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“They didn’t live together,” Casper dismissed.
“Not even in the same area of London,” Adam agreed.
“Nor did they have the same friends.” Sinclair frowned.
“Or the same profession,” Max murmured.
“Perhaps I should have said what orwhohas remained consistent in both their lives,” Nikolai drawled expectantly.
All the men looked at each other as if for inspiration.
But it was Mia who suddenly gasped. “Honey!” She looked down to where the Labrador sat happily at her side, tongue lolling out of the side of the dog’s mouth. “Honey was Gloria’s dog, and Giles took her in after his mother died.”
The Russian nodded. “Because his mother’s will stated that he had to.”
“But…” Mia went down on her haunches beside the dog, Honey totally oblivious to suddenly being the center of attention for everyone in the room. “I know Honey is intelligent, but I don’t see how she could possibly know—or tell us—where the memory stick is.”
“She can’t,” Nikolai agreed. “But when I bent down to introduce myself to her earlier, I also retrieved this.” He held up a metal tube about two inches long.
“That’s the ID pod that’s always attached to her collar,” Mia realized.
“Yes,” Nikolai confirmed.
Mia frowned her puzzlement. “It contains the details of her name, owner, and address.”
“Does it?” The Russian unscrewed the top of the tube and tipped up the longer part of it.
A small memory stick fell into his palm.
CHAPTERFIFTEEN
Mia’s arms moved protectively about the dog. “Honey has been walking around with that attached to her collar all this time?”
“I believe so, yes,” Nikolai confirmed.
“And Giles had no idea his mother had hidden the memory stick with information on her bank accounts in there?” Darius prompted.
Nikola shrugged. “As her death was sudden, I’m presuming she hadn’t yet had chance, or found the courage, to have that revealing conversation with her son.”
Mia gave a pained frown. “And you think…you really think the information on there is what Anthony Bart is looking for?”
“Only one way to find out.” Casper stepped forward to take the memory stick from Nikolai. “May I?” He indicated Darius’s closed laptop sitting on the breakfast bar. When Darius gave a nod, he turned it on, then plugged in the stick. “It has a password, but…” He typed rapidly for several minutes. “Ah, there we are,” he murmured with satisfaction. “Yep, looks like Mrs. Fletcher has several offshore bank accounts in her name, totaling … Wow. Ten million pounds.”
“My God…” Mia still found it hard to believe. “What are you going to do with the money in those accounts?” she asked Nikolai as he took the memory stick back from Casper.
“Give it back to Bart.”
“Really?”
Nikolai nodded at her surprise. “As Darius has already pointed out to me, providing Bart with the details of the bank accounts containing the stolen money is our only leverage for persuading him to forget taking any further interest in you.” The Russian grimaced. “That, and he might also wish to live a little longer. Which he won’t do if he should harm you in any way.”
“The benefits of the Kingstons having a friendship with you,” Mia realized. She doubted Nikolai would have bothered himself purely on her behalf.
“The benefits of your own friendship with me,” Nikolai corrected gruffly.
Her eyes widened. “Mine?”
“By accepting Nikolai’s friendship, you’ll be placed under the protective umbrella of all members of the Markovic organization,” Darius put in softly.
