Chapter 28
“We’ll be with you shortly,” Captain Wilson told Emma before leaving her in the small interview room.
It turned out, his definition of “shortly” was very different from hers.
The only reason she didn’t leave during the first twenty minutes of being alone was because of Ronan’s voice in her head, telling her to sit tight and get this over with.
She didn’t even have her phone to keep her occupied. She’d forgotten to grab it before she left the office.
She decided she’d give the detectives ten more minutes. If they weren’t back by then, she’d show herself out.
The door opened with two minutes to spare, and Captain Wilson reentered. He was by himself, which she didn’t take as a good sign. Detective Jensen hadn’t displayed any of the same hostility toward her that his boss had.
Wilson set a bottle of water in front of her and took one of the seats across the table from her. “Sorry to have kept you waiting, Miss Perez.”
“I told you, it’s Dr. Perez,” she said.
“That’s right. My mistake.” He pulled a device out of his pocket and set it on the table. “You don’t mind if I record this, do you, Dr. Perez?”
“Why would I mind?”
“No reason at all.” He smiled and pushed the record button.
—
“Just sit still!” Marty snapped at Ari.
For most of the trip, the mutt had been pacing Marty’s back seat and whining at the windows. But as soon as Marty had turned onto Emma’s driveway, the dog stuck its head between the seats and stared out the front windshield, panting loudly in Marty’s ear.
“Stop that!”
He reached over to push the dog back, then instantly recoiled when his palm landed on Ari’s tongue.
“Gross!”
With no other choice, he wiped his hand on his pants, then parked near the entrance to Emma’s place.
Ari jumped into the front passenger seat and pawed at the door.
“Don’t do that! You’re going to tear the fabric!”
This only seemed to spur the dog to paw faster.
“Hold on. I’ll come around and let you out.”
Marty opened his door, but before he could exit, Ari trampled across Marty’s lap and jumped outside.
“Ouch!”
Marty rubbed his thigh where the mutt’s claws had dug in and started fantasizing about all the things he’d like to do to the mutt.
His daydreams were cut short, however, by the sound of dirt crunching under tires.
He checked the rearview mirror and saw a silver sedan coming down the driveway. Nothing fancy, just a midrange vehicle that he would never be caught dead in.
Figuring it had to be Ronan, he forced on a smile and climbed out.
It was indeed Ronan, but Emma’s friend wasn’t alone. An older man was behind the wheel.
The car parked next to his, and both men climbed out.
As soon as Ari saw Ronan, he sprinted over and jumped on him in glee.
Ronan ruffled the dog’s fur and gave him a hug. “Hey, boy. How ya doing?”
Ari answered with a lick to Ronan’s face, which disgusted Marty all over again. Thankfully, Ronan was focused on the dog and didn’t notice.
When he finally glanced at Marty, he said, “Thanks for bringing him.”
“No problem. Like I said, I was heading this way anyway.”
“Still, I’m sure Emma appreciates your help.” After an awkward moment of silence, Ronan said, “I know you have a meeting to get to, so no need to hang around.”
“Right,” Marty said, cursing in his head. Of course, Ronan would think there was no reason for him to stay. “I hate to ask this, but would it be all right if I used the bathroom first? I didn’t get a chance to go before I left the office.”
“Oh, sure. Come on.”
Marty followed Ronan to the front door, and the older guy fell into step beside him.
“Hi,” the guy said.
“Hello,” Marty replied.
“I’m Billy.” The man offered him his hand.
Having no other choice, Marty shook it. “Marty.”
“You work with Emma?”
“That’s right.”
“Doing what?”
“We’re, um, both engineers.”
“That must be a great job.”
“Uh-huh.”
“You work there long?” the old guy asked as Ronan unlocked the door and swung it open.
“For a while,” Marty said. “Sorry, I really need to take a leak.”
He hurried inside to what appeared to be a combo living room and kitchen area.
A warning tone beeped from an alarm panel near the refrigerator, waiting for a code to be entered. Ronan was almost to it, so Marty moved quickly to a spot from where Emma’s friend wouldn’t block his view of the panel.
He watched Ronan tap 5-9-1-0-2 on the keypad.
Now there was nothing keeping him from searching Emma’s place when he was alone.
—
Billy had sensed there was something off about Marty from the moment he laid eyes on him.
When Marty rushed into the building, Billy had followed quietly a few steps behind. While he couldn’t say for sure, it appeared to him that Marty was trying to see the code Ronan punched into the alarm system.
As soon as the beeping stopped, Marty asked, “Which way is the bathroom?”
