Page 65 of Stuart Woods' Golden Hour

She thought for a moment before nodding. “There are a few people who might know. I can try them.”

“I appreciate it.”

“Thank me if it pays off.”

As they were nearing the station, Teddy remembered her text from that morning.

“You said you had info about Owen Pace’s murder.”

“I saidmight. And that hasn’t changed.” She pulled out her phone and shook her head. “Still nothing. I’ll give them a nudge.” She sent off a text.

No reply arrived by the time they reached their stop. Acting once more like they didn’t know each other, they caught separate boats.

Teddy was almost to the hotel when his phone vibrated multiple times. He opened the cell and was greeted with three messages from Vesna. The first two were photos and the last a two-word text, which read:

You’re welcome

Teddy waited until he was inside Mark Weldon’s suite before he looked at the images.

They both appeared to be grabs from security footage.But unlike the middle-of-the-road image quality of standard CCTV cameras, these were taken at a much higher resolution.

The first picture was of two men sitting in the cab of a delivery van. The second was the back of what he presumed to be the same van. Its doors were open, and three men were standing near it, facing in the camera’s direction.

Two of the men were propping up the third, who was none other than a clearly unconscious Owen Pace.

Teddy called Vesna.

As soon as she answered, he asked, “Where were these taken?”

“Specifically, I can’t tell you because I don’t know. What I can tell you is that the van was at a facility owned by a Paris crime organization, though the men in the photo are not Paris locals.”

“The crime org sent you these?”

She snorted. “Of course not. These were taken by their rivals, who have been keeping an eye on the facility.”

“Do you recognize any of the men?” he asked.

“Funny thing that. Earlier this evening, I would have said the only one I recognized was Owen Pace.”

“And now?”

“The guy in the van’s front passenger seat is the same asshole I chased this evening.”

Teddy brought up the picture of the cab and zoomed in on the man’s face.

“You know what this means?” she asked.

“It means that they were trying to bug my meeting tonight because of Golden Hour. Are you sure they didn’t follow us there?”

“I would bet your life on it.”

“That’s not how that idiom goes.”

“I stand by what I said.”

Teddy looked at the pictures again. “If I give these to the Agency, and the people you received them from find out, will there be any blowback on you?”

“I am not an amateur. Do whatever you need to do. They have no idea who I am.”

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