I woke up in the morning at ten thirty. God I'm not used to that! I thought.
I hadn't done tracking like that since I was sixteen. How the hell I could do that kind of work for days on end I will never know. But then again I was a lot younger back then. God I felt old and I was only twenty-eight. What the hell will I be like when I enter my fifties? I shook my head at myself. I jumped in the shower quickly then got dressed and then brushed my teeth and hair. I made myself a cup of tea then got to work on job two. Finding Kyle's killer. I sat in my office and put together a list of facts I already knew.
1) Kyle was dead
2) The guy in the other car left the scene
3) The car belonged to Dean Jacobs
4) He reported the car missing before the crash
5) Jacobs's son goes to the same school as Lyle
6) Jacobs's son bullied Lyle (coincidence?)
7) Jacobs's son got his ass kicked by Lyle
8) Dean Jacobs didn't seem to have a problem with that
That was the strange part. I could find no evidence of Dean Jacobs filing any kind of report against Lyle. It was if he was almost glad/didn't care that his son a) was bulling kids and b) got his ass kicked so badly he ended up in the medical room. That wasn't important to the case and so I shoved the thought out of my mind. I emailed someone completely unrelated to the case. In fact I had never meant them and only spoke to them online but I trusted them.
To: thedragonfly@gmail.com
From: lauramason@gmail.com
Subject: I need a favour
I have £500 if you do some research on a guy called Dean Jacobs and his son Dan Jacobs. Btw keep this quiet as usual.
I scrambled the message before I sent it as I always did. I drained the last of my tea and got up to make some more. I also threw some cereal into a bowl and then cover it with milk. I walked back upstairs and plonked down onto the chair to see I had had a reply. I opened it up and unscrambled the message.
To: lauramason@gmail.com
From: thedragonfly@gmail.com
Subject: RE. I need a favour
I'm interested but why are you looking into the guy whose car killed Kyle? And why the son too? Do you think he was involved?
I felt like emailing back and telling him it was none of his business who I wanted information on. His job was to get the information I wanted. He got paid whether there was a lot or a little. Even the tiniest of facts could be useful. I emailed him back in the only language he knew.
To: thedragonfly@gmail.com
From: lauramason@gmail.com
Subject: RE. I need a favour
I'll give you £150 more if no questions are asked or answered
I got a reply within seconds.
To: lauramason@gmail.com
From: thedragonfly@gmail.com
Subject: RE. I need a favour
You got a deal. If you don't get the information within twelve hours, I'm either dead or have been taken prisoner by the FBI of CIA. Oh and you're welcome.
I leaned back in my chair. That's usually the way business goes with 'the dragon fly'. He knew I was a spy with MI6 but I wasn't FBI or CIA and I paid him after he had done the job so you could say he trusted me to some degree. For some reason he just didn't like American governments or agencies even though I had long suspected him of being an American citizen only because of where I transferred the cash to. He had replied quickly so he must be desperate for a job or money or both. While I was at my computer I decided to stop acting like a child and email Imogen.
To: petersfamily@hotmail.com
From: lauramason@gmail.com
Subject: You know
I'm sorry about what I said the other day and for not replying to your calls but I have been busy. I'm just pissed off that I have no privacy anymore because everyone seems to know what I'm doing at every minute of everyday. But I guess most of all I'm stressed about the whole Lyle situation and you know I've never been the best at expressing emotions.
I didn't know what else to say that I hadn't already said before. I had always had a temper and had been quick to flare up and they did know that but obviously they forgot. I was a very private person so when my privacy is compromised I'm pissed. I sent the message not expected a reply for days.
I decided to do my own investigation into the Jacobs family. I realised that I had nothing to go on apart from a name and an incident involving his car that happened over ten years ago. I was hoping 'the dragon fly' could tell me more about him.
'The dragon fly' was always how I had got my information. I found him because I was investigating hackers and their tricks. I learnt hacking myself in order to hack into the forums that were regularly used but the hackers. On one of the forums it said that 'the dragon fly' could get any information you could ever want or need. Any person, any place, any time. No strings attached. Although there was a fee. I found him to look into some guys I had long suspected to be hackers. I hadn't turned him in so he lowered his fee and helped me out where possible. You could say he owed me one after that so every email was titled 'I need a favour' not something like 'Could you do this'. It was a good system that no one else knew about and/or used. People didn't like cutting corners but some times cutting corners to get results, especially in my business, was acceptable but only if it did mean results.
I decided to go out for a walk to pass some time before 'the dragon fly' replied. I knew he'd be a while gathering as much information as possible. I decided to avoid the park as someone might have found where I fired my gun a couple of days ago. I strapped my gun into the holster around my waist and put on my jacket. I threw on a pair of old converse. I could remember them from when I first started spy school. I was the same foot size as I was when I was fourteen. I shoved my phone into the inside pocket of my jacket the locked up the house before shoving my keys into the same pocket as well.
I arrived home and kicked off my shoes. I looked at the time on my phone. It was three thirty. I had been out for three and a half hours. I had made a quick detour to Tesco where I picked up some more milk and bread plus a pizza for my dinner. I put them all in the fridge. I made a mental note to go there one day to do a big food shop. I jogged back up to my office and switched my laptop back on. My laptop beeped telling me that I had received an email. I opened up my emails. It was from 'the dragon fly'.
