Chapter 38
Chapter Thirty-Eight
“Devon?” Chase asked. “Man, did you sleep here?”
He opened his eyes and sat up. He was still at the kitchen table with Ruby’s laptop open in front of him. He must’ve fallen asleep looking at the video footage.
Chase stood there in the kitchen, wearing his workout clothes.
Devon rubbed his face. “What are you doing back? I thought you went to the apartment Max is loaning you.”
“I did. But I was up early for the gym and came to check on things. Also, your mom makes the best huevos rancheros. She and Ruby still asleep?”
“I guess so. Wait, why do you have a key to this house?”
“So I can help out when you’re not around. Pretty sure you’re the one who asked me to do that? Look out for your mom and Ruby while you were working?”
Devon’s mouth twisted into a frown, even though Chase was right.
Chase opened a cabinet and threw Devon a protein bar. “Eat something. You look awful. And you have computer keys imprinted in your face.”
Devon ran a hand over his cheek, feeling the indentations.
“What were you up so late doing?” Chase tore into his own protein bar.
Devon woke up the computer and logged back on to the Bennett Security server, relieved to see he still had access with Sylvie’s passcode.
He explained to Chase that he was trying to explore a lead to the Escalade driver’s identity. They suspected the man might have some connection to the Wolfsons and The Lighthouse Club. But they hadn’t managed to find any proof of that yet.
“I’ve got a few more days of footage to go over. Want to help?”
Chase sat down at the kitchen table, swallowing the last of his snack. “Sure. My shift doesn’t start until this afternoon. Might as well.”
Once again, Devon started to scan through the surveillance footage. Chase complained that he was going too slow, so he sped up the replay. They were getting closer to the night of the “Angels and Demons” party.
He was running out of video. But there had to be something, some clue.
And then, there she was: Aurora stepping into the club in a long black dress on the night of the party. His breath caught, even though he knew she would’ve looked so much more beautiful in person. Thankfully, Chase didn’t make any smart comments.
They slowed down the replay as they combed through those final hours just before the party began. They had to go camera by camera, so it wasn’t possible in an efficient way to see all the footage chronologically. They had to piece it together as each camera angle revealed a bit more of the story.
Chase sat forward. “Go back. I think I saw something.”
Devon moved the time back slightly. They were watching a camera that had been aimed at an alley on the side of the club.
It faced an exit door. Not the one that Crane and his men had used, which had very conveniently not had a working camera on it at the time.
This exit door was over by the kitchens. Several times, workers came in and out.
“All I see is people hauling trash to the dumpster. What is it?”
“Start moving forward,” Chase said. “Slowly. I thought I saw someone that didn’t belong.” The seconds ticked by, and then Chase pointed. “There. Pause it.”
Devon studied the screen. Chase was right. There was a blond woman stepping out of the exit door. She was wearing an evening gown, not the typical clothing for the employees they’d seen using this door otherwise.
“I think that’s Mrs. Wolfson.” Devon moved the video forward several seconds more.
And then another face came into view. This was a man, barrel-chested and burly. He stepped out of the shadows of the alley and spoke briefly to Mrs. Wolfson, keeping his face tilted away from the camera. But for one brief moment, he turned, facing the lens.
Devon took a still image and zoomed in. Bennett’s high-quality cameras didn’t disappoint. They could see the man’s face clearly. He had gray hair, a ponytail. An observant gaze.
“Do you recognize him?” Chase asked.
“No.”
It wasn’t the Escalade driver. Devon wasn’t sure who this guy was, or even if this meeting with Mrs. Wolfson meant anything at all. He hit his thigh with a fist, cursing. All this effort had led them nowhere once again.
“Wait,” Chase said. “He seems familiar. I feel like I should recognize him. But it’s just not coming to me.”
“I’ll send the photo to Sylvie. Maybe she can place him.” Her photographic memory was a major asset. If this guy was connected to the case at all, Sylvie would know.
After finishing his review of the recordings, though, Devon hadn’t found anything else useful. And he hadn’t heard back from Sylvie, either about the photo or about her contacts in Vegas. Maybe she was getting some much-deserved sleep after their late night.
“So, we’re basically back to square one.” Devon rested his forehead in his hand.
Chase sat back down at the kitchen table, chewing on a second protein bar. Mom and Ruby still weren’t up.
“But what about the leak of Aurora’s identity as the witness?” Chase asked. “How did Crane’s men, or this Escalade guy, find out about her? You don’t still think it was anyone in my department, right?”
“No, we pretty much ruled that out. Even the cops who were stationed outside Aurora’s building didn’t know they were guarding her.
That’s another mystery. Nobody knew, except a few people in the DA’s office and a handful of Bennett Security employees.
And then a few more people, including you, after the first attack on Aurora’s building. ”
That was something else that didn’t add up. So much about this case just didn’t make any fucking sense.
“And the filing clerks that work for the court,” Chase pointed out. “They would’ve known too. Because Lana filed the sealed complaints.”
