The Fall of East: Book 3 in the Hear No Evil Trilogy, Malone, Nana [inspiring books for teens txt] 📗

"Why don't you look happy about that?" Emma asked.

He just shrugged and backed away, giving everyone more room to be in the frame. Lucas just shook his head. "With all due respect, Amelia, we can try the traditional route… Or I can just steal his fingerprints."

Bridge looked Lucas up and down, as if he was at all surprised by Lucas's penchant for stealing things. Although I wasn't sure why, Lucas made it clear exactly who he was.

"However we get them, you guys have this."

Amelia chewed on the end of her nail. "I mean, I can get it the legal way. It'll just take more time."

Lucas shook his head. "No, let me. Besides, I feel like Lord Jameson is an asshole. So he deserves what he gets."

Bryna just rubbed his back. "Amelia, you're going to learn that sometimes it's easier to just give him what he wants, because if he can't steal Lord Jameson's prints, he's going to steal something else. And none of us need that kind of headache at the moment."

Lucas grumbled, "I'm not going to just steal something for stealing purposes."

Bryna raised a brow. "So, you don't think Lord Jameson needs his comeuppance?"

"No, I do. And I can arrange that for him."

Bryna pursed her lips and waved her hand as if to say, See what I mean?

"All right, Amelia, I know that there's the legal way, but that's going to take time."

Next to me, Nyla nodded. "Yeah, that's true. We need to check the prints as quickly as possible then go from there.”

"Anything else?" Ben asked.

Nyla nodded again as I continued telling them what we’d discovered. "Yeah, here’s an interesting fact. The day of the regatta, reports suggest that all the lads were accounted for. But there was a secondary report. A witness said that there was one more body to be recovered. At the time, the police ignored it because no one else had a similar account. But the witness said that there was one more person on the boat. If this witness was right, then they didn't pull a body out of the water that day."

Bridge frowned. "So you're saying, Jameson killed Warlow, or Warlow killed Jameson?"

Nyla shook her head. "It’s too early to make that kind of assumption. But it’s possible that Warlow took advantage of the situation and assumed the identity of Walter Jameson. But what East left out is that the witness looked like a much younger Francois Theroux."

Shocked faces greeted us. Emma just let her mouth hang open as if she couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Are you kidding me?"

Nyla shook her head. "No we're not. And to make matters stranger, on the day of the accident, Lord Jameson suffered lacerations and bruising to his face. He was hit by the mast and it broke his nose and a part of his jaw in addition to cutting him up pretty badly. He had to have his face reconstructed. When they pulled him out of the water, he had to be identified by his mates, and they made the ID by his clothing."

Ben winced. “Shite.”

I spoke then. "The mate that identified him was Marcus Van Linsted."

Ben cursed. Drew ran his hand through his hair, eyes wide. Livy wrinkled her nose as if she was trying to solve complex math equations on her head. Telly came back on screen then. "Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot."

I had to chuckle. "Yeah. They're all tied up in this mess somehow.”

Ben stroked his chin. "Look, you two just get back safely. Do the police have any word on who was waiting for you at the airport?"

Nyla shook her head. "No. Interpol's looking into it too. Similar cases. Looks like a hit squad. From what I could gather, some outfit for hire. That's all we have so far. Once we have names, we’ll be able to tell more."

Ben nodded. "Stay safe."

I hung up with the team and pulled Nyla close to me. "Are you okay?"

She nodded. "Yeah. It's been a long couple of days. Looks like Milan will have to wait again."

I shook my head. "I promised. I am showing you the city and how beautiful it can be. There's no reason that needs to be postponed just because we've been shot at."

She laughed. "Are you serious?"

"Absolutely. Get your coat back on and grab a snack, because we're going out. You deserve to see the sites."

“You have a protection squad.” She said it like a statement.

I paused and slanted her a look. “How long have you known?”

Her smile was impish. “Since breakfast.”

“Were you planning on saying something?”

“Nope. You looked so pleased with yourself.”

“Woman, you’ll get what’s coming to you.”

She giggled and squealed as she ran to the bedroom to get dressed.

Chapter Eight Nyla

The following Monday, I was back at work after my medical leave and still reeling from the trip when I had an unexpected visitor.

"You're back?"

Denning was the last person I wanted to see.

I'd been expecting this moment. And he was making his Denning-face. There was something about the way he pressed his lips together and narrowed his gaze that got my hackles up.

"I understand Hale kept you under his strict watch.”

“Is that part of any of your business?”

He pressed his lips firmly together. "I'm just saying that there were a couple of days that you weren't at your flat."

I lifted an eyebrow. "You had men watching me?"

"Well, I had a team on you as you were just shot. You are still part of my team and it’s my duty to protect you.”

I clacked my jaw at that. "My direct supervisor knew where I was, sir. It was suggested that a change of scenery and some R & R might do me well, so I took advantage of the time."

He pinched the bridge of his nose. "Are we always going to do this, Nyla?"

I shrugged. "Hopefully not always."

"Well, for what it's worth, I'm glad to see you're well."

He almost looked sincere. Unsure of what to say, I muttered, "Thank