Chapter 31 Tallus
Tallus
Ileft Diem and Darcy at home, ready to jump at a moment’s notice.
The last thing I needed was Aaron to think my tank of a boyfriend was lurking around, especially when I planned to flirt back for a change and hopefully learn a few things about the posh event coordinator and his involvement in this scheme.
We didn’t know how closely connected Aaron was with Lukyan, but since the coordinator knew Diem was working on Elwood’s case, it was highly probable Lukyan would be alert to my presence.
Our meeting was scheduled for ten. I arrived a few minutes early and signed in with Sandra at the front desk.
Sandra noticed my outfit and arched a brow. “Looking mighty fine today, Mr. Domingo.”
I chuckled bashfully, feigning embarrassment as I touched my tie. “You’re too kind. I have lunch plans after I meet with Mr. Daily.”
“I see. No Diem today?” She glanced over my shoulder to the main doors as though expecting him to saunter in under his usual cloud of indignation.
“No. He’s working this morning. He’ll pop in later.”
I inquired after Nana, but Sandra didn’t have any information since she wasn’t a floor nurse, so I headed toward the administrative wing and Aaron’s office, running through my hastily constructed plan.
Before announcing my arrival, I sent Diem a quick text. Wish me luck. I’m going in.
His response landed immediately. Be careful. I’m on their radar. I love you.
Smiling, I pocketed my phone.
Aaron’s office door sat partly open. I rapped once and poked my head inside, finding the man of the hour at his desk. “Knock, knock. Can I come in?”
“Tallus.” Aaron’s eyes lit up, and he returned a beaming smile, waving for me to enter. “Please. I’ve been waiting for you.”
The instant I entered, Aaron’s gaze glided the length of my body. If it was intended as a subtle perusal, he failed miserably. The man was ten seconds from drooling on himself.
Mission accomplished.
“You’ll, um, pardon my saying this, but…” He chuckled. “You look incredible.”
I smoothed a hand down my shirt, acting shy and self-conscious. “Thank you. I have a lunch appointment with a client later.” I laughed nervously. “Stuck-up lawyers. They only want to dine in elegance.”
Aaron glanced at the door. “Is Diem joining us?” I didn’t miss the note of hope dangling at the end of the question.
“No. Diem couldn’t come today.”
“Oh. Great. I mean… Okay then. Should we get started?” He motioned to the door. “I have the projector set up in the event room. We can test it. I assume you brought a file?”
I presented one of the USBs I’d prepared before leaving the house.
“Excellent.” Aaron grabbed his trusty tablet, the one he took everywhere he went, and guided me toward the spacious room I’d viewed during my last visit. Much to my dismay, he left his phone untouched on the desk.
We would have to come back when we were done.
“So, how’s your investigation going?” Aaron asked. “Any updates?”
“So far as I know, it’s become a bit of a headache.”
“Oh? Really?”
Aaron’s surprise confirmed our suspicions.
Like I’d said to Diem earlier, if Aaron worked closely with Lukyan, then he would know we’d discovered Darcy.
He would have heard about the incident at the storage unit and Lukyan’s literal run-in with Diem.
In fact, Aaron might have been told to notify Lukyan if and when we showed up at the home.
Knowing I had an appointment this morning, I anticipated Lukyan might be lying in wait.
I didn’t see anything suspicious when I arrived, and Diem was convinced Lukyan was in hiding or had already fled the country. It would be wiser than dealing with us, he’d said. Lukyan didn’t know if we were working alongside the police, and that was a risk he wouldn’t want to take.
It was my job to play the player and see if I could figure out the millionaire’s whereabouts.
“You sound surprised,” I said.
“Oh. No, no. I… guess I figured you two would have had more success than the cops at finding that money.”
“Oh, well…” I slowed my pace, acting uncomfortable. It was time to play the innocent, jaded boyfriend card and hope Aaron fell for it. “Can I be honest?”
“Of course.”
“I’m not helping much with the case. Diem shut me out a couple of days ago, and…” I pressed my lips together, pretending to think deeply.
Aaron touched my arm, turning me to face him. “And?”
Sighing heavily, I continued. “Well, Diem’s never been great with communication. When things don’t go his way, he gets… grumpy.” I rolled my eyes for effect. “So, he hasn’t shared much about the case, no matter how many times I ask. We’re kind of… on the outs right now.”
“Oh.” Aaron did not move his hand from my arm. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s fine. He’ll get over himself.” I plastered on what I hoped was a fake-looking smile. The kind a person used when they wanted to convince everyone around them that things were great when they so obviously weren’t. “What can you do? His business, not mine.”
