Page 50 of Defenseless
“Trespassing, intent to commit murder, and a few other things,” he answered, picking up a notebook from one of the last few boxes. Uncle Mike hadn’t left any obvious notes, at least none they’d found so far. Which meant that whatever information he found was either in code or very subtle, and they’d missed it. Or, the option Sabina didn’t care to think about, that he hadn’t written anything down at all.
Suddenly, Ava’s chair flew back as she jumped up with a great big whoop. So startled at the movement and cheer, Sabina nearly dropped her notebook. She wasn’t the only one caught off guard, nor was she the only one who smiled when Ava started doing a little celebratory dance, chanting, “I got it. I got it. I got it.”
“Care to tell us what you got?” Ethan asked.
She held up a finger then walked to the printer that was spitting out paper. Taking the documents, she rearranged them into a particular order then joined them at the table. As she passed out the stacks of papers, she started to explain. “Kevin Jacobs was looking for something when your mother was killed,” she said. Sabina and Kara nodded. “Which made me start to wonder what was going on in his lifeat that time. Leo and Collin are looking into his current situation, including finances and all that, but something triggered him eighteen years ago, and I wanted to find out what it was.”
A trill of excitement vibrated through Sabina. Leaning closer to Chad to better see the stack they shared, she started to scan the first page. Without question, he handed the papers over and into her control.
“And?” Ethan prompted.
“Long version or short version?” Ava asked, practically bouncing on her toes.
“Short,” everyone replied at once. They could dig into the long version later.
“Short version is that Jacobs was involved in all sorts of illegal activities from gambling to high-end prostitution to bootleg liquor,” she said.
“You make him sound like Al Capone,” Ethan muttered.
“Not far off,” Ava said. “Although Kevin was just a player in the organization, not the head.”
“What does that have to do with our mom’s murder?” Kara asked.
“I believe that whoever was laundering the money for the organization stole it from Jacobs, which then put Jacobs in a panic. And I think, for whatever reason, he thought your mom might have information on who that person was or where to find them.”
“But what would my mother know…”
Sabina felt Kara’s eyes on her as her sister’s voice trailed off. But she kept her attention on the information in her hand.
“Sabina?” Chad asked. “Didn’t you say your father was an accountant?”
“He was. Or is,” she said, looking at the group and holding one of the pages up. “And this is what Uncle Mike found. Hidalgo Jose.” She pointed to a name on the list of shell companies Ava had found that had been used to launder the money. The same name she’d seen scribbled in one of Mike’s notebooks. She’d thought it was the name of a person, and one so common that she hadn’t bothered to run a basic internet search on it. Of course, even if she had, she wouldn’t have found what Ava had.
“So Uncle Mike found evidence of Kevin Jacobs’s illegal activities and Jacobs killed him,” Kara posited.
“It would make sense,” Chad said, his voice heavy. “Is it also possible that your dad was the accountant andthat’swhat Kevin Jacobs was looking for from your mother? A way to find him?”
Gina made a small sound of disgruntlement. “Mike finding a link between Hidalgo Jose and Kevin would be enough to warrant Jacobs killing him. But if he also managed to find a link between Hidalgo Jose and Richard Houseman, then it would have been imperative that Jacobs kill him because the authorities would have been able to connect Kevin to not just the illegal activities, but also the murder of your mother,” Gina said.
“But is it possible your father was involved?” Ethan asked.
Sabina looked at her sister and slowly, Kara nodded. “I can’t say for certain,” Kara answered. “But it’s possible.”
“Tell us about him. Your father,” Ava urged. She, Leo, and Collin had all swiveled in their chairs and rolled them closer to the rest of the group.
Again, Sabina looked at her sister, but this time, she answered. “He left when we were twelve. I don’t remember any big fights or anything. He wasn’t always the best of dads. He wasn’t terrible to us, but Kara and I were always…”
“Kind of an afterthought,” Kara finished her sentence.
Sabina nodded before continuing. “When our mom told us they were getting a divorce, she simply said that sometimes people aren’t always who you think they are and that they’d grown apart.”
“Do you think she knew he was involved in illegal dealings?” Colton asked. “Assuming he was, of course, which we don’t know for certain,” he added when Chad sent him a quelling look. Sabina appreciated his attempt at tact, but it wasn’t needed.
“She never said anything to us, but after he left, she definitely erased him from our lives,” Sabina responded.
“Not that it was hard,” Kara interjected.
Again, Sabina nodded. “He wasn’t a part of our everyday life much anyway, so it wasn’t hard to move on as usual after he was gone. I know that sounds weird, but that’s the way it was. After she told us they were getting a divorce, she never mentioned him again.”
