Page 26 of Nick
“How’d she know which car was yours? It wasn’t the only one in the parking area, but she headed straight for yours.”
Nick paused, wondering why neither he nor Rafe had considered that. Once Ms. Edna had suggested his vandal might be a woman, his brain had automatically started looking into who it might be.
“That’s a very good question. I need to check with the rental agency, see if there’s been any inquiries—”
“Let Rafe do it. It’ll be more official coming through a sheriff’s office asking questions, rather than the customer. They might not tell you anything, where the badge might open lips.”
“Good idea.”
Douglas leaned back and openly studied Nick. “Heard anything from Grant Calvin? He mentioned he’d be looking into that Simon Norville fellow.”
“I’d planned to call him earlier, but I got sidetracked talking to Gracie.”
“Gracie? Nice woman. My wife loves her to pieces.”
Nick slid the phone back in his pocket before leaning forward, resting his elbows on the table to focus on Douglas. “I—we are having dinner together tomorrow night. She said that she’ll cook.”
A slow tugging of Douglas’ lips turned into a huge smile. “A date? You’re going on a date with Gracie? Good job, kiddo. Like I said, she’s good people.”
Nick knew he needed to change the subject before it became a gabfest like old ladies under the hair driers at the beauty shop. He already knew Douglas’ first call when he left would be to Ms. Patti. The whole date thing needed to be nipped in the bud before Ms. Patti started hearing wedding bells and knitting baby booties.
“Let me tell you what I found out about Simon Norville.” Douglas’ tone was suddenly all business. “Man is still in solitary confinement. Supposedly has no access to any tech. No phones, no computers, no television. When he is around any electronics, he is monitored by the guards. Between you and me, we both know slip-ups happen. Smuggled illegal devices get into the Australian prison system the same way it gets into the American one. So there’s no ruling him out completely. We did find a record of his sisters visiting. One of them has only been to see him twice, at the beginning of his incarceration. The other goes about once every month or so. The brother refuses to see him.”
Nick felt his gut clench as Douglas began enumerating the facts he’d uncovered. “Where’d you get this information?”
“You’re not the only one who has friends with skills. And before you ask, I didn’t ask Destiny to look into this. I have other people who owe me. I simply called in a favor.”
“Nice favor.”
Douglas simply smiled. “What isn’t mentioned is Simon Norville has two nephews, kids of his brother. One nephew has never visited but the other one, he’s gone to see Norville fourteen times. I found that little fact interesting.”
“I don’t remember hearing about that.” Nick pulled out his phone, ready to text Calvin, have him verify Douglas’ information.
“Wait, there’s more. Norville’s sister has three daughters. All three have visited Norville on various occasions. Mostly for holidays, but it’s a thread you need to consider. Of the five nieces and nephews, three of them have left Australia in the past six months. All flew to the States. Nephew flew into LAX. The two girls flew into LaGuardia. From either place, it’s an easy one-flight connection to get to Dallas or Houston.”
Nick shook his head, amazed at the info Douglas shared. Calvin’s tech guy was good. Better than good, he was a bloody genius. How had this info been missed?
“I need to get this information to Calvin, find out how this got overlooked.”
“To be honest, with false paperwork, good forgeries, it would have been easy. Luckily, my specialist was able to get photos of the people involved and run them through a specialized facial recognition program, which he invented by the way, which is how he was able to connect the dots.”
“Any chance you can tell me who your guy is?”
Douglas chuckled. “I could, but then I’d have to kill you. All kidding aside, knowing that the person who slashed your tires is a female, you might have Calvin look at the nieces first. Since the nieces are documented to have been in the States several times, have him check to see if they are still in Australia as of the last couple of days. If they aren’t, well, that means we might be looking in the right direction.”
“It would be smart of Norville to use young people like that, especially family. He would have no problem throwing them under the bus if it meant he got even with me. I know in my gut it’s him, and this puts us one step closer to proving he’s the one who got Antonio shot.”
“I want them to pay.” The steely determination behind Douglas’ words didn’t surprise Nick. If it meant getting justice for his son, Douglas would do whatever it took, including taking on the Devil himself.
“Thank you for this. I’m going to make sure Antonio’s shooter is caught. I won’t give up until he or she goes to jail.”
Douglas stood and picked up a dishtowel-covered pan off the counter along with a knife. “I think I need one of Patricia’s brownies. She’ll be mighty disappointed if you don’t have one too.”
“We wouldn’t want to disappoint Ms. Patti.”
A lone figurecrouched low behind a batch of lone oaks several hundred yards from the Boudreaus’ front porch. Watching the comings and goings at the ranch had been a snooze fest but had finally paid off. They’d known sooner or later Nick Vincent would show back up. Something about this place drew him back like catnip to a kitty. Diligence and patience embodied the key to the long game.
There were too many people around to take another shot at him, especially on the Boudreau property. Shouldn’t have missed the first time. It was a fluke and wouldn’t happen again. Slashing his tires had been foolish, but it felt so good at the time.
