Chapter 15
Claire’s Apartment
East Village
Manhattan, New York
After tossing and turning all night, Ryan had given it up and was now sitting, coffee mug in hand, at the breakfast nook in Claire’s one-bedroom apartment.
Taking a gulp of the dark brew, Ryan glanced idly about.
Given all the months the two of them had been together, he now felt surprisingly at home here, even though it was the complete opposite of his tech-friendly loft.
The muted pastels and a cluster of wicker furniture, complete with a few paintings depicting sweeping landscapes, brought a sense of peace to the apartment.
It was Claire, through and through, lovely and ethereal.
They were still spending half the time here and half the time at Ryan’s place.
That solution had grown less and less palatable to Ryan as time had passed.
He had plans to change it, and soon. The minute this case was solved, he and Claire would be having a different conversation, one he’d been pondering for a while now.
But first, he needed to put things to rest, and to bring peace to himself and to his family.
“Good morning.” Claire interrupted his thoughts, walking into the kitchen wearing her pale blue nightshirt with the words yoga maven on it. “I didn’t hear you get up.”
“Hey.” A corner of Ryan’s mouth lifted. “You were pretty much out for the count. I guess I wore you out.”
“Temporarily.” Claire gave him a teasing look, and then headed over to brew herself a cup of herbal tea. “Did you get any sleep—after you wore me out, that is.”
Ryan shrugged. “Not really. Maybe a couple of hours.”
Claire nodded, putting two oatmeal-raisin muffins on a plate and bringing them over with her tea.
She placed the plate on the counter, then slid onto the stool beside him.
“You had a lot of heavy things on your mind. For that matter, so did I.” She gestured at the muffins.
“Eat. They’re homemade with all natural, good stuff in them. ”
“Sold.” Ryan picked up a muffin and took a bite. “Mmm. You might not bake often, but when you do—hey, maybe I’ll give up my day job and be a kept man.”
That made Claire laugh. “You’d be totally bored and starving to death. Neither would work for you.”
Ryan couldn’t argue away that one. “You’re right. But I could live with being a sex slave in between working and eating.”
“I’ll remember that.” Claire grew serious, placed a gentle hand on his forearm. “When are you planning on driving to your parents’ house?”
Ryan put down his muffin and coffee mug.
“Agent Barkley is showing up to interview my mom at two. I want to get there well before that so I can take care of a few things, and then get Kennedy out of the house with plenty of time to spare until Barkley arrives. Before I head to the Bronx, I want to bring the team up to speed.” He turned to Claire. “And so do you.”
A definitive nod. “As I told you, last night I got such strong flashes of insight when I held the Washes’ towels again.
Shane and Caitlin behind closed doors. The two of them talking about existing danger and the man who was inciting it—a man who’s important and powerful.
It feels like something more personal than just a police or FBI case.
But not completely personal. A threat that started with Caitlin and Shane, and has now widened to include Kennedy.
That’s been since Caitlin ran. Maybe this man thinks Kennedy knows something, or maybe he thinks Caitlin’s been in contact with her.
I’m not sure. What I am sure of is that I’m very relieved that Patrick put extra security on Kennedy. ”
“So am I. Very relieved.” Ryan frowned. “You and I have managed to give her some hope. But I want to take it a step further. I have an idea, but it hinges on what Caitlin does next and on my racing the clock to do a ton of finely detailed—and extraordinarily brilliant—work, followed by an enactment worthy of Hollywood.”
Claire’s brows rose. “Wow, have you piqued my interest. Let’s shower and get into the office. I’m willing to bet that, after a night off, everyone will be in for a morning catch-up. After which you’ll drive straight to your parents’ house.”
Ryan picked up his cell phone. “Let’s not leave it to chance,” he said.
He Slacked the whole team, told them that he and Claire would be in before eight, complete with updates.
He made sure to stipulate that, with Casey’s okay, everyone had to be there for an eight o’clock meeting, and that he had to leave the brownstone by eleven.
The replies ranged from Casey’s “Meeting approved” to Emma and Angela’s “I’ll be there” to Patrick’s “Already in” to Marc’s “Halfway there.”
“Good,” Ryan said. “Yeses across the board.”
Quickly, Claire drank down her tea, while Ryan polished off his coffee and muffin.
“C’mon, Mr. Mysterious,” Claire said. “Let’s shower and get moving.”
