Trust Me, I'm Trouble (25 page)

But then something moves at the bottom of the screen, emerging from behind a potted plant and skulking along the wall. Someone was obviously trying to evade the cameras in the hallway—someone with a hipster haircut and glasses. Someone who looks an awful lot like…

“Ackley.”

“Ackley?” Sam says.

“He’s one of the interns.”

“Do you think he did it?”

“Why else would he be trying to evade the cameras?”

“The same reason you would have tried to evade the cameras if you’d known Duke was dead?”

“Okay, but how did he know Duke was dead if he didn’t kill him?”

“I don’t know, Julep. The evidence seems pretty flimsy.”

“I can get better proof. We’ll need to anyway, since we erased the other video feeds and compromised the chain of custody for the video we have. The police might still accept it as evidence, but you’re right—we need something more substantial than grainy hallway footage.”

“Just be careful. If this guy is the killer, he won’t have any issue taking you out for suspecting him.”

I hang up with Sam and shut down my computer. I don’t want to think about Duke’s murder any more tonight. Especially when my own potential murder keeps hovering at the back of my brain. The darker the sky gets, the more I worry that Mike and Dani aren’t back yet. I spin in the chair, trying to rid myself of images of gun battles and blood.

After a few minutes, I wander out to the kitchen.

“Have you heard from Mike?” I ask Angela as I pick an apple from the basket on the counter.

“Not yet,” Angela says, doing just as poor a job as I am of hiding her concern.

“Do you suppose they went out for burgers afterward?” I ask.

“It’s possible.” She taps her pencil on her mostly empty crossword puzzle.

We sit in silence for several more minutes as I pretend that I have any intention of eating the apple and Angela pretends that she’s working on her crossword.

“I could call FBI headquarters,” I say. “See if they’ve heard anything.”

“You could,” Angela agrees. “But they probably wouldn’t tell you anything.”

“Speaking from experience?”

“Maybe.”

We wait another few minutes with nothing disturbing the silence but the ticking cuckoo clock Angela’s mother got her during a trip to Switzerland a couple of years back.

“Waiting sucks.” I suddenly feel bad for anyone I’ve ever made wait for me.

“Yes, it does.”

“Does it get any easier?”

“Nope,” Angela says, finally giving up on the crossword and coming over to sit next to me. “Want to make brownies and watch silly kung fu movies?”

I smile. “Sure.”

We’re halfway through
Project Ninja Daredevils
when Mike and Dani finally show up. It takes everything I have not to jump up and hug them.

“Brownie?” Angela says, holding up the plate to Mike. He leans in for a kiss first, then snags the biggest brownie from the middle of the pile. “How’d it go?”

Dani walks by, passing up the brownies and the seat next to me on the couch. She sits on the other couch instead.

“No-show,” Mike says, sitting on the other half of Dani’s couch. There’s something between Dani and Mike, some kind of understanding that neither of them is sharing.

“What does this mean?” Angela asks. “If the person didn’t show up, does that mean they know you weren’t on the level?”

“That was always a risk,” Dani says, speaking for the first time.

“Do you think Han—”

“No,” she says.

“It could also be that whoever it was gave up, changed his mind,” Angela says. But even she doesn’t sound like she believes it.

“Dani, can we talk privately for a sec?” I say.

She looks questioningly at Mike first, which irritates the hell out of me. He nods, and she follows me into the guest room. I try to shut the door after us, but she stops it with her hand. The warning look she gives me is enough to convey her meaning. I relent and leave it open.

“I was worried about you,” I say without meaning to.

“I am always worried about you,” she says back.

“Tell me really. What do you think happened tonight?”

She sighs and leans against the doorjamb. “I think someone informed the client. Not Han,” she says as I open my mouth to ask. “Someone else. But I do not know who.”

“Who else is there? Nobody knows but us.”

“The FBI knew. We have no way of knowing how many people were aware of the operation.”

“Speaking of operation…” I fill her in on Operation Peeping Tom.

