Red After Dark (Blackwood Security #13) - Elise Noble Page 0,38
first mouthful. Fantastic.
“Where’s this video, then?”
Hallie angled her laptop so we could both see the screen. “This is the camera outside Alaric’s old office at the FBI.”
The footage was sort of a let-down. A younger Alaric walked through the door with a briefcase. Walked out again a minute later. Five minutes passed, and then he came back again. A grey-haired guy ambled in behind him, and the pair of them left pretty quickly, this time with Alaric carrying the briefcase.
“There you go,” Hallie said. “That was the only time the briefcase was left unattended at FBI headquarters.”
“There was nobody else in that room?”
“Alaric doesn’t recall seeing anyone, and there were only two desks in there. The guy he shared with was on vacation that week.”
“What about the grey-haired guy? Who was he?”
“Richard Latham. Alaric’s boss. His statement says there wasn’t anyone else in the office.”
“What if they hid? Was there a closet?”
“The report doesn’t mention that, but even if there was, the scenario would be pretty far-fetched. Nobody knew Alaric would take a bathroom break at that moment.”
“Not for certain, but if he had a long drive coming up, it would be an educated guess. He was coming here, right? Where’s FBI headquarters?”
“Washington, DC. It’s a three-hour drive. Or two if Emmy’s behind the wheel. Have you been in a car with her?”
“Yes. I’m thinking of taking out life insurance.”
“Blackwood provides life insurance. When the HR lady found out I’d be riding with Dan, she made sure to give me all the policy details.” Hallie thumbed through the paper file. “I guess I should look into the hiding-in-a-closet idea. Honestly, I’m starting to think the original briefcase was beamed up by aliens.”
“What about last night’s theory? That someone else in the FBI was working with the thieves?”
“That’s the only other credible hypothesis left. According to Dan’s notes, four people besides Alaric knew the lock combination, but in the eight years since the incident, none of them have suddenly started spending oodles of money. Two are still with the FBI, one—Latham—retired, and the other quit to drive across South America in an RV.”
“That doesn’t sound cheap.”
“I checked his Instagram. The RV’s fifteen years old, and the guy’s got a cult following for his ‘travel on a shoestring’ tips.”
“Maybe it was one of the other three and they’ve squirrelled the money away for a rainy day?”
“One of the current agents, his sister has a GoFundMe for her kid’s broken leg. He’s been posting links all over his Facebook. Don’t you think he’d have taken a few bucks out of his stash for that?”
“Okay, so that leaves two. Plus the possibility of someone at the gas station or on the boat, and have you double-checked whether an intruder could have snuck onto the Riverley estate? Undergrowth or no undergrowth, if people broke in once, they could have done it a second time. What if they blocked a sensor? I saw a movie once where the bad guy used a mirror to complete the circuit or whatever.”
“I’ll add it to the list. I just wish we had the briefcase. What if a member of the boat crew jammed the lock so it would open with any combination?”
“Is that possible?”
“I’m not sure.”
“You could try asking Ravi. He works with Alaric, and I heard he’s good at opening things he shouldn’t.”
“When Alaric comes back, I’ll see if he can put me in touch. Any other brainwaves?”
“No, but I’ll keep thinking.”
Because this case was bugging me now. Emmy had called to say they’d found Red After Dark, but that was only one piece of the puzzle. Like Hallie, I wanted to solve the whole thing.
CHAPTER 15 - BETHANY
OH, HELL.
I’D been an idiot.
When I woke on the sofa in the middle of the night, wrapped up in Alaric’s arms, I should have done the honourable thing—wriggled free, put a blanket over him, and tiptoed back to my bedroom. But did I? Did I heck. No, I’d snuggled closer, then mostly regretted it when we both woke at dawn. The awkward “I’m sorry—no, I’m sorry” conversation had been mortifying.
But I’d slept well. And I say “mostly regretted” because I couldn’t be sure I wouldn’t make the same decision again.
Now I had to try and act normal while I made coffee for everyone. Well, almost everyone. When I got into the kitchen, I found the coffee machine already on and the jug half-full. Voices came from outside, and I glimpsed Emmy and Dan sitting at the wooden table on the