Chương 6
“Marcus’s assigned SUV left the executive garage at 11:38 last night,” she said.
“He came to the hospital in it.”
“No. Plate ending four-one-seven. He came here in his sedan. I saw it downstairs.”
“Where did the SUV go?”
“Telematics disabled at 11:43.”
“By whom?”
She typed. “Administrative override from Marcus’s credentials.”
“Can it be disabled remotely?”
“Yes.”
“Can it be restored?”
“Not without the vehicle.”
“What about tolls, fuel card, gate access?”
Priya looked at him. “You built too many ways to find your own people.”
“I built ways to find vehicles carrying clients.”
“Same machinery.”
She searched company records. “Fuel card used at 1:12 a.m. near Interstate 81. Purchase was snacks and bottled water, not fuel.”
“Camera?”
“Private gas station. Police can request it.”
“Send everything to Alvarez.”
Priya’s fingers stayed still.
“Now,” Daniel said.
She turned toward him. “Marcus hired me.”
“I know.”
“He paid my mother’s hospital bills before our insurance appeal came through.”
“I know.”
“He gave me this job after I got fired for refusing to bury an audit.”
“I know.”
“Do you?”
Daniel did not answer.
Priya closed the laptop halfway. “You and Marcus talk about loyalty like it’s a currency you invented. The rest of us just live inside the consequences.”
“My daughter is in surgery.”
“And his son is being hunted by a man called the Ghost.”
Daniel’s face hardened.
“That’s what people will say,” Priya continued. “Maybe it isn’t what you’re doing. It’s what this looks like.”
“Send the records to Alvarez.”
“What happens to Blackline?”
“I don’t care.”
“I do. Four hundred employees care. Their mortgages care.”
“Then remove Marcus’s access.”
“I can’t remove the chief operating officer because you’re angry.”
“Because he disabled tracking on a company vehicle during an investigation.”
“That I can do.”
She reopened the laptop and began typing. “Temporary access suspension pending review. Counsel gets copied. Board chair gets copied. Insurance carrier gets copied. You don’t get to decide alone.”
“Fine.”
“You’re not listening.”
“I said fine.”
“No. You say fine when you mean do it and leave me alone.”
Daniel looked at her.
Priya’s voice softened. “I’m trying to keep you from burning down everything Lily will have to come home to.”
The surgical doors remained closed.
Daniel rubbed the place beneath his shirt where Claire’s wedding ring rested. “Send the records.”
Priya did.
Alvarez called the waiting-room desk eleven minutes later and asked Daniel to come downstairs.
He found her near the ambulance entrance with two detectives and a man in a wrinkled suit who introduced himself as Assistant District Attorney Jonah Bell. Alvarez held Daniel’s phone in an evidence pouch.
“We located the company SUV,” she said. “State police stopped it at a rest area seventy miles west.”
“Who was inside?”
“A Blackline driver named Samuel Orr. No passengers.”
“Where was he going?”
“He says Marcus ordered him to deliver the vehicle to a client in Pittsburgh.”
“Which client?”
“He can’t name one.”
“Where is Marcus?”
“We don’t know.”
“Mason?”
“At his father’s house when officers arrived.”
Daniel stared at her. “He was there?”
“Yes.”
“Arrested?”
“No.”
A muscle moved in Daniel’s cheek. “Why?”
“Because we don’t have enough yet.”
“Lily identified him.”
“Through a communication board while medicated.”
“She was clear.”
Bell stepped forward. “Clear to you. We need corroboration.”
“His father knew the other names.”
“We’re investigating that.”
“He moved a vehicle.”
“Empty vehicle,” Alvarez said. “Possibly a distraction.”
“Which means Marcus expected you to look west.”
“Or he had a legitimate delivery and made it look suspicious by panicking.”
Daniel looked at Bell. “What do the three boys say?”
“They have attorneys,” Bell replied.
“That means they’re innocent?”
“It means we speak through attorneys.”
“Whitmore had blood on his shirt.”
“We don’t have the shirt.”
“Get it.”
“We’re seeking a warrant.”
“While you seek it, they wash it.”
Bell’s face tightened. “You know enough about investigations to understand that evidence obtained improperly can become useless.”
“I know enough about investigations to understand delay can be purchased.”
Alvarez stepped between them before the conversation became something else. “We have officers at Mason’s house. We have officers watching the other three. Nobody is leaving the jurisdiction without us knowing.”
“Marcus already left.”
“We’re looking for him.”
“He wants you looking at Mason’s house while he cleans something else.”
“Such as?”
“The Gray Room. Lily’s phone. Whoever drove the SUV that dropped her.”
Alvarez held his gaze. “Or he wants you to believe he betrayed you so you’ll behave exactly as everyone expects.”
Daniel glanced toward the hospital doors.
“What did Marcus do for you?” she asked.
“That’s not relevant.”
“It is if you’re deciding whether he’s capable of hurting your daughter.”
“He didn’t hit her.”
“How do you know?”
“Mason was the fourth.”
“That doesn’t mean Marcus wasn’t there later.”
Daniel’s silence answered more than he intended.
Alvarez continued. “Go upstairs. Stay with Lily. Give us time.”
“How much?”
“I don’t know.”
“That’s not an answer.”
“It’s the only honest one.”
Daniel looked at the evidence pouch containing his phone. “I need that.”
“No.”
“My daughter may wake up.”
“The hospital can reach you.”
“I need to contact my attorney.”
“Use a hospital phone.”
He stepped closer. Bell moved back. Alvarez did not.
“You are afraid I’ll call Marcus,” Daniel said.
“I’m afraid you’ll find him.”
“You should be afraid he’ll find Lily’s missing phone first.”
Alvarez’s eyes shifted.
It was a small movement.
Daniel saw it.
“You found something,” he said.
“We found a cloud backup tied to Lily’s account,” she replied. “Most of it is encrypted.”
“What kind of backup?”
“Audio files. Photographs. Notes.”
“Can you access it?”
“We’re working on it.”
“Who else knows?”
“Her roommate.”
“Name?”
“You already know her name.”
“I don’t.”
Alvarez studied him, then glanced at Bell. “Maya Chen. She reported Lily missing.”
“Where is she?”
“At the university police station.”
“Safe?”
“Yes.”
“Does Marcus know about the backup?”
“We don’t know.”
“He will.”
May you like
“Why?”
“Because I told him to find the fourth name.”
