Page 56 of Mine to Protect

“Did you find anything interesting?”

“Yes. Melissa is related to the Gorga family,” Miles said. “It’s distant, but it’s there nonetheless.”

Rhett didn’t like that connection. “Did you tell Mom?”

“Not yet. I figured we’d bombard her all at once.”

“That’s probably best.” Rhett glanced at his watch. He was about to go bang on the door when Chris stuck his head out and waved Rhett over.

“Good luck,” Miles said.

“Stay close.” Rhett adjusted his slacks, checking his weapon. He strode across the pavement and made his way up the four steps and into the trailer. Inside, Jackie and Melissa sat on one side of the small kitchen table, while Albert and Joe sat on the other side.

“Sorry it’s so cramped in here.” Chris stood at the end of the table. “This is my girlfriend, Jackie. Her mom, Melissa. And her dad, Albert. And that’s her uncle, Joe.”

“It’s nice to meet you all,” Rhett said. “We don’t have a lot of time, and I have a lot of questions. Like, for starters—”

“We agreed to talk with you,” Albert said, “because Chris trusts you. But it might be faster if we just told you our story.”

“All right. I’m listening.” Rhett leaned against the counter. He’d entertain this for a short period of time, but if they got longwinded or gave him a lot of bullshit, he’d interrupt and do things his way.

“Obviously, my wife and I aren’t dead.” Albert held his gaze. “But the world needed to think we were, especially the Gorgas.”

“Why?”

“Because we wanted out. My wife wanted out, and the only way to do that was to die,” Albert said. “When I married my wife, I went to work for her dad in her family’s restaurant. I brought my brother with me. When her dad died suddenly—”

“He was murdered,” Melissa said. “I can’t prove it, but I know it’s true. The Gorgas accused him of stealing and had him killed.”

“Stealing what?”

“My father made counterfeit money and laundered for the Gorgas,” Melissa said. “The Gorgas believed that my dad was skimming off the top. They said someone tipped them off.”

“I believe that, because Melissa’s father wanted out of the game, the Gorgas simply killed him because they had two new people they thought they could control,” Albert said. “We were green and scared.”

“Had you already known about the illegal activities?” Rhett asked.

“Of course,” Joe said. “Melissa’s dad told us to go along with it until he found a way to get us all out. So, we did. But that never happened, so we had to find our own way out. It took an entire year, but we thought we were fucking geniuses.”

Rhett’s mind was five steps ahead, and he wanted to get there as quickly as possible. “Let me guess. You decided that one of you would get in good with the Gorgas, saying that the other was stealing, and offer to kill your own brother and his wife.”

“You’re a smart man,” Albert said. “That’s exactly what we did.” He waved his finger in the air. “We had a good cop friend who was willing to help us. To make sure they put a John and Jane Doe in our places, and that there was no way my brother could go down for the murder, even though we needed the Gorgas to believe he did it since he was hired to do it.”

“The police report that Jackie and Chris put in the safety deposit box. Where did that come from, since it goes to the idea that Joe killed his brother and sister-in-law?”

“Pages of that started showing up on my doorstep about six weeks ago,” Joe said.

“Is that why you hired Chris?” Rhett asked.

“He wanted to help. I told him no, but that kid doesn’t take no for an answer too well.” Joe shook his head, letting out a long breath.

“Chris, why were you sneaking around your sister’s house?” Rhett rubbed the back of his neck.

“When my father was dying, I spent a fair amount of time at her place. One night, I was in her office using her computer. One of her journals was on her desk, and it was open to a page with your name on it. I read one paragraph and was floored. I’ve always wanted my sister to have someone in her life. She’s always taken care of me, my dad, my mom, and she’s never done anything for herself. I flipped through a few more pages and nearly fell over. Next thing I knew, I’d read all about her time in Key West. I couldn’t believe it. So, when all this happened, I knew I needed to find you.”

“I need to backtrack a bit because here’s where I get confused,” Rhett said. “Why did the Gorgas set Joe free?”

“That was always part of the deal,” Joe said. “I went to them with what I knew, but I told them I never wanted to be part of the business. That I had taken the job not knowing what my brother’s new bride or her family did. I agreed to do their dirty work if I got to take Jackie and move to Florida to start over. Unfortunately, they fucked with me from the beginning.”

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