Chapter 39
Ridge
Reed stands, looking at the small clock on the wall and then back at me.
“That’s it. We’re done.”
“What?” I straighten.
“I gave you five minutes almost half an hour ago, Ridge. I’ve been more than patient. I have Head Councilor Vector breathing down my neck and a vote that has already been signed off. I cannot keep stalling on this.”
“Councilor, please.”
“It’s done.” She picks up her file. “It’s over. I’m calling the team in now, and we’re going to bring Dr. Keller into custody. I’m sorry. I gave you every chance.”
I open my mouth to argue, and my phone vibrates in my pocket.
I yank it out so fast I almost drop it. It’s Flint, and he’s sent a message. There’s an attachment. I tap to open it, and the picture loads on the screen.
The floor falls out from under me.
No.
Nooooooo, that can’t be right.
A second message comes in underneath the first.
Rachael Da Silver verified this 100%. This is the female who took the phone at the park. I’m sorry, Ridge.
I read it again, trying to make sense of it all.
It doesn’t work.
Surely not.
“Ridge.” Reed has come around the table. “What is it? What’s wrong? You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
I look up at her. It takes me a beat to find my voice.
“I have proof,” I say. “Solid proof that Magma was framed. Shit!” I mutter. “It’s unexpected.”
She goes very still.
“Wait a minute. This should be concerning Robyn Keller, not Magma. Why are you bringing Magma up?”
“Hear me out.”
“I told you to stay away from Magma.” Her voice has gone very low. “I gave you a direct order. Why did you go behind my back?”
“You must know that I was never going to stay out of it.” I look her dead in the eye.
“Magma is my friend, and I betrayed him. I’m not going to add to that betrayal by sitting on my hands and pretending I don’t have the skills or the resources to help him.
I won’t apologize for it. I worked his case because the two cases are linked, so I think that qualifies me.
I have evidence. Do you want it or not?”
She studies me for a long moment. “I don’t like it, Ridge. I don’t like it one bit, but what you say holds some merit, so I’m going to hear you out.”
“Thank you.”
I open my laptop on the conference table. She comes around to my side, and I pull up the file Flint sent across earlier in the day.
“Last Wednesday, Magma was at Vasanti’s Hardware on his lunch break. This is the footage of the incident.”
I play the clip.
I pause it at the moment Rachael’s gloved hand closes around the phone.
“Note that she’s wearing gloves,” I say. “On a tropical island, inside a hardware store. She is wearing gloves so that her prints don’t go on that phone. Magma’s do. One set, neat as you please. It has been verified that the phone is the same make and model as the one planted.”
Reed leans closer to the screen.
“Show me again.”
I play it twice more.
“All right.” She straightens. “I take it that you know who this female is. That you have more.”
“We do, indeed. Flint pulled her registration from the parking lot footage. He ran the plates. The female is Rachael Da Silver.” I tell Reed about our interview and findings.
“You have her in a safe house?”
“Yes, and she’s willing to testify, if it comes to it.
She was approached and tasked with getting Magma’s prints on the burner, then handing it off at the park to a contact.
They threatened her daughter. They told her exactly what they were going to do to her little girl if she didn’t cooperate.
She did what they asked because she didn’t have a choice. She is terrified, Councilor.”
Reed lets out a breath through her nose.
“Show me the handover.”
“Flint went through every angle of footage from the park. He got a clean shot of who Rachael Da Silver handed the phone over to. It’s someone with access to Magma. Someone who could have planted that burner and the documents.”
“Who is it?”
I pull up the second image. The high-resolution one. The female getting out of a car at the park, her face turned toward the camera as she shuts the door.
Reed leans forward.
“Is that…?” Her eyes narrow. “Can’t be.”
“It’s exactly who you think it is.”
“Layla Hamilton?” Reed says.
“My PA. Yes.” Saying it out loud doesn’t help.
“She works closely with Jess, Magma’s PA.
They’re friends. They have lunch together twice a week.
Magma’s office is on the same floor as mine.
Layla has been to his place before. She has dropped documents off there before on my behalf.
She has access to his office. She is often in the building before sunrise.
She would have known his schedule, his routine, the location of his spare key. All of it.”
Reed has gone very quiet.
“Are you sure about this, Ridge?”
