Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
Devon put his hands on his hips, staring down at the computer screen. A nondescript man had just stepped out of the black Escalade in the video. Sylvie froze the image as he walked, the edges of his blazer flying back.
I see you, Devon thought, leaning forward. He didn’t know how this guy was involved, but Devon wasn’t going to let him anywhere near Aurora again.
“So, this guy was at the party,” Devon repeated. “Was he on the guest list? Do you know his name?”
Aurora’s shoulders tensed. “If I did, I would have said so. I didn’t even really notice him fully the night of the party.
Not in any specific way. I think he was just one of the guests.
The Wolfsons invited hundreds of people, and there wasn’t a formal list. It wasn’t like they sent out engraved invitations. That wasn’t their style.”
“But could he have known that you were in Wolfson’s office at the time of the murder? Maybe he saw you. Maybe he was nearby.”
“It’s possible. But I really don’t think so. Otherwise, why wouldn’t he have told Crane and the others I was inside? And if he was just one of Wolfson’s friends, then he would’ve been screaming his head off.”
An edge had snuck into Aurora’s voice. She was stressed, and Devon could certainly understand why. He wished he could wrap an arm around her. Comfort her. But that wasn’t something the typical bodyguard would do. And he had sworn to himself that he would be nothing but professional from now on.
Which shouldn’t be this difficult, he scolded himself.
“Take your time,” Devon said. “You only just remembered him. Try to picture him. Maybe you’d seen him with the Wolfsons before? Perhaps they introduced him to you?”
Aurora made a sound of exasperation. “I don’t remember!”
“Hey, it’s all right.” Sylvie stood up from the table. “I’ll let Max know. This could be a big lead in the case, so you’ve both been super helpful.”
Devon paced across the room as Sylvie chatted with Max on her phone. Aurora sat on the couch, pulling her knees to her chest and staring at the wall.
He had to force himself to stop looking at her. It was like she had a gravitational pull on him, and he had to exert serious effort to stay away.
Sylvie finished her call with Max. She came over to Devon, tapping a finger on her lip. “This guy isn’t a known associate of the Silverlake Syndicate. His face is definitely not in any of the photos Lana provided us.”
Aurora looked over. “How can you be sure already? I must’ve gone through a hundred of those photos after Wolfson’s murder.”
“Sylvie’s got a photographic brain.” Devon tapped his forehead. “Comes in handy.”
His coworker just shrugged. “And I don’t think this guy was there during the attack on your building, Aurora. He’s not in any of that footage. All the other attackers have been identified as members of Silverlake.”
“I’ve never seen him, either,” Devon said. “So, we don’t know where he’s from.”
“Or what he wants,” Sylvie added.
That was true. This man hadn’t done anything outwardly threatening, apart from Aurora’s impression that he was following her.
Aurora got up. “I could ask Mrs. Wolfson. He was at her party. She should be able to identify him.”
Devon met Sylvie’s gaze. “Let’s wait to see what Max thinks. I’m sure he’ll want to use every possible method to find this guy and see how he’s involved. But we have to be careful.”
Devon went to the front window and peeked out between the curtains.
The street was quiet, no cars driving by.
Past the line of houses, a water tower with “West Oaks” emblazoned on its side poked into the sky.
The afternoon was passing by fast. They’d spent hours so far poring over the video footage.
Devon let the curtain fall back into place. “What do we know about Dominic Crane so far? He’s the head of the Silverlake Syndicate. But he hasn’t been for long. Before, it was his older brother, who’s in prison now. Right?”
Aurora walked into the kitchen. “That’s what I heard on the news. And we know that Brandon Wolfson was involved with Crane somehow. When he and Wolfson were talking in the office, Crane said that Wolfson had been stealing from him. And that Wolfson had been running a competing business.”
Max had mentioned this to Devon, too. The police were considering the business relationship between the two men, and they assumed so far that the murder was in retaliation for some kind of perceived betrayal on Wolfson’s part.
Of course, Wolfson’s wife had adamantly denied that her husband was involved in anything criminal.
“A club like The Lighthouse would have had a lot of cash coming in,” Sylvie said. “Which would have made it a perfect place to launder money.”
“That’s what I assumed, too.” But Devon shook his head. “Does this other man, the Escalade driver, work for Crane secretly? Was he the one who told Crane that Wolfson was cheating him?”
“Or did he work for Wolfson,” Aurora suggested, “as part of this competing business? And if he did, what could he possibly want with me?”
Sylvie stood up, yawning. “I’d love to keep hanging out with the two of you, trying to puzzle through all of this.
But we’ve been at it all day, and I gotta admit, I slept about two hours last night.
I’m going to check with Max one last time, and then I’m going to start on my way home.
Don’t worry, I’m going to follow all the protocols, but that means it’s going to take forever to get back to my place and into bed. ”
Sylvie gave Aurora a hug. Devon walked her to the back door, checking through the windows carefully before letting her out.
“You sure you don’t want to take the car back?” he asked. “Like you said, it’s going to be a long way.”
Sylvie had told him she’d driven a car here but parked it on the next street. It was a means of escape in case Aurora and Devon needed it. Courtesy of Max.
“No, I don’t mind the bike ride.” She fastened the strap of a helmet beneath her chin. “Why else do we live in Southern California, if not to be outside on an evening like this?”
She picked up the bicycle where she had stowed it near the back gate. “I really like Aurora. Shame it took until this crisis for us to meet Max’s sister. Some deep history there, I think?”
“Yeah, no kidding. She’s…something else.”
Sylvie’s eyes twinkled knowingly. “Both of you take care of yourselves. And each other. I’ll be sure to call ahead next time I’m heading over—or if Max is.” Her brows lifted, like she was saying more and wanted him to read between the lines.
With a jolt of guilt, he wondered what Aurora had been telling her. About the kiss? About sharing the bed last night?
Sylvie would never say anything to Max, of course. But he liked Sylvie and didn’t want her to be disappointed in him.
But she didn’t seem mad at you, a voice said in his mind. If anything, Sylvie was encouraging you and Aurora to get closer.
“Don’t get any ideas,” he muttered as he closed the door behind himself, locking it.
“What?” Aurora asked.
“Nothing.”
Once again, they were alone. The minutes ticked by with agonizing slowness. Toward night. Toward that single bed.
Devon parked himself on the couch, one of the laptops perched on his knees. “Get yourself some dinner if you want. I’m going to go over some things. I’ll be here for a while.”
“I’m not hungry. I’ll just take a shower and go to bed.”
He didn’t say anything.
“Are you coming? Or are you going to sleep on the couch again, and be completely exhausted tomorrow, like you were today?”
“I’m not exhausted.”
She snorted. “Right.”
Aurora grabbed some clothes from the bedroom and went for the shower. But in the doorway, she spun around. “Don’t think I’m not aware of what you’re doing.”
“And what’s that?”
“You’re shutting me out. Ignoring me.”
“I think this is smarter. I was completely inappropriate previously, but it won’t happen again.”
She held up her hand. “I get it. I can handle rejection, or…whatever this is. But refusing to even look at me? After what we’ve been through? It’s kind of a dick move.”
She vanished into the bathroom, the door slamming behind her.