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“Do we want to know the other option?” Andrei asked.
“If he’s really considering switching sides, that could explain the first two statements. The third could be in reference to either the ball or the explosion in Italy. Or the failed kidnapping attempt,” Ivan said. He had a habit of rubbing his hand over his goatee when he would worry.
“I see why you’d prefer to stick with the first option,” Andrei said.
Adrik felt me tense at the mention of those three events. His hands found mine and he laced his fingers through mine, keeping my arms on top of his that were wrapped around my waist. “What else did you find out about Giana this afternoon? You guys have been down here all afternoon, it can’t be just that she’s the addict among us,” Adrik asked. I was both surprised and impressed that he was remaining as calm as he was right now. His fingers lightly played with mine, sending waves of warmth up my arms as we talked.
“She slipped a note to her dealer. We’re thinking it’s all in reference to Armando’s house, but none of us have been there recently,” Viktor said. He produced the note that I had translated earlier and handed it to Keith. “Can you make sense of any of that, in reference to his house?” he asked.
Keith studied the note. “Well, I’m sure you all know his safe is impossible. You have to have Armando to get into that thing, so that checks out.” He read the other three sentences and then read them again. “Top of the stairs, third door on the right is Armando’s room.”
“Does he keep anything special in there or is he the special thing?” I asked.
“He has a second safe in there, but it’s just like the bigger one in his office. You have to have Armando to get into it,” Keith said. He thought for a few minutes more, studying the note.
“Armando had some very pricey art on his walls in his house in Italy. Do you know if that’s the case here as well?” I asked.
I could see the light bulb turn on in Keith’s head. “That’s what that means. Look, I don’t know art. I couldn’t tell you how much these paintings are worth or even what the paintings are of, in a couple of cases, but he has the majority of paintings in these rooms on the first floor. He has a few upstairs as well, all in his room. Maybe that’s why his room is specifically pointed out. It’s really the only one with any kind of paintings in it upstairs.”
“It sounds like she’s planning an art heist,” Ivan said. “If she’s looking for maximum profit, that’s the way to go if you can’t access the safe. But stolen art is very hard to sell. Given that her family used to be wealthy, she might have connections on how to move it, but this seems well above her level of intelligence.”
“Her family is no longer wealthy then?” Adrik asked.
“Viktor figured it out. It didn’t make sense that she was planning on robbing Armando if she came from a wealthy family. She has all the money she could want with Armando. Why would she be trying to rob him, if not for a larger reason? When she ‘apologized’ to me, it was clear that her family still controls her,” I said.
“Her father has made some terrible business decisions since he took over from Giana’s grandfather. They’re virtually penniless now.” He pulled up the first article he found and walked over to show Adrik. “One of the biggest deals that cost him a substantial amount of money was with Armando.” Adrik looked at the picture for a moment. I could suddenly feel his anger rising quickly.
I sat up and turned to look at him. He was still looking at the computer screen. He pointed to the man that looked vaguely familiar in the picture, then looked to me. “That’s who he was arguing with yesterday after the meeting.”
“Shit. I knew he looked familiar. I didn’t recognize his younger self,” I said.
“What does this article say?” he asked me.
“It was originally a huge business deal that they started before they got approval. Three investors pulled out, but it doesn’t give a reason why, and the last investor, Giana’s father, tried to fund the project on his own. He lost a ton of money. It also doesn’t give a reason why approval wasn’t granted either,” I said.
“What about the other article you haven’t seen yet?” Ivan asked, pointing to his computer. I pulled that article up and scanned it. “This one is about a fire that demolished an entire apartment building. Three people died in the fire. Firefighters were unable to put the fire out completely for three days. Um, gory details nobody wants to know about. Ah, Giana’s father owned the building,” I said.
“Could be insurance fraud,” Ivan said. “It’s an old scam.”
I searched for more articles about that building. Most were just reporting the incident, but I eventually found one that reported the ruling on the insurance claim. “I think you’re right, Super Squish. He filed an insurance claim, but they did an investigation and concluded the fire was deliberately set. According to this article, they never found who set the fire.”
“Sounds very similar to Armando’s exploding office building in Italy,” Stephen said.
“Do you think Armando was behind his own building exploding? Is he trying the same scam?” I asked. Stephen just shrugged his shoulders. “Follow-up question: did they have these kinds of insurance scams in the 1500s when you were just a wee vampire of 400 years?”
“Technically, I was the insurance scam. Lots of villages burned trying to get rid of me. I have a strong dislike of fire because of it,” Stephen said, completely straight-faced. We all laughed loudly. I started laughing even harder when I saw the look of confusion on Keith’s face. He was just staring at Stephen, his mouth open in complete shock.
“I love how you just have a ‘strong dislike’ of the thing that could kill you,” I said, still laughing.
“If you can’t find inner peace in 900 years, are you even trying?” Andrei said, which caused another round of laughter from all of us. I was laughing so hard I was crying by the time I finally gained control of myself.
“Shit, I needed that,” I said. “Okay, back to serious matters. Seriously, focus, people.” I was making myself want to laugh again. I got up and handed Viktor’s computer back to him. “Can you please find out if Armando is also in financial trouble like you did Giana’s family?” I asked. I always felt compelled to be extra sweet when it came to asking Viktor for anything. I think it was the look on his face every time I did. He practically melted every time I asked him for anything. He got busy looking up information as I returned to Adrik’s lap.
“So, let’s just say, for the sake of argument, that Armando is having financial difficulty. He blows up his own office building for the insurance money. Why would he depend on us to stop everyone from showing up to that building that morning? He was the one that set that meeting at his building, with all his people there. We were the ones that stopped people from dying,” Misha said.
“Well, when you say it like that, it makes no sense,” I said.
“Unless that was also the plan all along. If he didn’t show, but everyone else did…” Ivan said, trailing off.