“I’m sure. Flint just had Rachael Da Silver confirm that she handed over the burner to Layla Hamilton, who must have planted the items. I’m sure of it.”
I think about Layla’s warm smile. How she has pictures of her grandkids and her cats on her desk.
“But Layla…” She shakes her head once. “She is a sweet female who wouldn’t hurt a fly. I’m struggling to see it.”
“Agreed.” Her thoughts mirror my own. “The Mainland threatened Rachael Da Silver’s daughter to force her to cooperate.
What if they threatened Layla’s husband?
Or someone else in her family? She would have felt like she had no choice either.
She hasn’t been herself for the last week or two.
I put it down to her nephew being killed in the vaccination center raid.
Maybe there was more to it than her grief.
We won’t know for sure until we ask her. ”
Reed rubs a hand over her face. She turns, walks two steps away from the table, then walks back.
“You need to pick Layla up.” Her voice has gone businesslike. “Right now. I want—”
“I can’t.” I groan. “She’s on the Mainland.”
“What?”
“I gave her a few days of compassionate leave. She is with family. She’s not due back until tomorrow afternoon. Her flight lands at three.”
“Dammit.”
“I know. Please, give me until tomorrow. Let me bring her in the moment she lands. Let’s offer her the same arrangement we are offering Rachael Da Silver.
Witness protection for her and her family in exchange for her testimony.
If they have her cornered the way they had Rachael cornered, she’ll cooperate.
She’ll be relieved. This will clear Magma. ”
Reed is quiet for a beat, her eyes are lifted in thought. She chews on her lower lip and then sucks in a breath.
“Here’s the thing, Ridge.” She looks at me. “This clears Magma. It does not clear Dr. Keller.”
“It ultimately does,” I say it firmly. “It’s the same people.
It’s the same playbook. The burner, the documents, the prints.
It’s the exact same setup. I just need a little more time to prove it.
It’s going to be one of those twelve people who have access to that storage area at the hospital.
I have a footprint from the flowerbed at her apartment.
The person was wearing a very particular pair of Italian loafers. It’s a narrow field. It—”
“That’s circumstantial.” She lifts a hand to stop me.
“You don’t know that whoever tried to break into her apartment was there to plant evidence.
You don’t know that the shoe print has anything to do with the break-in, for that matter.
It could have been a delivery person who cut through the flowerbed.
It could have been a neighbor. What you have for Keller is too thin.
The evidence against her is overwhelming. ”
“It’s a story that’s already been written once. With Magma. The writing is on the wall.”
She pulls in a long breath and lets it out.
“I’m angry that you went against my orders.
” She holds my eyes. “I’m furious, in fact.
But this is good work on Magma’s case. I’ll have males ready to pick Layla up the moment she lands tomorrow.
We’ll move on her quietly, and we’ll offer her the deal.
If she cooperates, we’ll have a case. I will personally walk it in front of Vector.
Magma will be released as soon as possible. ”
“Thank you.”
“I’m not finished.” Her mouth flattens. “I’m sorry, Ridge. Dr. Keller still needs to be brought in tonight.”
“Councilor—”
“There is nothing I can do about it.” She shrugs, and the shrug looks tired.
“A vote was taken. I agree with you. I think she was framed. As a result, I’m going to allow you to continue investigating this.
I have no doubt that if she is innocent, she will be cleared.
But for now, the safety of the island has to come first. That means we arrest Dr. Keller. ”
I bite down on a hundred things I want to say. None of them will help. She’s not wrong. I know she’s not wrong. I just hate it.
“I have one request.” I hold up a finger.
“Another request.” She gives me a flat look. “You’re running out of favors, Ridge.”
“I want to be the one to bring her in.”
“No.” She shakes her head. “You’re too involved.”
“She is going to know it was me. The moment she sees the team at her door, she is going to know that I betrayed her. She’s an intelligent female who will quickly put the pieces together.
Please. Give me a chance to explain it to her face.
Give me a chance to apologize for the part I had to play, and then I will bring her in myself. ”
“Ridge.”
“Please.”
She studies me for a long beat.
“I’ll have guards posted outside her door. They’ll be there before you get to her residence. I will give you a few minutes alone with her, and then they will take over, and you will let them.
I nod, because a few minutes is better than nothing.