Pursuit of the Truth

by K. D. Richards

  Smith looked surprised that she’d spoken. Nadia speared Smith with a cool stare, despite his menacing demeanor. He was in her office, sitting behind her desk, and if he thought she would play the silent woman in this drama, he could think again.

  Smith’s smile was slick as oil and just as cold. “It’s always humbling to realize one is not as well-known as one believes. You may not know me, but I believe you have met my associate, Mr. Brian Leroy.”

  Nadia frowned. “I have.”

  “I found it unfortunate that Mr. Leroy’s company was not awarded the contract for the work on your last hotel.” The iciness in his tone had her tensing. Ryan also tensed.

  Smith raised a hand. “It is what it is, in this business. One can’t expect to get every contract.” But his tone made it clear that is exactly what he would have liked.

  “In any case, your brother made a much more interesting business proposition.” Smith pinned Nadia with his stare. “One which I took him up on.”

  Nadia’s brain clouded with confusion. “I don’t understand. What business proposition?”

  Smith cocked his head. “It’s best you know as little about that as possible. But you can be of help to me. I need to know where your brother is.”

  Anger and frustration broke through the other emotions coursing through her. “Serenity Valley Cemetery.”

  Ryan sent her a cautioning look, which she ignored.

  Smith’s eyes darkened. “I’m not a man to be played with.”

  “Neither am I,” Ryan intoned.

  Smith’s attention swung from Nadia to Ryan.

  She felt the man standing behind her shift.

  The tension in the room cut through her anger. “I assume you are responsible for the note asking about Nate, as well as all the other incidents that have happened to me and my hotel in the last few days?”

  Smith’s forehead wrinkled. “I don’t know what happened at your hotel. I directed a few employees to locate your brother. They used you to draw him out.”

  “Nadia has nothing to do with your business with Nate Shelton.” Ryan glared at Smith.

  Smith shrugged. “They are contractors. I don’t question their methods as long as they do the job.”

  Ryan shot daggers at Smith.

  “Fortunately for you, you are very resourceful, Miss Shelton.” Smith shot a glance at Ryan. “And my men very inept.” Smith frowned. “I’d hoped a few warnings—the calls, the damage to your car—would scare you enough that you’d reach out to your brother, giving my men a chance to locate him. However, whoever attacked Mr. West’s home yesterday in an attempt to get retribution for Andrei Ledebev was not authorized or condoned by me.”

  Nadia glanced at Ryan. “We had nothing to do with that man’s death.”

  Smith waved away her comment. “It’s of no concern to me if you were. Hazards of the job. Taras is bereft over the death of his brother and acted rashly. I will deal with him.”

  Another jolt of fear ran through Nadia’s body. She didn’t want to know what Smith intended.

  “An internet search would have given you my brother’s location. He died almost a year ago.”

  Smith locked on to Nadia’s face. After a long moment, the hostility in his eyes morphed into disbelief. “You really don’t know?”

  Nadia looked at Ryan, wondering if he understood what Smith was saying, because she certainly didn’t.

  Ryan reached for her hands, which she clutched so tightly in her lap her knuckles had gone white.

  Smith motioned to the man standing behind them. The man stepped around the desk, pulling a letter-size envelope from the inside breast pocket of his jacket.

  Smith handed a five-by-seven photograph across the desk.

  Ryan and Nadia both scooted forward in their chairs, Ryan’s hand still covering hers.

  The picture showed a man with a shaved head and full beard but still recognizable as Nate.

  Nadia’s heart shuddered, an audible gasp slipping from her lips. “It’s Nate.”

  Ryan squeezed her hand. “That does not prove Nate’s alive.”

  “The date-time stamp,” Smith said simply.

  The picture had a date and time stamp in the bottom right corner. It had been snapped a month ago.

  “Time stamps can be faked,” Ryan said.

  Smith spread his hands in front of him in a gesture of innocence. “What reason would I have to falsify the photo?”

