The 6:20 Man(96)

“You’d think the head of the company would be around to lead the troops.”

She looked at him skeptically. “For all I know he jetted off to some island with a group of swimsuit models. But if you say I told you that I’ll deny it.”

“Have you spoken to his little group of executives?”

“I have. And they won’t say a word about him. Too afraid, I would imagine.”

I would imagine, too.

“Wanda, do you have any idea what’s on the fifty-first floor?”

Her look immediately became guarded. “Why, what’s it to you?”

“Four people have been killed, like you said. And that floor is the only one that no one can access.”

“Oh come on, Travis. Every investment house has secure areas. It’s probably where the high-frequency trading takes place. Just servers and the like. Did you ever think of that?”

Yes, I did, thought Devine. “One more thing. Did you tell anyone that I had come up to the fifty-second floor on the morning Sara’s body was found?”

She looked warily at him. “Why?”

“Just trying to figure something out.”

“I might have mentioned it to Jenn Stamos, actually. Now she’s dead, too. And she was really broken up about Sara’s death. I didn’t think they were that friendly.”

“Well, you just never know. Thanks.”

So that’s why Hancock was sicced on me so fast. Stamos might have learned from Sara that we had slept together. And then I show up asking questions. She tells Cowl, and Cowl gives marching orders to Hancock—or Bartlett, rather—to go play detective and find out what he can. And Stamos also told Cowl I had come back to the building that night and that the guard saw me. He checked the security log and there was my security card for the fifty-second floor. And then he sees my security card log-in and my face on the video on the night Sara died and plans to frame me.

And he also thought that might be why Rachel Potter from Channel 44 had been on his case, too. One of her confidential or probably anonymous sources might have been Hancock/Bartlett using her to put the squeeze on him.

He texted Campbell, asking for a meeting.

He got a nearly instant reply, and location. He left Cowl and headed for the Fifties again.

And on the way he got another email from the untraceable source.

I was surprised I could find Mr. and Mrs. Eweses’ hearts to stab. The world is better off without them. I hope you agree.

Devine slowly put the phone away and kept walking. But with every step the dread he was feeling grew like a cancer, creeping to every organ he had.

*

The restaurant door opened for Devine and he slipped inside.

Campbell was waiting for him in the same room.

“Thanks for running interference for me last night.”

“I take it the detectives assigned to the case have made contact?”

“Early this morning. They’re playing nice.”

“Good. We have been monitoring Area 51. It’s still shut down.”

“I had a buddy of mine dig up some things on the Locust Group.” He went on to tell the general about how many companies and assets and countries were involved.

“My folks are finding the same thing. And it goes far beyond the Locust Group. We saw a great many entities that appeared regularly on the surveillance feed, even in the short time we had access before it was shut down.”

Devine also told him about his theory on the name Anne Comely being an anagram.

“Clean Money? I think you must be right.”

“Were you able to trace those emails? Because I just got another one.” He showed Campbell the latest message.

The general sighed and sat back. “The long and short of it is, no. The general consensus is that none of my IT people have seen anything like this.”

Devine said, “I received that first email on the day that Sara’s body was found. As you saw, it had intimate details about the murder that only the killer would know. At first I thought someone else had found her body and emailed me because, well, they knew that I liked Sara.”

“I think it was more than liked, Devine.”

He looked at the general with a blank expression.

“I have three sons and two daughters, soldier. I’ve seen broken hearts before.”

Devine looked at the general with a new level of respect. “As far as I know, I’m the only one who got those emails.”

“The killer must be someone at the firm. We thought that all along, didn’t we?”

“Yes, and there’s something else. The way the people were killed. Sara hanged. Stamos . . . Stamos . . .”

“Yes, I know all about that, continue.”

“And Sara’s parents stabbed through the heart. I think each was symbolic.”

“What’s your take on what each one represents?”

“Sara the traitor. Stamos, well, I’m not sure. But her wounds reflected the killer’s anger at maybe losing Sara, and Stamos and Sara were in love. And Sara’s parents’ hearts were destroyed. And from what I learned of their relationship it might mean the killer knows about Sara and her mother’s estrangement, too. The killer intimated that it was difficult for him to find their hearts, and that the world was better off without such people.”