Page 23 of Defending Love
Chapter Twenty-Two
Eli
I parked the SUV behind the facility and walked Dani to the employees’ door.
At only nine thirty in the morning, the temperature was already oppressive.
Why anyone would want to live in Florida’s relentless heat was beyond me.
The cool air conditioning met us as we stepped inside.
Thankfully, there were no employees wandering the back hallways.
My hand made its way to the small of Dani’s back.
The urge to keep her close was overpowering.
Up one flight of stairs, we found ourselves close to Marsha Sinclair’s room.
Jack was at his post, sitting outside her room.
He stood as we approached. A few inches shorter than I, Jack Webb was still a formidable man.
His shaved head gave him a look of distinction and made it difficult to estimate his age.
“How is Mom today?” Dani asked Jack.
“She’s tired and sore. I think all the tests and exercises they ran yesterday were too much.”
Dani tipped her head toward the closed door. “Is she alone?”
“Yes.”
Dani’s navy stare met mine. In the depths of the blue, I saw what she’d said in the vehicle. I saw the fear that I wanted to erase and the uncertainty I vowed to quell. She nodded before opening the door and slipping inside.
I turned to Jack. “How long have you been working the Sinclairs?”
“Ben put me on the job about six months ago. I replaced Leo Conner.”
I’d met Leo a few times. “Why did he leave?”
Jack shrugged. “I didn’t ask.”
Pressing my lips together, I nodded. “In those six months, you never examined the contents of Mr. Sinclair’s safe?”
“No. He said it was private. I respected his wishes.”
“Did you mention the safe to anyone yesterday after we spoke?”
“No. Did you find anything?”
I shrugged, not comfortable with full disclosure. “A few of the old journals. Jewelry. His coin collection.”
Jack furrowed his brow. “Wait a minute. I did. I spoke with Mr. Sinclair yesterday. The subject of the safe came up. Yeah, now I remember. I thought it was odd after just talking to you about it.”
“Mr. Damien Sinclair?”
Jack nodded. “He was checking on Mrs. Sinclair. I told him that his sister was going to check the safe. He mentioned that he didn’t think anything of importance was there. Seems that he and the attorney, Elliott, searched it, looking for Derek’s insurance papers.”
“When?”
“Right after the shooting. Mr. Elliott came down with Damien and Danielle. Elliott was real broken up. Damien said Mr. Elliott was Derek’s oldest and dearest friend.”
“There weren’t any insurance papers inside the safe. Did Elliott and Sinclair find what they were looking for?”
“I’d assume as much. He didn’t say.”
“Dr. Sinclair,” I said, “wants to be with her mother for the meeting with the physical-therapy unit. Will you keep an eye on her? I have a few things to get wrapped up before we need to get back.”
“I thought you were staying until tomorrow.”
“That was the plan. Will you watch Dani?”
“She’ll be safe. No one is getting past me.”
“Good to know,” I said.
Back in the SUV, I called Benjamin.
“Good morning, Eli. Just the man I was about to call. How is your assignment?”
My assignment.
Dr. Danielle Sinclair.
Dani.
“Safe for now,” I replied. “Some things have me concerned. I also wanted to find out what you learned about the virus I found on her electronics.”
“Jackie just brought me that report. That’s why I was about to call.”
Jackie was Ben’s assistant.
“What did you find?”
“The virus is called GONO78, the same one Jack found on the Sinclairs’ computer and phones and was found on Damien and Ella Sinclair’s electronics. Are you familiar?”
“No.”
“In a nutshell, it continually searches for keywords. It’s hard to say if this virus was placed by someone looking for information about Sinclair’s business or personal. It’s not extremely high tech and can be sent easily through an email or text message.”
“Do you know how long it was there?”
“Not yet. We do know that it wasn’t there a year ago when you first worked the assignment.”
“Can you see the location of the receiver?”
“Not yet,” he replied. “We’re working on tearing through some firewalls. At this point, we know the virus was transmitting to the greater Indianapolis area.”
“Fuck,” I growled.
“What else is concerning you?” he asked.
I proceeded to tell him about the events of last night. “I can’t figure out two things. One, how did those guns-for-hire find us? The SUV was in the garage. I booked the villa under an LLC. Second, how did they know we’d gotten into Derek’s safe?”
“What’s your gut telling you?”
“Jack Webb said he spoke to Damien Sinclair yesterday. He mentioned something about Dani wanting to get inside the safe.” I inhaled. “What do we know about Damien Sinclair?”
“He’s the man who hired us.”
“And his father was killed under our watch.”
“I ran a conclusive background check on him before taking him on as a client last year.”
“Did you run his financials?”
“Of course.”
“Run them again,” I said.
“Eli, this is highly unusual.”
“Run both Damien’s and Darius’s. For the record, they’re both in the greater Indianapolis area. I want to know if either of them has a significant amount of outgoing funds in the past two months.”
“You think that Derek Sinclair’s killer was paid.”
“It’s what my gut is telling me, Ben. I sent a picture of the safe to the main office to ask about the number of digits the combination would require.
I spoke to Jack. Dani spoke to her mom. Unless someone from Guardian is in on this, the only other people who knew we wanted in that safe were Marsha Sinclair and Damien Sinclair.
I don’t believe Marsha would arrange to have herself shot.
” Although stranger things have happened.
“I’ll run a report.”
“Ben, there’s a package coming to you today. I had it sent through a courier. I need the forensics on the letter ASAP.”
“You do know we have multiple assignments in progress.”
“You told me to listen to my gut. I’m listening. I need you to do what you can do. Those men came to the villa that was supposed to be safe. They found Dr. Sinclair. I don’t like that. The other thing I need is a plane this evening to Indianapolis.”
“Commercial?”
“Charter. Use a different LLC.”
“I’ll have Jackie work on this for you. She’ll get you set up.”
Another person who would know our plans.
“Thank you, Ben. I’m about to meet up with Mitchell Gray. He’s getting me some surveillance equipment. Tell Jackie to check with him. Dr. Sinclair and I are flying under false identities. Only Guardian will know. I sure as hell hope that there isn’t a mole in this company.”
“There isn’t. I’d bet my life on that.”
I wasn’t betting Dani’s life.
“I need to go.”