  Ryan didn’t have a good answer for that question, but he knew enough not to trust Smith.

  “It can’t be,” Nadia whispered, despite everything in her screaming that it was Nate. Nate was alive a month ago. If what Smith said was the truth, Nate was alive at this very moment.

  “I’m sorry.” Smith’s eyes held sympathy. “I figured you knew. My men almost had him, but...well, I obviously need to improve my hiring practices.”

  Smith looked away for a moment, seemingly lost in thought. When his gaze returned to Nadia, any trace of sympathy was gone. “However much of a shock this is to you, the fact remains that your brother stole from me.”

  Smith’s words were a second punch to her gut. “What? How?”

  “As I said before, it’s best you not know the details. Since it is obvious you know nothing about my business with your brother or his deception, I will leave you out of this, as long as you produce Nathan within forty-eight hours.”

  That didn’t sound at all like he was leaving her out of it, but she didn’t have time to say so.

  “And if she doesn’t produce Nate?” Ryan scowled at Smith.

  Smith’s gaze dropped the temperature in the room ten degrees.

  “I’m sure neither of you want to find out the answer to that question.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Smith left the same way he’d appeared to have arrived, without being captured by the supposedly upgraded security in the hotel.

  Ryan made a mental note to order a full review of the hotel’s security and find out how Smith had gotten in. He called Dale, the West Security member stationed in the hotel lobby, the moment Smith stepped foot out of Nadia’s office.

  Dale arrived in Nadia’s office ten minutes later. He’d done a sweep of the lobby and exterior of the hotel but there was no sign of Smith. Dale explained that a guest had approached him and reported seeing a strange man entering her room as she’d gotten off the elevator. Given the circumstances, he’d gone to check out the room and, finding it empty, had proceeded to the security room to check the tapes for the man. That’s where he’d been when Ryan called.

  Ryan sent Dale back to the control room to pull the video showing how Smith got into Nadia’s office. Even having distracted Dale, Smith would have needed a key card to access the area. This was the second time someone had accessed an area of the hotel with a key they shouldn’t have had, and Ryan wanted to close this security loophole ASAP.

  “I can’t believe Nate is alive.” They were the first words Nadia had spoken since Smith had left.

  “If he is. We can’t just trust Smith. This could be some kind of trick.”

  As soon as he could, he’d have the technology whizzes at West examine the photograph to determine if it was genuine.

  “He is. That picture.” Nadia pointed to the picture that Smith had left behind. “It’s Nate. And when I saw it I knew. How could he do this?”

  If Nate really had stolen from Smith, he had a very good reason to want to disappear. Smith may not be the boss. Still, he had to pay the bosses just like all the other midlevel mobsters, and when it came to getting their cut, they wouldn’t care that Smith had been ripped off. In fact, if the bosses found out Nate had stolen from him, it would have made Smith’s position within the organization precarious. Smith had several reasons, personal, financial and political, to want to make an example out of Nate. Or someone close to Nate.r />
  A vise closed round his heart.

  Ryan pushed down the rising fear. It wouldn’t help him keep Nadia safe, and that was the only goal at the moment. The best way to keep her safe was to find Nate.

  He called Gideon and Shawn and relayed the conversation with Smith. After a copious amount of swearing, Gideon got started on a deep search of Nate’s and Nadia’s lives to turn up any leads on where Nate might be.

  No matter how motivated, it was difficult to disappear completely. Humans are creatures of habit with a deeply rooted instinct to gravitate toward things, areas and people familiar to them on some level. Even if he’d moved to a new city and assumed a new name and career, it was likely that Nate still listened to the same music and frequented the same kind of restaurants. Those were all threads West Security could follow to find him. Of course, they usually had more than two days to pull those threads.

  “Do you have a scanner? I want to get those pictures to my tech guy. Maybe we can see some detail that will tell us where they were taken.”

  Nadia showed him the machine, and he made quick work of scanning the pictures and sending them. He mentally kicked himself for not asking Smith where the photographs had been taken. Hopefully, they could get something helpful from the photos.

