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“He’s nearly seventy years old,” Devil said, coming into the room from the kitchen where she’d grabbed plates and napkins for everyone. “If anyone would marry Six, it would be Tommy. He’s a little younger than we are, but not by much,” she added, flashing Gavin a sly grin.
“Nobody is marrying anybody,” Violetta said, entering the room with three pizza boxes. Nora followed carrying another two along with a paper bag. Violetta set her pizzas down on the dining table, then opened each box and flipped the lids underneath. Nora handed the two boxes she’d been carrying to her, then pulled a large container of salad from the bag she carried.
The scent of tomato sauce, cheese, and warm bread filled the room, and Gavin’s stomach rumbled. The whiskey had been appreciated, but the pizza would be devoured. A few minutes later, they were all seated around Violetta’s large table, with food piled high on all their plates.
They ate the first slices in silence, but by the time Gavin was on his second, he wanted to hear everything Joe and the club had discovered while they’d been gone. Starting with Newcross. “Did you send someone up to check on Julian?” he asked before taking a bite of pizza.
Joe nodded and finished chewing before answering. “He’s definitely dead, although that’s not a surprise given DePalma told you he’d killed him. Jennifer Farrington, the Keene chief of police, called me after they discovered the body to ask me a few follow up questions. By then, I knew about the morphine and Botox, but I didn’t want to get into it, so held my tongue. They will be doing an autopsy, though.”
Gavin nodded. “Did she want to know how you knew to send her team up there?”
Joe bobbed his head. “A bit. I told her that his name came up in a case I was investigating. Once we figure out the story we want to spin about DePalma, I’ll fill her in, but I didn’t want say anything until we had a plan.”
“What should we do about DePalma?” Nora asked, then she took a sip of her wine. Gavin hadn’t seen anyone bringing wine to the table but noticed there were now two bottles sitting between Cyn and Devil.
“Ideally, I’d like to postpone the discovery of his body if we can,” Violetta said. Gavin might not know what she had planned, but her comment didn’t surprise him.
“If some random hiker finds him between now and Monday, we obviously can’t stop that, but barring that, if we can keep it quiet, I’d like to,” she continued.
“Why?” Devil asked at the same time Cyn asked, “What are you thinking?”
Violetta took a sip of her wine before she answered. “The charges thatcouldbe brought against the company, in particular those related to the Alien Tort Claims Act, are hard to prove.” She paused and looked around the table. Her gaze lingered on him before taking in everyone else. “I want to try to get a confession.”
“From whom?” Nora asked.
“How?” Devil jumped in.
“Fabulous idea, what do you need me to do?” Cyn offered. Joe shot his woman a repressive look, then turned to Violetta.
“What does that have to do with keeping DePalma’s death, and the murder of that young man he tossed into the quarry, a secret?” Joe asked.
“Confusion,” Gavin said. Violetta’s gaze found his, and she nodded.
“Explain,” Devil said.
“Julia Newcross will soon learn, if she hasn’t already, that her husband is dead,” Gavin said. “The first thing she’ll probably do is try to reach DePalma. But when she can’t reach him—the man behind much of the nefarious activity of the company—she will likely start to panic.”
“And when she continues to not be able to reach him, she’ll probably go to Austin and Kaden Fogarty—more likely Kaden since he’s her COO—and they’ll talk,” Devil finished. Both he and Violetta nodded.
“You want to record that conversation,” Cyn said.
Violetta nodded.
“Recording from a bug or other listening device won’t be allowed in court,” Gavin pointed out. “And if you’re thinking of trying to be a part of those conversations, Massachusetts is a two-party consent state,” Gavin said. “There’s no way anyone from Shanti Joy will give their consent to record a conversation.” He paused, then looked at Cyn. She smiled at him, and it all clicked. “And that’s why you want to bring the FBI in, isn’t it?” he asked.
Again, Violetta nodded. “If we have a warrant, we can intercept calls and record conversations without consent.”
“So now we just have to get them to talk,” he said, sitting back in his chair and swiping Violetta’s glass of wine. “I assume you have some ideas about that, too?” He took a sip and savored both the smooth flavor and his anticipation of her answer.
She smiled at him, a calculating and somewhat diabolical smile. Taking her wineglass back, she took her own sip, then answered. “As a matter of fact, I do.”
Chapter Twenty-Four
Six was puttingthe last of the dishes in the dishwasher when Gavin walked back into the kitchen after seeing Cyn and Joe off. She didn’t have to look at him to know he was in pain; she could hear it in the gait of his step as he trod across her hardwood floors.
“Need a hand with anything?” he asked, leaning against the doorframe.
She shook her head. “Why don’t you head up to bed? You can have the same room you took last night, or I should say early this morning.” She kept her focus on drying the dish in her hand. It was well past eleven, and they’d only had a few hours of sleep in the last thirty-six hours. If she was lucky, he’d take her suggestion and make his way upstairs to the bed.
