Chapter 15
FIFTEEN
Alexandria, Virginia
“This way.” Dr. Mills limped down the hallway. He had gray hair, a lab coat over scrubs, and sneakers that seemed too white to wear in a place where autopsies were done.
Noah wondered if he kept pristine shoes in his office for occasions like this.
Mills pushed through a set of swinging doors with a single round window in each side.
Marina didn’t follow him right away. She held the door with one hand and looked at Noah for the first time since they left his family’s ranch in Montana.
Noah said, “I can wait out here.”
She shook her head. “Come with me?”
Noah followed her into the post-mortem room. The tables had been cleared, cabinets closed, and the whole place smelled like hospital disinfectant. Not unpleasant, but it served as a reminder of what the medical examiner did here. Only now, things were far too clean.
A single table in the center had been covered with a sheet, the outline of a body underneath.
Doctor Mills went to the head and clasped his hands together in front of him, giving off an air that told them he had all the time in the world and nothing better to do with his evening.
Marina stood opposite him. Noah hung back.
“We appreciate you coming.” Mills glanced at Noah, including him in the sentiment. “And identifying the deceased for the Commonwealth.”
He eased back the sheet, revealing the victim down to her neck. Stringy hair and a face marred by what had happened.
Marina’s breath caught in her throat.
“As you can see, the blunt force trauma she sustained was significant.”
Noah had seen that kind of injury to the skull before, when an IED had taken out a Humvee. The marine had been hit in the forehead by a piece of twisted metal that almost took off the top of her head.
Marina gripped the edges of the table, her body bowed forward and her head lowered for a second before she straightened. “Her head hit the steering wheel upon impact …and did this?”
Mills’ jaw flexed.
Noah didn’t like the silence. “Doctor, what was the cause of death?”
“The victim’s car hit a tree, traveling at high speed. The police noted there were no other vehicles on the road at the time, and no eye witnesses on scene. So we can’t be sure precisely what happened. However, the result is simple. A tragedy occurred.”
Marina’s knuckles turned white on the edges of the metal table. “Doctor, what was the cause of death?”
“You may believe you wish to know the precise details, but I can assure you that sometimes questions are better left unasked.”
“This isn’t one of those times.” Marina let go of the bed. “She suffered?”
Mills stared at her for a second. Then he said, “There were indications that Ms. Rameski didn’t die immediately.”
“What killed her?”
“The trauma of her injuries—”
“Nope. What killed her?” Marina’s body language tightened.
Noah worried she might snap, but he didn’t go over there, just in case he was the impetus that made it happen. “What we need to know is whether someone did this to her. Because if she didn’t die as a result of the crash, there could be evidence that someone came along and finished the job.”
Marina stood completely straight, staring at the doctor.
Mills shook his head. “The evidence doesn’t support that conclusion.”
“It was important that we ask the question regardless,” Noah said. “We would like a copy of the police report.”
“And Kathryn’s personal belongings. Anything that was found on her at the time of her…death.” Marina’s voice broke on the last word. She leaned down and pressed a kiss to her cousin’s shoulder, whispering something Noah couldn’t hear.
The ME met them at the door with a clear bag that contained a purse and some loose items. “As there is no investigation, and the report has been filed, all of her belongings can be passed to you. This is everything she had on her.”
Marina took the bag. “What about her clothes? This isn’t everything.”
The ME stared at them for a moment, then went to a cabinet and retrieved a second bag. “Most families would rather not see blood-stained garments.”
Marina swept out without saying anything else.
Noah offered a quick, “Thank you for your time,” then followed her to the door. By the time they reached the street outside, she was practically running. “Whoa, whoa.”
He grabbed her by the elbow. Marina spun to him, and he let go.
“Sorry.” Her expression hardened, as though she was fighting tears and didn’t like it.
“It’s okay to cry. No one will think less of you, and I’m the only one who will see.”
She hugged the bags to her front. “We need to go to her apartment. I can access the network from there.”
