Chapter 19 #2
He bobbed his head up and down as he sank onto the couch. She collapsed next to him, pulling her legs onto the couch as she leaned into him, peering over his shoulder.
His fingers swept across the keyboard as he drilled through the police department’s security easily. “I’m in.”
“You are so good.”
His heart swelled at the words, pleased he’d impressed her. “Speaking of, you really took the easy way out with the confidential files.”
“Please. I accessed your desktop pretty quickly, too, the same way. You pick the worst passwords, Ace.”
“I do not,” he said as he searched for information on the case.
“You do.”
“Fine, I do, but that doesn’t mean you should just guess them. I wanted to see your hacking skills.”
She wrinkled her nose. “They’re a little rusty.”
“Ohhhh,” he said before he hit his escape key and the police files melted away.
“What are you doing?”
He cocked his head at her, arching an eyebrow as he dumped the laptop on her legs. “Refreshing your skills. You hack it.”
“What? No! You were just in there.”
“I was. But I didn’t open the file. If you want the information, go for it, babe.”
She stared at him with her jaw hanging open. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re so mean,” she said as she stared at the computer screen with puckered lips.
“Come on, you got this. And I’m right here to help you.” He grinned at her, hoping she enjoyed the challenge.
She slid her eyes sideways to him. “You’re not going to let me get caught, right?”
“Nope. But I’m not worried. You’ll be fine.”
She sucked in a deep breath, settling her fingers on the keyboard as she pressed her lips together.
He studied her as she started to type, a smile playing on his lips. “Start with the basics, Sparky. Always look for the path of least resistance.”
She bobbed her head, that crease of concentration between her eyebrows deepening. Her fingers hesitated as she stared at the screen for a moment.
He slid a lock of hair over her shoulder. “Every system has a backdoor.”
She stared at the screen for another moment before her fingers moved again, deftly accessing the firewall.
“Gently, Sparky. Be polite when you introduce yourself.”
She eased off, avoiding triggering a security measure, sidestepping it, and continuing through the system.
Seconds later, she unlocked it. She glanced at him with a wide grin. “I did it.”
“I knew you could,” he answered, proud of her. “Now, let’s find that file.”
They sifted through the cases, finding the one containing the information on Marianne Wells. She shifted the computer as she opened the log and scanned it.
“Initial conclusion…foul play suspected. Being assigned to homicide for follow-up. They got it,” she said with a nod. “Pending coroner’s report for a final opinion on the cause of death.”
“Good. Marianne deserves justice,” he said as his phone rang.
He slid it from his pocket, his eyes narrowing. “It’s Miranda.”
The frown she offered him was unmistakable. “On a Sunday night? Put it on speaker.”
“Seriously? You don’t put Chrispy Creme on speaker.”
“Oh, I wasn’t aware Miranda was your fiancé.” She arched an eyebrow high.
He wrinkled his nose and answered the call, toggling on the speaker phone. “Miranda, something up?”
“Yes,” the woman answered, her voice a squeak.
“What is it?” Alex asked, his heart dropping. Was she in danger, too?
“I just…I just got some news. I don’t know how to say this, but…Marianne Wells…one of the finance team is dead.” A sob escaped her.
Ava rolled her eyes at the words.
“Uhhh, yeah, I heard,” Alex said.
“Of course,” she answered. “Of course, you did. I just…this is really…a shock.”
“I know,” he answered, his voice soft. He understood completely. He’d been shocked, too.
“Oh, I’m so sorry to…get this emotional. I…hadn’t thought I would be but…you’re so…understanding.”
Ava shot him a glance, mouthing the letters, “OMG.”
“Well, uh,” he said, trying to say something nice that wouldn’t sound overly friendly, “that’s understandable since you worked with her.”
“She was a great woman. I can’t believe she’s gone.”
Ava gave him the signal to cut the call off.
“Me either. Well, try to relax and get some rest. I’ll make sure there’s a grief counselor at the office tomorrow for everyone.”
“Oh, that’s so kind. I’m sure that’ll help everyone. But…I don’t want to just…hang up. I mean, how are you holding up?”
“Uhhh, I’m okay. Ava’s been amazing.”
That brought a smile to her features, and she cocked her head as she awaited the woman’s response.
“Right, Ava. Your wife. I’m sure she has been.”
