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“Point taken,” Nicksaid.
Declan relaxed his shoulders. The same conversation with Ronan wouldn’t have gone the same way. Ronan would have argued the ways the Walsh case was different from the other exceptions, mostly because he just didn’t like beingwrong.
“Killing Neil doesn’t tell us anything about what he had planned and whether those plans are still in effect.” Declan was reiterating points that had been made in previous conversations, just to make sure they were on the same page. “And killing Beth solves nothing. She’s not the real targethere.”
He stopped short of saying she was a victim. She had undoubtedly been manipulated by Neil, who’d used her resentment about her paternity and her need for approval from her biological father to get her on hisside.
But she was also an adult. She was responsible for her choices, and she would have to pay for those choices one way oranother.
That wasn’t death. Being stupid, being naive and bitter, wasn’t acrime.
No, but murderis.
He silenced the voice in his mind. They didn’t know Beth had been in on Neil’s plans to murder Mac. Until they could confirm that, she was only guilty of working with Neil to gather enough shares for a takeover ofWMG.
It was a betrayal of the family, of Mac Walsh’s legacy, but it wasn’tmurder.
Nick’s phone pinged again. “Ronan just left her at the road. He’s heading to the house. We should be seeing Leifsson anysecond.”
Declan turned his eyes to the iPad where eight different camera feeds displayed different parts of the road. Twenty seconds later, a white Volvo appeared on one of thescreens.
“There she is,” Declan murmured. “Cameraone.”
Nick reached into the console for the receiver, transmitting from the bug in Leifsson’s bag. “I’m going to turn up theaudio.”
A muffled rumbling filled the car as the audio from the listening device planted by Ronan, obviously still in Leifsson's handbag, filled thecar.
“I hope we’ll be able to hear enough when she gets inside,” Declansaid.
“We will,” Nick said, his eyes on the iPad. “The ambient sound from the car is making it garbled. Camerathree.”
Declan watched as Leifsson’s car passed through the feeds from the rest of the cameras, traversing the route to the house they’d been watching for the past fourdays.
“And she’s turning into the driveway,” Nick said, leaning back in the passenger seat, his eyes on the feed from the lastcamera.
From here on out they would have to rely on the audio feed. It had been too risky to plant cameras closer to the house. They couldn’t afford for Neil to spot them and run. Not when it had taken them six months to uncover the most tenuous ofleads.
An assortment of bumps and jolts sounded from the audio feed, a product of the dirt road leading to the house, visible from the drone footage they’d managed to get of theproperty.
The feed went silent and a few seconds later a faint rhythmic ding became audible: the sound of the open door warning on Leifsson’scar.
The next five minutes brought an assortment of sounds: Leifsson closing the car door, the rustle of grocery bags, the slam of the trunk, the crunch of gravel under her feet as she presumably made her way to thehouse.
Declan hated not being able to see. “This sucks. We’re flyingblind.”
“I know but once she’s inside it’ll be easier. I just hope we’ll be able to tell if it’sNeil.”
“I’ll be able to tell.” Neil Curran had lied to Declan’s family, used them, put Griffin in harm’s way. “We’re recording tooright?”
Nick checked the device to be sure. “Yep.”
“Good. Then we can have Kate listen to verify. She’s known Curran her wholelife.”
Nick nodded, then held up a finger to indicate Declan should be quiet as the sound of muffled voices came from thereceiver.
Declan leaned in, trying to get a better handle on the voices, but all that was clear was that Leifsson was talking to aman.
“Can you…?” Declan gestured to the receiver and Nick played with the controls, trying to refine thetransmission.
