All He Has Left(49)

This time, he found the right cubicle before the ringing stopped. There was an L-shaped computer station with a short stack of metal bookshelves and a couple of short file cabinets. Jake sat in the desk chair, began searching the desktop. He immediately spotted a photo of a very attractive young blonde woman in a frame on the desktop. Was that Beth? She was squeezed in next to another young woman at a restaurant somewhere.

But it was another photo frame right next to it that really got his attention. There were two pictures in separate slots. The left picture was of two young kids, a girl and a boy, both wearing matching Christmas pajamas. The young girl was clearly Beth as a child. The picture on the right was present-day Beth with her arm wrapped around a guy who Jake was certain was Eddie Cowens. Jake’s eyes went back and forth between the two pictures. Eddie was definitely the young boy in the picture on the left. Beth and Eddie must be brother and sister, even though they didn’t share the same last name.

Jake began opening desk drawers to see if he could find Beth’s address listed on anything. The first two drawers were nothing but office supplies. But the second drawer also contained something that made him pause. A small strip of photos taken at a photo booth somewhere. Beth was in the booth with Steve Kingston. And the fact that they were kissing on the lips in the bottom shot told him everything he needed to know. Steve was having an affair with Beth. That was the connecting point. Had Steve gotten Beth’s brother to eliminate his potential exposure for stealing millions from the company? Or were Beth and her brother acting independently from Steve? The fact that Steve was now dead left him thinking the latter—but then why would Steve write a $50,000 check to Beth on the same day he was killed?

Jake had to find Beth. That was the way forward. He kept searching desk drawers. He found what he needed in the bottom drawer. Beth had a stack of opened personal mail. Her address was listed on a utility bill. He quickly shoved the bill in his pocket, along with the strip of photos, and headed back up the hallway. When he returned to the office lobby, he was startled to find one of the security guards from downstairs standing there. What was he doing? Had the guy from the elevator called down? Or was this just a random check-in? Jake tried to play it cool even though his heart was hammering away.

“Hey, how’re you doing?” Jake said.

“Good. You?”

“Great. Can I help you with something?”

“Do you work here, sir?”

“Of course. Why else would I be here?”

“Right. It’s just we got a concerned call about this floor.”

“Concerned? Everything seems fine up here. No issues.”

Jake kept racking his brain on the best way to get rid of this guy as soon as possible. He hadn’t come all this way only to get apprehended by a security guard. But the guy did have a gun at his hip, which made Jake uneasy.

“Do you have ID on you, sir?” the guard asked.

“No, I left it in the car. Besides, I’m leaving anyway.”

Jake decided to make a casual move around the guy, hoping he might just let him slip past without further incident. It didn’t work.

“Hold up just a second, sir,” the guard said, putting a hand out in front of Jake. “I just need to get your name, as a formality.”

“Sure. Todd Hendricks.”

The guard lifted a handheld radio to his mouth. “Can you run a check for me? Hendricks. Todd Hendricks. For Kingston, thirtieth floor.”

Jake felt his adrenaline pumping. There was no chance the name was going to show up on whatever check they were running. Todd Hendricks was the name of a guy Jake had coached with early on in his career.

“Is this really necessary?” Jake said to the guard. “I’m leaving, and you can clearly see I have nothing with me.”

“It will just be another minute, sir.”

Jake was cursing inside. This was bad.

A guard on the other end of the radio replied. “No Todd Hendricks on the list.”

The guard tilted his head at Jake.

Jake shrugged. “I just started last week.”

The guard’s eyes grew narrower. “OK, then let’s just ride down together and get this sorted out in the lobby.”

“Sure thing.”

But Jake had no intention of going down to the lobby and huddling up with the security guards. There was no chance that would turn out in his favor. He had to get away from this guy and somehow get out of the building. The guard held the glass door of the office open for Jake to enter the hallway by the elevators. Passing by the guard, Jake lunged at him and shoved the guard as hard as he could. The man stumbled backward and collided with a tall potted plant before losing his balance and toppling over onto the floor. Jake darted for the door to the stairs. He obviously couldn’t get into an elevator right now. As the door shut behind him, Jake could hear the guy shouting into his radio. Black glasses . . . gray jacket . . . brown ski cap . . . gray goatee.

Jake began bounding down two and three steps at a time. He was about ten flights down when he began to wonder what he was going to do when he encountered another security guard. They obviously knew he was in the stairwell. Should he peel off somewhere and hide? But he couldn’t do that. They might call in the real police to come search for him. Jake had just assaulted the other security guard. He had to keep going.

Thinking quickly, Jake pulled off the gray cotton jacket, the ski cap, and the fake glasses. Then he reached up to his face, found a small corner of the fake gray goatee, and began ripping it from his face. Without using the adhesive removal, it hurt like hell. But he had no choice. He had to alter his appearance right now. A couple of more yanks and rips, and the fake hair was completely off. Jake patted his face to make sure it was all gone. He hoped his skin was not so red that it stood out. He opened the door to the elevator corridor on the eighteenth floor, tossed the items inside, and got to moving down the stairs again.