“Are you planning to tell Ramirez?”

“No. I’m trying to keep things uncomplicated.” It’s the best way I can think of to put it.

“Uncomplicated. I see,” she says.

I fidget with the hem of my shirt, feeling uneasy. “Are you in danger now?” I ask, my question trembling embarrassingly at the end. “Because of me?”

“Milaya,”
she says, wrapping me in a rare hug. “I am always in danger.”

I laugh bitterly, my head tucked between her ear and shoulder. “That’s supposed to make me feel better?”

“It is supposed to make you laugh,” she says.

I hate that I’m falling in love with you. I hate that you won’t love me back.
I don’t say it out loud, though. It would ruin the moment, and I’d rather chew off my own arm than do that. But the moment is shattered anyway when my phone buzzes in my pocket. I sigh and pull away.

“Hello?” I say with perhaps a slight hint of irritation.

“Julep? It’s Lily,” she stage-whispers. “I broke into Sister Rasmussen’s office.”

“You did what?” I say. “Why?”

Instead of answering, she says. “You’re not going to believe what I found.”

“B
ack up. What are you doing at St. Agatha’s?”

“You put me on Rasmussen detail, remember? Besides, I couldn’t sleep. Figured I might as well be productive.”

“How did you even get in?”

“I told the security guard I’d left my purse in my locker and only just realized it—wallet, keys, phone, everything. He agreed to let me in when I slipped him a hundred.”

“You can’t just decide to do this stuff on your own! What if I already had plans?”

“Did you already have plans?”

“No, but I could have.” This is why I prefer working alone whenever possible. When minions start thinking independently, it’s time to kick them to the curb. “And just because you bribed the security guard doesn’t mean he isn’t going to rat you out. It’s your word against his, unless you made a recording of the bribe.” The silence on the other end of the line isn’t reassuring. “Look, I’m sending Dani to get you.”

“Wait! Don’t you want to hear what I found?”

I do, but I’m not sure I should reward her behavior. I pull the phone from my ear and cover the mike.

“Lily is at St. Agatha’s administration building. Would you mind bringing her back here? I’m afraid she’s going to get caught, or worse.”

Dani nods and squeezes my hand before heading out. I put the phone back up to my ear as I watch her go.

“Dani’s coming to get you. When she texts you, you’d better be outside waiting for her, or I will send her in to pull you out by your hair. Understood?”

“Do you want to hear what I found or not?”

I sigh heavily. “Fine. Tell me.”

“At first, I—”

“And take pictures of everything while you’re talking,” I say.

“Okay.” She switches me to speakerphone. I hear the snapshot noise of her phone taking a picture. “At first, I didn’t think anything of it. I figured if it was out on her desk, it wouldn’t be anything useful. So I dug through her file cabinet and drawers before looking in the most obvious place in the room.”

“Lily, speed it up. I want you out of the building ASAP.”

She takes another picture. “I’m taking shots of it now, by the way. I can’t believe she just left it out.”

Now I’m starting to believe she
didn’t
just leave it out. It could easily be a trap.

“Lily, really. Get out of there. You can tell me all about it when Dani picks you up.”

“Not yet. Listen, it’s a bank notice. Notifying the recipient that her safe-deposit box was broken into.”

“What?”

“Yeah. The address in the letterhead says the bank’s located in New York.”

“Is the letter addressed to Sister Rasmussen?”

“Nope. It’s—”

My heart jumps as Lily cuts herself off. “Lily? What happened?”

“I just heard something,” she whispers.

It’s been only five minutes since Dani left. It can’t be her.

“Hide!” I say. “Take me off speaker. Whatever you do, don’t hang up. Even if you get caught, try to hide the phone on you somewhere and keep the line open as long as possible.”

Then I freeze as I hear the office door creaking open. Lily whimpers softly in my ear.

I shush her and whisper, “Stay with me. You can do this.”

