Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

didn’t you?”
    Joley widened her eyes innocently. “I can’t imagine why you’d think it was me, Aunt Carol. Abbey and Hannah were both there as well.”
    Abigail glanced over the pictures spread across the table and her heart suddenly began to pound. She stared down at one of them unbelieving, certain her eyes were tricking her. The face and body were familiar, the stuff of nightmares, she was certain of it. She leaned closer, almost afraid to touch the photograph.
    “Abbey?” Aleksandr slipped his arm around her. “What is it? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
    Abigail reached past Hannah to grab the picture and wave it at Jonas and Aleksandr. “This is one of the men who shot Gene and Danilov. I know it’s him. I’m certain of it.”
    Aleksandr took it out of her hand. “Who took this?” There was shock on his face and in his eyes.
    Carol peeked under his arm. “I did. The ladies from the Red Hat Club decided we were going to visit a few of the private beaches as a sort of defiant statement of owning beaches. I’m fairly certain he was staying at the old Hogan place. I saw him start down the deck stairs and knew he was going to run us off.
    I took a couple of snapshots of him using the zoom lens. It’s such a great feature, don’t you think?”
    “You trespassed ,” Jonas emphasized. “And you darn well did it on purpose, Aunt Carol. You knew the murderers were outsiders and that they would probably be renting one of the more secluded beach houses, didn’t you?”

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    “Well, dear, it may have occurred to me. If I were going to rent a house and not want the law to catch me, I’d use someone else to do the actual renting. How in the world would you be able to find them? The ladies loved the idea of invading private beaches. We danced and sang and ran barefoot into the sea! It was so much fun. And of course I took lots of pictures for all of our scrapbooks.”
    “Carol, you can’t be doing that kind of thing. You aren’t a spy, for God’s sake. And you can’t take Inez and the others along on your little adventures.” Jonas raked his hands through his hair. “Stay out of this.”
    “Just say thank you, Jonas,” Joley said. “She got you the address.”
    Abigail heard the half teasing, half bickering that often went on between Jonas and her family as if from a distance. Her attention was on Aleksandr. “What is it? Who is this man?”
    “Leonid Ignatev. He’s here, in the United States.”
    “What does that mean?” Abigail’s heart began to pound.
    “He wouldn’t be here for stolen art.” He looked up at Jonas. “I think your murder investigation and my stolen art investigation have just crossed paths.”
    “Who is this man?”
    “He was a high-ranking member of the police department with aspirations for political office. When Abigail and I met, four years ago, my career had surpassed his and I unwittingly, in the course of several investigations, stepped on his toes. I knew he was dirty and that he had a hand in shaking down businesses in the city.” Aleksandr shrugged. “It can be a way of life, and there are so many like him, I didn’t give it much thought. I would have left him alone even knowing he was in deep with the mafia if he stayed out of my way.”
    “But he didn’t,” Jonas prompted.
    Aleksandr drew Abigail to him. “No, he didn’t. He went after both my career and Abigail. I had no choice but to take him down. It was the only way to save Abbey’s life. His men would have killed her when they got what they wanted out of her.”
    “What did they want?” Sarah asked.
    “For her to give me up. If she once gave them my name, I would have lost everything, but she held out and when I found out what was going on, I moved quickly to free her and destroy him. Several of his men were killed and evidence against him was discovered. He had to run in order to survive. He put out a hit on me using Nikitin as the broker. We know Nikitin is very violent and mafia, but we’ve never been able to get anything at all on him. Several times agents have been sent in and they turn up dead.”
    Jonas rubbed his jaw. “We’ve been keeping an eye on this Nikitin. I’ve got a file on him a few inches thick, but he hasn’t made a single misstep and you’re right, there’s nothing to charge him with. He’s acting as if he’s on vacation and just enjoying the coast. He’s frequenting