Noah stared at her for a second, then nodded. “You have what you came for?”
“I don’t want anyone seeing me look in the bag.”
Neither of them glanced around at the busy street on the other side of the parking lot, or the evening sky darkening to the west with streaks of yellow and gray. A police car, lights and sirens going, sped by on the road.
“Let’s go.” Marina walked toward his rental car, where she tapped an address into the dash screen.
Before he pulled out of the parking lot, he said, “Do you know what you’re looking for?”
“Kathryn sent me a text. She’d noticed some odd transactions at work, and I told her to download everything and save it on a flash drive. That was the same night she was killed.”
“This isn’t your fault, Marina. It isn’t.” He backed out of the parking space, unsure of what else to say. “Do you think your cousin had the flash drive on her when she was killed?”
“I think if we have to fake our way into the FCC’s orbital policy office, we’re going to have a harder time than if it’s just here in her things.”
“Do you think it was something other than an accident?” Noah pulled onto the street, into the flow of traffic. “Because it seems as if there isn’t much evidence pointing that direction.”
“You think I’m seeing a conspiracy where there isn’t one?”
Noah shook his head. “I think we don’t have enough information to draw a conclusion.”
“How political. Keeping it neutral, not causing waves.” She glanced at him. “You should’ve gone into Washington politics.”
“I’d rather actually make a difference in the world.” Noah blew out a breath. “And I think you know what I mean. I’m trying not to dismiss your concerns, because you don’t need that. The situation is concerning enough, if your cousin’s death wasn’t suicide.”
“There’s no indication to believe it was a suicide. That theory makes the least sense. Why message me and then drive into that tree if she had no intention of living long enough to do anything about what she found?”
“So what are the other options?” Noah checked his mirrors.
What if someone was tailing them, looking for the files Kathryn had downloaded?
He wasn’t here to take chances. He was here to keep Marina safe.
“She might’ve been forced off the road. Or someone in oncoming traffic swerved, and she overcorrected. ”
“Both of which amount to an accident. Unfortunately, beyond that the ideas only get crazier from there, but I can’t confirm if they’re valid or not without getting access to the car’s onboard computer.” She opened the bag of belongings, the bloody clothes one by her feet.
“You think that will tell you—what?” He made a right turn onto a street with a park on one side. On the other were storefronts with four stories of apartments above.
“I couldn’t say without actually reading the car’s computer. But it could’ve been tampered with.” She rummaged in Kathryn’s purse. “It’s possible to hack a car, you know.”
“And you think that might’ve happened to your cousin? Over some files she downloaded at work?” An SUV buzzed past them, and he changed lanes behind it. “Any idea what she stumbled on that might have put her in someone’s crosshairs?”
Whoever they were, had this cousin of Marina’s found herself up against someone who would kill to keep their secret? Stuff like that happened in the world, sure. But in the FCC office?
Marina looked at him. “That’s what we’re here to find out.”
“You’re the one who asked me to come. Did you just need dumb muscle that kept his mouth shut?”
“If I did, I wouldn’t have asked you.” She sat back in the chair, pushing out an audible breath. Holding a loaded set of keys in her hand.
Noah kept his reaction to himself, but as far as he could see, she’d made his point for him.
They drove the rest of the way to her cousin’s apartment in silence, and when he pulled into the numbered space Marina told him was designated for her cousin’s use, he put the car in Park and turned to her. “Do you think she was murdered?”
She glanced from the window to him with tears in her eyes.
“Sorry, Marina.”
“If she was, I have no way to prove it. And if they’re able to cover their tracks to that extent, then what’s going to happen to me when I start digging into what she found and they get wind of it? I’ll probably end up dead like her.”
“I’m not going to let that happen.” He hit the button that turned off the car and grabbed the keys from the center console.
“You don’t control what happens, so that isn’t a promise you can make.” Marina pushed her door open and got out.
She brought her backpack with her and used a key from the keyring to open the apartment.
