Promise Not To Tell(65)

Xavier looked at Cabot. “Also, I was afraid that if I started poking around online and screwed up, I might alert the bank’s security department. Mr. Salinas said that would not be a good idea, not at this point in the investigation.”

Cabot smiled a wolfish smile. “That was very good thinking. Nice work, Xavier.”

Xavier grinned. “Thanks. In that case, I guess it’s okay to tell you my other good news.”

“You made reservations to go home?” Cabot said.

“No,” Xavier said. “I asked my mom if I could stay here in Seattle for a couple more days. Told her I had a job. She said it was okay with her if it’s okay with you.”

Cabot shot a wary glance at Anson and then turned back to Xavier.

“What’s the job?” he asked.

“I’m an intern here at your agency,” Xavier said. He was practically bubbling over with excitement.

“We don’t have a position for an intern,” Cabot said.

“We do now,” Anson announced. “Turns out the kid’s good with computers and we just happen to need an in-house IT department.”

Cabot gave Xavier a considering look. “How good are you?”

“Pretty good,” Xavier said. His eyes lit with hope. “Why?”

“Do you think you could tell if someone had planted some kind of tracking device on Virginia’s phone?”

Xavier switched his attention to Virginia. “Maybe.”

She took her phone out of her handbag and gave it to him.

“Go for it,” she said.

“I’ll need some password info,” Xavier warned.

“Not a problem.” She smiled. “I trust you.”

Xavier was almost glowing now. “Thanks. I’ll get right on it.”

Virginia took out the photo of Abigail Watkins and Quinton Zane standing with their arms around each other on the ferry. She put it down on Anson’s desk.

“We also found this in Rose Gilbert’s room,” she said. “I’m sure that the girl is Abigail Watkins and the man —”

“Quinton Zane,” Anson said, his voice very grim. “I’d recognize him anywhere. That poor kid. Looks like she was in love with him.”

“Yes,” Virginia said. “She was very young and very na?ve. Zane would have found it easy to seduce her and manipulate her.”

CHAPTER 45

“I shouldn’t have come here this evening,” Josh said. “I need to be alone. I’ve got some work-related problems I need to think about. I can’t concentrate on them when I’m with you.” He managed a ghost of a sexy smile. “You’re a major distraction.”

Laurel watched him from the kitchen doorway. Josh was sitting on the couch, leaning forward, forearms braced on his widespread thighs. He looked weary, beat.

He wasn’t drunk but she could tell he’d had a drink somewhere between the office and her place. That was not like him. Their affair had started a couple of months ago. She knew him well enough by now to know that work was Josh’s drug of choice. He was driven by one passion: the desire to make Night Watch a dazzling success.

He was desperate to repeat the brilliant performance he’d given back at the start of his career when he’d been one of the young guns of the tech world, a real wunderkind. But that kind of a comeback almost never happened in their industry, a world in which even the smartest guys in the room had a use-by date stamp. Josh was in his midthirties. That made him an old man in the eyes of his much younger competitors.

“You’re here now,” Laurel said gently. “Let me get you a beer. We can talk. You always say I make a good sounding board.”

“No, I don’t want anything else to drink. Like I said, I need to think.”

“About what?”

For a moment she thought he wasn’t going to answer. Then he surged to his feet and started pacing the room.

“How well did you know Sandra Porter?” he asked.

“Not well at all. Why?”

“Do you think she was doing drugs?”

“I have absolutely no idea. Josh, why are you suddenly so concerned about Sandra Porter? Did the police come up with some new evidence?”

“No.” Josh stopped in front of the floor-to-ceiling windows and looked out at the view of the Seattle cityscape on the far side of Lake Washington. “But I talked to a private investigator named Cabot Sutter a couple of days ago. His client was there, too. Virginia Troy.”

“Troy? The owner of the gallery where Sandra was killed?”

“Yes. Sutter told me that he was investigating the death of an artist named Hannah Brewster. She lived on one of the islands up in the San Juans. Sutter’s client thinks Brewster was murdered.”

“What does that have to do with Sandra Porter?”

Josh turned around. “Sutter thinks there’s a link between Porter’s death and the death of that artist.”

Laurel absorbed that news. “I see. Where are you going with this, Josh?”

“Where am I going? I’ll tell you where I’m going. I’m afraid Sutter will find a connection between the two deaths, and if he does, it could bring down my company.”

“I doubt that there’s a connection. Sandra never had any interest in art. But even if for some crazy reason the two deaths are linked, it will probably prove to be something involving drugs. It won’t have anything to do with Night Watch. Sandra wasn’t even working for you at the time of her death.”