Say It Again (First Wives, #5)(60)

AJ was about to ask how he could be sure.

Cooper explained without being asked.

“These six people plugged into our algorithm . . . orphaned, or weak family relations. Five of them had an anonymous benefactor.”

“Pohl?” Sasha asked.

“Possibly. We haven’t cracked that file yet. We’ll get there,” Cooper told her. “All six of these people graduated from Richter, changed their names, and bought a flat somewhere in Europe. No records of employment, no air travel, no leases on vehicles . . .”

“All we found were bank accounts with minimal activity,” Claire added. She looked at Neil, then Sasha.

Sasha offered a small smile.

Neil stared at the board.

“Do you recognize any of these people, Sasha?”

She unfolded from the sofa and crossed to the board.

AJ enjoyed her catlike walk and the way her legs went on forever until they reached her ass. He grinned, wondered if the bite he’d placed there the night before left a mark.

“This one. I didn’t know him, but his roommate, Pierre Dufort. Pierre I could see in The Mandarin File. I don’t recall anything remarkable about this guy.”

“Maybe he excelled without letting on. Either way, he fit the profile. We are pulling pictures and files from as many sources as we can to match up roommates and determine if there are any missing links.”

AJ stared at all the pictures, dots, and lines. “How is any of this getting us any closer to finding out who killed my sister?”

Sasha pivoted and gave him her full attention.

“It’s all in the details and the patterns.” Sasha placed her hand over Amelia’s picture. “You started here, which led us to here.” She pointed out Olivia. “I see Olivia as ground zero and all her roommates as victims. Is Olivia taking them out? Or is Olivia being flushed out? Is Olivia even alive? Does it stop here, or if we keep digging, will we find other cells of dead or missing Richter alumni who all have a Mandarin File operative in the mix? We won’t know without the groundwork. Why is Pohl so invested that he singles me out as a kidnapper? Or maybe Pohl knows exactly who murdered your sister and these other women. We crack the benefactor code and find Pohl feeding that pond, and now we have a motive.”

“A motive for him to kill innocent women?” AJ asked.

“Maybe Olivia went rogue. Maybe your sister and Olivia had a relationship after Richter? We have more questions than answers, so we keep digging. Now that we can prove Claire isn’t a minor, and I’m not a kidnapper, I can get back to doing what I do best.” She turned to stare at Neil.

The hair on AJ’s nape prickled.

“No,” Neil said clearly.

“Excuse me?”

“You’re still a target.”

Sasha placed both hands on her hips. “Not if I look like your grandmother.”

“Don’t fight me on this.” Neil’s words made her stand taller.

AJ’s palms started to sweat. “Where would you go?”

“I’ll find Olivia.”

“How? Go back to Germany?” AJ asked. His pulse rose with his voice. The thought of her running off, even if she was more equipped to handle herself than anyone he’d ever met, made him ill.

“If I have to.”

“We just escaped, and you want to go back?” Claire asked.

Isaac stood from his perch behind his computer while the printer buzzed to the side. “I don’t think you have to go that far east,” he said.

He grasped the picture, walked through the center of the room, past everyone, and tacked it up on the board. “Anyone in this picture look familiar?”

AJ narrowed his eyes, moved closer.

“Well, that’s Creepazoid,” Claire said from the side.

AJ swallowed . . . hard. There were four men, all standing together and posing for the picture. “That’s my father.”

Sasha moved closer to the picture, looked back at AJ.

“Where was this taken?” Neil asked Isaac.

“Board of directors meeting for Richter. Found this buried in a brochure for the school right before Alex Hofmann Senior took on the position as ambassador.”

Acid started to roll in AJ’s stomach. What the hell was his dad doing beside Pohl?

Neil crossed his arms over his chest. “You want out in the field, Sasha, looks like you have a target. You and AJ visit his dad and—”

“I work alone,” Sasha said, her lips a thin line.

Neil turned his head slowly in AJ’s direction.

“Not this time.”





Chapter Twenty-Two



“You sure Shannon won’t mind?” Sasha asked Trina as she rummaged through the closet of Trina’s friend to fill a suitcase. Dressing like herself would not be a part of the plan for the next several days. Only one skintight black outfit had been tucked into the bottom of the case for if and when she needed to disappear at night. All she was missing was a wig or two. Not something Trina had on hand. Neil had a couple of different styles en route to the airplane that would take her and AJ to the East Coast.

“We’ve already gone over this. Shannon thinks the world of you.”

Sasha wasn’t used to hearing things like that. She was pretty sure her expression showed her doubt.