Page 40 of Six
“Ah,” Nora said, catching on. “He realized he was going to lose everything anyway. The videos alone would see to that.”
“So why bother paying a blackmailer,” Cyn said, coming to the same conclusion Six had.
Six nodded. “It’s conjecture, of course. But I suspect after the first call between Jeremy and Julian, Julian called DePalma, told him he wasn’t paying, and why.”
“At which point,DePalmais the one who took action and decided to have Jeremy killed in order to silence him,” Devil said. Six gave a small nod of agreement.
“But after Jeremy was killed, don’t you think DePalma would be back on Newcross’s case?” Nora asked.
Six looked at Gavin, and he seemed to be considering the idea. After a beat, he spoke. “It’s a good point, Nora. If I were DePalma, I’d certainly be pushing to get my payout. I’d maybe even use Jeremy’s murder as an incentive to comply.”
“I assume he hasn’t withdrawn any more money, though, or you would have said as much,” Six said.
Gavin nodded. “He hasn’t, but that could also be because he sees the house of cards for what it is and knows it’s futile to try to stop what’s going to come next,” Gavin said. “Jeremy may be dead, but there are videos out there somewhere.”
“Or maybe there’s something else going on,” Devil said. She’d been typing away on her laptop as they’d been talking, and Six nudged her with her toe to continue when she didn’t immediately explain her statement.
“I gained access to the servers at Shanti Joy. Not the top-secret stuff, but enough to look at calendars. It appears that Julia Newcross left the country on anemergencytrip to Paris the day after Jeremy was killed.”
“Her husband didn’t go with her?” Gavin asked.
Devil shook her head. “No, he had one charge on his company card for dinner the night she left, but it hasn’t been active since.”
“That was only a few days ago,” Nora pointed out.
“And he’s not an employee so he may not use that card very often,” Cyn added.
“All true,” Devil conceded. “But there hasn’t been any activity on any of his four personal cards, either. I know it’s only been a few days, but his usual spending habits include several charges a day, including a consistent one for lunch at the gym he goes to.”
“This better not be another fucking Kevin Bartlett,” Cyn muttered, returning to her seat behind her computer.
“Kevin Bartlett?” Gavin asked.
“A hacker who helped a bunch of white supremacists access things that they shouldn’t,” Six said. “We were investigating the group when his name cropped up. Joe and Cyn went to talk to him. It didn’t turn out well.”
“And by not well, she means he’d been murdered,” Nora added.
“And you think that’s what’s happened to Julian Newcross?” Gavin asked.
Six didn’t answer, but one by one, she met the gaze of her friends. Yeah, that’s exactly what they thought had happened, even if they weren’t going to say it.
“Any leads on where he could be if he isn’t dead?” Six asked, dragging her body off the couch.
“Are we going on a road trip?” Gavin asked, joining her.
“His phone’s at his home in Beacon Hill,” Devil said.
“But his car—which has one of those emergency locator things on it—is somewhere near Keene, New Hampshire,” Cyn said. “Any chance they have a second home there?”
“They have five homes throughout the world, but yes,” Nora said. “One is in Keene.”
Six looked to Gavin. She should make the call; Jeremy was her friend, and she’d been the one to bring everyone into this. But just once, it would be nice to have someone else decide. Someone she trusted. And as shocking as that thought should have been, it wasn’t.
“Let’s head to Keene. It’s, what, about two hours away? Or I could go on my own if you want to stay here,” he offered.
She was shaking her head before he even finished the sentence. “No one goes alone unless we have to. I think we’ve all learned our lesson on that.”
“And we’ll hold the fort here,” Devil said.