Offices of Forensic Instincts
Main Conference Room, Second Floor
Tribeca, Manhattan, New York
Wednesday, March 15, 7:48 a.m.
Emma was the final team member to arrive. She looked puzzled as she walked into the impressive room and stared at the entire group gathered around the sweeping oval table, iPads poised and ready. They were currently all sipping at their coffee mugs and nibbling on bagels and cream cheese.
“Am I late?” she asked with a glance at her Apple Watch.
“Nope,” Ryan assured her. “Early by twelve minutes.”
“Okay, then I’m confused. I stopped at the first-floor conference room as soon as I walked in. I thought we were waiting for next week to move back up here.”
In her seat at the head of the table, Casey leaned forward, interlacing her fingers in front of her. “We changed our minds.”
Emma turned her palms up in question. “Did everyone know this except me?”
Marc grabbed this bull by the horns, making sure it wasn’t going to turn into one of Emma’s unintentional poke-the-bear moments.
“Nope. Just our esteemed leader, who says she’s feeling more than able to climb one flight of stairs.
So grab a cup of coffee and a bagel, and join us—without asking Casey any more questions. ”
Emma heard the pointed note in Marc’s voice and shot off a mock salute. “Got it. And thank you to whoever supplied breakfast.”
“That would be me,” Angela said. “The subway was actually on time today. So I got here with forty minutes to spare. And I figured we all needed sustenance.”
Quickly, Emma got her coffee and bagel, and then slid into her seat. “All set.”
Casey opened the meeting. “I hope everyone managed to eat dinner and get a decent night’s sleep. As you all know, that doesn’t happen often.”
She didn’t wait for responses, but continued.
“To recap, Claire and I interviewed all the McKays yesterday. John met with more of his police contacts and utilized Yoda’s refined list to expand his questioning.
And Marc shared Aidan’s findings about Shane’s and Caitlin’s blood both being at the crime scene with the team, after which he and Patrick called as many medical facilities as possible to see if Caitlin had been treated for her injuries.
So we have lots to tell each other. But, once again, Ryan called this meeting, so we’ll let him go first.”
She glanced at Ryan. “Your Slack message sounded just as urgent this time as the last.”
“It was.” Ryan was barely able to sit still. “I’ve got something major to report. And Claire should go after me. She made some great headway, too—headway that will give us valuable insight and might even alter our course a bit.”
“Okay, go,” Casey urged.
Ryan told the team everything, from his suspicions about Kennedy’s pendant, to Fiona’s confirmation of the same, to the microphone on a chip that BUGGY had picked up, to the seeds he’d planted for Caitlin, and to the fact that, should those seeds bear fruit, he had a monumental task ahead of him—as did the team.
“Are you planning on telling us what this monumental task is?” Patrick asked.
“Yeah. As soon as Caitlin responds. My fingers are crossed that she’ll be sending me a lunchtime dessert with enough of a message for me to act.
When that happens, I’ll tell you guys everything.
Because, even though I’ll be doing the work, every single one of us is going to be on high alert, ready to take on the end result.
But it’s a complex explanation with specifics we need to plan as a team, so I want to make sure we have what we need before I dive right in.
If Caitlin comes through—and I really believe she will—we’ll have another meeting at the end of the day, I’ll give you all the specifics, and we’ll chart our course, so to speak. ”
“Fair enough,” Casey accepted, although she looked as puzzled and curious as Patrick. “Most of all, amazing work on your part, Ryan. Truly impressive.”
“Thanks, boss.”
“How much did you tell Fiona?”
“Nothing,” Ryan replied. “Obviously, she knows there’s something weird about the pendant. But I let her know our call was confidential. So there won’t be any leaks.”
Casey nodded again. The team had formed a tight friendship with Ryan’s sister, especially after they’d saved her life. So there were no doubts about her integrity where FI was concerned.
“Cool.” Emma was still processing Ryan’s findings. “So Caitlin’s been watching everything Kennedy does. Not so cool that she has to watch the pain she’s in, see how much she cries.”
Ryan waved away Emma’s assessment. “I was pretty upset about the last part of what you just said. Then I realized that Caitlin can’t view much of Kennedy’s physical reactions.
The only time she can see her is when Kennedy’s either gazing at herself in the mirror or staring at the pendant when she takes it off. ”
Marc looked intrigued. “Good point. The pendant is around Kennedy’s neck, facing outward. So, for the most part, Caitlin is watching everyone else, not Kennedy.”