Drake Sisters 03 - Oceans of Fire

listen, everyone tells her everything. She’s like the local counselor. It isn’t that hard to lead the conversation where you want it to go, but she’s sharp, Sasha. Very sharp. Don’t let her fool you. If you think you’re going to put anything over on her, you won’t.”
    “She must know Warner and Ned Fanner. She’s a part owner in the fishing boat as well.”
    “Don’t even think Inez would do anything illegal. She was born and raised in Sea Haven. Her husband was a wonderful man, born and bred there as well. Donald Nelson was a leader in the community and when he died five years ago, Inez stepped into his shoes and took over helping small businesses grow and neighborhoods thrive. She was behind the small library and theater and even the park. There is absolutely no way she would be involved in anything illegal.”
    “You have such faith in people, Abbey.”
    She looked at his expressionless face. It didn’t matter what she said about Inez or Frank or any other of the town’s inhabitants, Aleksandr reserved judgment. The things people did never seemed to shock him.
    She shrugged, slightly annoyed. “You can look at her if you’d like, but it’s a waste of your time.”
    “I look at everyone. Did you know your aunt Carol had coffee with Frank Warner the other day?”
    “Yes, I did. Does that make her a suspect? For heaven’s sake, she just got back to Sea Haven. Do you suspect me?”
    “Don’t be so sensitive, Abbey. I have to be thorough in any investigation.”
    “Well, what about your friend Prakenskii? Don’t you think he’s up to his eyebrows in this?”
    “Not necessarily. Nikitin is here for a reason. It could be as simple as the fact that he admires Joley’s singing and heard this was her hometown and hoped to meet her. I know he’s a huge music buff and he definitely has a sense of entitlement. He would think he should be given extra privileges. It could be Ignatev took a contract out on me and gave it to Nikitin. He did a little research, realized I was coming here, and got here first to set up shop. That’s highly unlikely.”
    “Why?”
    “Because Nikitin wouldn’t want to be in the vicinity when the hit went down. He likes to look clean.”
    Abigail allowed her head to fall back. She was suddenly tired and the headache that had been pushing so close all evening had become a throbbing pain. “What are you not telling me?”
    “I think Nikitin is here for an altogether different reason that has nothing to do with you or with me. I think it’s a lot worse than that.”
    A chill went down Abigail’s spine. “Worse than trying to kill you? What would be worse than that?”
    “Killing a lot of people.”
    “Why would Nikitin want to do that?”
    He shook his head, slowing the vehicle. They were catching up to the sleeper car and he didn’t want Generated by ABC Amber LIT Conv erter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
    that. He signaled and pulled onto a side road, killed the lights; and made a U-turn to bring them back to the entrance. “I told you, Nikitin is a businessman. You have to think like him. He has no reason to kill a large group of people. In his mind he simply brokers deals. We know that much of the stolen art leaving Russia is coming to this coast. That means the route has been open for some time and most likely Nikitin would be aware of it. He probably has a hand in the thefts.”
    “So he is involved in the stolen artifacts.”
    “As long as he gets his percentage, he’s happy. Why would he have Danilov killed over a smuggling route? When a route gets hot you just close it and move to another until things cool down again. No one should get killed over it unless they can’t shut down the route for a reason. And it would have to be big reason and worth a great deal of money to take a chance on killing an Interpol agent, especially since they know I’m here.”
    “Some art is worth millions.” Abigail placed a hand on his wrist and indicated for him to go past the street the car had turned onto. “Keep going, this is another loop. Several of these houses are rentals and we can enter from the other side. We’ll be able to see him getting out of his car and going up to the house.”
    Aleksandr did as she suggested, setting the car back in motion. “Art can be worth a great deal of money, but it isn’t time sensitive. Why wouldn’t they change the route? They could easily rendezvous in San Francisco or anywhere along this coast. It would