You’re a fool.
My inner voice has been mocking me all day, because I underestimated the woman I considered to be innocent and subservient.
I must drown my sorrows for two hours while keeping an eye on the huge screen beside the bar, uninterested in the news that plays on repeat in a loop, wishing I had a baseball game to distract me.
Jack joins me and orders bourbon, and when the bartender moves away, he fills me in, his voice low and discreet.
“Harry and Tommy reported back, and the truck does belong to the company. The driver is a guy called Stefan Keller, and the owner tells me the truck is always with him.”
“The fucking gardener.”
My fist curls around the glass as I compute the information.
“They are together.”
My rage is building as Jack shrugs. “He may be helping her, or it could be more. He’s worked at the convent for six months. They may have grown close during her time there, and when she was gifted freedom, she seized her opportunity, and they ran away together.”
His summary does little to lift my spirits; if anything, it angers me further because it could be game over before it started. If this gardener is romantically involved with Alice, he might be unknowingly fulfilling the terms and conditions of Enrico’s will, and there will be nothing I can do about that. It will be game over before I even get to play my hand.
I am so frustrated, and then Jack makes it ten times worse.
“I ran a check on Stefan Keller. You’re not going to like this.”
“I don’t like a lot at the moment, Jack, so hit me with it.”
My sigh of frustration causes his jaw to tick because he’s fully aware that when I’m angry shit happens real fast.
“According to the records, Stefan Keller and the details he provided lead to a dead end. The address he gave is a derelict house, his government ID matches a guy in his eighties and the telephone number has been disconnected.”
White-hot rage burns inside me because this changes everything. Alice is in danger and not just from me, and I’m playing catch up which is a game I fully detest with every beat of my heart.
“She’s been set up.”
“That appears to be the case.”
Jack sighs as the bartender returns and makes short work of the bourbon before whispering, “My sources are working on it, but as you know, this may take some time. Whoever this Stefan Keller really is, he has an ulterior motive.”
“Double their money and get me answers today. Tap your contacts to find if any of the usual fuckers are making their move. If it’s another criminal on our network, they will be moving fast, but we must face the possibility it’s an unknown one. Enrico’s reputation spans the entire fucking world, and we are in a deep hole without a flashlight to guide us out.”
“I did some digging on Alice Zaferelli and she is the daughter of Sarah Goldsworthy who died in a road traffic accident. It got me thinking.”
“And?”
“I put myself in her shoes and imagined where I would go if I were let off the leash.”
I have always admired Jack’s analytical mind, which has served me well in the past. He never panics, just thinks any problem through several steps in advance, and I am interested in hearing his theory.
“Her mom was the heiress of the Goldsworthy billions, and their head office is close to the convent. It makes sense that she will head there because Enrico Zaferelli cut ties with her family when her mom died. She must be curious—I would be, and my guess is that’s exactly where she’s heading, and the gardener is driving her there.”
“Or the gardener is running his own fucking agenda.”
My thinking always takes the darker route, and Jack nods. “It wouldn’t surprise me if he was planted months ago to get close to any of the heiresses. Somebody is several steps ahead of us already, and if Alice Zaferelli arrives at the city we standa chance. However, there is still a possibility she won’t make it there at all.”
“Then alert our contacts at every port, airfield and train station. Tie this place down and check the identities of every boat, aircraft and hire car in the entire fucking country and do it five minutes ago.”
I’m aware that I’m asking a lot because Switzerland has a land border. It could be a futile operation because whoever planned this was doing it months, if not years, ago. They have worked out every detail, and we don’t have access to the manuscript.
Jack is right, though. Her mom’s family is the best place to start. It’s the only lead we have, and so with a frustrated huff, I slide off the bar stool and snap, “It’s time to check out. Leave a few of the guys here to carry on the investigation. We will travel to the Goldsworthy head office and if Alice is there, she’s leaving with me, whether she likes it or not.”
