"How's the investigation going?" Damon asked, watching Raymond as he took a seat.
"Hi, it's nice to see you too, Pops." Raymond retorted.
"Okay, okay. No need to get snippy." He grinned. "I'm only asking for an update.
"Right, so far we have a few leads to follow up on. Jackson's friend was knee-deep in gambling debt. He often visited Jackson at his family home and it seemed that they were very close. He also knew about the diamond that the family acquired." He started filling Damon in.
"He has a brother living in Europe somewhere, but we'll find him soon. He seems to not want to be found, which has raised a few red flags. I've also had that forest combed with dogs and X-rays, but there was no sign of a body. I doubt the kidnappers would have dumped the body in a shallow grave or left it out, so..." he made a sweeping gesture with his hand as he trailed off.
"Then there is your friend, whose behaviour is somewhat suspicious and may also have a stake in this story. Their interest wasn't only to find the diamond or the money trail, they thought Jackson had stolen the gem, am I right?" He leaned forward in his chair.
"You seemed to be more informed than I am." Damon mildly responded. He knew Raymond would get to the bottom of the case quickest, but he also regretted using him, because, unlike the others, he doesn't stop investigating simply because you asked him nicely or even threatened him.
"Now, out of respect for you, I've not looked at the name of your friend. I've skirted around the issue long enough now. Will you tell me, or do I have to really take five extra minutes out of my life to find them?" He finished in exasperation.
"You're really getting cocky, you know that?" Damon laughed out loud. "If you're so confident you can find out who it is, then go ahead. I'm not stopping you. Although, now that my friend knows the company is clean, they want to stop the investigation."
"Unless they are paying me for my time or have a contract with us, then I don't see any need to follow the rules." Shaking his head, he searched Damon's face and demeanour for any clues.
"Stop that! I know what you're doing and you're not going to get me." Damon interrupted his scrutiny, knowing that he was waiting for any opening to pounce.
"Fine, have it your way." He got up but turned to Damon before he left. "I also know about the pizza restaurant." He reminded Damon.
"Really?" He looked surprised. "How did you find out?" A frown creased his brow. He'd bought a small pizzeria years back when he first started out with his young family. It was supposed to be the family flagship restaurant, but after he realised that neither Eric nor his wife were interested in it, he'd put it on the back burner letting it run itself.
When Skye was born, he immediately made arrangements for the chain to be transferred to Sky when he turned eighteen, along with all the profits earned. He'd hidden it away so carefully, knowing that if Raymond found out, he'd make things very difficult and baulk at the idea.
"It's a gift to my grandson. And who knows, he might want to take expand Zenith in that area one day." He reasoned, watching Raymond closely. "Don't tell me you're going to make an issue out of this, knowing what your mom has planned."
"True," he sighed leaving the office. It's not like he could stop any of them. But at least he had a few more years to make sure that Skye didn't turn out to be a spoilt brat with too much money.
--
"Cook?" Jackson had tried calling him all morning with very little success. His PA was like a demon gatekeeper, tight-lipped and snarky to the point where you were actually afraid of asking another question.
"It's my number, who else did you think would pick up the phone?"
"Damn, I can see where your PA got her attitude from!" He huffed over the line. "But moving on from there, do you want to do anything after work?"
"It's a weeknight and in case you've forgotten, I've got Skye with me."
"I haven't forgotten. I thought we could all do something together after we picked up Skye."
"No Jackson. We have a routine to stick to. I'm not going to get myself in a situation where I have to play bad cop the whole time while you pretend to be Jesus with a magic wand." He cautioned.
"Right, tell you what, I'll bring supper over to say thank you for last time. Around five?" He cut the call without waiting for a response.
Raymond looked at his phone not sure if he was feeling confused or frustrated. Trying to call back, it went straight to voice mail. When he tried to reach Jackson's office, the phone kept ringing, which was weird. Standards must have dropped since I left, he thought.
"Jackson's coming over for supper." He informed Skye who had thrown himself on the couch as if he'd been worked to death.
"Why?"
"Because he's our friend and wants to spend time with us." He reasoned, pulling Skye up and sending him toward his bedroom. "Go and get changed, we can start your homework when you're ready."
At five exactly the doorbell rang. Beating Raymond to the door, Skye smiled brightly.
"Hey, little man." Jackson grinned down at him. "Here." He held out a bag, "This is for later, don't tell your Papa."
After a moment, Skye took the bag and held his finger over his lips before leading Jackson into the apartment.
"Supper time, just as I promised." He smiled, holding the bags aloft. "Nice to see you again Super Dad!"
"Before we get to the pleasantries, please tell me that you didn't bring a whole lot of sweets and fried food." He forestalled Jackson.
"Give me some credit here Cook. I may not be a parent yet, but I do know a few things." He shook his head, leaning over to kiss Raymond without a second thought.
"What are you doing?" Skye made them jump away from each other.
"If I didn't know any better, I'd have thought that your grandparents were training you to be this quiet. It's not normal." Raymond looked bemused. "We were only saying hello." He clarified when Skye simply looked at him with mild interest.
"Oh." He turned around and went back to his room without another word.
"He's light on his feet for a kid," Jackson observed with a smile. It seemed that Skye was either hell-bent on catching them doing something or he was the quietest child who's ever lived.
"Don't mind him, he's spying for the family." Raymond started going through the bags on the table, getting everything set up and ready.
"You're kidding, right?" He asked incredulously, his hand hovering with a plate mid-air.
"Trust me, with kids around there is very little time for secrets and they'll anyway tell the whole world your problems if you let them. And Skye is a particularly chatty little monster when it comes to my life and the family." He chuckled.
"I'll be on my best behaviour then."
Their evening together went without a hitch. Jackson seemed to be completely at ease with Skye joking and playing with him. Raymond watched them from the kitchen as they were playing with Skye's car collection with a smile before turning back to stacking the dishwasher. His head jerked up when he heard Skye gasp.
"Is this for me Mister?" His eyes were wide and sparkling, holding the model aircraft aloft.
"What was that?" Raymond asked, walking to where they were seated on the floor. "Not again, Jackson. I thought we discussed this!" He was reaching his wit's end.
"It's only a tiny little thing and it goes with the other one I gave him. They're a set you see?"
"All I see is trouble brewing when he can't get what he wants.
"Okay, I'll hold off on the gifts for the little one for a while." He turned back to Skye. "I thought we agreed that you'd call me Jackson, little buddy."