Ian lingered at another booth until Everly continued on, then moved in and picked up a basket of strawberries to hide the paper as he took the sketches from the farmer.
“What did you find out about the vehicles?” she asked.
“They’re registered to five different shell corporations,” Roman told them. “Sam’s found three different properties also owned by the corp. He’s still looking. When do you think you’ll be able to get into his office?”
“I’ll need a little support on that.” She ate the strawberries as she strolled. “He turned off the motion detectors and door sensors in my suite, but his office is going to be as much a fortress as his garage.”
“Just tell me when,” Ian said, “and we’ll find a way to shut down his system, even if it means taking out a fucking power grid.”
“Please.” She shot him a look across the aisle. “Talk about a red flag.”
“Let’s put our heads together and figure something out,” Roman said. “The Seavers are pressuring Gianna for answers. They want that girl back last month.”
Ian and Roman talked logistics of shutting down Hix’s system while Everly chose mangos from one stand, pineapple from another, and lime from still another.
“Shaw?” Roman said.
“Right here, boss.”
“What’s going on? You’re too quiet.”
She smiled at the vendor and gestured to a bouquet of flowers. “¿Puedo tener dos, por favor?”
“Si, señorita.” He smiled, took her money, and wrapped the two bouquets in newspaper.
Everly turned away from the man and lowered her voice. “How deeply have you looked into Paige Seaver?”
“Sam did due diligence,” Roman said. “Finances, legal issues, family, friends, acquaintances.”
“What about politics?” Everly asked, easing toward a topic that obviously wasn’t at the top of Roman’s radar.
“She’s a moderate Democrat, well respected, in good standing in the Senate.”
“Does she have aspirations for the next primary?”
“That’s still two years away,” Ian said.
“Which is when the talk about candidates gets serious,” she told him.
“Where are you going with this?” Roman asked.
“I was on the internet for hours last night,” she admitted.
In fact, she’d barely slept at all. Between fantasies of tasting Hix until those proper manners of his shattered and mulling over his words from the previous night, she’d been lucky to get a couple of hours sleep.
“From what I can tell, Seaver looks like a decent candidate for the Dem’s VP ticket. She garnered a huge amount of sympathy when her daughter went into rehab. And when she took in Mirabella, her approval rating skyrocketed. She’s got the perfect sympathetic trifecta going—death of her opioid-addicted daughter, raising her granddaughter, who she claims is challenged by her mother’s drug use during pregnancy, and now, fighting to save Mirabella from the evil baby daddy who stole her away. One article called her the left wing’s American sweetheart.”
“Sam didn’t pull any of that,” Roman said.
“It’s not his fault. I didn’t think of it either. Not until Hix said he didn’t see Seaver’s interest in Bella lasting much longer. Do you think Gianna knows if she’s got political ambitions?”
“If she did, she would have told me.” He pa
used half a second before adding, “Should have told me.”
“She’s entrenched in politics,” Ian said. “Hard to believe she wouldn’t have heard rumors on the Hill.”
The vendor handed Everly her flowers.