Ch 28

Tuesday arrived and plans were made. Jonah and Ham would be in the restaurant having lunch at a nearby table, already seated when Amy got there. Jake and Dan were going to be running communications from outside the museum in the Mercedes. Ian and Cara would be patrons enjoying the museum and Atticus was the closer. If anything went wrong, he was the kill switch, the emergency exit. He was staying behind in Attleboro to run communications for all of them.

Everyone had their places and Amy walked into the museum restaurant at exactly noon. She had decided to wear her normal attire, jeans, running shoes and a t-shirt. No sense doing anything out of the ordinary. Plus, Jake had assured her she looked perfect and irresistible. That had earned him an extra-long kiss that morning. He was still worried about this and he really didn't like listening in on his girlfriend flirting with another guy, but he had realized it was for the best.

She gave the room a quick scan and the hostess came up to her, but before she could speak to her, Trevor appeared from the left. His hand out and smile plastered to his face.

"Amy! Hi! You came!" Trevor said a little breathlessly.

"I did." Amy said, shyly, looking down at the ground.

"She's working it," Jonah said into his menu, giving a small smile. Jonah hadn't been spotted, probably because this crowd's average age was 50; not the typical fans that instantly recognized him.

"Eyes on the prize people, focus" Dan replied into the mic from the car. "Let her work, she's got this guy wrapped around her finger, she'll have him singing in a few minutes, tops."

Jake glared at Dan. Dan just shrugged and said, "watch and learn."

Trevor put his hand on the small of Amy's back as he pulled out her chair for her.

Amy flashed him her biggest smile, tucked a strand of hair behind her ear and said, "Thank you Trevor"

"I'm so glad you called me." Trevor said, taking his seat and opening his menu. "To be honest, I didn't think you ever would. Your boyfriend made it pretty clear he didn't like me sitting with you that day."

Perfect opening, "Well, he's gone now. He was pretty jealous and I'd had about enough of that in my life. So, we broke up." Amy studied her menu letting a silence sit between them.

"If you don't mind, could you please speed thing along?" Came Ian's voice in Amy's ear. "I have other things to do today besides wait for this banal creature to tell you what you want to know."

"Ian, shut up" came Cara's voice next.

"Trevor," Amy said, looking up from her menu and tilting her head to the side in a quizzical look, "do you have any idea who may have wanted to hurt my brother and me that day in the alley?"

Trevor looked physically sick. It was very clear he hadn't ordered anyone to hurt Amy or Dan that day. The chatter went silent, everyone waiting on Trevor's answer. He surprised Amy by reaching over and taking her hand. "Amy, I have to tell you something. I-I I don't know what happened, but I think I may be the reason you got hurt! I am so sorry! When I started at the museum, the head guard told me to report to him anyone poking around, asking about the stolen works. When you and Dan started asking, I did what I was told." Trevor continued as if verbal vomit was coming up from his depths, "I found you locked in the records room upstairs and now you tell me you were attacked. It's all my fault. I'm sick about it. I barely slept the last two nights."

Amy pulled her hand away from his and stared at him with a blank expression. It wasn't hard to pretend she was angry with him. "Who was this guard?" Amy asked. "Is he the head of your security?"

"No, no, he's just one of the head guards on day shift. Victor Mencino. He's been here for years. He's well respected around here so I didn't even question his order." Trevor slumped in his seat, clearly eaten up by the guilt over what had happened to Amy.

"Got it," Dan said. "Att, are you on it?"

"I'm on it," came Atticus' reply. His fingers could be heard clicking over the keys.

"Amy you better let the guy off the hook, he's about to melt into the floor. A guy can only take so much guilt." Came Hamilton's voice.

Amy gave a barely perceptible nod. Time for Amy to come clean. Trevor was clearly a stooge, not the ring leader. "Trevor, it's OK. I'm fine, Dan is fine, we're OK. I guess I just wanted to find out who attacked us. Sounds like I need to have a talk with Victor Mencino."

Trevor's sorrow turned to wide-eyed worry. "W-what are you going to say? Are you going to confront him? Do you need me to go with you?"

