It wasn’t long before she was standing in front of ‘Harrington Esq., law services’. Peter Harrington had been in business in the town for quite some time, and he was one of the few people Gram trusted.
The building was small, standalone, maybe fifty feet from the convenience store. It was close enough to the Main Street that people knew where he was, but not enough that he could be targeted.
She pushed open the glass door, hearing the jingle of the bell as it announced her presence. “Peter?” Liv’s voice was tentative.
There was the shuffling of paperwork, then Peter’s salt-and-pepper hair poked out behind a stack of papers. “Olivia?”
“Sorry, Gram asked me to drop by.” Her brain scurried to come up with a plausible reason or her to be there. “She wanted to know if you had a copy of her will.” It was a bad excuse, but it worked.
He frowned at the papers around him. “Is it urgent?”
Liv shook her head. “I was in town, so I figured I would ask.” She smiled, reassuring.
He looked relieved. “How’s she doing?”
“Today’s a good day.” Peter was one of the few who knew her grandma’s real state. Gram was as private as her mother had been, and that sense of privacy ran deep in her marrow. Her family was hiding in plain sight. She quickly decided to change the subject. “Hey, did Cairo leave her phone behind when she was last here?”
Confusion was clear on his face. “Cairo?”
“When she came to talk to you about the thing?” Liv wasn’t sure how vaguely she could phrase it.
“I haven’t seen Cairo in quite some time.” Peter’s face softened. “I was sorry to hear about her death, though.” He frowned at Liv. “Was something going on?”
Liv hesitated. “I don’t know.”
Peter’s gaze was still half wary, half confused. “I’ll let you know once I find that copy of your Gram’s will but if you need anything, let me know.”
Liv nodded, a half-smile on her face. “I will.”
She left Peter’s office with more questions than answers.
7
Thursday 29th September; 9pm
“You’ll do as you’re told and that’s that.” He hissed the words, his gaze as venomous as his speech.
She shrunk back against the wall, her face turned away from him. “But -”
He slapped her, and she slid to the floor, clutching her face.
“Do it. Or you know what I’ll do.” He tapped the envelope that was tucked securely in his pocket. It wasn’t the actual evidence he had, no. It was just a symbol of it, that he could flaunt in her direction.
She sat there, utterly broken.
Good. It was just how he liked them. “Get out of my sight.” He gestured to the back room. Silently, the well-dressed woman scampered out of sight without looking back.
He sat at the table, knocked back a drink and looked in the direction she had gone. Slammed the glass of scotch on the table so hard it shattered. Stupid! How could she have been seen? She had risked everything. He scowled at the remnants of the scotch and glass as if it had answers. Murdering her whole family would take time. He’d have to hire the right person, secure the right alibi.
It was more mess than he cared to deal with. Then there was that snoopy policewoman who was flitting around Cairo’s body like an annoying gnat. They hadn’t publically declared it a suicide, not yet. That worried him.
Or as much as it could, anyway. There was already a plan in place. If only the police would wise up and figure it out sooner. He’d been careful. He had covered his tracks, and no one would be able to connect them. That was the benefit to being an underground organization.
He logged into his secure computer, disconnected from the internet, and updated his information. The alert on the side of the screen still blinked, and in disgust he turned it off and slid it to the side. He wasn’t a hacker, but like all crime bosses, he knew someone who knew one. When he had ordered the computer, he’d had the hacker put all sorts of protections on it.
That included an alert if someone copied files on it, or moved anything to an external drive. He didn’t keep all of his secure information on the computer, but enough of it that someone who knew about his business could put the pieces together.
Cairo had been too dangerous to let live. And there were other loose ends to take care of, before the whole thing began to unravel. Most important was the flash drive. Whatever she had copied the information onto needed to be found and destroyed, before it fell into the wrong hands. He had security measures in place, but even they weren’t perfect.
No one was.
He swirled the glass around in his hand, staring at the amber liquid. Then he finished it, and put the glass on top of his laptop. He never liked killing people.
But he was very good at it.
8
Friday 30th September; 8am
Ryan’s mind was spinning in circles as they stood not far from Elliot the ME, who was gowned up like an alien. Autopsies were a messy business. They also weren’t Ryan’s favorite bit of detective work.
She turned away and smeared some peppermint oil underneath her nose, trying not to inhale too deeply until it was on. It at least took the edge off the odor of death and decay, the coppery stench of blood. Then she turned back to Elliot, who was looking at her with raised eyebrows.
“It works.” Ryan smiled ruefully.
“What have you found?” Dane was the one who asked. He had a notebook and pen out, ready to write things down.
“The hyoid bone in the neck is broken, which is a classic sign of hanging or strangulation.” Elliot pointed to the neck.
Ryan looked away, willing her queasy stomach to chill. She’d seen at least ten
