“She collects antiques?” Ava slumped back in her chair.
“My information just mentions that she collects fine art. I don’t know if that’s oil paintings, statues, pottery, or pictures of boogies.”
“Boogies.” Ava raised an eyebrow.
“From your nose.” Mavis looked away as if the whole idea was distasteful and she hadn’t brought it up to begin with.
“She’s worked really hard to keep a low profile.” I rubbed a hand along my jaw. I needed a shave. “I’ve never heard of her.”
“Neither have I.” Mavis reached forward and pressed a button on the computer. A different video started playing. “She’s good at weeding out who will get her what she wants but still be controlled. Marcus only cares about money. Unless she stops throwing jobs his way, he’ll be content.”
“No, eventually he’ll set his sights higher.” My stupid big brother. This woman would mop the floor with him.
The woman walked on the screen flanked by a well fed man and well-dressed woman—obviously a subordinate by the way she stayed one step behind Maria at all times.
“Can you freeze that?”
“That’s Mr. Song.” Ava pointed at the screen.
“That’s the man you were supposed to kill?” Mavis paused the video. “Your contact was named Maria?”
“Yes. She was a tall brunette woman.”
Mavis snorted. “A coincidence?”
Owen shook his head no. “You and I both know those don’t happen. I couldn’t get a bead on her. She never stated that she was the person that was paying me, but if that was someone’s secretary, I’d hate to meet her boss.” I looked at the profiles of both women. “A real cold fish. If I had to pick one of them, I would say that Maria really was named Maria. I wouldn’t bet that she wasn’t one of the women on that video though. They have similar traits.”
“What do we do now?” Ava looked at me and then Mavis.
“We find a way to get close to her.” I nodded my head at the screen. “That’s the hardest part.”
“Then what?”
“We ask nicely what the hell her problem is.” Mavis narrowed her eyes. “And what she’s done with Laura.”
“And when you say ‘ask her nicely’…”
“We don’t take no for an answer.” I met her eyes and waited as she processed what I meant. I wasn’t in the business of harming women, but if I thought I had to kill Maria to keep Ava safe, I wouldn’t hesitate.
Someone knocked on the back door and I slid out of my seat and pulled Ava with me. I pushed her against the wall and stood in front her, my gun in my hand.
“Relax. It’s Kenny.” Mavis stood up and walked to the door. She was holding a forty five in her left hand. Where she had been hiding that I wasn’t sure.
“And Kenny is?”
“Someone with a very promising future in electronics.” Mavis opened the door and a skinny lad walked in. He nodded his head at me and handed an envelope to Mavis.
“This is the list?” She looked at him.
“There isn’t a list. They pick them one at a time.” His voice was high, but I’d judge him to be at least eighteen. If he managed to bulk up, he’d be someone people would avoid.
“An algorithm?” Mavis opened the envelope and flipped through the pages.
“Not that I can find. No random generator, no algorithm, not an employee with any sort of preferences.” He shrugged. “Maybe they throw a dart at a map.”
“Helpful as always.” Mavis closed the envelope. “They won’t be able to tell you were in there?”
“No.” His chest puffed out a little. “I hacked harder stuff than that before I was ten.”
“This is serious, Kenny. These are bad people.”
“I’m not an idiot, Aunt Mavis. I looked through all of their stuff. I know they’re bad people.”
Aunt Mavis? I felt Ava peek around my shoulder to watch the family reunion.
“Damn it, Kenny. I told you not to call me that in public. It makes you a target. How am I supposed to believe you’re taking this seriously if you can’t remember that simple rule?” She stood on her toes and poked his shoulder. He backed a step away. I didn’t blame him. I’d only seen Mavis lose her temper once and that time she had calmly told the guard she was pissed before putting a bullet in his chest.
“Do we gotta kill them now?” He looked over at us and I felt my eyebrows rise.
“I swear that if I ever see my sister in the after-life I am going to strangle her.” She threw the envelope on the table and put her hands on her hips. “No. We don’t ‘gotta kill them.’ They’re good people. If you need help and you can’t find me, you find Owen. And if we were going to kill them, we wouldn’t want to announce that and start a panic.”
“Yes’um.” His cheeks turned red and he looked anywhere but at his tiny aunt.
“Just go in the living room.” She shook her head.
The boy made feet for the front of the house.
“Aunt Mavis?” I holstered my gun and moved so Ava could escape the tiny corner I’d stuck her in. She rolled her eyes at me and went back to her seat.
“Shut up, Owen.” Mavis sat back down and opened the envelope. She started separating the pages into stacks.
“Any other siblings?” Ava sat down and craned her neck to look at the pages.