20: THE TRUTH

HANNA ENTERED THE lab the next morning, her face pulsing with pain. Russell sat in his usual seat in front of the monitors. She dragged her feet across the room to join him.

He spun around and stared at her cheek. “Holy hell, what happened to you?”

“There was a bit of an incident last night.”

“An incident? Half of your face is purple. What, did you decide to pick up boxing? You’re supposed to keep your hands up, you know. Protect the face.”

“I wasn’t boxing.”

“I could give you some pointers.” He stood up and held up his hands, bobbing his head from side to side. “I took karate for a year when I was eight. I could kill a man with my finger if I wanted to.”

“Quit it, Russell. This is serious.”

He dropped his arms. “Sorry. Just trying to lighten the mood. Really, what happened to you?”

“I fell in the river.”

“The river. You mean the Charles?”

She nodded.

“Holy crap! How did that happen? Are you okay?”

“I spent most of the night in the hospital, but I’ll live. I took your boxcutter.” She pulled it out of her pocket and placed it back on the counter. “The thing saved my life. I wouldn’t have been able to pull myself out of the water without it.”

“I told you, the boxcutter is an underrated tool.”

Hanna turned her attention to the computer. “Have you noticed the storage server is missing? Someone stole it last night.”

“Someone what?” Russell exclaimed, twisting his body around to see the empty spot. “I didn’t even notice. How did this happen?”

“Calm down.”

“Don’t tell me to calm down. We’re missing an essential part of our setup. Do you know how much that thing costs?”

“Of course I do. I helped build this lab, remember?”

“We don’t have a replacement. That was the only one. All of the stuff from this investigation was on there.”

“Yes, I’m aware.”

“Do you know who took it?”

“I didn’t see his face, but someone came into the office after everyone else left. He must have expected the building to be empty, but I was still here. I caught him sneaking around the lab. That’s when he grabbed it and ran.”

“And you just let him take it?”

Hanna rolled her eyes. “I didn’t let him take it, Russell. I went after him. Chased him all the way down to the Charles. And then I fell in.” She gestured to the wound on her face.

“Did someone say my name?” Charles joked, walking over with Claire and Howard. He glanced at her face and winced. “Jeez, what happened to you?”

“She fell in the river,” Russell said.

Hanna waved him off. “I’ll be fine.”

Charles crossed his arms, examining the wound. “We can take a break if you need time to rest. We don’t need to start right away.”

She shook her head. “No. I want to keep going as soon as possible. We’re close to a breakthrough. Although, we’ve hit somewhat of a roadblock.”

“The incident with the cooling fan was unfortunate,” Charles said, “but it’s nothing we can’t recover from.”

“I’m not talking about the fan. Someone broke into the office around eight o’clock last night and stole our storage server. I tried to go after him, but he lost me.”

“I see. Did we lose anything valuable?”

“Valuable?” Russell exclaimed. “Yeah, that thing has a hundred terabytes of storage. It costs a fortune.”

“Was there anything valuable to the investigation? Anything from yesterday’s session that could help incriminate Eileen Warner?”

Hanna shook her head. “No, sir. Nothing to incriminate her.”

Howard adjusted his tie. “What were you doing in the office so late?”

“Nothing important. Just cleaning my desk.”

“Can we continue without the server?” Charles asked.

“We can,” Russell said. “But we can’t record any of it. The internal storage on the computer isn’t enough. I have a few personal hard drives at home, but these recordings take up a lot of space. Your standard hard drive isn’t going to cut it.”

“But Hanna and Claire can still hold sessions with Eileen,” Charles suggested.

“What’s the point?” Howard asked. “If we can’t record it, we don’t have any tangible evidence.”

Charles pointed at Claire and Hanna. “We have two witnesses. If they uncover anything useful, Claire and Hanna can testify against her. Hanna is an expert in this field. She can confirm the validity of such a testimony. I admit, it’s not as good as a recording, but it’s the next best thing. I’ll see what I can do with our budget. Maybe we can dig up some extra money to build another storage server, but in the meantime, we will proceed without one. Despite our setbacks yesterday, I hope to make good progress today.” He turned to Hanna. “Do you really think she’ll cooperate?”

