Page 46 of Fatal Thrill
Biblical or not, the killer had doled out painful revenge. “This seems fairly recent. The blood has dried but it’s not thatold.”
“Do you think they tortured him to find out Sean’swhereabouts?”
“Makes sense if he was involved in Sean’s scam to find the cross and sellit.”
“Shall we vamoose and call QueenB?”
“Not yet.” Jon had the feeling this castle was like the one Kieran lived in. “Maybe there’s a hidden room or a bunker where Ferris was keeping stuff—guns, info, the cross even. Let’s look around somemore.”
Colton did an exaggerated sigh. “Fine, but I’m sticking with you in case we run into thatghost.”
“You think I can protect you against a spirit?” Jonjoked.
“Fat chance. If this ghost woman shows up, it’ll be all onmeto charm her out of killingyourass. You know I have a way with the ladies, even the spiritvariety.”
Jon didn’t returnuntil afternoon, having searched the castle inside and out. He and Colton looked liked they’d seen a ghost when they entered the kitchen where Shelby and Jaya were fixingsandwiches.
Jaya lowered the knife she’d been using to layer plum jelly on a piece of white bread—the rye stuff turned her stomach—and went right to Jon, throwing her arms around him. “You look likehell.”
Jon hugged her hard. “That place is huge, but we found something that might behelpful.”
Colton and Shelby were exchanging hugs and a kiss too. Jaya stepped back, letting Jon shrug out of his coat. His gun and holster stayed on, but he removed his phone from his pants pocket and set it on the beat-up island next to the cutting board. Jaya returned to her sandwich, finished cutting it, and handed him half. He gobbled down a huge bite and then thumbed through pictures on the phone, finding the one hewanted.
“There was a buyer interested in purchasing the cross,” Jon said. He’d already told them about the discovery of the dead man. He stopped on a photo of a piece of paper with a picture of the O’Sullivan cross and some scribbling on it. “We found this under a floorboard in what might have been an office at somepoint.”
“There were lots of hidey-holes in that place,” Colton added, accepting a bottle of water and a sandwich from Shelby. “An underground room too, like a panic room orsomething.”
“We could spend days investigating every nook and cranny.” Jon zoomed in on a different photo, showing another paper. “This was with the picture of the cross. It looks like a bill ofsale.”
Jaya peered closely at the amount written in the total column. “One hundred forty-eight million euros? For thecross?”
“That’s like $177 million dollars,” Shelby said. “Someone believes it’s quitevaluable.”
“So maybe itdoescontain emeralds that belong to the Brits or Vatican,” Colton added around a mouthful of ham and cheese. “We still have no idea if this Ferris dude was the buyer, seller, or in-betweenman.”
“His name isn’t—wasn’t—Ferris.” Shelby began building another sandwich for herself. “I ran him through facial rec and got a hit. His name was MathewFitzpatrick.”
“Well, that explains it.” Colton wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “You can’t trust them bloodyFitzpatricks.”
They all gave him alook.
“What?” he asked. “JK, guys. I know nothing about the Irish, but around here, it’s as bad as Good Hope. People judge you just by your lastname.”
Jaya knew what he was getting at. “That can happenanywhere.”
“True,” Shelby said, adding another layer of cheese. “Maybe Ferris was his codename.”
“If he’s in the Bureau’s system, that means he’s a wanted criminal in the States, right?” Jonasked.
Shelby licked mayonnaise off her finger. “His family is in the jewelry business, legitimately, but Interpol has long suspected Mathew fenced stolen goods using the family’s contacts throughout Europe and Russia. They just haven’t been able to prove it. He was a treasure hunter who managed to find one of the most sought after treasures in history about ten months ago—a ship filled with gold coins, jewelry, and other valuables that sank off Ireland’s coast several hundred years ago. He found it, brought it up, and then didn’t make his investors happy because he disappeared with at least half the coins and jewelry. Several of those investors were Americans so the Bureau got involved. The family claims they haven’t seen or heard from him since he disappeared and Interpol hasn’t had one legitimatelead.”
“Well, Matt’s not giving up any information now,” Colton said. “Dead men don’t tell tales and allthat.”
Jaya slid Jon’s phone around and played with zooming the picture in and out. “What’s it say on the top of the bill of sale? Is that a businessname?”
Jon touched the screen and a different picture filled it, this one a close-up of the printing on top of thepaper.
Sir Ref’s Inquisition and ExpeditionServices.
