CHAPTER 47

Justice calls for the third time, and I hit ignore again but she texts right after.

JUSTICE: R u ok? Wtf is going on????? Call me ASAP!!

My finger hovers over the keys, attempting to form a reply to combat more phone calls, but a familiar voice has me looking up. Forty-five minutes on the dot.

“I’m legal counsel representing Agent Lawrence.”

Connie is wearing a tailored suit, her hair in a neat bun on top of her head and designer glasses perched at the end of her nose. If I didn’t recognize her voice, she may have slipped right past me.

“Are you with the DA’s office?” the desk worker asks.

Connie shakes her head. “Agent’s Lawrence’s fiancée asked me to be here.”

Fiancée?

Connie glances at me and Harper and smiles. “There she is…” She walks right over to Harper and hugs her. “I came as soon as I could.”

Harper turns to me, her eyes narrowed, but she plays along. “Thank you, I really appreciate it.” She nods in my direction. “This is my sister, Ellie.”

Connie shakes my hand and in the same motion, passes me two small objects. I wait for the desk worker to lead her back to the room Aidan’s in, and then I look down at my palm. Earpieces.

I hand one to Harper and quickly slip the other into my ear.

“Is she really a lawyer?” Harper whispers.

I start to say no but then remember something Connie said the last time I visited the store. “Actually, I think she is. Or was.”

It takes nearly ten minutes but eventually, the voices inside that room are broadcast loud and clear through the fancy earpieces. Harper’s spine straightens, and then she realizes her reaction and slumps down again in her seat.

“If you could please restate the charges against my client so I can advise him properly,” Connie says.

The agent in the room sighs. “What your client needs to do is give us the name of the person who hired him as a hit man, and then we can talk deals.”

Beside me, Harper swallows a gasp. I nudge her in the side, reminding her to be quiet.

“My client has already assured me that he isn’t nor has he ever been a hit man, so I believe we’re at a standstill.”

Papers shuffle, and then several seconds of silence.

“A series of international investment accounts opened under various forms of your name between last July and earlier this month,” the agent says. “The funds total over a million dollars.”

My stomach sinks. Money. Just like Miles said.

“And then one of my agents captured this photo of you in the middle of a business transaction… Do you know who this man is?”

“No, I don’t,” Connie says.

“We’ve been trying to catch him for nearly two years. He works for the DMV, and on the side, he makes authentic false identification. What did the two of you discuss? Maybe a passport or two… Or possibly three?”

I suck in a breath, holding it in. This can’t be right. Aidan would do anything for Harper, anything to give her the life she truly wants, but not this. Not Simon. I squeeze my phone tightly in my hand, wishing I could call Miles, wishing he could hear all of this and help me dissect it.

“One job, one pile of cash, and your girlfriend, the little sister… They get a new life. For real this time. Isn’t that what you promised them?” the agent says, his voice escalating with each word. “You’re a good man, Agent Lawrence. Loyal to those you love. It must have been a painful decision, taking that job. But Harper and Eleanor, Lord knows the Charleston field office has kept a close eye on them. That can’t be easy to deal with. They were always going to be stuck with their past, defined by it. And you weren’t willing to let that happen, were you?”

“Tell us who hired you.” The booming voice of another agent emerges. The Bad Cop, it seems. “Tell us who you used as bait that night. The kid who opened the door, who’d been luring Simon into an online relationship for months. Or maybe you didn’t handle that part, Agent Lawrence. Perhaps your organization requires a multitude of talents, much like the FBI. You’d need some brains between the accounts and covering your tracks. You’d need a pretty face to hook the Gilbert boy, and a marksman, like yourself. Because we both know you’re just the muscle, Agent Lawrence. Help us bring your team in and we’ll take that into consideration when it comes time for sentencing.”

“That’s enough,” Connie says, her voice now low, barely above a whisper. “I’d like a moment with my client.”

The second the room is cleared, Aidan speaks for the first time since we started listening in. “Who the hell are you?”

“A concerned third party,” she says smoothly. “I’m going to need passwords for your email, bank accounts, cell phone…”

Harper pulls the earpiece out, stands abruptly, and walks over to the desk. “Do you have a number for a taxi service?”

The guy looks up from his computer. “I’d be happy to call a cab for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Harper—” I start.