“Hold on. The what?”
“The complaints? The official documents that charged Crane and the others with murder? The DA’s office filed them under seal, right?
Meaning their contents remained secret until the court unsealed them later, after the police made the arrests.
So those people you mentioned knew, but so did the filing clerk that entered the documents into the record.
And whoever else at the court records department who had access. ”
Devon jumped up, energy rushing through his veins. His exhaustion was gone. He looked for his mom’s cell phone. Where had he put it?
Chase kept talking, not seeming to realize the urgency Devon was feeling. “But those workers deal with sensitive records all the time. It’s pretty far-fetched to think they would have leaked that information.”
“I don’t care what’s likely or not. It’s possible. And Aurora is at the courthouse right now.”
He found the phone on the kitchen chair. It must’ve slipped while he was asleep. Devon called Sylvie, praying that she would answer.
“Hello?” She sounded sleepy, but he’d apologize later for waking her.
“Sylvie, is Aurora at the courthouse now?”
“I think so. Based on what Lana mentioned yesterday. Why?”
“I was just talking to my friend Chase, and he mentioned that the records people at the courthouse would’ve had access to those secret court documents that Lana filed with Aurora’s identity. Is that something you looked into? When you were trying to figure out how her identity got leaked?”
“Oh my god. How could we have missed that?”
There was a sound of things moving, and Devon guessed that Sylvie was walking around her place.
“I just sent a message to Max. I told him to be on the lookout for anything strange at the courthouse.”
Devon exhaled. “Good, thank you.”
“I think he’s got at least six of the guys going with Aurora today. If anyone tries something, they’ll be ready. But this information could help. Thank you, Dev.”
“Hold on, wait. I’m guessing you haven’t seen my email?
I found something in the footage from The Lighthouse Club.
From the night of Wolfson’s murder. It looks like his wife, Nadia Wolfson, is talking to some guy in an alley, like they didn’t want anyone to see them.
Chase and I couldn’t tell who the guy was. But maybe you can.”
“Yeah, I’ll look.” There was a pause while Sylvie pulled up the message. Then she drew in a sharp breath. “I know exactly who this guy is. This is Eric Madden. Aurora witnessed him pull the trigger and kill Brandon Wolfson. What was he doing talking to Wolfson’s wife?”
“That’s exactly what I want to know.” Devon didn’t like this, not at all. They had assumed Mrs. Wolfson wasn’t involved in her husband’s shady business dealings—because she claimed to have no knowledge. She certainly hadn’t said anything about knowing the guy who killed her husband.
The same man that Aurora was testifying against right now.
“Is it possible you could locate Mrs. Wolfson?” Devon asked. “If she’s involved with these people, then we have no idea what she might be planning. Or what side she’s really on.”
Sylvie’s fingers clicked on her keyboard. “I’m sending you Mrs. Wolfson’s address. She lives up in the hills above West Oaks, in one of those fancy mansions overlooking the ocean.”
Devon knew the area, though he’d only been up there to consult on some expensive custom security systems. “Do they have a Bennett Security setup?”
“Even if they do, I can’t start looking at their cameras. That would be a gross violation of company policy. So that’s an absolute no go. Not happening….” Sylvie had said all this in a robotic tone. “Oh no, look at that. I have an appointment soon. Better run. I’ll talk to you later.”
The line cut off. But Devon understood what Sylvie had really meant.
She hadn’t been refusing his request. Exactly the opposite—but if she was going to access the cameras at the Wolfsons’ property, then it had to be off the books.
The subject was way too sensitive to discuss over an open cell phone line.
They could view the footage from The Lighthouse Club all they wanted because Max was consulting on the case, and the police had taken possession of everything that could be evidence related to the murder.
But they had no such permission to be sneaking a look inside Mrs. Wolfson’s private home to spy on her.
Sure enough, Sylvie wrote to Devon using an encrypted message.
Good news and bad news. Wolfson’s estate used a Bennett Security system.
Bad news is that it went offline after the murder.
Apparently, our tech contacted the widow to see if she needed assistance, and she said she wanted to discontinue the service.
Devon wrote back to ask if she had any of the previous footage from the home stored in the company databases.
I’ll see what I can do.
But almost right away, Sylvie wrote again. Max is calling. Stand by.
Devon cursed, anxious to find out what was going on.
“Any updates?” Chase asked. “I can tell something’s going on over there from your face, but I have no idea what.”
Quickly, Devon tried to fill in his friend—that they suspected Mrs. Wolfson might have more involvement in the conspiracy than they’d realized before.
“But if Sylvie can get access to their camera recordings from before the murder, it might show who the Wolfsons were associating with. Maybe Wolfson and his wife knew all of these people a lot better than we thought.”
Maybe they’d even find the Escalade driver among them.
The phone rang again, and Devon grabbed it. Sylvie sounded breathless when she spoke.
“Devon, they’ve taken her. Aurora is gone.”