“They already ate,” Dirk said. “Vanessa’s washing them up.”
Mike glanced around. “Where’s Chet? I thought he was on duty.”
Dirk smiled. “He is. He’s with my daughters. Can you blame me for being a little overprotective?”
Mike laughed. “No, can’t blame you at all.”
Mei-li stepped forward, Jason at her elbow. “Rafe, Mike, I don’t think you’ve met my brother, Jason Moore.” She turned to Jason. “Jason, this is Mike Beckett and Rafe Johnson. You don’t know them. But you know all about them.”
Rafe’s face creased into a puzzled frown. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means one of you was working for Terrell Blackwood,” Mei-li said softly. “And we probably never would have known—did you know Blackwood committed suicide when Dirk rescued his daughters?—except you got greedy.”
“I don’t follow you,” Mike said.
“Don’t you?” Mei-li faced him, and her voice was even softer.
“No, I don’t.” But Dirk could hear the bluster in Mike’s voice, could see the way his eyes shifted. “Rafe, do you know what this is about?”
“You followed us night before last, Mike,” she said, ruthless now. “You knew we were heading for the Clock Tower, but that’s all you knew. So you had to follow us. How else would you have known where we dropped the last ransom package?”
“I was at the hotel.” Mike gestured to his fellow bodyguard. “We walked there together. Tell them, Rafe.”
“Yeah,” Rafe admitted. “We walked to the hotel together. But then I went to my room. You went to yours.”
“You knew the kidnappers had no intention of retrieving any of the ransom money we delivered that day. Because you knew it was just a ruse to keep Dirk busy. But you couldn’t bear leaving a quarter million where anyone might find it. So, early yesterday morning, you walked past the Clock Tower and down the pier. You took the staircase down to the water, and you picked up the grocery bag.”
Mike was sweating and his breathing was irregular. “You can’t prove that.”
Mei-li smiled coldly, and Dirk wouldn’t have wanted to be on the receiving end of that smile. “But we can, Mike. You didn’t know it, but that ransom package—like all the ransom packages—were under close observation. You were seen retrieving the money, then were followed back to your hotel. The person who followed you didn’t know who you were...not until later. But he unerringly picked your picture out of a six-pack. You know what a six-pack is, don’t you, Mike? You were a policeman for nine years.”
“Okay, I picked up the ransom money. But that doesn’t prove anything. That doesn’t prove I intended to keep it. And it doesn’t prove I had anything to do with the kidnapping.”
Mei-li turned to her brother. “Tell him, Jason.”
Until this evening, Dirk had never seen Mei-li’s brother without black greasepaint smeared over his face. Now, as he looked at Jason, he remembered Mei-li’s statement that only a very discerning eye could tell Chinese blood flowed through his veins. It wasn’t obvious, just a slight quirk to his brown eyes that wasn’t noticeable unless you were looking for it. Eyes that were hard and cold as they stared down Mike Beckett.
“Even before you were spotted retrieving the ransom bag, I had a thorough background check done on you. On both of you,” he amended, glancing at Rafe. “Rafe checked out. You didn’t. How were you planning to pay off those gambling debts you incurred last year?” he asked with a faint smile. When Mike just gaped at him, Jason continued. “I obtained your cell phone records, too. Quite a curious call pattern. Several calls over the past few days to an anonymous number belonging to a disposable cell phone here in Hong Kong. Who do you know in Hong Kong, Mike? Who could you call that many times?”
When no answer was forthcoming, Jason continued inexorably, “And several months before you arrived in Hong Kong, calls back and forth between your cell phone and another anonymous number, another disposable cell phone purchased in Minnetonka, Minnesota. Who do you know in Minnetonka, Mike? Terrell Blackwood?”
Dirk stepped forward. “You were on duty when Hannah ‘fell’ down the stairs and broke her leg,” he said coldly. “Did you push her? Were you trying to get her out of the way to make the kidnapping go smoother?”
“I...I...” Mike was backing away.