Page 63 of Charmed Forces

“But not my parents,” I said. “I’m going to make a call.” Allowing a few yards of distance between us, I called Maddox. If anyone had hitmen and women on their radar, surely, it had to be the FBI. The call rang out and went to voicemail. “It’s Lexi,” I said, even though I knew he would see my name. “Call me back please.”

When I turned around, Solomon walked through the door. He raised a hand as he caught my gaze and approached us. I met him at the desk.

“Any updates?” he asked and I relayed what we and Lucas just found out. Solomon listened with interest.

“I’m not going to argue with any of your assessments,” he said. “Lucas, I agree, this woman is gone and unlikely to circle back now, after the hospital debacle. We need to bring our focus back to what’s going on here in town. Lucas, after you take a look at the coffee shop’s security cameras, come find us. Lexi, Lily, let’s go downstairs and talk in the boardroom.”

“Okay,” said Lily, slinging her cake container into the trash with renewed vigor. “Let’s go!”

“Where’d you go earlier?” I asked my husband when we reached the boardroom, each of us taking a seat around the table. I’d already filled him in on our run-in and he took the news with arched eyebrows. If he were surprised, he didn’t show it.

“I went to see Duncan O’Malley,” he said.

“Who?” asked Lily.

“A local gangster and buddy of Solomon’s,” I replied. “He’s been helpful in the past.”

“I remember the name now. He makes your family draw their guns and go crazy,” said Lily, lighting up.

“They’re your family too,” I reminded her.

Lily gave a smug smile. “I can’t wait to hear what this news does to everyone.”

Solomon nodded. “I thought he might have some useful intel on how the Victor family operate in the area. At the very least, I expected he’d know if there’s another player who might want those witnesses dead,” said Solomon. “He supplied me with some useful background.”

I waited, both anxious and afraid of what he might say.

“Tom Victor is one of three brothers, and he resides here in Montgomery with the business predominantly operating out of Boston. The three of them, Tom, Michael, and Joseph, co-own a shipping business, Victor International Shipping that was set up by their father before they were born.”

“That’s the same business in the report Garrett gave us,” I reminded him and he nodded.

“Duncan says Tom Victor runs a tight ship, if you’ll excuse the pun, and puts a lot of effort into streamlining the legitimate side of the business. Already made it very profitable, in fact, and they’ve been able to expand their fleet, but it seems to be common knowledge that he ships in other products, as well, and the family won’t let anyone get in their way. Both sides of the business have thus grown exponentially. Alongside that, Tom Victor’s also moved into the real estate business, buying up chunks of land and building and developing property throughout the state. He didn’t know much about it but says there’re passing rumors there might be a body or two buried in some of the foundations too.”

“Oh, yikes,” said Lily as I grimaced.

“Why not just ditch this witness in the foundation?” I asked. “It’s a lot less messy than what happened. The Denneys might have never been found, and even if they were, any evidence would have been heavily contaminated.”

“Duncan heard a rumor that Tom Victor was hopping mad when the accountant suddenly disappeared. I don’t think he suspected Jeff Denney was going to turn on him, and when he did get served and realized there was intel that could only be sourced from the inside, he couldn’t find Denney to get rid of him. The family has deep pockets so they spent a lot of resources looking for him.”

“Well, they got what they wanted,” I said. “Although I don’t think they reckoned on the fallout. Did you find a connection between the Victors and our crime scene?”

“Nothing but rumors. Plus, Tom Victor’s got a few miles of distance between him and the crime scene now. He was spotted at an event occurring at the same time so his alibi is unarguable.”

“Did Duncan have any information that we didn’t already know about the pending case against the Victors?” I asked.

“He confirmed that the brothers were formally charged a month ago and that they hired the best lawyers. He also said Tom Victor is good at the intimidation game. He’ll threaten people to get his way. He’s suspected of being behind property arsons and bribes. Nothing seems to stick though.”

“That’s a long-winded way of saying he’s a nasty guy,” said Lily.

“We don’t want to get on his radar,” said Solomon. “And Duncan says Tom is thenicestof the brothers. The other two also have alibis for the time of the murders. Michael was in California. Joseph was on a family vacation in Mexico.”

“What I don’t get is why they want to stick this on Daniel? Does Tom Victor have any kind of personal vendetta against him?”

“Not that Duncan knew about.”

“Does Tom Victor have any connection to anyone in the police department?” I asked.

Solomon shook his head. “Duncan didn’t know that either.”

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