Inside smelled like vanilla and whatever had been cooking in the Crock-Pot while Kathryn was at work.
Now it was a nasty mess crusted to the inside of the dish.
Marina pulled out the plug, even though it had long since burned out.
Noah looked around at the open plan kitchen and living area. Piles of pillows on the couch. A low coffee table covered with home décor magazines and several remotes. “Doesn’t look like anyone has been through here looking for something.”
“They didn’t find it if they did, because she had the flash drive with her when she died.” Marina sat on the couch and tugged out her laptop, laying it on the décor magazines.
“So they killed her and took it?”
She waved the keys at him.
Noah went back to the front and locked the door. When he turned, she was twisting something, pulling a lid off. “What is that?”
“Looks like a can of pepper spray. Works like one, too. But inside it’s a flash drive.” She glanced at him. “Personal safety and data storage.”
Noah wandered down the hall, checking out the rest of the apartment. Turned out to be a single bedroom with an ensuite bathroom and a closet on the far side. In the hall he found a linen closet and half bathroom.
Marina stood abruptly and walked away from the laptop. “There’s nothing here.”
“It’s been wiped, or it was destroyed and the data erased?”
“No, the files and reports are all there. It’s just…nothing that anyone would kill a person over. Someone is buying satellite space. If the transactions all trace back to the same entity, or person, then it’s possible there’s going to be a monopoly. But in the end, who will care?”
Noah said, “One person controlling the skies. If there’s a battle over it, that could be worth killing for. To seize control. Or if they’re desperate enough to keep it a secret.”
And her cousin had been caught in it.
“She died in an accident—or so everyone thinks. If we dig, we might find evidence otherwise.”
Noah frowned. “And we’d draw attention to ourselves.”
“We have what we came for. Which isn’t a pattern. And if it was, it wouldn’t be illegal. There’s literally no way to stop a foreign country from selling their orbital rights to anyone they please. It could be construed as none of our business.”
“But it might be the reason your cousin was killed.”
Marina walked down the hall and out of sight.
Noah didn’t bother looking at the laptop, because he doubted he’d be able to make more sense of it than Marina.
They could find an expert, or pay that visit to her office and speak with her colleagues.
One of them might be able to make sense of Kathryn’s death, or Marina and Noah might wind up putting someone else’s life in danger.
He slid the Crock-Pot pan into the trash and tied it off, intending to take the bag with him on their way out.
Lifting the bag out of the can had him wincing to hide the pain that echoed in his spine, but Marina didn’t see.
He gave himself a second to breathe through the discomfort before she came back, glancing around.
On the front of her fridge, Kathryn had a couple of photos. She and Marina posed together in one from five years ago, wearing sparkly glasses commemorating the New Year. Another was of Kathryn and an older woman on the deck of a cruise ship.
At the top corner of the collection, a postcard had been tucked partially behind one of the photos and the high school graduation announcement for a dark-haired boy.
Noah slid out the postcard, immediately recognizing the image on the front side.
Not because he’d ever been to Perth before.
In fact, he’d never been to Australia or New Zealand, or anywhere that far across the world.
“Hey, what…” She trailed off. “A postcard?”
Noah went to the stove and lit one of the small gas burners at the back. He held the postcard over the heat.
“Noah, what are you doing?” Marina tried to shove him out of the way. “You’ll burn it!”
“No, I won’t. We need heat to see.”
“Heat to see what?”
The paper on the back side of the postcard began to brown, forming letters where the note would be written. A secret message sent to Kathryn. Noah read what he saw. “It’s just a series of numbers.”
“Those are reference numbers. They were in the information on the flash drive, all of them account for a licensing agreement.” Marina took the postcard from him. “Someone sent this to her, she looked into these sales, and now she’s dead?”
Noah backed up, getting some space so he could think this through.
“How did you know the postcard would reveal a message under heat?”
He went to the edge of the dining space and stared at the laptop.
“Noah?”
He turned back to her. “Because I’ve received one of these before.”