Page 16 of Rett

“You’re joking, right?” asked Casey, looking around at the men. “I would have to be blind and a little bit stupid to not realize you’re all related in some way. You know, anthropology experts will tell you when people live together for a long time, they start looking like one another. In your case, you already look exactly like your father and brothers. Great genetics. But your father looks eerily similar to those three men over there.”

“That’s Trak, Joseph, and Nathan. Father and sons.”

“Say what you want, but you all look like you’re from the same family. Even Baptiste looks similar to your father and the others.”

“I guess I don’t see it because he just looks like the same old Baptiste I’ve known since I was a child.”

“It still doesn’t explain why they wanted to frame Rett or any of the guys for a murder they didn’t commit,” said Kiel.

“I’m not familiar with all of this, but I like to think I have a good head on my shoulders. If you had dealings with them before, and if my spidey-senses are correct, you won. Then maybe he wanted to accuse one of you so he could get you out in the open. Maybe draw all of you out in the open or something like that.”

Kiel stared at the young woman, then turned to Zeke and Baptiste, only to look back at East and Eazee. If one of them were accused, the others would either go in to save them or show up in a courtroom. It could turn into a blood bath if it were to happen in Venezuela.

“Are you sure you’re just a chef?” asked Kiel, smiling at the young woman.

“No. I’m a great chef,” she said confidently. “Now, if someone will take me to Sara and Dylan, I’m going to help them plan a dinner tonight prepared by me as a thank you to everyone.”

“I’m down with that,” said East. “Come with me, Princess Casey. I’ll be your bodyguard.” Rett frowned at his brother in a playful way.

“You touch her body. I’ll make Eazee and me twins instead of triplets.”

CHAPTER NINE

“What do you think about Casey’s thoughts? Do you think Ramos is trying to bring us out?” asked Rett.

“It’s a plausible idea,” said Hex.

“Plausible? Is Gwen teaching you those big words again?” smirked Kiel.

“Fuck you. I seriously hate you guys sometimes,” he grinned. “I do think there’s some weight to the idea. Ramos and his family have been a boil on our ass for years. I would like to know who the dead girl is, though.”

“I remember the tattoo just below her belly button,” frowned Rett. “It was plain as day. I don’t know why I didn’t see it initially, unless it was covered by makeup.”

“Because you were thinking with your dick,” frowned his father. Rett stared at him, wanting to disagree, but he couldn’t. The truth was he was embarrassed for his behavior, even more so now that he’d met Casey. He wondered if this would ruin his chances with her.

“I’m sorry. I know I’ve disappointed you,” he said. “Worse than that, I might have lost my chance with Casey.”

“Rett, I didn’t mean that. Hell, we’ve all taken a woman we knew we weren’t hanging around for. And we were all clear about our intentions. As for Casey, just the fact that you haven’t tried to get in her pants yet tells me how you feel about her.

“You said this woman charged you two hundred dollars, so she gave you the impression she was a prostitute.”

“That’s right. Either that, or she was just from one of the poorer families in the area. You’d see a lot of them begging or promising favors just to keep them out of Ramos’s hands. I just never thought I’d see that tattoo right in front of me.”

“Miguel spoke to the Secretary of the Treasury, Javier Salvador. His daughter, Esme, is the one who disappeared. He also claims that he was finally able to view the body in the morgue, and it was not his daughter. The woman was far too short, and she had several tattoos, not just the one you saw.”

“That’s good,” said Rett with some excitement.

“It’s good, but it doesn’t clear you for the murder of the woman. They’re still going to try and pin that on you. The good news is that Salvador is trying to help us. He said, confidentially, funds from the Venezuelan treasury have been funneling to Ramos and his band of merry men for the last five years. He knows someone will attempt to pin that on him, but his life has been threatened every time he tries to resign. Someone wants to keep him around long enough to frame him,” said Luke.

“They drugged me,” said Rett quietly. “What if I did kill that girl? What if something they gave me made me go berserk?”

“You wouldn’t do it, even under the influence,” said Hex.

“You can’t say that. Look what happened to Ben when Lott drugged him and the others. They couldn’t help themselves around those women. What if they did that to me?”

“Condoms,” said Ace. “Did you use condoms?”

“Yes. I made sure I double-gloved each time. I tied them off and tossed them in the wastebasket. When I left, I grabbed them and took them with me. It was such a stupid thing to remember to do, but I’m not a complete idiot. I threw them away somewhere near the Paraná River. I wonder why they didn’t see them when they were killing the girl?”

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