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“I don’t mean to sound callous, but he trusted Vulin, too.”
Novak paused mid-step and looked as if he was going to snap something in response. But then he continued walking without saying a word.
“True,” Mori conceded, then stood and walked over to the liquor cabinet. He picked up a twenty-one-year-old bottle of Hibiki Suntory whisky. “Something to drink?”
“Thanks, but not right now,” Teddy said.
Mori poured two glasses and carried one to Novak.
“I’m not thirsty,” Novak said.
When he tried to walk by, Mori stepped in front of him. “This isn’t for thirst. Take it.”
“I’m fine.”
“You’re not.”
Novak’s lips pressed together in a thin line before he expelled an angry breath and took the glass. He downed the contents in a single gulp.
Mori held out his untouched drink. “Another?”
Novak looked momentarily unsure, then he exchanged the empty glass for the full one and drained it, too.
“Better?”
“Marginally.”
“I’ll take marginally.” Mori turned to Teddy. “Do you have any update from your contact?”
“I talked to him on my way here. He has a strong lead he’s following.”
Novak stopped and whipped around. “He does? Does that mean he’s close?”
“I would say closer than he was. Beyond that, I wouldn’t want to speculate.” Before Novak could ask another question, Teddy added, “Also, I think one of the kidnappers followed me this afternoon.”
“What?”
Teddy would have preferred to keep his encounter with Kordo to himself for now, but he knew it was likely to make it onto local news websites, at the very least, and probably receive some airtime. Keeping it secret would be useless.
“He was spotted the last couple days near the set of the movie we’re here to film. I was concerned enough to ask my contact to look into him. Turns out he worked for Zoran Janic.”
“You said ‘worked.’ He doesn’t work for him anymore?” Novak said.
“He doesn’t work for anyone anymore.”
Novak’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What do you mean? Was he arrested?”
“I believe either he or one of his colleagues saw me the night Stone and I met with the both of you and became suspicious of my connection to you. My contact thinks he was waiting for me at the film set, but I spotted him first and began following him. He noticed, and in his attempt to get away, lost control of his vehicle. At the time, I was following him up the side of a mountain. The road was narrow and had a steep drop-off. He was going faster than he should. And...” Teddy paused. “He didn’t survive.”
“He’s dead?” Novak stared at him, incredulous. “He could have told us where she was.”
“Which is exactly what we were hoping to learn from him. And if I could have kept him from crashing, I would have. But telekinesis is not one of my talents.”
“Did he have any information on him?” Mori asked. “Maybe something that might point your contact in the right direction?”
Teddy didn’t want to tell them about Kordo’s phone just yet. It was too loose of a thread, and he didn’t want to get their hopes up. But before he could say something to deflect the question, the laptop on the coffee table emitted a soft bing.
All three of them swiveled toward the computer.
