Page 50 of No Merciful Corruption

“Diego is in New York.”

I sit upright. “New York? That’s impossible.”

“The jet has been in New York for over a month. It never came back to Barcelona and it never went anywhere else.” He explains. “We just spent hours combing through his financials and he hasn’t flown commercially.”

“Any suspicious transactions?”

“No. You know him, he’s sneaky with his money. He’s made cash withdrawals at a bank in Midtown but other than that, no hotel records. At least as far as we can tell. He could be paying through a wire transfer but the problem is⁠—”

“Figuring out which one of his million offshore accounts he’s transferring from.” I pinch the bridge of my nose. “My God, this kid…”

Far be it from me to think my grown adult brother had finally grown out of his teenage antics. At this point, I’m starting to get concerned. If he’s in New York, why hasn’t he come to see me? And why is he going to such extraordinary lengths to keep his presence here a secret?

“All right, keep digging. In the meantime I’m going to give my brother a call and see what I can find out.”

“Should we tell your grandfather?”

“No, not yet.”

I hang up and immediately dial my brother.

“What’s wrong?” Lyss asks.

I press a finger against my lips and she nods, remaining silent. After a few rings, my brother answers.

“Hey, I was just about to⁠—”

“Where are you?”

Diego pauses for a beat. “I’m driving. On my way to see Abuelo⁠—”

“I’m leaving. Bring the jet over, I want to fly out of Teterboro tonight.”

“Okay…is Dahlia coming with you?”

“No,” I answer harshly. “She’s not.”

“I don’t understand. I thought the two of you had finally worked things out?”

“Diego, just fucking do what I asked you to. It’s going to take at least nine hours to get here so stop wasting time.”

He stays silent on the other end. “All right. I’ll call you before takeoff.”

I end the call and Lyss looks at me expectantly. “What was that all about?”

“My pain in the ass brother.” I type a message to Dahlia. “When did you see Karina at the precinct?

Me: Still need me to pick you up from Kay’s later?

“This morning. I was on my way in and she seemed to be on her way out. The detectives kept Rian and me there for a while.” She laments. “Probably over an hour.”

So Karina would’ve had enough time to commute back home to New Jersey after filing a report with the precinct. Why would she file one so close to her job though? Wouldn’t it have made more sense to do it where she lives?

Dahlia: yes pleaseeee! I hate New Jersey transit.

Dahlia: Just got to Kay’s. Sending the address.

Dahlia: Is around 3 o’clock okay? Don’t want to be here too long.