Page 45 of Furever Loyal
“Not much,” Kincaid answered for both of them. “We went to the location of the business that deposited the money into my account. Got jumped by a full-blood Canim, which was a bit of a surprise.”
The Queen smiled. “I would imagine. We shall put that company under further surveillance. If a full-blood is hanging around, that means it’s more important than we thought.”
“That was my thought as well,” Kincaid agreed. “Unfortunately, he got away after shifting in full view of Haley. I did not expect that. Otherwise, the place was a dead end.”
The Queen seemed disappointed. “That’s all you have?”
“Not quite. I had Haley pull Krawll’s records after she suggested that if someone wanted to get rid of me, why wouldn’t they just try to kill me. I hadn’t considered Krawll as being in league with Canis when he tried to kill me during the challenge, but it certainly made sense.”
“Go on,” the Queen urged, looking at Haley now.
Haley spoke up. “I found three transfers of a million dollars into Krawll’s accounts in the few days before.”
“That doesn’t seem unusual.”
She laughed. “That’s what Kincaid told me. The irregularity, though, was where it was from. A little family restaurant. We went and checked it out.”
Kincaid picked up the story. “There was nothing out of place about it, except there was no way in hell it makes enough money to have that much spare cash lying around. It’s a front forsomeone, but I don’t know who. We didn’t come across anything while there.”
“What restaurant?” the Queen asked. “Was it on the list of known Canis fronts?”
“No,” Haley said. “I checked for those in Krawll’s account first, then moved on to anything odd, which is how I found the payments. It was just called ‘Family Restaurant’, over on the corner of Story and Fox Trail.”
Haley was about to keep speaking when she saw the Queen frown. “What is it?” she asked instead.
“I think I know that restaurant. Baby Blue signage. On the corner, with a pharmacy on one side, and a little pizza joint on the other?”
Haley nodded slowly.
“Yes,” Kincaid said.
“I’ve been there,” Kaelyn said softly. “They make good food. I had no idea it was a front. I guess the old owners sold it then and they changed the name.”
Kincaid spoke up first. “The old owners?”
“It did look newly renovated,” Haley agreed. “Remember we thought that there was a lot of empty space on the sign, and it was definitely freshly painted inside.”
The Queen nodded in agreement. “Yes, it must have been. The old place was called Girard’s Family Restaurant.”
Beside her, Kincaid stiffened. Haley turned to look at him. “What is it?” she asked, stunned by the look on his face.
“I know that name.”
23
All at once, a whole lot of things started to make sense. There was still a lot that was missing, but Kincaidfinallyhad something to go on.
“What do you mean?” Haley and Kaelyn asked at the same time. “You know the restaurant?”
“What? No, never heard of it until today,” he said, turning his attention to his Queen. “Not the restaurant at least. But don’t you see?”
Both she and Haley were staring at him, bewildered. Neither of them had made the connection. But he had.
“All this time, I couldn’t figure outwhy. Why did Canis want me gone so bad? I’ve been in Europe for a decade, my Queen. I like to think I’ve been doing a good job there, but I certainly haven’t been in open conflict with Canis. Truthfully, we had a bit of an unspoken accord over there to just avoid one another.”
“Yes, we know that,” Kaelyn replied.
“Well, I think I finally have a motive. I don’t know how it relates to Canis. Maybe it doesn’t. Maybe someone is using them as well to get back to me. But I have it at last. I know why they’re after me. Whoevertheyare.”