Hanna glanced over her shoulder at Eileen, who squirmed in her chair and cursed at Lenny. “It’s hard to tell. I was confident yesterday, but watching her now, I just don’t know.”

She noticed Claire was about to speak, probably to question why she was lying. Claire was the only other person to truly know how well their last session had gone. Together, they had earned Eileen’s trust. Hanna was certain that Eileen would cooperate, but she didn’t want the others to know.

Before Claire could say anything, Hanna interrupted. “Claire, could I speak with you in private?”

“Sure,” Claire said, following her away from the group. “What’s going on? Why did you say that? I thought our last session went very well. I think Eileen is starting to trust us.”

“I agree,” Hanna said, eyeing the others from a distance, “but I don’t know who I can trust anymore.”

“What do you mean?”

Hanna leaned closer to whisper in her ear. “Someone in your department framed Eileen.”

“Someone framed her?” Claire asked, lowering her voice and shifting her eyes to look at her colleagues. “How do you know?”

“I wasn’t cleaning last night. That’s not why I was in the office so late. I stayed back to look at the case files.”

“That was nice of Finn to stay late. He almost never does that.”

Hanna flashed a guilty look.

“You didn’t,” Claire said, shaking her head. “You know you’re not supposed to do that. You could get in a lot of trouble.”

“I know, and you can lecture me about it later, but I have to tell someone what I found, and right now, you’re one of the few people I trust. Do you remember that weird handwriting we found on one of the evidence bags? The funky looking i with the swoop at the bottom? I said it looked like a checkmark?”

“Yeah. What does that have to do with anything?”

“Only one person is supposed to write those labels, right?”

“Correct. Finn is the one who processed all of the evidence.”

“But when Finn writes an i, it doesn’t look like a checkmark. It goes down and stops as a straight line. I checked all the other labels. All of them matched Finn’s normal handwriting. The only labels with the swoop were on the three bags of Eileen’s hair. The only three pieces of evidence that tie Eileen to the murders. Someone planted her hair in the evidence room after everything was already processed. Someone wants us to think Eileen is guilty.”

Claire folded her arms, stepping back to process the information. “Why do you trust me?”

“The person who stole the storage server was a man. I’m sure of it. It only makes sense that he’s the same person who planted the evidence. He’s trying to cover his tracks. Heck, he’s probably the one who unplugged the cooling fans.”

Claire nodded, but did not respond.

“Given you’re the only woman on the team, you’re the only one I can trust. I suppose Finn and Russell are clear too. But the others have access to the evidence room, correct?”

“That’s right, but we have to tap our security cards, and it keeps a digital record of everyone who enters. If someone planted evidence, they would show up on those records.”

“That’s good,” Hanna said. “How do we get those records?”

“We can’t do it here, but I can look them up at SCB headquarters.”

“Okay. We’ll stay here and finish our session with Eileen. We don’t want to raise any suspicion by ducking out early. On your way home, stop by your building and check those records. Then we’ll know who to trust. But until then, not a word about this to anyone.”

“Not a word,” Claire repeated. “Can you show me the handwriting? I would like to see it myself.”

Hanna nodded. “Come with me.”

They walked across the lab, passing the others.

“Are we going to start soon?” Howard asked. “Eileen is getting antsy.”

Hanna walked past him without stopping. “In a minute. First, we’re going to take another look at the case files.”

Howard walked with them. “I can tap my card for you. I think Finn lost his.”

“I have a feeling he found it.”

“Even so, I’ll come anyway. I don’t mind babysitting while you look at the files.”

Hanna spun around to stop him from following. “No, really. It’s fine. Finn can babysit us. I think Russell needs your help setting up. Isn’t that right, Russell?” She shot a stern look of intention, hoping Russell would pick up on her signal.