She waves a hand to stop me. “Let’s get out of here.”

I don’t know what she’s thinking, where her head is at; has she lost faith in Aidan’s innocence? I barely hear Aidan, reciting the information Connie’s requesting, but he does comply with her request, despite knowing nothing about her.

Connie exits shortly after, offering us a brief good-bye.

Our cab arrives quickly, and after we hop in and are down the road, I explain who Connie is and how I know her. Harper stares out the window, listening but saying nothing.

...

When Connie finally calls me, hours after leaving the FBI office, I jump to answer. “Hey, what’s up?”

“The mystery email address,” Connie says. “It belongs to a Bret Thomas. I believe he—”

“Goes to my school.” My stomach drops. I knew it. I knew that guy was bad news. He lied right to my face and I didn’t catch it. “Oh shit, this could mean…well, it could mean that Bret is capable of…” Murder? God, I can’t even.

“Ellie, listen to me,” Connie says firmly. “You and your boyfriend have to stop this Nancy Drew stuff. You heard the agents in the interrogation room earlier. They don’t believe this was a solo job, and since Agent Lawrence was the only taken in, someone else could be watching you two—”

“Wait,” I interrupt. “My boyfriend? You mean Miles? He’s not my—”

“Whatever he is, he asked me to help him get access to the FBI database.”

“Did you?”

“No,” Connie says. “And I’m not going to. Let me snoop around for now. If Agent Lawrence is innocent, that means someone went through a lot of trouble to frame him. Whoever killed the senator’s son is likely to go after anyone caught digging for answers.”

My heart bangs inside my chest. Miles seemed so sure that it was Aidan this morning. Why would he dig around more?

After hanging up with Connie, I hunt around the apartment for my shoes while texting Dominic.

ME: this is Ellie. Have u seen Miles today?

DOMINIC: how did u get my number?

ME: from Miles. Have u seen him???

DOMINIC: Party at my house right now. He’s supposed to come over any minute

ME: Great!! Don’t let him out of your sight! And stay away from Bret!

I pause in the middle of the apartment, trying to figure out what I should do first. Connie told me to leave things alone, but this Bret info…it has to mean something. He lied to my face. He had me fooled. Bret has to be a part of this. Is that why Aidan was so concerned with the surveillance footage of the parking lot? Did he and Bret work together? I swallow back that thought. I don’t even know what to believe anymore.

I need Miles. Now.

Dominic said Miles was coming over soon. But maybe he hasn’t left yet.

My phone rings for the millionth time today. Jack.

“How are you two holding up?” he asks.

“Bad, I think.” I glance into Harper and Aidan’s room where my sister has left behind a tornado of papers and folders. “Harper tore up the entire apartment, wouldn’t tell me what she was looking for, and then took off for the Feldsteins’ to get her paycheck.”

“She thinking about leaving town?” Jack asks.

“I don’t know,” I say honestly. “If she is, she hasn’t told me yet.”

“Well, that’s good, then. She won’t go anywhere without you,” Jack assesses. “Give her space. Let her process. Try not to worry. I’ve got my eye on you two.”

He’s got his eye on us.

All eyes on you.

Alleyesonyou.

I was about to walk out the apartment door but suddenly I’m frozen in place, ice running through my veins. I manage to stutter out a reply, “Uh…okay. Thanks, Jack. Talk to you later.”

I stuff my phone into my pocket and race to Harper and Aidan’s room. It’s in post-tornado state, but Aidan’s phone still sits on the nightstand in plain sight. With shaking hands, I grab it, punch in the password, and scroll back through his texts with Jack. Way back. To June 15. My heart nearly stops when I see what Aidan sent to Jack at 9:32 p.m. on the night Simon died.

AIDAN: want anything from WaWa?

JACK: sure. My usual hoagie

AIDAN: meet u around back in twenty

Aidan never mentioned Jack when he brought up that story. They worked together that night. At the Gilberts’. Either they’re still working together or Jack set him up.

I drop Aidan’s phone onto the bed and run out the apartment door toward Miles’s place.

I bang on the door. No response. I bang again but no luck. I’m about to pick the lock and break in, but the knob turns. It’s unlocked.

Two steps into the living room, and I let out a scream.

Clyde is lying in a heap in the middle of the carpet.