Aaron took the bait, like he couldn’t help himself. “You’re too good for him, Tallus. Why do you put up with that?”
I didn’t want to lay it on too thick, so I feigned discomfort, removing Aaron’s hand and motioning down the hall. “Shall we?”
The event room was occupied by several residents. Elwood wasn’t present. Aaron showed me the projector and the laptop I could use to run my slide show.
“Go ahead and pop it in. We can do a test run and get the size and angle set up. I was thinking this wall here.”
I had come prepared. Fishing inside my pocket, I located the two USBs, palming the one with the nick I’d carved in the plastic casing and openly displaying the second, which I fit into the port on the laptop.
We waited for the computer to read the external drive, and when it displayed nothing, I frowned. “What the heck? Where’s the file? I swear to god, I downloaded it this morning.”
Aaron clicked around to no avail. He removed the USB and reinserted it. Nothing. He tried a different port. It continued to show as empty.
I took it from him and examined the device as though I might see a visible flaw. “The file was loaded. It was here. I double-checked before I left the house.”
Executing the next stage of my plan, I glanced at Aaron’s trusty tablet. “Do you mind if I try on your tablet? Maybe something is wrong with the laptop.”
“Sure. Hang on.” Aaron did something on the screen, keeping it angled so I couldn’t see, then passed it to me.
With a nifty sleight of hand, I switched the USBs, so the one I’d palmed was now between my fingers, and the empty USB was hidden. Even Darcy had been impressed with how I could switch them unnoticed.
I inserted the new drive into Aaron’s tablet.
Diem had done his fancy computer trickery, so that when I opened the file—which would display this time—it would simultaneously download an undetectable malware program that would clone everything on the device and send it to an email account he set up to receive it.
“Huh,” Aaron said when the file appeared. “You’re right. There must be something wrong with the laptop.”
I opened the file on the tablet, taking my time to view the thumbnail photographs of Nana.
They appeared in a neat grid—over twenty of them—and I clicked through them one at a time, purposefully delaying.
Diem told me to give it at least two minutes to ensure the program was downloaded.
I wouldn’t see it happen, he’d said, but it would be there.
Aaron was never without his tablet. In every meeting we’d had, and every time I saw him wandering the facility, he carried it with him. It could be strictly a work device, but I suspected it might be personal. If there was anything relating to Elwood or Lukyan’s scam, we would find it.
Satisfied I had waited long enough, I tugged the drive free and gave Aaron his tablet. “Let’s try it again. Maybe this USB is faulty or has a loose… something or other. I don’t know how they work.” I issued a self-deprecating laugh.
Plugging it into the laptop again, I feigned surprise when the file miraculously appeared. “What the heck?”
“Weird.” Aaron touched my shoulder, lingering. “At least we got it working.”
Step one. Complete.
Step two was trickier and required returning to Aaron’s office.
We spent the next fifteen minutes running through the slideshow and making adjustments to speed and size while ensuring the projector worked properly for the party the following weekend.
Diem hadn’t seen all the pictures I’d collected—not since he tossed the album across the room in disgust. I hoped he wouldn’t be bothered that I’d included a few with his parents and him as a child.
My heart broke for the boy in the pictures, knowing all he’d gone through. Child Diem was a mini version of my burly, self-conscious boyfriend in so many ways. He was a stocky kid, unsmiling, reserved, and watchful. Browsing the images was like opening a door to his past.
I couldn’t exclude pictures because he or his dad was in them. Diem was part of Hazel’s life. A significant part. Leroy was her son.
Once the projector was set, Aaron and I wandered back to his office, a quiet tension building in the space between us.
My phone buzzed, so I stopped to check it. Diem. Got it. Nice work. Going through it now. Looks like it’s mostly work shit.
I was afraid of that.
Purposefully frowning, acting troubled by what I’d read—for Aaron’s sake—I typed a response. Didn’t see anyone suspicious when I arrived. Luke probably decided that getting away is more important. Gonna try to get on Aaron’s phone.
I sighed and tucked my phone away, smiling sheepishly. “Sorry. Drama.”
“Everything okay?”
“It will be. Bump in the road. It’s… normal.”
We kept walking. Aaron moved closer so our shoulders brushed on occasion. “Do you like the PI gig?”
“It’s okay.”
“Ever considered real police work?”
I bit back a snappy retort. “No. PI work is less… restricting.”
“Isn’t it dangerous?”