything.It was also how Grant built his fortune.A little here and a little there, no one noticed bank fees, and since the banks weren’t actually collecting them, they didn’t know to look for the money going into their accounts.Grant put the money into a dozen accounts of his own, then slowly moved it all to one place where he could grow the balance until he was someone to take notice of.By then, he’d become Grant Pickens.
“If money doesn’t do anything for her, what now?”Kiernan asked.
Grant leaned back in his chair, the soft squeak of it annoying him.He’d worked too hard for things to be worn out.He needed a new chair if this one was going to make noise.“We make her life uncomfortable.She loves her job, what if she can’t do it anymore?”
“What do you mean?”
Grant shrugged, a smirk lifting his lips.“Maybe there’s an accident at the lab.Maybe no one’s allowed in for a while.Maybe she’s to blame for the accident.”
“And by accident, you mean…”
“I mean it’s time for Roger to earn his keep.”
Kiernan nodded slowly.“You might need to spell it out for him.He’s not the sharpest one out there.”
“Paul was definitely smarter.Too bad he had to threaten to open his fucking mouth.”Grant was still angry about that.
“A broken jaw stopped that.”
“Don’t forget the broken hands.Just in case he wanted to try something else.”
Kiernan returned Grant’s grin.“How did you keep from reacting when the cops told you about that?”
“Years of practice, little brother.Just like when they told us Grandma Betty was dead.”
“You were pretty believable.I thought your tears were real.”
Grant scoffed.“That crazy old woman deserved everything she got.”
Kiernan nodded.
Grant stood and rounded his desk to stand in front of his brother.“You okay?You seem off lately.”
Kiernan shook his head.“It’s all this stuff.Makes me tense.”
“It’ll all be over soon.Those fucking idiots handed over more than enough to keep their secrets secret.Once I sell all the diamonds and get the money I was supposed to get, we’ll be the richest people on the planet, and no one will know it.”
“Sounds good to me.”
“This Gibbs woman is the only wildcard in all of this.If she can tie us to the diamonds, she can ruin it all.We can’t let her.She’s scared now.Running to stay with that protector.We can’t get to her anymore, but we don’t have to.Take away what she loves, what she’s spent her life building, and she won’t give us a second thought.Then we can finish what we started and move the merchandise and disappear to a private island with no extradition laws.”
