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“And you killed him,” Kate said. “You killedNeil.”
Beth nodded, her eyes haunted. “I didn’t planit.”
Kate came to sit next to her on the bed. “I wish you hadn’t, not because he didn’t deserve it but because Declan didn’t get a chance to find out what Neil had planned for WMG, which of the shareholders had been amenable to a sale, if he was working for someone else to initiate a hostile takeover or if it was justhim.”
Beth looked confused. “I thought you already knew he was working with ConnorFerguson.”
Shock rang through Kate’s body. “Connor Ferguson? Are yousure?”
She thought back to the beginning, right after her father had died, and Aiden’s insistence that Connor Ferguson was behind their father’s death. It was why Aiden had gone to MIS in the first place — not to investigate their dad’s death but to punish Ferguson for killinghim.
The only reason MIS had connected Neil to it at all was because they’d insisted on investigating Ferguson before killing him. No one had been more surprised than Kate when the trail had led not to Ferguson but to Neil, a trail that she now saw had been designed to shield Ferguson fromview.
“I’m sure,” Beth said firmly. “After I talked to the shareholders, I kept digging into the company that had approached them. They were right: it was pretty secretive. Then I met this hacker in Portugaland— ”
“A hacker? In Portugal?” Kate felt stupid repeating Beth’s words, but this was a side of Beth she’d never seen. The little sister who skulked around the house on Marblehead and could hardly hold down a job had clearly found her calling, and it looked a lot like what Clay Reddy did for MIS, minus the computertraining.
“You’d be surprised the people you meet when you’re in hiding,” Bethsaid.
“Like the hacker inPortugal?”
“Like other people in hiding,” Beth said. “Anyway, she helped me dig deeper, taught me where to look, how to find stuff people tried to keep hidden. It’s not all code like they show in movies. A lot of it is just knowing where to find stuff, who to ask, how to ask, that kind of thing. Anyway, Nika — that’s the friend I met in Portugal — she helped me with the computerstuff.”
“And that’s how you found out Ferguson was connected to the company trying to steal WMG,” Katesaid.
Beth nodded. “It took a few months, butyeah.”
Kate stood, pacing the floor. “Ferguson knew none of us — none of the family — would sell to an outside party. So he tappedNeil.”
“And Neil tapped me,” Beth saidbitterly.
Kate looked at her, surprised by the protectiveness that flared inside her. “No. You were right the first time. Neil used you. He must have been promised a huge payoff byFerguson.”
“I think it was more about sticking it to Dad,” Beth said. “I didn’t see it at first, but looking back it was pretty obvious there was a lot of bitterness betweenthem.”
“Dad played nice for us.” Kate suddenly saw it all clearly. “And foryou.”
“Probably.” Beth looked miserable. “But listen, there’s something you need to know about Connor Ferguson. He’s not who he seems, not the upstanding young philanthropist the magazines and newspapers paint him out to be. He’s more than ambitious — he’s vicious. And he’s into some bad shit. Some badpeople.”
“What kind of bad shit?” Kate had barely gotten the question out when a knock sounded at the door. “Comein.”
The door opened and Kate knew immediately that something was wrong. Declan stood in its frame, his features pinched, his eyes a littlewild.
Kate closed the distance between them, her thoughts going to Griffin. “What isit?”
“It’s Jimmy Ryan,” he said. “He’s dead. Killed in a muggingdowntown.”
“Oh no…” Kate’s mind was turning, trying to connect everything Beth had told her with the news aboutJimmy.
“Who’s Jimmy Ryan?” Bethasked.
“The guy Neil hired to mess with Dad’s plane,” Katesaid.
Beth stood. “We have to go home. He’s tying up looseends.”
“Who?” Declanasked.
Beth looked at him. “ConnorFerguson.”
Kate’s ears were ringing, thinking of Griffin and her mother alone at the house in Marblehead. And then Beth’s words, spoken only a minutebefore.
He’s vicious… And he’s into some bad shit. Some badpeople.