To: lauramason@gmail.com
From: thedragonfly@gmail.com
Subject: RE. I need a favour
Here's the info you wanted.
The email had an attachment, which I opened up. Normally there were a couple of pages but with this one there was barely one.
Dean Jacobs was born 3rd May 1964. He attended Stanley Park where he was kicked out in his last year for beating up a bully then becoming the bully himself. (Explains his son, I thought) He married Catherine Sanders in 1987 at age 23. Had their fist child called Amy in 1993. Amy is now 21 and has nothing to do with her parents. She lives in New Zealand and works as a vet. In 1998 they had their second child, Dan Jacobs. Catherine died three months later from a heart attack. Since then Dean Jacobs had started several companies all resulting in liquidation. He then got with three other friends and is part owner of a second had car company. He was living on the edge until fiat backed them financially in exchange for them selling more of their cars. Since then two of the part owners had died. One from a stroke and one from a burglary gone wrong. The third one is in a coma after being hit by a car last summer. Jacobs in now in complete control of the company and receives over £100,000 pay check per year sometimes a lot more. He has also gone though several girlfriends, several of whom have had children and were paid off not to talk. Three so far have been married. His financial records indicate he had under gone liposuction and several plastic surgeries. He had also recently brought a new Aston Martin DB9 and a Mazda mx5. His latest wife, a Miss Georgina Robinson, has recently also died due to a mugger with a knife. Jacobs has inherited the family fortune to which she was the sole heir. She was buried next to Catherine at a private cemetery in London.
His son Dan is basically a spoilt brat. What he wants daddy gives him including the new Mazda and a Harley Davidson Sportster Custom with the highest speck possible. Dan and Amy lost contact ages ago, in fact they were kids if you can believe it. It got into a the papers at that time saying that the siblings were given different rooms at different ends of the house. They didn't even eat together. Even though they can afford to send Dan anywhere he attends Greenshaw High. His father said that he wanted his son the have a normal life but the simple truth is that young Dan was kicked out of every private school in the country. Dan appears to hate his birth mother, probably because he's blamed for her death. He often posts blogs saying his mother was a whore.
As far as I can tell the whole family needs putting down except for dear Amy since she has nothing to do with them and has made her own life and living. She has a good income and has never had a credit card or missed a payment on anything in her life so far. She has a steady relationship with a guy she works with and I expect soon they will be engaged because he has recently brought a expensive diamond ring and property for them to move into. It probably will hit the papers sometime in the up coming month.
At the end of the email there was a simple message that said:
You know where to sent the money too.
I closed the email and deleted it after writing down the most crucial facts. I opened up my bank account and sent £650 to the normal account. I also sent an email with the simple message of 'thank you'. I added what I had learnt to my list of facts.
9) Dean Jacobs married twice but both died.
10) Second wife had a considerable estate to which she was the only heir
11) Jacobs got that estate
12) He also controls everything in his company
13) His son was kicked out of every private school in the country
14) His son was (and still is) an asshole
15) His daughter hated the family
16) Jacobs seemed like an asshole
17) He had a string of lovers who he paid off to keep the quiet
18) He has several bastard children
19) He earned a shit load of money
20) He brought expensive cars
21) He spoils his son. Probably to buy his love
They were the facts I had. By the looks of things he either had lots of luck to get a lot of money or he was killing his way up the chain of command. Either way he seemed like a sly asshole who earned way too much money.
'No wonder his son was such a brat!' I thought.
He also looked fake what with the surgery and all. There was only one thing I could think at that moment.
Even though he's a bastard he has no connection to Kyle so he is probably being framed, I thought.
Great right back were I started. I had no leads. No evidence. No nothing. I was no closer to finding the guy than I was ten years ago or even two days ago. I had hit a dead end with no where left to go. Jacobs had a lot of enemies who would like to see him ruined/dead. I mean if he was responsible for his for his two fellow business partner's deaths and the coma of the other one there are all their family members there. Not to mention rival companies and the family of his two wives plus his string of lovers and their husband/current boyfriends. Even his own children detested him. Plus everyone he probably ripped off in his business's early stages. The list was endless. I had to write it down to remember.
Fellow business partner's family-check
Rival companies-check
Family of wives-check
String of lovers-check
Children-check
People he ripped off-check
I looked back at my email to see if Imogen had replied. She had. I dreaded to think what was in there. I forced myself to open the email. Inside was a short, sharp message.
To: lauramason@gmail.com
From: petersfamily@hotmail.com
Subject: RE You know
I hope you are upset. You bloody well should be. Don't expect me to contact you again for a while as I'm still pissed off.
I deleted the message and tried to pretend that the I never received the email. At the last second I replied to the message which probably wasn't going to help the situation.
To: petersfamily@hotmail.com
From: lauramason@gmail.com
Subject: RE You know
You are being so childish. You should be ashamed of yourself. You have twenty four hours to reply or we don't speak again.
I sent it and the looked at the clock. It was six o'clock. I went downstairs and put the pizza in the oven then I went back up stairs. I turned off my laptop. I didn't expect a reply.