Framed Shadows: Shadows Landing #6 by Kathleen Brooks (well read books TXT) 📗

“What happened?” she asked.

“The money was finally moved from the shell account. My guys were able to dig into the account and found it belonged to an art dealer, but the owner of the account is dead. They have him set up as a real person, but he died forty years ago. After the money left the dead art dealer’s account, it was transferred multiple times. Once through another shell company to make it look legit and then it was divided. Half went to a bank account in Buenos Aires and the other half to a company in Atlanta.” Paxton smiled wider and she knew he wasn’t done. “We are requesting CIA operatives to look into the bank account in Buenos Aires. But the account here in Atlanta is for a money services business, a cash-for-paychecks type place. When we dug into the company and through all the protective layers to hide the owner, we discovered that Curtis Engle owns the company.”

“That’s enough to get him on the stolen Castille, right?” Tinsley asked.

“It’s a good start. He could still claim he didn’t know it was stolen and this was a repayment of a loan or they were just wiring it for a customer. My agents are still digging into it, but it’ll be a slam-dunk case if we can link Engle to the dead dealer’s account.”

Tinsley’s email alert sounded and she pulled up an email that looked like spam. However, the subject line was Art Buyers. The email listed ten works of art. Next to the title of each painting listed was a time, not a name.

Vermeer. Monday 9:00

Degas. Monday 10:00

And so on until ten paintings with ten appointments were listed.

“Paxton, look.” Tinsley pointed to her computer.

Paxton came over and read the email and clenched his jaw. “He was smart. His name isn’t anywhere on the email and neither are the names of the buyers. I’ll tell tech and see if they can find out where the email came from. What’s your email and password?”

Tinsley gave them to him and then waited as he talked to someone over the phone. She saw a slight smile and Paxton give a small fist pump before hanging up. “It was from a public library in Atlanta. We’re working on getting a subpoena for any security cameras, and Connor is going to reach out to traffic to see if we can find out who it was and where they were going.”

“So what now?” Tinsley asked.

“We go home and spend the weekend making love when I’m not working.”

“What about me?”

“You know the deal I made with Ryker. For us to move back to your house, you have to be with me at all times. So, do you think you can train Bubba to be your attack gator while I work?” Paxton asked with such a serious face that Tinsley laughed.

“I don’t know. Your high-pitched screaming might draw too much attention.” Tinsley sent him a wink and walked past him. She heard him chuckling as she began to close down the art gallery.

23

Paxton followed his plan to the letter. He worked, made love to her, and then went back to work. Tinsley had woken up at three in the morning and found Paxton in the kitchen, working on his laptop.

She’d kissed the top of his head before he wordlessly pulled her onto his lap and made slow love to her. Tinsley was still breathing hard when he escorted her back to bed and tucked her in.

When she woke up again at seven, he was gone from bed once again. Tinsley poured a cup of coffee and took a seat on her back patio while Paxton finished a phone call. The smell of the coffee and the hint of hazelnut from the creamer put a smile on her face as she watched the birds fly and the little animals scamper in the woods behind her house.

The screen door opened and Tinsley looked up to see Paxton take the seat next to her. He leaned over and kissed her. “Good morning.”

“Good morning. Did you sleep at all?” Tinsley asked.

“I got a couple of hours. They made progress on the art dealer’s account. Cy called too and said last night they had a huge drug bust with Connor. Curtis is going to be livid. What’s interesting is Mark Trevino showed up on the scene and cursed out Connor for not including them in the plans. He claimed they had surveillance on the warehouse and were getting ready for their own bust. All lies, but now we know he has some skin in this game. Connor is trying to get a search warrant for Mark’s financials.”

“So Curtis is going to be very anxious for Monday?”

“Definitely. Lucky for us, anxious and desperate people do stupid things. We’re hoping he slips up and we can put the final nail in his coffin.”

Tinsley’s phone buzzed and she looked down at it. “It’s a message from my Aunt Annie. They caught a military flight and just landed at the Charleston Air Force Base. They’re already on their way here.”

“I don’t know what to expect after meeting Cy.”

They both paused as they heard a knock at the front door. Paxton had a gun in his hand and was moving back into the house before Tinsley could stand up. She followed behind him and saw him tuck the gun away before opening the door.

“Good morning, Miss Ruby, Miss Winnie,” Paxton said, stepping back to let the two ladies inside.

“I told you we should have come earlier,” Miss Winnie scolded Miss Ruby.

“You’re right, Win. Maybe if we ask, he’ll take his shirt off and just pretend we caught him getting dressed for the day.”

Tinsley smiled and hid her laughter as Paxton winked at the ladies. “I could make that happen if you tell me what smells so good.”

“Backup plan for the win,” Miss Ruby said, digging into her basket and pulling out a fresh-baked apple pie.

“I