Page 18 of Saving Salem
Ignoring him, Samuel moved to the seat at the head of the long conference table and laid a folder atop its gleaming surface.
“Stefan’s latest reports on the travel itineraries of the Amir family. Abdullah, the eldest now that Tarik is deceased, has been running their businesses from their apartments in Dubai. He’s been there for the last three weeks. Has not been out of the country, though he has appointments scheduled to meet with representatives from Iran and Saudi Arabia in four days. Sayifa Amir, his mother, is at the family compound along with the other family members, planning Abdullah’s wedding to the daughter of an Iranian businessman.”
“What about the other brother, what’s his name? Rashid? From my records, he was pretty much Tarik’s shadow.” Etienne steepled his hands under his chin, trying for a relaxed posture, but Jack took note of the bunched muscles in his forearms, the slight lift to his shoulders adding tension. He definitely wasn’t as nonchalant about this meeting as he’d like everyone to think. Jack couldn’t help wondering what exactly was going on with the younger man.
Samuel flipped through a couple of the pages in the folder before answering. “Rashid’s been traveling extensively for the past few months. From what Stefan’s been able to glean, he’s only involved in the family business in a peripheral sense. He enjoys all the perks of wealth, but stays on the fringes of actually working. Over the past few months he’s been to London, Paris, Florence, and Athens. And while away from the family compound, he likes to party. No steady girlfriend, he prefers playing the playboy image to the hilt.”
“Who actually filed the custody case?”
Samuel smiled. “Good question, Jack, and one I had Stefan check into. Stefan Carlisle is our resident computer guru. Nothing he can’t find if it’s anywhere on the web. Just a friendly FYI because he’s a bulldog when he’s hunting info. Anyway, turns out the custody suit was filed by Abdullah Amir.”
“Interesting. My first instinct would have been Tarik’s mother.”
“Mine, too.” Samuel studied the sheet in front of him. “It’s possible that Abdullah filed, because he’s the official head of the family.”
“What about the woman who came looking for Gabi and Salem? Jennifer something.”
“Jennifer Baptiste. She’s been back in Paris for over a year, ever since she left Shiloh Springs. Never returned to the United States after Rafe pulled her in for questioning. She’s still running her interior design business but has kept it focused on France and the surrounding countries in Europe. As far as we can tell, she’s had no contact with the Amir family. Not surprising, since Tarik was the only member of the family who acknowledged her existence. She was the illegitimate mistake as far as the rest of the family was concerned, and they shunned her as though she wasn’t worth bearing the family name.”
Jean-Luc slid onto the chair across from Jack. “Makes it understandable that she’d help Tarik. He was her only link to the family she never knew. The family that didn’t want her. Sometimes the desire to know who you are, where you came from, overrides your good sense.”
“According to Stefan, they’re still shunning her. There’s been no phone activity or internet connection between Jennifer and the rest of the Amir family.”
Jack couldn’t help thinking about the connections all the Boudreaus in Shiloh Springs had, their “found family.” Nobody cared about blood lines or DNA. From what he’d been told, the guys working at Carpenter Security were the same, they all considered themselves family.
“You mentioned itineraries for the Amirs. Does that mean somebody other than the two sons is traveling?”
“Sayifa and her daughter are getting ready to head to Dubai, where they’ll meet up with Abdullah. They have plans for shopping and visiting friends. They also have an appointment to meet with their lawyers while there.”
“What about Rashid, is he planning on joining the family in Dubai?”
“Not from what we could ascertain. Looks like he’s planning on heading back to London next week. He has friends from university that he gets together with every few months.” Samuel closed the folder and slid it across the table to Jack, who caught it without a word.
A slender dark-haired man walked through the door, a pair of glasses perched on the end of his nose. “Found something,” he said before handing a note to Samuel, who scowled at whatever he read.
“Stefan Carlisle, meet Jack Sutton. He’s joining C.S.S. from—”
“Texas, Austin to be precise. Graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice. Been with the Texas Rangers—the law enforcement agency, not the baseball team—for almost ten years. Mother, Margaret, currently widowed. Father, John, killed in a motor vehicle accident. And newlywed, married to Salem Hudson-Sutton. Stepfather to Chloe Hudson.” He smiled at Jack. “Congratulations on that, by the way. Salem’s one of the good ones.”
“Thanks.”
“You sure about this, Stefan?” Samuel’s scowl deepened, and he stood, barely restrained anger radiating through his posture.
“Took a bit of digging, but, yeah. I gave you the flight information. The Amirs will be arriving in the United States in two weeks, landing in Washington, D.C. Meeting scheduled with a representative of the State Department. They’ve also contacted Waverly and Smithson to coordinate with their attorneys in Dubai.”
“Jack, can you let Ivy know this information? She’ll want to know the Amirs are stepping up their game if they’ve hired Waverly and Smithson. They are expensive and they are cutthroat. No telling what they’ve got up their sleeves, but it can’t be good.” Samuel sighed. “Guess we should let Salem know the Amirs are going to be here in the States.”
“I thought they couldn’t travel to the U.S. Something about problems in the past? Salem said Tarik was the only one of the family allowed to travel to the States.”
“That was true. However, because of all their business interests, and after Amir died, the family had petitioned to be able to visit their stateside offices for business. The petition was granted on a limited basis.” Stefan was the one who answered Jack.
“Somebody’s already made an attempt to terrorize Salem in her own home. How much worse are things going to get if they are practically down the street? Because we all know they aren’t going to stay in Washington. They’ll head to New Orleans first chance they get.”
It took everything he had to keep himself in his chair. Every instinct screamed for him to get up and head back to the apartment, to bundle up Salem and Chloe and take them far away. Someplace where the Amirs could never find them.
But that wouldn’t do any good. It wouldn’t solve the problem of Chloe’s custody, not unless he could hide her away until she was eighteen. Plus, the Amirs were wealthy. Stinking rich, with not only oil money, but with the other legitimate businesses the family owned and operated. With enough time and money, anybody could be found.
“I talked with Remy. He said there were no prints on the knife. They swabbed it for DNA, but he’s not hopeful they’ll find anything. The only thing he’s got to go on was it’s not a common blade. It’s a Turkish dagger with a steel blade and a silver grip. There’s carved filigree work on the handle. It’s old. Not necessarily a museum-quality piece, but definitely not something you’d pick up at any store. We’ve got an expert coming in to evaluate it, to see if we can get any information on the piece. Might be able to track it back to the Amir family that way.”