  While he spoke to Eugene Paul, he kept an eye on Nadia. She stared quietly across the room, lost in thought.

  Ryan ended the call.

  “The listings.” Nadia looked at him with glassy unfocused eyes.

  “What?”

  “Smith said Nate and he were involved in a business deal. And Nate had those listings for the buildings for sale in the Bronx.”

  “You think Nate and Smith’s business deal involved buying those buildings?” Ryan turned the possibility around in his head. “It’s a place to start, but I’m not sure I remember the addresses, and Parsmons hasn’t released Nate’s apartment yet.”

  “One was 1437 Ambrose Avenue.” Nadia rose and moved behind her desk. She logged in and typed the address into the search bar.

  The listing popped up on-screen.

  She reached for the phone on her desk. “I’m going to call the realtor. See what information I can get about the property.”

  Ryan skimmed the listing. It gave the name Carol Alvarez as the realtor.

  Miss Alvarez picked up on the second ring.

  “My name is Nadia Shelton. I’m interested in one of the properties you have for sale. 1437 Ambrose Avenue.”

  “Are you representing a buyer?” Through the speaker, Alvarez’s voice dripped with suspicion.

  “No, I’m not a realtor.” A sucking sound came from the other end of the line. Ryan imagined Alvarez readying to end the call. Nadia spoke quickly. “I’m the CEO of Shelton Hotels. I’m always looking for opportunities, and this property came to my attention.”

  “It’s a great property.” Enthusiasm laced Alverez’s tone now. “A lot of potential. The entire block is for sale.”

  Ryan searched Alvarez’s brokerage website for any properties for sale on the same street. Listings for four adjacent properties appeared.

  “Although the properties are listed separately, the sellers have a strong preference for selling the buildings together. I realize you may not be interested in all four,” Alvarez blurted, obviously anticipating that most buyers are not in the market to purchase an entire city block. “But there was another potential buyer not long ago, and they may be interested in forming a partnership with an interested party such as yourself.”

  “Another buyer?” Nadia asked.

  “Yes, the buyer had an exclusive option to purchase the properties last year. Unfortunately, they weren’t able to get financing.”

  “Do you mind me asking how much the buyer paid for the option?”

  “Ten million.” Nadia turned to Ryan, her eyes wide.

  He motioned for her to keep talking.

  “Yes, well, and what is the seller asking for the combined properties?”

  “One hundred ten million.”

  Under different circumstances, Nadia’s stunned expression might have been comical.

  “Miss Shelton? Are you still there?”

  “Yes, I’m here. Well, we are in the beginning stages of scouting properties. I’ll be in touch if I decide to pursue one or more of the properties.”

  “Of course.” Alvarez’s palpable disappointment carried over the phone line.

  Nadia moved to replace the receiver, then stopped. “Miss Alvarez?”

  “Yes?” The other woman’s voice rang over the line hopefully.

  “Would you mind telling me the name of the buyer who had the option?”

  Alvarez hesitated.

  “If I am going to consider a partnership, I’d like to know who I’d be working with,” Nadia added, glancing at Ryan.

  “I guess it wouldn’t hurt. It was an LLC. Abebe Holdings.”

  Nadia’s back stiffened.

  “Do you have the name of a contact person for the LLC?”

  Sounds of paper shuffling came from the other side of the line. “Here it is. Erik Jackson.”

  * * *

  RYAN DIDN’T TRY to talk Nadia out of going with him to confront Erik with the information Carol Alvarez had given them. Without knowing exactly how deep in this mess Erik was, it would have been safer for Ryan to speak with Erik alone, but he understood Nadia’s need to confront the man she trusted.

  Having Nadia along also made it easier to get past the security in the lobby of the law firm. The guard on duty merely sent Nadia a cheery smile and waved them both through the gate.

  They took the elevator to the forty-second floor. Nadia had said very little since they’d left her office. Now she almost radiated with anger.

