Adam held up his hands to placate him. “Don’t get upset and start throwing things, okay?”
“Just tell me, Adam.”
“Tariq visited Amy at her hotel last night.”
“What!”
“He’s trying to blackmail her. Says he’ll tell the world about dad’s gun running unless she goes to work for him.”
Dylan shot Amy a stare that impaled her to her seat. “Why would she care about dad’s reputation?”
Adam reached out and held her hand. “Because she cares about us. About me.”
Dylan’s handsome face remained expressionless. “Have you told the police, Ms Carter? About Tariq’s threats?”
“No. I haven’t told anyone, other than Adam. And I wouldn’t exactly say he’s threatened me.”
“Blackmail is a threat. And it’s good you haven’t involved the police. They seem totally uninterested in my dead brother. I know that asshole murdered Ivan. He stole him from my family – I never got to say goodbye; not even after he was gone.”
“You didn’t see your brother’s…er… body?” Amy asked.
Dylan buckled down his emotion. “The police officer said he was charred beyond… It wasn’t something my parents or any of us needed to go through. Then the FBI got involved and delayed the funeral. It’s been...” He shook his head and trailed off.
Compassion cracked inside Amy. Poor Dylan. It must’ve been an incredibly stressful and upsetting month. No wonder he was so gruff. He’d been forced to step into the shoes of everyone’s favourite brother, trying to hold the family together, while battling with his own devastation, too.
“What did the FBI say?” she asked, trying to be tactful.
Dylan stared down at his desk, seething like a gathering storm. “The FBI didn’t tell us anything. All they could say was, he’d been asphyxiated.”
Amy leaned forward as her muscles tensed. The image of Ivan bound and gagged crashed into her mind. “Your brother was asphyxiated?”
“Yeah, from the smoke, you know.”
“But you think Tariq murdered him?”
Dylan shrugged. “I seem to be the only one who thinks it. But there’s something about Tariq I don’t trust – always has been. I know him and Ivan were as thick as thieves as kids, but I never warmed to him that much.”
Amy winced. She wondered whether Dylan’s disdain for Tariq merely stemmed from a misplaced childhood jealousy, because his oldest brother had been more interested in playing with a family friend than with him. But… what if Tariq had murdered Ivan in their sex game, then set the place alight to hide the evidence? What if he was a murderer – albeit accidentally?
A bolt of lightning cracked above the building, illuminating the office as well as Dylan’s terse face. He slammed his hand decisively on the desk. “I say we send the boys round to Tariq. That’ll stop his blackmailing once and for all.”
“Oh yeah, good idea,” Adam said. “Then we go to jail for being implicit in assault. You got any ideas that don’t involve beating the shit out of Tariq?”
Dylan leaned forward aggressively. “Well, you got anything better?”
Adam opened his mouth to reply, but Amy sat up tall. “I have an idea.”
Both men turned to look at her, as if they’d momentarily forgotten she was there.
“What is it, Ms Carter?” Dylan asked.
“I could accept Tariq’s offer to spy for him. That way he won’t go to the papers with the information about your father. And I can act as a double-agent for you guys.”
Adam’s passion burst out. “No way, we’re not doing anything that might put you in danger.”
“It’s okay,” Amy said. “As long as I meet him in public – or we can probably just communicate over the internet or phone. I am capable of taking care of myself, you know.”
“No, there must be another way,” Adam said. “I hate the thought of you being anywhere near him.”