Finders Keepers Edie Baylis (phonics readers .TXT) 📖

by his screen, Jonah’s barbed dig going over his head. ‘You’ll be waiting a long time. Look.’ He pointed to his screen, showing that no new coordinates of the trace had showed for twenty minutes and the blue dot on the corresponding map was static in the Irish Sea. ‘Either the ferry has sunk or your man has offloaded his phone.’

‘I don’t believe this!’ Jonah fumed, slamming the office door behind him as he stalked down the staff corridor.

Gwen stood motionless, wondering whether this meant she had inadvertently caused this problem by stupidly answering that call.

BACK AT THE HOUSE, Jonah fumed silently and refilled his drink. His brain felt like it was melting.

Nero had already braved ringing since he’d walked out of the Feathers confirming the trace on O’Hara had still not moved. Two hours now and nothing. Oh, they were keeping watch on it, he’d promised. It could be that the phone’s battery had died, he’d added. But they all knew that wasn’t the case and what the significance of this lack of movement meant.

From Lena’s lack of contact, Ron O’Hara had got wind that something had happened and had decided to leave nothing to chance. A pretty astute move for someone who belonged in a fucking straitjacket.

With mounting frustration, Jonah ripped off his tie and undid the top two buttons of his shirt. He was bloody hot and stressed. He was more than that. He was sick to the back teeth with everything! So now what? If the trace had disappeared on O’Hara, which it looked like it had, then where did he start looking for the bastard?

Jonah fished the wooden box from his suit jacket pocket. At least he’d brought these back with him.

Opening the box, Jonah unwrapped the collection of pink diamonds. Spreading them out over his desk, the afternoon sun through the large south-facing study window refracted a multitude of tiny rainbows across the room.

Moving the diamonds from the Feathers safe into his personal one achieved nothing, apart from giving him a modicum of control. It felt like he was doing something. Furthermore, he would tell no one that they were here. Not Nero, not Gwen and certainly not Robert Adams. He’d had enough.

‘And those are what this whole thing has been about?’

Jonah’s head shot up to find Teagan standing in his study doorway.

‘I’ve been through all of this for those?’ Teagan walked into the room uninvited, staring at the collection of sparkling jewels on the desk. ‘Personally, they weren’t worth it!’ Her voice was hollow. ‘I don’t expect you to understand that, of course. These sort of things are the only things important to people like you.’

Jonah wrapped the diamonds back up and placed them back in the box. Leaning his elbows on the desk, he knitted his fingers together and stared at Teagan. ‘You might be surprised to learn that you’re wrong because I agree with you.’

Getting up, he walked over to one of the many bookcases, opening a hidden safe very cleverly camouflaged as a shelf of books. He could feel Teagan staring into his back making the hairs on his neck stand up.

‘These,’ he said, placing the box in the safe and shutting the door securely, ‘have been the bane of my life for as long as I can remember.’ Turning around, he sighed. ‘This problem arose decades ago and has followed this family ever since, now I’ve had to deal with it.’

He looked squarely at Teagan, noticing a slight twitch in her eye. ‘You should never have been involved and I’m sorry that it ended up that way.’

Noticing Jonah looked tired and drawn, Teagan reprimanded herself for contemplating any slight sympathy towards this man. After what he’d done and what he’d sanctioned, he deserved problems. He’d murdered that woman... Ok, so she’d betrayed him, but murdering her?

Jonah moved to the drinks cabinet – a place he was visiting more and more frequently. ‘Drink?’

Teagan shook her head. ‘I don’t think so.’

Jonah smiled, even though nothing was remotely amusing. ‘I hope you don’t mind if I do?’

‘I doubt whether anyone would dare question you,’ Teagan snapped.

Jonah’s face darkened as he poured his drink. ‘I may have spoken unnecessarily unfairly to you yesterday, but that doesn’t give you the excuse to be rude.’

Teagan flinched, then regained her composure. Robert had already made it very clear what he thought and she wasn’t having this man treat her like shit too. This man, whose greed had ruined countless lives and whose brother had personally completely ruined hers.

‘No, you’re right. This is your house and I’m a guest here – albeit an uninvited one. One here purely from misplaced responsibility to offset you and your family’s wrongdoing.’

Jonah bristled. He’d had enough of women thinking they could say what they liked. ‘I don’t know what your problem is with me, lady, but I’ve been respectful to you, therefore I would appreciate the same courtesy. You may be pissed off because of Robert’s attitude, but that is not my fault!’

Teagan flushed crimson. He’d heard everything Robert had said? ‘I suppose you agree with Robert’s opinion?’ She wouldn’t let him upset her. She wouldn’t let these people get to her anymore. ‘Are you going to kill me now as well? Add me to the list of women who have pissed you off?’

As soon as the words left her mouth, Teagan wished she could retract them. That wasn’t fair of her. ‘I shouldn’t have said that... I...’

‘No, you shouldn’t,’ Jonah spat, tipping the whisky liberally into his mouth. ‘Shut the door on your way out.’

MIKE IGNORED THE PHONE CALL. No doubt it would be Heath again, and he wasn’t having his hot-headed sarcastic son taking up any more of his time bragging about his latest scheme or listening to digs over how much the business had failed.

As much as he hated admitting it, Mike had come to the conclusion that as much as he never thought he’d see the day, his son had turned into a