“Stop being such a drama dragon,” Iolana chided. “He was planning to tell you after breakfast so as to not ruin your appetite.”
“I’ve completed my repast. Now, report.” I waved a claw imperiously.
“It seems I should have done a deep dive on Malone before I messaged him.” Apollo rubbed his jaw. “Turns out the man is on the outs with the scientific community because he’s a crook. The foundation he was running into the research of the existence of mythical creatures let him go quietly a few years ago after discovering he’d been funneling donations into overseas accounts.”
“To do what?” Iolana asked.
“Not entirely sure. Malone did cover his tracks well. From what I could glean, he appears to have used some of it to fund trips around the world.”
“Where?” I asked, even as I had a sneaky suspicion. “Would those places happen to be where those videos of dragons were taken?”
“Not just those locations. He had a thing for visiting recent volcanic eruption sites, possibly because he had something to do with it. One of his shell companies bought the patent for a device that, in simple terms, can cause volcanoes, even sleeping ones, to become active.”
“Why would anyone devise, let alone use, something like that?” Iolana exclaimed.
“To hatch dragons, of course.” It seemed very obvious to me. I tilted my head. “He’s hunting my kind.”
“So it appears. Whether or not he’s succeeded in finding any dragons, though, I couldn’t discover. I do know he was fairly active with his travels until about six or seven months ago. Then, it’s like he went to ground and didn’t resurface until I contacted him.”
“There’s more.” Call it intuition, but I could sense it.
“Two local men, who have a long rap sheet, mostly involving petty theft, turned up dead this morning in an alley. Police are claiming they overdosed, but the wife of one of the deceased told a reporter they were murdered. She mentioned something about them being hired to hit a house and steal anything related to a lizard and to make it look like a robbery. She claims they were supposed to meet with the person who hired them for payment, only they ended up dead instead.”
“Someone’s tying up loose ends,” Iolana murmured.
“Did the wife mention Malone’s name?” I asked.
Apollo shook his head. “No, but given what I’ve learned about the disgraced doctor, I’m thinking he’s definitely responsible.”
“Which would make him a killer.” Iolana paced, wringing her hands.
“Seems like.” A grim reply.
“Good work, protector.” See, I could give praise when warranted, but I followed it up with a slight whack of the verbal stick. “But I’ve yet to hear you mention your plan to get rid of Malone. So long as he’s alive, the man is a danger to me.”
“I’m working on locating him. It’s not going to be easy, though. There are too many hotels in the area he could be staying at, not to mention private rentals.”
“What about his rental car? Don’t people have to provide a local address as part of the rental agreement?” Iolana suggested.
“I already looked into that. The sly bastard used mine.” Apollo’s lips turned down. “The man made sure to cover his tracks.”
“Malone’s going to come after Tigger, isn’t he?” Iolana chewed her lower lip.
“He can try, but I don’t plan to make it easy. Within the hour, a security company is going to be installing cameras that will capture every inch of the property perimeter. I’m going to have some watching the beach as well. A drone jammer will be delivered in a few days. As well, I’ll be interviewing some guards to patrol the property, which means?—”
“I’m to be a prisoner in my own home,” I lamented. “The cruelty.”
“Only until the Malone situation is resolved,” Apollo promised. “Hopefully this will only be for a few days.”
“There’d better be plenty of food.” I offered a mighty scowl.
“Tons, and after talking it over with Iolana, we’ve decided we’re going to introduce you to Francine.”
“The chef?” I straightened with interest.
Apollo nodded. “She’s been working for me for years. Super loyal. When I told her I was relocating to Hawaii, she offered to come so she could continue cooking for me. I think you’ll like her, and I know she’ll enjoy testing out her creations on you.”
A new servant for my retinue somewhat mollified my irritation at being housebound.
