Enzo glanced over and gave her a quick smile. “Sorry. I was just thinking about the whole situation.”
“And?” Kathleen prompted.
He gave a mental shrug. Why not bounce ideas off her? “I was thinking that maybe I have this backward. Maybe it’s not Vitale using Bianca to get the treasure and get to me. Maybe it’s Bianca using Vitale.”
“Explain.”
Enzo glanced in his rearview mirror once again. Still clear. “What if Rocco and Bianca are working together? Brad St. John sounds like someone Rocco might see as an easy target. SayBrad tells Rocco about the treasure. Rocco then talks to Bianca…No, that doesn’t work. He and Bianca don’t get along. He would never cut her in.”
He blew out a long breath. He was missing something.
“I assume Bianca is pretty,” Kathleen commented.
“Er, yes. She’s gorgeous.”
He glanced at Kathleen in time to see an expression he couldn’t decipher fly across her face, and just as quickly, it was gone.
“What if Bianca has the connection to Brad? What if he told her about the treasure to impress her or to get her help to find it?”
Enzo mulled that idea for a moment. “You may be on to something,” he said finally. “Bianca wouldn’t be able to find the treasure on her own without the map, but more importantly, she wouldn’t want to expend the energy to go looking for it. She would want someone with resources to do that for her.”
“Maybe she went to Vitale with the idea,” Kathleen suggested.
Enzo paused for a moment but then shook his head. “No, as much as Bianca hates her brother, he’s still family. She would go to family before she would go to an outsider. If we’re right, then she went to Rocco and the two of them cooked up the idea to take it to Vitale, but why? Why would they want to bring in Alessandro Vitale of all people? And why would he bother?”
“We need more information,” Kathleen said. “I think we should call Alex and the Callahans. Jamie relies on them for all kinds of help.”
Enzo’s first instinct was to say no.
“You said yourself that you can’t rely on your network, but we need help from somewhere,” Kathleen pointed out reasonably.
Enzo ground his teeth. She had a point. It irked him to no end that he was going to have to reach out for help, but withKathleen’s safety on the line, he was willing to shut down his ego. Her safety was more important than anything else.
He opened the center console and pulled out one of the two burner phones. “Make the call.”
CHAPTER THIRTY
“Alex’s phone,” Mitch’s voice cut through the SUV’s speakers.
Kathleen glanced at Enzo. She knew he wasn’t pleased, but he’d just have to get over it. “Hey, Mitch, it’s Kathleen and Enzo. Do you have a minute?”
“Absolutely. We’ve been wondering how it’s going over there. Alex is just grabbing some pastries, but she’ll be back soon.”
Kathleen glanced at her watch. It was just after three her time, meaning it was closer to nine in NYC. “Are you at the office? Are your brothers around?” Kathleen didn’t bother to look at Enzo this time. She knew he didn’t want to do this at all, let alone talk to everyone, but too effing bad.
“Yeah, we’re all here. Do you want me to get them on the line?”
“Please.”
There was a click, and then all the voices chimed in saying hello. “What’s up?” Mitch asked. “What can we do for you?”
“First,” she started, “I want to apologize for how we ended the last call. It was rude.” She shot a frown at Enzo.
“Sorry,” he grumbled.
Someone snorted, Mitch probably. “I don’t blame you one bit, Enzo. Too many cooks and all that. You’re boots on the ground. Last thing you need is us quarterbacking you.”
“No offense taken,” Gage added.
