Page 52 of Cash

Kira started to fill her in. “Lore’s real name is Blair McKnight. Her father, Percy McKnight, was a well-known financier. He had his hand in everything from Hollywood to tech. In the early nineties his portfolio expanded to hotels and real estate overseas. He started in Thailand. Quickly moved into Malaysia and India. It wasn’t until he started investing in Saudi that the reg flag was raised.”

“Meaning the CIA started watching,” Nebraska surmised.

“Correct. He was flagged and watched,” Kira confirmed.

Easton slid a stack of papers in front of Nebraska and picked up where Kira had left off. “At seventeen, Lore became a CIA asset. Approximately nine months into her working with them, right after her eighteenth birthday, her parents were murdered.”

Nebraska glanced back at the image on the screen.

I knew what she was thinking—Lore working with the CIA and her parents’ murder coming right after her eighteenth birthday had all the makings of an Agency hit.

“Did she⁠—”

“No,” Kira cut her off. “According to court records, Thomas Jenkins was convicted of voluntary manslaughter. He was sentenced to ten years for each crime to be served congruently. He got out in eight. I have a search running now for his current whereabouts.”

Kira wouldn’t find Thomas Jenkins.

But if she dug deep enough, she’d find a trail of money.

The CIA were masters of the fall guy.

“Who was her handler?” Nebraska inquired. “Seventeen is young. As far as I know, minors are off-limits.”

Before I could open my mouth and demand we move past history and focus on the present so we could find the woman in question, Easton answered. “Michael. No last name.”

Nebraska straightened in her chair. “Michael. That’s her friend’s name I couldn’t remember. The one who called her Lolo.”

“You’ve met this guy?” Zane rejoined.

“Yeah, sh—” Nebraska’s gaze snapped to Cara. “Shoot, a long time ago. I’d have to check my records for the year, but at least ten, maybe more. I was in France with Charlie. Organized crime was significantly growing. Smaller crews were coming in trying to infringe on territory. A family coming out of a café were killed during a drive-by followed by an explosion that killed four more innocent people. We stepped in to moderate a resolution to end the spillover.” She paused to shrug. “Bad guys killing each other is to be expected. But the fallout was unacceptable.”

Sometimes it was easy to forget that not too long ago Nebraska was deep into the underbelly of society fulfilling her role as the Dove—the person who went in to negotiate with scumbags to stop their illegal businesses from taking innocent lives. There was a hierarchy that needed to be maintained to contain the loss of innocent lives. Her mentor Charlie and her mother, known as Pidgeon, had stepped back into their roles as the mediator and largely took care of negotiations now. Not that Nebraska was fully out, she still waded into the grey when she had to. But now that she was pregnant, I had a feeling Easton was going to pull her completely out once and for all.

“Was the meeting prearranged?” Zane pushed.

“At the time I didn’t think so,” Nebraska replied. “I didn’t know Lore very well; she looked almost uncomfortable to see us. But the man she was with, Michael, seemed…pleased. They joined us at our table.” She paused again and shook her head. “Charlie didn’t seem surprised they were there. I wonder if they knew each other.”

Charlie was former CIA. There could’ve very easily been a connection.

A sudden rush of jealousy spiked. “Were they together?”

“Together?” Nebraska asked. “They walked into the restaurant together. But if you’re asking if they were…together together I don’t know. They didn’t touch each other, but there was familiarity. It’s a guess but Michael looked to be at least a decade older than her, not that that matters but again, I didn’t see anything that would suggest they were lovers, just close.”

That did nothing to calm the irrational envy that Lore had a close and familiar relationship with the man whose child I was holding. Which was insane, because of course they’d be close, otherwise the man wouldn’t have left his child in her care.

“Lore believes her brother, Damion, is behind Michael’s murder,” Theo announced.

Her brother?

“Damion McKnight, the sole heir to the McKnight fortune after Blair’s death,” Kira began her brief. “Seven years her senior. Never married. No children.” She stopped and stared at her screen. “Driver’s license lists his permanent residence in Fairfax, Virgina. He also still owns family property in Colorado, Vermont, and Montana. McKnight holdings have properties all over the US and abroad. I’d need a few hours to compile a full list.”

Theo pointed to a stack of files. “She’s been investigating her brother for the last year. And before you ask, her investigation started a month after…” he tipped his head toward Cara. “Her parents’…” he let that hang and I was grateful for it.

Cara was still sleeping, however I didn’t want her—even asleep—to be in the room while we were discussing her parents’ deaths. I had no idea what she knew other than her parents were in heaven, or what she’d seen or what Lore had told her.

I knew Jonas had the same line of thought when he asked, “Farmed it out or did the deed?”

“Money trail,” Theo returned. “She found it and connected the dots. Damion used an old family account to transfer half a million into a numbered account in Switzerland.”