You know it, I know it. I want the girl back.”
By girl, she knew he meant Claire. “You might have thought of that before calling a press conference. With Sasha, Claire won’t need the life you offer.”
He held her gaze. “You sound pleased with that.”
Linette kept her emotions in check. “Recruitment is down and demand is high . . . isn’t that right?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“You need us, Geoff. Blowing up the credibility of this school with false accusations against its students and alumni will only backfire on us all. An investigation will open up questions neither one of us wants to answer. I suggest you leave this one alone.”
“Letting them walk is not an option.”
“Going after Sasha is operational suicide.”
“We’ll see about that.” Geoff turned on his heel and left.
Once her hands stopped shaking, Linette donned her robe and left her office. She crossed the campus and made her way to the lower classrooms.
Brigitte worked alongside her students without noticing her for several minutes. Once their eyes met, Linette nodded toward her office.
“Pohl just left. He’s going after her,” Linette told her when they were alone.
“Sasha . . .”
“Just like I said he would.” Sasha showing up when she did had not been part of Linette’s strategy, but she couldn’t be happier for it.
Brigitte smiled. “Time to activate our contingency plan.”
“I’m calling an emergency board meeting for a couple of days from now. By then we’ll have the cleaners in and everything scrubbed.”
“He isn’t going to take it well.”
“Pohl has ruled this school far too long,” Linette told her. “We play into the fear of exposure and the board will fold.”
“And Sasha?” Brigitte asked.
“You said it yourself, she’s the best this school has ever produced. Pohl making her a target will only encourage her to expose him herself. We won’t have to do anything.”
“If only we could warn her.”
“I already sent word.”
“How?” Brigitte asked.
Linette smiled. “I can’t tell you all my secrets.”
Brigitte licked her lips. “I already know your biggest secret.”
They holed up in a hotel that night just outside DC, combing over Amelia’s computer. Sasha uploaded images to Neil to see if any of the faces in her many pictures could be traced back to Richter.
AJ found himself taking notes, watching the ways information moved in and out of Sasha’s brain like a computer. Her hyperfocus when on task was impressive. There was a point when the glow of Amelia’s laptop lit up her face and she muttered in Russian. She dug a little deeper in the files, smiled, nodded, and went at it again. Outside of a gun being cocked, AJ didn’t think anything would take her off task.
By the time she looked up from the computer it was one in the morning. “Your sister was good,” she’d told him.
AJ crawled up next to her on the king-size bed and looked down at the computer, which was in some kind of green screen mode. “Oh?”
“I finally cracked her security. I’m uploading all her files to Cooper, let him do the legwork on this while we’re at your parents’.”
“You think there’s something to find?”
“She put up a lot of firewalls. I doubt she was just trying to hide her porn habit.”
He cringed.
“Sorry.”
“It’s okay.” Not really.
“Everyone has secrets, AJ. Even if it’s just kink. Maybe she liked being able to keep her files hidden. Use a skill Richter taught her in her private life that she didn’t use in her professional life.”
“Or maybe my sister had a reason for someone to murder her.”
Sasha kept silent, his words a shout in his ear.
“If you know something, you need to tell me.”
“I’m not going to burden you with suspicion. That invites pain.”
“There’s something.” He could see it in her eyes.
“Nothing concrete.”
“Sasha?”
“There’s a lot of firewalls. That’s all. Maybe by this time tomorrow we’ll know more. Right now, I’m curious as to why an analyst for the UN would need this much cloak-and-dagger. We have hidden surveillance in her home and someone catching her messages and keeping her answering machine from clogging up. It points to something.”
“Not to mention she’s dead. Why would someone need to clear her messages if she’s dead?” AJ asked himself more than Sasha.
“Exactly. They’re waiting for a message . . .”
“From someone who doesn’t know she’s gone.”
“Perhaps. Or someone who wants to throw us off.” Sasha ran a hand through her dark hair. Her wig had long since made its way to the side of the bed. “More questions than answers, but we’re on