“What happened to waiting by the car?”
“You were taking so long, I wanted to make sure you guys made up. Payton, are you sure it’s the same guys?”
“Positive. Hard to miss those two.” Payton licked her lips. “I think they were involved with my dad’s accident too.”
Chapter 13
Alex had already come to the same conclusion. He just didn’t know how they were connected to Nick and what he was investigating. Yet. Maybe Colin was right and Payton knew more than she was letting on. Smith and Jones seemed to have it out for her, which meant they thought she knew something.
“They do seem to be around a lot,” Colin mused out loud as he looked around the apartment. Alex winced; it was a mess. Especially the coffee table. It was nothing more than splintered wood. He hoped Payton wasn’t attached to it. It was beyond salvageable. He hadn’t been aiming for it. He’d just kicked Smith back and that’s where he’d ended up. It hadn’t been planned.
“They were after the envelope,” Payton added.
“How would they know about the flash drive?” Colin asked, puzzled. Alex wondered the same thing. No one should know about it except the three of them.
“Maybe they didn’t,” Alex said thinking out loud, his mind turning with possibilities. “It could have been a guess since we were there at the same time. Thought we had what they were looking for and wanted it.” A coincidence.
“But why come after Payton and not us?” Colin argued, which dismissed his theory. “We fought them. They could have asked us if we had it. They ran her off the road. Attacked her in her apartment. So why was she the target?”
“Because they knew you didn’t have it, but me.” Both he and Colin turned to look at Payton. “They knew exactly what they were looking for,” Payton continued, getting up and starting to pace, uncaring of the crunching glass beneath her shoes.
Alex winced hoping none of the shards went through her shoe. He couldn’t say for certain what the glass was from; it was brown, like a beer bottle. “When they ran me off the road, Jones snuck up on my car and looked inside like he was looking for something specific. I thought he was just looking inside, but he was looking for something. The envelope. He tried getting to it again when Alex was fighting Smith.”
Colin looked at him surprised. “You took on the giant alone?” He shuddered in mock horror. “No, thanks.”
“Payton was being attacked. I interceded.” Alex shrugged like it wasn’t a big deal, but inside he was still seething. His vision had clouded and turned red when he saw Payton taking on the giant alone. His feet moved before his brain processed what it was doing. Getting Smith to let her go had been his only focus. After that it was to stay out of Smith’s reach. The man hit harder than he did. If Smith got his hands on him, Alex knew he’d have been a bloody pulp; then he would have been no use.
“Thank you for that.” Payton touched her throat. Alex clenched his jaw seeing the red bands around her neck. They weren’t her only injuries. Her face was covered in red marks and blood. If only he’d gotten here sooner. He could have saved her the pain. Not that she’d been doing a bad job up until he arrived. Smith and Jones had looked a little worse for wear. He really needed to stop underestimating her.
“You’re welcome. How could they know about the envelope? You stole it from me before we even saw them. So they’d have no idea you had it,” he wondered, changing the topic before he decided to hunt Smith and Jones down and give them a beating they’d never forget.
“Someone must have seen me with it.”
“Where have you been since you left your dad’s house?” Sometimes the best thing to do was retrace your steps. The answer might be more obvious that they first thought.
“I went straight to the precinct. Smith and Jones attacked me not even twenty minutes after I left.”
And she had the envelope when she left the precinct, only giving him the flash drive. “Did you see anyone at the precinct?” Maybe that was the connection.
“Major Diesel.” Alex’s body stiffened at the name. The same guy who’d been at the precinct. “What? Do you know him?” Payton must have sensed his change in demeanor.
“We bumped into him after you left. He was talking to the police chief. The guy gives me the creeps.”
Payton shook her head then looked at him with a grave face. “You think it’s him, don’t you?”
He had a hunch but no evidence. “I’m looking into every possible angle. He did look like he was looking for something.”
Payton’s eyes widened. “It’s not Simon. I’ve known his for years, but he was asking for my dad’s stuff on behalf of General Wessex. Wessex claims my dad had government property with him at the time of the accident. Maybe Wessex is behind it. It can’t be a coincidence.”
“Payton, we don’t know it’s him for sure.” He tried calming her down before she went after him over nothing more than suspicion.
“Who else could it be? General Wessex is adamant to keep me out of my father’s investigation. Now I’m being attacked by people who are looking for an envelope only select few know it exists.”
“Did you go anywhere after you left Colin’s?”
“After Colin’s? I…” Payton hesitated continuing, biting her bottom lip, uncertain how to answer. “I went a few places, but no one was following me. Then I came home.”
“Where did you go?”