She goes silent. It’s only a matter of moments before whoever it is spots her. Even if she’s hiding under the desk, a determined searcher will find her in seconds. It’s not that large an office.

“You still have surprise on your side. Get ready to run. As soon as the person gets close to where you’re hiding, jump out and push them hard, then run for all you’re worth.”

Lily’s breathing speeds up, which I take to mean that the person is closing in on her location. Then I hear a shout and some muffled swearing and, finally, words.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa, it’s just me,” says Murphy’s voice through the line. “What are you doing here?”

“What are
you
doing here?” Lily hisses.

“Ow,” he says. I smile at the mental image of Lily throwing her shoe at him. “Same as you, obviously. Thought I’d take a look around Sister Rasmussen’s office while Bryn’s at Val’s party. Holy crap! Did you see the letter from the bank?”

“Hit him again, Lily,” I say.

“Ow!” he says as she complies.

“Hey, guys. Find anything?” I hear Sam’s voice through the phone and pinch the bridge of my nose. “I’d be happy to smack Murphy upside the head if that’s the price of admission,” he says.

“What the hell?” I yell into the phone. “Lily, put me back on speaker.” I wait a few seconds for her to comply before continuing my tirade. “Why are all three of you there?”

“I came with Murphy,” Sam says. “You know, backup. Why’d you send Lily alone?”

“I didn’t send Lily. I didn’t send any of you!”

“Initiative is a good thing in an employee,” Lily says.

“It didn’t occur to any of you to clue me in to this little adventure?”

“It’s not like you could have come,” Murphy says. “Besides, it was a spontaneous, carpe diem kind of thing. Masters of our own—”

“Shut up, Murphy,” I say. “Sam, you at least should have known better.”

“I didn’t think we’d find anything, so I didn’t want to worry you with it. Breaking into the school is kid stuff anyway.”

“Hey,” Lily says, offended. “I bribed a guard.”

“All three of you are going to be on crap admin duty for the next six months,” I say.

“There’s not enough to keep all three of us busy,” Murphy points out.

I hear the rustling of paper and assume Murphy or Lily is passing the letter to Sam.

“Oh, my god,” Sam says. “Julep. You’re not going to believe this.”

“So everyone keeps saying. Just tell me already.”

“This letter is addressed to Lucrezia Moretti.”

Of course it is.

“Who’s Lucrezia Moretti?” Lily asks.

“She’s my grandmother.”

• • •

“They say too many cups of coffee will stunt your growth,” Mike says from his place at the kitchen table as I pour the last dregs of the coffee into my mug.

I wave off his comment. “You’re just saying that because you want another cup. It’s not hard to make more, you know.”

“Maybe. But still, this is your third cup in under an hour. That seems like a lot, even for you and especially on a Sunday morning. Everything okay?”

I hide a jaw-cracking yawn behind my hand. “Long night punishing minions,” I say. “Worth it, though.”

He chuckles. “Anything I should know about?”

The look in his eyes is half joking, half cagey. He’s hoping he’ll get something out of me. Which means he probably suspects something and he’s not telling me. Great. Now I have to waste time worrying that he’s on to Sam for the New York bank robbery. The bank robbery that resulted in the theft of the blue-fairy flash drive. The blue-fairy flash drive that, apparently, belonged to my grandmother Lucrezia Moretti. As if I didn’t have enough problems trying to figure out who killed Duke and who is trying to kill me.

“Oh, you know. Bribery, some light B&E. The usual.”

“Why do I feel like you’re telling me the truth in such a way that I’ll think it’s a joke?”

“Because I do it all the time.”

He sighs. “Walked right into that one, didn’t I?”

“Most people do. So when are you going to tell me about your trip to New York?”

“Empire State Building was nice. Statue of Liberty was a bit overrated, though,” he says. “Hey, this truth thing is fun.”

“I’m just offering to give you my professional opinion on the case. I’m stuck here till tomorrow morning, after all. I have to keep myself entertained somehow.”