Page 88 of Heist

Chapter Twenty-Two

Patrick sat next to Austin in the small Italian restaurant and listened to Jax lay out his plan for investigating the jewelry heist. He wasn’t a law enforcement official so some things would be harder for him, but others would be a lot easier as he wasn’t bound by law enforcement rules.

“Is there anything you need me to do?” he asked when there was a break in the conversation.

Jax shook his head. “No, but there are a few things you should avoid. Eye-fucking your attorney when the media is likely to be watching is one of them.”

Austin’s mouth fell open and Patrick scowled. Unfortunately, he couldn’t be too irritated with the man because his assessment wasn’t wrong. He couldn’t keep his eyes off of her. Watching her was so fun and she was sexy as hell on top of it. Not to mention, he couldn’t keep sex with her off his brain for more than an hour at a time. Especially when she was sitting right next to him where he could smell her perfume and reach out and touch her under the table.

Patrick glanced around the restaurant to make sure no one could hear them before leaning closer to Jax. “If you had a pretty little submissive like this one you would be eye fucking her in public too.”

Austin blushed and smacked his leg under the table while Jax just laughed and shook his head. ‘Maybe, but I’m also not facing prison time.

Patrick sobered quickly. Funny how the mention of prison could do that to a person.

“You’re right. I’ll try to be on my best behavior from now on,” he said with a wink in Austin’s direction.

“Do you have any ideas about who might be setting you up for this?”

Patrick shrugged. It was something he’d been thinking about since the police first questioned him. “The only name that comes to mind is my father. But if that’s the case, I don’t understand why he’s not going after Holly too.”

Jax picked up a breadstick and dunked it in the garlic butter that came with it. “From what I can tell when I was investigating him before the arrest, he really does care about your sister in his own twisted way. I hate to break it to you, but she was definitely the favorite.”

Patrick leaned back in his chair and chuckled. “Believe me, you’re not telling me anything I don’t already know.”

“So, there’s nobody else that comes to mind?”

Patrick shook his head. “I suppose Travis Wilson should be on the list since he kidnapped Holly and tried to burn my lab down. I did hire someone who worked for my father, but he passed multiple background checks.”

Jax stopped eating, a forkful of spaghetti in mid-air. “Now why in the Sam Hill did you hire them?”

Patrick shrugged. “My father going to jail put a lot of people out of work. Not all of them were familiar with his criminal activity. He was good at compartmentalizing.”

Jax nodded. “And what does this person you hired do?”

“He’s a tech in one of my production labs now. Since he was a quality assessor for the jewelry stores, I figured he could help us improve our quality and put an even bigger dent in the mined diamond market.”

Jax just shrugged and resumed shoveling pasta into his mouth. “No idea what any of that means,” he said between bites, “but I’ll take your word for it.”

“How did you get the idea to hire him?” Austin asked.

Patrick let his mind wander back to a couple of months after the arrest. “I had an offhanded conversation with Grant Sterling. He mentioned some of the folks who lost their jobs were having a hard time getting back on their feet, so I looked into it and put Tim Reyes to work. His daughter has some rare disease and her medication is expensive.”

Jax frowned. “That sort of thing makes a person very easy to blackmail. And who is Sterling in all of this? I remember the name coming up months ago.”

“He was technically head of my father’s PR. Has his own firm, but my father was his only client for several years. He managed to keep himself clean when the arrests started happening. Dated my sister for a while, pretty sure he’s still hung up on her, but I can’t prove that.”

Jax nodded. “OK. I’ll dig into him too.”

Austin reached for the salad bowl and dished more onto her plate. “I’m going to be conducting pre-trial interviews of a lot of people in that circle. Let me know if that helps you in any way. I’ll mostly be looking for character witnesses and people to confirm his alibi but if there are specific questions, I should ask just let me know.”

Jax smiled. “Just tell me if anyone says anything that might give them a motive. We can talk again after I’ve done my initial investigation.”

The conversation moved from the pending legal battle to more friendly topics and the threesome spend the rest of their dinner laughing and enjoying each other’s company. The atmosphere was quiet and friendly and delightfully reporter free.

Patrick had always admired Jax, a rough and tumble cowboy from Texas who went from the military to private security. He had a knack for investigative work and launched his own firm that included private investigation as well as security work. Solitaire had been among his first clients and now, thanks to word of mouth, his business was thriving.

When Jax stood to leave, he pulled Patrick into a hug. “See ya at the weekend,” he said. Turning, he bent and kissed Austin on the cheek. “Keep him in line, sweetheart.”

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