Dominic burst into the room, his face red with excitement. “Liza, my dear. Nico says you’ve done it. You actually figured the damn thing out. Is it true?”
I smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “Yes. It’s really not that big of a deal. I just noticed a pattern with the first sentence on each sheet.”
“Not a big deal?” Dominic threw his head back and laughed louder than I’d ever heard. Now that I thought about it, I hadn’treally seen Dominic show much emotion other than anger before.
“It’s a huge fucking deal, Liza. You solved a puzzle we’ve spent hours on.” He gestured toward the hallway, presumably talking about Nico and his men. “And these are the best of the best. It’s not like they’re a bunch of amateurs. Very impressive, my dear.”
My cheeks burned as Nico and his men filed back into the room. “It was by chance, really. Some of the papers were stacked in a way that formed a sentence from the words. So, I looked through all the pages and began constructing the riddle. You all were in the middle of it. I came in with a fresh pair of eyes, that’s all.”
Nico slow-clapped, and the entire team joined in, giving me a standing ovation. They were already on their feet, but still, I was flattered.
Dominic smiled softly. “You’re a very bright young lady. I dare say that’s a great quality to have in a mate.” He winked at Ty. “Don’t you agree, son?”
Ty snaked his arm around my shoulder and beamed at me. “I couldn’t agree more, Dad. She’s definitely a keeper.”
“Thanks,” I said, feeling my cheeks growing even warmer. “I’m glad it was helpful.”
“You’re a lifesaver,” Ty whispered in my ear. He gave me a tight squeeze before turning toward Nico. “Now that we have the riddle, what’s the plan?”
Nico cleared his throat and took command of the room, as I assumed he had done many times before. He had an aura that demanded everyone’s attention, so it didn’t surprise me in the least that he was Dominic’s righthand man. “I’m going to read the riddle aloud and then we can brainstorm.”
When he finished reading, he turned to Dominic. “Obviously, the riddle is referring to a clock, but what does a clock have to do with Castro’s location? That could be anywhere in the world.”
Dominic nodded thoughtfully. “It could be, but we need to think outside the box. Could a clock represent something other than time?”
The brainstorming began, and soon several ideas were suggested.
Ty spoke up. “You know how each state has an official bird and flower? Do we know if a clock is an official representation of a city or state?”
One of Nico’s men, who’d been typing away on his laptop, shook his head. “I’m not finding anything. At least not in the United States. Should we search in other countries?”
Dominic grunted. “No. That wouldn’t make any sense. Why would Castro flee the country and expect us to find him within twelve hours? We’ve almost used up all the allotted time just making heads or tails out of the strips of paper.”
Nico nodded. “I agree. He has to be close by. I’d be surprised if he were outside the Texas borders.”
I stared at the riddle that had been scribbled on the whiteboard. “I don’t think this is the answer to where Castro is.” The room went silent as everyone gave me their full attention. “It’s just the next clue.”
Nico raised one eyebrow. “Right. I think we can all agree that it’s the next clue, but how does it play into the overall goal of finding Castro?”
I sighed. “It’s a scavenger hunt.”
Ty wrote the word ‘clock’ on the board and circled it several times with a red marker. “Liza’s right. Piecing the sentences together correctly was only the first part of Castro’s game. There’s got to be more to it. He wants us to hunt him down.”
“What the hell does a clock have to do with anything?” Dominic growled, coming down from the high of solving the riddle now that we might be running out of time to solve the clue.
Just then, the large grandfather clock downstairs chimed ten times. The sound of the repetitive bell made me think of my time catering downtown, and something clicked in my mind. “What if the clue is the Presley Acres bell tower? It’s not technically a clock, but it rings every hour on the hour. City officials keep it right on track with the UTC, so it’s always exact.”
“What the hell is the UTC?” Nico asked, his hands on his hips and head cocked to the side.
“It’s the Universal Coordinated Time—the standard everyone regulates their clocks by.” I hoped Dominic didn’t think I was a know-it-all. I just happened to know a thing or two about time. No big deal. “Anyway, now that I think about it, the bell tower is the biggest clock in town. What do you think?” I eyed Dominic, who was staring out of the window.
Finally, he nodded. “You might have a good point, Liza. It’s worth a shot to check it out.” He turned to Nico. “Have your team pull the SUVs around to the front. We’re heading to the bell tower.”
“Yes, sir.” Nico nodded and raced out the door, his security team right behind him.
We were one step closer to uncovering the truth about this whole mess. I had a nagging suspicion that the bell tower clock had something to do with our mission. We just had to figure out what. Hopefully, there would be some answers waiting for us at the top of the tower.
We loaded up into the SUVs and headed into town. I watched as a few people out and about stopped to stare at the convoy of black SUVs with tinted windows. We must’ve looked like apresidential motorcade speeding down the highway. All we were missing was a police escort.
