Red After Dark (Blackwood Security #13) - Elise Noble Page 0,79
her elbows, barely breathing hard.
“Or he could have asked them to drop the rope and then used it to strap the briefcase to his back. It just so happened that he didn’t.”
“They could have refused to drop the rope.”
“Which would have aroused suspicions. We’d have backed off.”
“Okay, so maybe it was Alaric himself. He had the means, the motive, and the opportunity.”
“What motive?”
“Money. Doesn’t everyone want to be rich?”
“Alaric was already rich.”
“The file said he earned, like, seventy thousand dollars a year.”
To someone like me, that was a hell of a lot of cash, but I still wouldn’t class him as rich. There was a big difference between seventy grand and ten million.
“Putting aside the fact that Alaric’s never cared about wealth, if his parents hadn’t disowned him over the Emerald debacle, he’d be in line to inherit fifty million bucks.”
“Oh.” Fifty million. Wow. “Guess that blows that theory out of the water.”
Emmy lay back and started her next set. “Yeah, it does.”
“So that only leaves one option.”
“Which is?”
“The money was stolen from your house.”
“I thought you said you’d read the file?”
“I did.”
“So you’ll know how tight that place is buttoned up. CCTV, movement sensors, contact sensors, pressure sensors.”
“What if there was a power cut? You were, ahem…”
“Fucking?”
“Yes, that. Would you even have noticed?”
“Firstly, we have a backup power supply, and secondly, I like to leave a light on so I can see who I’m doing.”
“Okay, so what about the tunnels?”
The weights clattered back onto the stack, and Emmy knifed up to a seated position. “Who told you about the tunnels?”
Uh-oh. I hadn’t realised they were meant to be some massive secret.
“Does it matter?”
“Bradley? Alex? Luke?” A pause, and boy was that stare intense. Her eyes were the oddest colour. More violet than blue. “So, it was Luke. You need to work on your poker face, sweetheart.”
“Me and Hallie were asking about the previous break-in, okay? He didn’t just volunteer the information.” I liked Luke. Apart from Hallie, he was the only other person at Riverley who seemed vaguely normal. I didn’t want to get him into trouble. “Don’t have a go at him. Please?”
“I’ll just remind him about the importance of discretion.”
“Fine.” As long as she didn’t hurt him. “But what if that’s the answer to the mystery?”
“It isn’t.”
“But—”
“The tunnels run between the two main houses, the garage, and the guest house. The entrances are hidden, and the buildings themselves are alarmed, just the same as Little Riverley. So yes, someone could have theoretically snuck into my house through the tunnels, but they’d still have had to breach the perimeter first. Think of it as one massive unit rather than four separate structures. It’s all part of the same system. If one part’s armed, it’s all armed.”
“What if they turned off the alarm in one of the other buildings?”
“They’d have been on camera going inside, and there’d have been a record of the deactivation. Plus they’d have had to sneak past me. And again, no motive.”
“One person had a motive.”
“Go on.”
“Black.”
Emmy snorted as she stood. “Puh-lease. You seriously think he did it?”
“I’m objective enough to see the way he acts around Alaric. Jealous doesn’t even begin to cover it.”
“You’re saying I’m not objective when it comes to doing my job?”
“Yes.”
Oh, Emmy didn’t like that, not one little bit. I half thought she might take a swing at me, but somebody needed to say those words. Hallie had already told me she wasn’t going there. Emmy took a step closer, then seemed to catch herself, and the fire in her eyes turned to ice. I swear the irises actually went bluer.
“You’re wrong. Black wasn’t even in Virginia that day.” She stalked towards the door, then turned. “Where’s Rafael? Don’t you have work to do?”
“He’ll be here any minute.”
“Well, stop slacking and get on the fucking treadmill.”
CHAPTER 32 - EMMY
“SHE’S NOT WRONG,” Ana said softly from behind me.
For fuck’s sake. I really didn’t need this right now. I carried on walking, but Ana followed.
“Do you make a habit of listening to other people’s conversations?”
Ana caught up and gave me side-eye. Okay, stupid question. Of course she eavesdropped. We both did.
“I find curiosity has benefits, especially when one of the participants in the conversation isn’t listening themselves. Sky’s right. You’re not objective. The past clouds your judgement.”
Ana was right. I hated to admit it, but she was right. Sky was new to Blackwood, and apart from Ana, she was the one person in the household who had no loyalty to Black. I