Ava rolled a hand, signaling for her to wrap up the call. Instead, the woman made things worse.
“But…she really can’t understand like we can. We knew her. She worked with us.”
As Miranda’s voice wavered over the line, Alex’s discomfort grew. He glanced at Ava, understanding why she disliked the woman. His irritation grew every time she completely disregarded Ava’s presence.
Ava shoved a finger in her open mouth, silently signaling the phrase “gag me.”
“Well, I didn’t know her that well. I’m not around much. I still feel bad, but like I said, Ava’s been wonderful. Hey, maybe you could talk to her, and she can help set your mind at ease, too.”
Ava pressed her lips together, covering her mouth before a giggle escaped.
“Oh, no, that’s not necessary. I really should get going. I didn’t mean to take up so much of your time.”
“No problem. Take it easy.”
Alex ended the call, and a giggle burst from Ava’s lips before she turned serious, batting her eyelashes. “How are you holding up?”
“Don’t tease, Avs.”
She flicked a hand in the air. “I still don’t like her. I think we should look at her employee file again.”
“I doubt she did it, but we can do whatever you’d like. But how about if we do it tomorrow? You promised me a game night, and after you fell asleep last night, I think you really owe me.”
She grinned at him. “You are on. Right after I change.”
“I’m right behind you.”
In a cloud of laughs, they scurried up the stairs and changed, meeting downstairs and settling on the floor as the game loaded. Alex lit the fireplace and turned off the lights, bringing a warm glow to the room.
Ava shivered as he played his round, tugging the blanket from the back of the couch and wrapping up in it.
“You cold?”
“I got a chill. Someone walked over my grave.”
“Ew,” he said with a wrinkled nose, his eyes never leaving the screen. “Don’t say that after what we saw today.”
“Sorry, terrible choice of words.”
“Ugh, now look what you made me do…I missed that jump because you were yapping about your grave.”
“I didn’t do it,” she said with a laugh as she grabbed her controller. “You just stink at this game.”
“I don’t,” he answered. “And…guess what. I have an idea for how we can catch whoever did this.”
She paused the game, her eyes wide as she stared at him. “What is it?”
“I’ll tell you if you can crush three rounds straight.”
“Alex! This is serious.”
“And according to you, so are your gaming skills. Now, let’s see them.”
“You are batting a thousand tonight, Ace. First, with the hack and now this.” She shook her head. “Mmm, see who holds your hand when you hear things go bump in the night tonight.”
His ringing phone interrupted their bantering, much to his chagrin. “Ah, it’s the police.”
She paused the game as he answered.
“Alex Stone.”
“Mr. Stone, this is Detective Redmond of the Suffolk County Sheriff’s Department. Do you have a minute?”
“Yes, I do. How can I help?”
The ringing doorbell sent Ava scurrying from her cocoon to answer. Were the police at the door, too?
“Well, I understand it was you and your wife who stumbled upon the body of Ms. Marianne Wells this afternoon.”
“Yes, it was. Pretty horrible.”
“Right. I’m sure. The thing is…this is now being treated as a homicide. Initial evidence suggests Ms. Wells didn’t shoot herself, rather that someone staged her suicide.”
“Oh,” he answered, trying to sound surprised, “that’s awful. Do you have any leads?”
“Several. We’d like to rule a few out. You told my man on the scene that you and your wife had an alibi.”
“Uh, depending on time of death, yes,” he answered. “I mean, we were alone at home this morning.”
“What about yesterday?”
“We were home in the morning, we slept late, then we went to the Frontiers Conference in the city in the afternoon.”
“Anyone see you there?”
“Lots of people, yes. And we spoke with a few people, too, who can corroborate that. We also took my helicopter, so they’d have the exact times.”
“All right. We’ll follow up on that. I’d also like to sit down with both you and Mrs.…oh, uh, Ms. Collins to go over what you saw at the scene. I can stop by tomorrow.”
“That’s fine. We’ll be here.”
“Great. I appreciate your cooperation on this. Speak soon.”
“Good night,” Alex said as he ended the call and climbed to his feet, heading for the front door.
“Hey, Sparky, that was the police. They wanted–”
His voice cut off mid-sentence as he stared at the person on his doorstep. His heart pounded as his stomach twisted into a knot. Everything he’d planned, all the hopes he had, died in an instant.