  Nadia stepped from the elevator before the doors had completely opened and stormed down the brightly lit corridor toward an office at the far corner. An older lady with a gray bob sat at a cubicle off to the side of the door. She looked up from her computer screen, her welcoming expression changing to one of surprise as Nadia blew past, flinging the door open hard enough that it slammed into the wall.

  Ryan caught it before it bounced back, but Nadia was already across the large office, stopping in front of her uncle’s desk, her hands fisted on her hips.

  “Where is Nate? I know he’s alive. I know he was involved in some business deal with Lincoln Smith that went wrong.”

  Erik hurriedly replaced the phone receiver he’d been speaking into and rose. “Nadia, you need to calm down. I don’t know what you think you know.”

  Ryan’s eyes narrowed in on the butterfly bandage covering Erik’s right cheek and the brace on his left wrist. He caught Erik’s gaze, and the guilt swimming in the man’s eyes was unmistakable.

  “I know,” Nadia yelled. “I spoke to the realtor, Carol Alvarez. I know about the buildings in the Bronx, Abebe Holdings and the ten-million-dollar option. You’re listed as the contact person on the documents, Uncle Erik.”

  Ryan laid a hand on Nadia’s shoulder, concerned she might launch herself over her uncle’s desk and physically attack him.

  Not that Erik looked like he would put up much of a fight. He visibly shrank with each word from Nadia’s mouth. Erik fell back into his chair.

  There was a long moment’s pause. “How did you find out?”

  “Does it matter?” Nadia answered incredulously.

  Anger boiled in Ryan’s stomach. Erik didn’t seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation. “Lincoln Smith dropped by Nadia’s office this morning for an impromptu meeting.”

  Erik’s face went ashen.

  Maybe he was coming to understand the danger his and Nate’s lie had put Nadia in. Lincoln Smith was a killer, and he’d been within feet of Nadia. If that didn’t make this situation real for Erik, nothing would.

  “He showed me pictures
of Nate. Pictures taken a month ago. Why, Uncle Erik? Why did you and Nate do this?” Nadia’s voice cracked.

  Ryan’s heart pinched. Nadia didn’t deserve to be put in this situation by the people she trusted the most.

  Erik sighed heavily. “We didn’t have any other choice. Nate wanted to make a name for himself, outside of what Calvin had built. He saw this project as a way to do that. You can’t understand a man’s need to prove himself to the world.” Erik straightened in his chair.

  Nadia felt anger flare in her gut. “Lots of people, men and women, want to prove themselves, Uncle Erik. They don’t throw in with the mob, though.”

  Erik’s gaze dropped to his desk. “I don’t know if Nate realized who he was doing business with, not at first. His friend Brian Leroy brought him the deal initially.”

  Ryan resisted the urge to call Erik a liar. They had most of the story, but Ryan had no doubt that Erik either knew where Nate was or how to get in contact with him. Since they needed that information, he reined in his temper.

  “By the time Nate came to realize his partner wasn’t the businessman he’d thought, it was too late. And then the financing fell through, and things spiraled.”

  Nadia sank into the visitor’s chair in the office. Ryan stood behind her. “How did Nate get ten million dollars to buy the option?”

  Erik sighed. “Smith put up the money for the option, with Nate acting as the front man due to Smith’s reputation. Nate was supposed to come up with half the hundred-ten-million-dollar purchase price, and Smith would supply the other half.”

  “Fifty-five million? How did Nate expect to raise that?” Nadia asked, her voice rising.

  Erik leaned forward, locking gazes with Nadia. “You have to know Nate was adamant about not using any of Shelton Hotels’ assets for this deal. He wanted to do it all himself.”

  Ryan pressed his lips together. That Erik would justify his nephew’s stupid decision to get involved with mobsters, even after everything that had happened, boggled the mind. But he and Nadia still needed Erik to tell them where Nate was, so Ryan would keep his mouth shut, for now.

  “You think I should, what, give him a prize for that?” Nadia said.