Ronan pointed at the entrance to a hallway and said, “Go down there, then take a right at the next hall. It’s near the end. You can’t miss it.”
“Thanks,” Marty said, then exited the room.
Billy glanced around, wanting to give Marty enough time to get out of earshot before he voiced his concerns to Ronan, but when he looked out the window toward the street, he paused.
“Does Emma have binoculars?” he asked.
“Uh, yeah. There should be a pair hanging on a hook, by the front door.”
Billy found them right where Ronan had said, then took up a position several feet away from the window so he could not be easily seen. He raised the binoculars and focused them on what had caught his attention.
On the other side of the road, twenty yards north of Emma’s driveway entrance, stood a man next to a motorcycle. That wouldn’t have been unusual, if not for the fact that the motorcyclist’s gaze was fixed on Emma’s place.
Now that Billy had a good look at the man’s features, there was something else that caught his attention. The guy’s face was almost identical to that of one of the men who’d been playing golf with Victor Popov.
For a brief moment, he wondered if it was the same guy, but no. The golfer had looked at least five years older than the man on the other side of the road. There was no question in Billy’s mind, however, that the two had to be cousins at the very least, if not brothers.
Which meant the motorcyclist had to be connected to Popov.
So, what was a Popov associate doing here?
Billy was sure that he and Ronan hadn’t been followed. Checking for tails was second nature to him, and not once had he spotted even the hint of anyone suspicious behind them.
That left two other possibilities—either the man was keeping an eye on Emma’s place, or he had followed Marty here.
“What are you looking at?” Ronan asked.
Billy lowered the binoculars. Until he knew more, it would be best not to mention the watcher. “Sorry. I thought I saw a coyote.”
He returned the binoculars to their peg and then joined Ronan.
“She’s going to be all right, isn’t she?” Ronan asked.
“Emma?”
Ronan nodded.
“You said she didn’t do it, right?”
“She didn’t.”
“Then there’s nothing to worry about.”
“Plenty of people have gone to jail for things they haven’t done.”
“Not with Herb Fisher as their attorney.”
“He’s that good?”
“He is.”
“That makes me feel better.”
“May I ask a question?” Billy said.
“Of course.”
“How well do you know Marty?”
“Marty?” Ronan said, surprised. “Not well at all. In fact, I met him for the first time on Friday night, though Emma had mentioned him before.”
“Are he and Emma friends?”
Ronan scoffed. “Hardly. I get the impression from her that he’s the weak link on her staff.”
“He works for her?”
Ronan nodded. “Why do you ask?”
“It’s probably nothing.” Billy glanced toward the hallway Marty had gone down. “How long does it take a person to use the toilet?”
Ronan followed Billy’s gaze. “That’s an excellent question. Maybe I should go check on him.”
“Let me. You take care of Ari.”
Billy walked to the bathroom and rapped lightly on the door. “Everything okay in there?”
There was no answer or any sound of movement.
Billy tried the knob and found that it was unlocked. He pushed the door open.
“Marty?”
The room remained silent and for good reason. It was unoccupied. Billy glanced at the toilet and then checked the sink. The walls of each were dry, indicating that neither had been used recently.
He headed quietly down the hall, taking a moment to listen around every door he came to. At the very end was a set of metal double doors that must have been retained from the building’s previous incarnation.
He placed his ear against it. From the other side, he heard the shuffling of paper.
He eased the door open and stepped inside.
Marty was hovering over a workbench in the middle of the room, flipping through a stack of papers, his back to the door.
“Find something interesting?” Billy asked.
Several sheets flew into the air as Marty jumped in surprise.
“Jesus,” he said. “You nearly gave me a heart attack.”
“I thought you were in the bathroom.”
“I was. I, uh…” Marty chuckled. “Emma said she’d left something here that was needed at the office. Thought I’d grab it.”
“You didn’t mention that before.”
“I just remembered.”
Billy’s gaze flickered to the few papers Marty still held. “Is that it?”
“This? Um, no. I thought it might be, but…it isn’t.”
“Then there’s no reason not to put everything back where it was.”
Marty’s fake smile tensed. “None at all.”
He gathered up the pages that had fallen and returned everything to the desk.
He made a show of checking his watch. “I really need to run, or I’ll be late for my meeting.”
“What about the thing you were looking for?”
“I, um, have no idea where she put it. So I’ll let her deal with it later.”
“Can’t fault that logic,” Billy said, then opened the door. “After you.”
When they reached the living room, Ronan was at the window, frowning. “I think we have a problem.”