Thoughts of the sharpshooter always set me on edge because I feared what could happen to Bri if she was with them. As the days went by with no sign of her, it seemed more and more likely that was what happened.
I was getting ready to enter her apartment building when my phone buzzed with an incoming text. Stepping out of the flow of traffic, I checked to see who it was. My heart pounded at the sight of the urgent notification from one of my paid investigators, Trent. His message was brief.
Call me ASAP when able to talk.
I ducked onto a side street and called.
After being unable to find Bri that first night, I’d put a man on the trail of Mr. Newsome. I wasn’t sure where he currently lived or if he was still alive, but I thought he was as good as a place to start as any in my search for the truth. So far, my investigator hadn’t been able to locate him. Maybe that had changed.
“What have you found?” I asked by way of a greeting.
“He’s alive.”
I let out my breath. “Where?”
“Providence.”
It took my brain a second to catch up. “Rhode Island?”
“Yes.”
“What the fuck is he doing in Rhode Island?” And how was it possible he lived a mere hour from me and I never knew?
“He came to the States seven years ago under the Immigrant Investment Program.”
I was seeing why Trent told me to call when I could talk. I wished I was sitting at my desk with my laptop handy. “He worked in London as the head of a children’s home. How did he come across the money or the business he needed to apply?”
“That’s where it gets interesting.” I heard papers shuffle. “According to the records I’ve been able to find, he left the children’s home not long after you did. The day he left, he had over two million pounds in his bank account and a controlling interest in Miltawords Software.”
I vaguely remembered hearing about Miltawords. They were an up-and-coming software company from the UK and had been acquired a handful of years ago by a big name out on the West Coast for an obscene amount of money.
“What the everlasting fuck?” I ran my hand through my hair. “That makes no sense at all.”
“Not a bit, and it gets worse,” Trent agreed. “I looked into where the money came from and how he got involved with Miltawords. There’s no direct link to anyone or any corporation.”
“Of course not.”
“But I happened to notice the name TPA in a few documents.”
TPA? I frowned. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard of that company before.”
“I’m not sure many people have. It appears to be a sham.”
Which seemed to be the case with everything I’d tried to research lately. “Not surprising. Did the government not look into any of this at the time?”
“Did you really just ask me that question?”
“I guess not.” I sighed. “At least I can do a quick trip down the road and won’t have to travel out of the country.”
While I wrapped things up, I couldn’t help but wonder if Bri had somehow discovered Mr. Newsome’s current location before I had. If so, maybe she had traveled to Providence.
But for over a week? It seemed very unlikely.
Trent told me he’d send an encrypted email with his report, including all the contact details for Mr. Newsome, within the hour. I thanked him and started the trek back to my apartment.
Less than three hours later, I was on the road to Providence. My plan was to stay overnight in a hotel and knock on Newsome’s door first thing in the morning. I’d also decided not to call Mia or Tenor until I made it to the hotel. Not that I thought they would try to talk me out of seeing Newsome. On the contrary, I feared they’d want to come with me or would balk at me coming by myself.
Though I appreciated they would volunteer to travel with me, I wanted to confront Newsome alone. It didn’t matter how rich he was. He’d lied to me, and I didn’t take kindly to anyone lying to me. He’d once held a position of power over me, but those days were long gone, and I was no longer the young teenager he remembered.
And on the off chance Bri was in Providence, things would probably go better if she only had to deal with me. She might get defensive if she saw the three of us approaching.
I tried not to dwell on the fact that if Bri wasn’t in Providence, I knew nowhere else to look. It was too painful to think we’d somehow found each other after years of being apart, only to be torn apart again. Yes, she’d done some questionable things, but she thought she was doing the right thing. More importantly, I’d not given her a chance to explain why. I’d barely let her tell her side of the story.
I pulled up to the nondescript townhouse at the address Trent had forwarded to me. Since I wasn’t trying to hide anything, there was no need for me to park down the street or to attempt to make my visit look like anything other than it was.
For about five minutes, I sat in my car, watching his front door. I think part of me wanted the fucker to know I was there before I announced myself. But if he was looking out of a window, I wasn’t aware of it.
Finally I got out of the car, taking my time to close the door behind me and make my way up the tidy walkway to his front stoop. I rang the doorbell and waited, slightly surprised that he lived so modestly based on what Trent had uncovered about his life after London.
My surprise grew when he answered his own door instead of a housekeeper. “Carlton,” I said.
My surprise over his living arrangements paled compared to his surprise at seeing me on his doorstep.
“You,” he said, fitting more dislike, loathing, and bitterness in one word than I thought possible.
“Expecting someone else?” I asked, taking a moment to look him over.
Time had not been kind to him. Always on the heavy side, the years spent in a sedentary lifestyle paired with unhealthy eating habits had left him portly. A look made even worse combined with the pallor of his skin and his receding hairline.
“No,” he said. “But I expected you sooner. Guess you’re not as smart as everyone thought you were.”
He moved to the side and let me in. The door closed behind us, but we didn’t move farther into the house. Just as well. From the stench, it hadn’t been cleaned in quite a while.
His words no longer had the ability to hurt me the way they had years ago, and I just smiled, letting his vitriol hit and bounce off me. “I guess there’s no reason to explain why I’m here then since you probably already know.”
“I know I wish I’d never laid eyes on you and that piece of nothing that was forever following you around.”
The intensity of his hatred toward me was unexpected. “Why is that?” I asked. “From what I heard, you were paid very well for doing very little.”
“You of all people should know that things aren’t always the way they seem and that wealth with the ability to appear overnight can disappear just as quickly.”
“Right,” I said. Not knowing the entire story of what happened all those years ago, I tried to piece the parts I knew of together. Maybe I could persuade him to fill in the rest.
“They said all I had to do was separate you and that Brigitta. They’re the ones who informed me she’d also received a scholarship to that school you were going to and that if I’d find a way to get you to go alone, I’d be compensated very well.”