My dad gave me a cautious look. “That can be dangerous.”
“Danger seems to be my middle name—haven’t you noticed?”
“Not exactly something I’m happy about.”
“Well, it is what it is. For now. And you did have to go through two FBI agents and Amano to get to me today so it’s not like I’m an open target.” I sipped my tea and tried to appear nonchalant. I didn’t want my father agonizing over me. He had enough on his plate, especially with this latest flare-up from my mother.
I wondered how best to handle that predicament. Dane had written her a check—so she’d gotten the initial hefty chunk of change she’d been looking for when she’d first come to me. He’d also strongly advised her to stay away from us. That warning had been heeded, until Dane had been presumed dead. Then she’d considered me weak enough to prey upon under the circumstances. She’d been correct with her assumption.
But my mother wasn’t my only current dilemma. The distance between me and Amano was palpable. It ate at me, because he’d felt horrific about keeping from me the fact that Dane was actually alive—and I’d used that guilt against him.
I wasn’t proud of that. Or happy with the outcome. But approaching him with an apology wasn’t as easy as one might think. He was a strong, resolute man who didn’t like to show emotions or vulnerabilities. The fact that he was wracked with remorse over how deeply I’d been wounded because he hadn’t shared with me that Dane had survived the Lux blast was his weakness. When I was pretty sure he felt he shouldn’t have one.
There wasn’t just a web growing on my office wall. One was woven throughout this entire house. And the strands continued to grow despairingly tenuous.
After my dad reluctantly relinquished his hold on Amsel, he left us to return to the golf club. I fed the baby and put him down for a nap. As I was heading toward the inner portion of the house where the office was, Amano approached from the opposite direction, his long stride purposeful.
“I have news,” he said.
My stomach tightened at the way he glowered. His jaw was set and his eyes were dark and flat.
I followed him into the office and he turned up the sound on CNN.
Cameras were trained on the Vegas hotel being carefully dismantled until it was safe for an implosion.
“What’s up?” I asked, shooting for amiable, not tense. I wasn’t sure I succe
eded.
“Bodies,” he caustically replied.
I started. “Excuse me?”
“There are bodies in the concrete.”
My clenched stomach now roiled. “Care to elaborate?”
“When it was determined the rebar was substandard or improperly placed or whatever the hell happened to make the structure unstable, concrete was used in the center to fortify the tower. Which you already know. However, as they’ve taken apart the hotel, they’ve begun to closely inspect the crutch in place by chipping away at the concrete pillars. A body wrapped in plastic tumbled out. Followed by two more.”
“Holy shit.” I gasped. “That’s scary as hell.”
“It gets worse.”
“How?” I demanded. “Because that’s plain sick and wrong.”
“The bodies are intact and identifiable. Names have been released. Jess Nichols. Mike Donaldson. Xander Horton.”
“Horton?” I stared at him, deeply perplexed.
“Wayne’s brother. He worked for me. He was the one who told Wayne about the openings at the Lux when we first started hiring.”
Kyle had joined us, standing behind me initially, then moving around me to be included in our small conglomeration. He’d quickly caught up with the discussion, if the oh, crap, here we go again expression on his face was any indication.
Amano said, “There’s another connection.”
“Of course there is,” I mumbled. Though I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear it.
“Nichols and Donaldson were employed by the Lux, too. They were a couple of our original hires. Then they quit—out of the blue. And right around the time Wayne Horton came on-property.”