Page 68 of Bishop's Flight
Mika followed her below the deck, and she tensed for a moment, then remembered how quickly she could blow up the boat and Mika if she wanted to. Her fire had blasted a hole in a freighter hold years ago. A fiberglass boat like this one? It would probably melt under her hands.
“I’m not sure what you’re looking for.”
“I’m looking at carpet.”
Mika was silent.
Brigid searched every corner of the vessel, but nothing resembled the woven mat that she’d seen in Lucas’s picture.
“I am trying to understand why you want to see the carpet. I can assume it has something to do with the proof-of-life photographs you received.”
“The carpet in the pictures was hard to make out, but I think it’s similar to some I remember from one of Murphy’s boats back in Dublin.”
“This one is not woven.”
“No.” She looked up. “Can I see the pontoon?”
Mika lifted a lazy shoulder. “I’m curious now.”
They walked back up the pathway to the massive garage next to the house.
Gary Preston had a huge garage.
Brigid was putting two and two together. “You called it a pontoon boat?”
“Yes, a party cruiser.” Mika sneered. “The human guards haul it to Lake Mead and put it in the water there. It’s like a little club on the water. They take girls, alcohol, whatever drugs they want to indulge in.” Mika opened the door. “Oleg doesn’t mind.”
“Did he buy it?”
“It came with the house.”
Brigid saw the long vessel as soon as she stepped inside. It was impossible to miss. This was definitely why Gary Preston had such a huge garage. It was to keep this massive boat inside to be hauled to Lake Mead during the boating season.
“It wasn’t the cars.”
“Sorry, what was that?”
Brigid shook her head. “You don’t need a huge garage for cars around here. You need it for boats.”
“And houseboats,” Mika said. “Yes.”
She climbed on board and immediately spotted the flooring she was thinking of. Just inside the glass-enclosed cabin, the floor was blue instead of black, but the texture was the same.
He was on a boat.
Gary Preston must have had a boat, and that’s why they killed him. That’s why they targeted Preston—to get his boat. She knew where to find him. She still had to search the lake, but she knew where to find him.
Brigid hopped down and walked toward the door. She felt like her amnis was going to burst from her skin. “Mika, thank you.”
“Anytime.” He was leaning against a wall. “Do you need a car? Do you need a light-safe room? We have guest quarters here that are more than secure.”
No way was she staying at Oleg’s house, and borrowing a car took time and attention. She needed to get to Lake Mead, and she needed to do it now.
She glanced at the clock on the wall. There was only an hour before dawn.
She whispered, “Fuck.”
“The night is over,” Mika said. “You’re not going to do anything else tonight, Brigid Connor. At least let me get you a fast car to your safe house.”
