Page 62 of Fatal Thrill
“It’s pretty fresh,” Shelby said. She gave a tiny shudder. “But with the ground nearly frozen, it may have preserved thebody.”
Percy glanced around at his family. “Any ideas on who it mightbe?”
Claude and Kelli shook theirheads.
“Neenan?” Jaya turned to the teenage boy. “You said you saw my dad. Here or somewhereelse?”
The kid blushed from his neck all the way to his bangs. “I’m not a hundred percent it was him, but there was a man in the graveyard a couple days ago. I saw him going into thecrypt.”
“The crypt?” Jon asked. “You mean that big family burial vault outthere?”
Neenan’s chin bobbed once. His eyes darted to Percy, then Kelli. “There’s a tunnel init.”
“Are you sure it was Sean?” Percy asked, not seeming surprised about thetunnel.
One shoulder rose and fell. “It was after we found the money.Mhamosaid the envelope had the O’Sullivan mark on it. That it was fromSean.”
“Money?” Jaya and Jon asked at the sametime.
“Where did you find this money?” Percyasked.
Claude filled them in. Twelve hundred dollars had been left in their RV on the front seat inside an envelope with the O’Sullivan crest crudely drawn on it. They’d heard through the Gypsy grapevine that Sean had been nosing around with his son, asking a lot of questions and meeting up with the man who’d bought the Blackrockcastle.
Percy accepted a cup of tea from Kelli, his big fingers struggling to squeeze into the handle. “The owner of Blackrock is a man named Mathew Fitzpatrick,” he explained to the Gypsies. “He was using the name Ferris as a cover. He’s—” Percy glanced at the small kids playing by the fireplace with some wooden toys and a couple dolls. “No longer withus.”
The adultsunderstood.
Miles wiped a dribble of water from his forehead with his arm. “Where does the tunnel lead,kid?”
Neeman, no longer blushing at being put on the spot, mimicked Jon’s stance. “The tunnel connects the vault underground to another atBlackrock.”
“Smugglers have used the underground tunnels in these parts for years,” Percy informed them, “to move contraband in and out of Ireland. They run to the various ports anddocks.”
Jaya felt like things were finally coming together. “So if my dad was in league with Fitzpatrick, and they needed to smuggle the cross out of the country, maybe it was him you saw,Neenan.”
“Makes sense,” Percy added. “But I’d like to know who we’ve got buried in the graveyard and if she has anything to do with Fitzpatrick’s murder or Sean’sdisappearance.”
“I’d like to know where my dad got twelve hundred dollars,” Jaya said, hands on hips. “And why Finn ended up in the hands ofkidnappers.”
Shelby picked a wet strand of hair off her cheek. “Just spitballing here, but what if an investor gave Sean upfront money for the cross, like a down payment, to find it. He did and then decided to double-cross this investor and paid Fitzpatrick to sneak him out of the country. That might be why Sean had that money and Finn ended up ahostage.”
“Sean might also have known there would be multiple parties interested in that cross.” Percy paced a few feet away, tapping his fingers against his cup. “He could have tried to pit them against each other and one decided to take Finn hostage to make him anteup.”
Jaya blew out a sigh, gaze dropping to the floor. “Sounds like him, but I can’t believe he’d bail and leave Finn behind. Although, I guess he’s left both of us like that before, so that shouldn’t surpriseme.”
Jon rubbed her shoulders, aching to pull her into his arms and reassure her, but she needed more than a hug right now. She needed facts. “Percy, do you have any contacts you can put pressure on who might know something about Fitzpatrick orSean?”
“Already working on it,” the detective assured him. “I put out feelers and I’m waiting on call backs from a few of my CIs. I’ll get someone here to exhume that body and tell us who itis.”
Jon picked up the carpetbag and handed it to him. “I don’t think this is related, but there’s an old cell phone in here. You might check for prints and see if it bootsup.”
Claude reached out and took the bag before Percy could. “That’s been hidden here for years. Probably got nothin’ to do with thecase.”
Percy shrugged and took the bag. As he walked away to call his office, Jon’s phonebuzzed.
“It’s Beatrice,” he said to Jaya and the others. “Maybe she’s got anupdate.”
He walked the other direction to find a quiet corner. “Hey, boss. We have a couple of theories about Sean and Fitzpatrick. Nothing solid yet, but I’m about to go for a tour of some underground burial vault and see if I can pick up Sean’s trail. I’ve still got nothing onFinn.”
