Page 102 of Stone Coast

“At Olivia’s.”

“How much does she know?”

“A little, but she’s mostly in the dark.”

My phone buzzed with a call from Preston. I answered, “What’s up?”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“He didn’t seem too thrilled,” he said, referring to Tyson.

“He’s getting over it.”

Tyson looked at me, knowing the conversation was about him.

“I wanted to tell you Sierra was killed last night.”

“I heard. How?”

“Mugged. Don’t worry, you’re not a suspect. The whole thing was captured on video.”

“Who’s responsible?”

“Unknown. Two masked assailants attacked her at dusk in a parking lot. Took her suitcase of pharma samples and her purse.”

“I find it hard to believe that’s a coincidence.”

“Given your current predicament, I would steer clear of this one.”

“Both Grayson and Sierra were killed. I think it’s safe to say somebody wanted them silenced.”

“I don’t think your mugging was an accident, either,” Preston said. “I think you need to consider the fact that you know something, or more likely, someone is afraid you’re going to remember something. Perhaps something Grayson told you.”

I racked my brain, trying to recall my interactions with Grayson before the incident, but everything was still a blank. “Thank you again for everything.”

“That’s what I’m here for. Stay out of trouble, and call me if you need anything. Day or night.”

“Thanks, Preston.” I ended the call and caught Tyson up to speed. “I was beginning to think I was the target. Butclearly it was the three of us. Maybe Ross isn’t behind this.”

“Whoever commissioned the hit is trying to cover their tracks.” He paused. “I need access to Grayson’s cell phone, computers, tablets. There has to be something in there.”

“His phone is still in the property department, as far as I know. They won’t release anything to me. I tried reaching out to his sister, but I’m not getting any cooperation on her end.”

“Do you happen to know Grayson’s cloud ID and password?”

I shook my head.

“No worries. That can be hacked.”

We pulled into the parking lot at Pelican Point. There were more than a few media types loitering around, but not quite the sizable horde that was at the Pineapple Bay Police Station.

"What do you want to do?" Tyson asked. "It's your call."

I took a deep breath, then steeled my resolve to face the vultures. "I'm not going to let anybody run me out of my home.”

Tyson found a place to park. We hopped out and made our way toward the dock. It took a second for the media to recognize us. When they did, they rushed in our direction. Soon, I was engulfed. Tyson fought them off as we pushed our way through the crowd. They shouted more of the same questions.