"No, it's ok. It's not your fault. You were just doing your job. Although, after this, I'd hope you'd steer clear of Victor Mencino, he's messed up with something nefarious, no doubt." Amy gave him a smile. He just nodded vigorously. The poor guy looked so relieved. She made to get up. "However, I can't stay. Thank you for giving me some closure to this whole ordeal. It is good to know you weren't trying to hurt me."

Trevor's eyes got huge again and he rose, "No, of course not. I really like you Amy, I'd never do anything to hurt you. Are you sure you have to go, we haven't even ordered yet?"

"Maybe I'll see you around campus." Amy smiled and walked out of the restaurant.

"What were you able to pick up from the search?" Amy said into the earpiece the minute she was clear of Trevor's view.

Atticus replied to the group, "He's been with the museum since 1997. He's the senior security guard, right under the director. He doesn't have a criminal record and he appears to have a family here in town; wife, three kids.

"The perfect guy to have in your pocket if you needed to know who's been asking around about the robberies," Ham said as he threw a $50 on the table, gave a glance to a sad and broken Trevor still sitting at the table, and he and Jonah exited a few minutes after Amy.

Upstairs, Ian and Cara were making their way back down to the main floor where they were to rendezvous with Jonah and Ham in Jonah's rented BMW. Amy was already at the Mercedes, sliding into the back seat behind Jake and Dan. Jake gunned it and took off for Attleboro.

"Amy, I think you broke this guy," Ham said as he pushed on the revolving door of the entrance.

"She is a bit of a heartbreaker," Ian wanly said, sliding his sunglasses on to his perfect face as he hit the crisp winter New England air.

"I'll have to explain everything to him once it's all over," Amy said, feeling guilty for leading the guy on like she had.

"I'll come along and help you," Jake said, expertly steering the car through the Boston traffic.

"Atticus, do a search from Quigley O'Reilly's off shore account to a Victor Mencino." Dan piped up from the front seat.

"I'm way ahead of you." Atticus said. "There is a series of payments dating from 1997 to an account in the amount of $15,000 annually. What do you bet that's Victor's account?"

"I can trace it as soon as I get there," Cara said from the passenger seat of the BMW, about 15 blocks behind Jake.

"Ok, let's cut comms for now and meet up at the mansion when everyone gets there. Att, will you order food?" Amy said.

"Oh yeah, I'm on it!" he said enthusiastically.

Something was bothering Jake. He'd seen Ian flirt with Amy openly when they were stopping Pierce, but he had thought it was all for his benefit. Now Ian made a comment about Amy being a heartbreaker? What was that all about?

"Amy, what did Ian mean about you being a heartbreaker?" Jake asked

"Oh nothing, he just…" Amy trailed off, remembering her one kiss with Ian all those years ago.

"You know, when were at the Bieneke, he said something about your 'considerable history together'. Did you two, you know, have a thing for each other in the past?" Jake asked, eyeing her in the rear-view mirror.

Dan looked from Jake to Amy and back to Jake.

"I know! I know!" Dan said, as if he was waiting to be called on in class.

"Shut up Dan." Amy said taking the ear piece out of her ear and pocketing it. "If you must know, yes. Back a long time ago when we were on the hunt for the clues, Ian and Natalie were our main rivals. He learned that I had a crush on him. It wasn't hard to figure out, I stammered every time he came around. So, he decided to capitalize on that; a very Lucian thing to do, BTW." Amy sighed. "Anyway, we were in Korea with Uncle Alistair and we had formed a tenuous alliance with the Kabras and Ian let it slip that he had feelings for me too."

Amy looked up at the rear-view mirror, expecting Jake to look worried or jealous, but instead he had a blank expression on his face. He was just looking for information. Nothing more.

Amy continued, "Nothing ever happened, the clue hunt ended and we went back to our regular lives, or at least we tried until the Vespers showed up. I started dating Evan and you know the rest."

Jake nodded from the front seat. "Ok, that's good to know. It puts to rest a question I've had for a long time." He gave her a small smile from the front seat. "Now, can we go back to you not flirting with strangers anymore? It makes me really uncomfortable."

Amy leaned forward and wrapped her arms around the back of his seat and gave him a hug across his chest.