He stared at her for a moment, and then perked up with a smile. “That’s right, Howard. You know how I am with Eileen. She kind of scares the living hell out of me. I would prefer if you were the one dealing with her. Before we get started, we need to set up her chair. Same as before. You know the drill.” He guided Howard to one of the chairs, away from Hanna’s attention.

Hanna and Claire slipped out of the lab and continued to the conference room, where Finn sat at the head of the table. His pile of trash had grown one granola bar wrapper larger, and his security card was no longer on the floor.

As they entered the room, he stood up and clapped his hands together. “So, you’re back, and as I promised, I will now let you see the case files.” He winced at the sight of Hanna’s cheek. “What happened to your face? Did you get in a fight? I know I called you Mike Tyson yesterday, but I didn’t think you’d let it go to your head.”

“It’s a long story, but here’s the short version. I slipped on ice.”

Finn nodded. “I see. Last night’s storm was a nasty one. You have to be careful in these cold temperatures. You never know when you’ll hit a patch of ice. Anyway, I found my security card, and I feel like the biggest idiot. Do you know where it was?”

Hanna shrugged. “Where was it?”

“It was right under my seat. It must have popped off my belt clip.” He held up a small metal device with interlocking teeth. “I used to keep my card in my wallet, but I use it so often, it’s a pain to keep taking out and putting away. This is the first time my clip has failed. This little ring part snapped right off.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out his wallet. “So, until I find a more permanent solution, back into the wallet it goes.” The security card was mixed in with a dozen other plastic cards.

“At least you found it,” Claire said. “Take it from me, losing your card is an unpleasant experience.”

“I don’t envy you. What’s taking them so long, anyway?”

“They say there are administrative delays, whatever that means.”

“It means they’re lazy. But not to worry. Finn Dooley to the rescue.” He scanned his card to open the safe, handing over the files. “Here you go.”

“Thank you,” Hanna said, plucking the folders from his hand. She sat down at the table, and Claire sat next to her. When she opened the folder, a photo of Eileen’s hair was on top. “See the handwriting?” she said to Claire, pointing at the label. “Remember?”

Claire nodded, leaning closer. “I do. Just like you said. Looks like a checkmark.”

“Right. Now, look at these.” She moved the top photo aside to reveal the photo of a body. The bottom corner had a label identifying Tucker Wright, the victim of the third murder.

Claire stared at the second photo, and then back at the first. “You’re right. They’re different. Two different people wrote these labels.”

Hanna shuffled through the folder and pulled out the other two photos of hair. “These two have the swoop.” She spread out the rest of the evidence. “And the rest of these? No swoop.”

“Swoop and no swoop,” Finn said. “What the hell are the two of you talking about?”

Hanna moved the papers over to show him. “Let me ask you something. Is this your handwriting?”

He held it up. “It’s sloppy. I know. I’ve always had terrible penmanship. My grandfather always nagged me about that. He would make me handwrite pages from different books to practice.”

“I’m not here to judge your penmanship, but you do confirm that it’s yours, right?”

“Yeah, that’s my handwriting. What of it?”

“What about this?” She showed him the label on the bag of hair.

He studied the label. “No. That’s not mine.”

Claire stood from her seat, walking over with her arms crossed. “Weren’t you the only one processing evidence?”

“Yeah. Just like all our other cases, only one technician handles the evidence. I just happened to get all three cases.”

Hanna tapped her finger to the photo for emphasis. “If you’re the only one who processed the evidence, and that’s not your handwriting, who wrote these labels?”

He shrugged. “I don’t have a clue.”

“You did find hair at the crime scenes, didn’t you?”

“Yes, I did. All three of them. I bagged and labeled them just like everything else. I remember being surprised by the results of the DNA tests. I just assumed the hair was from the wife and girlfriend. I didn’t expect all three samples to be from the same person.”

“You labeled them, but these aren’t your labels.”

He looked at the photo again. “Nope, that’s definitely not me. Maybe somebody found a mistake and decided to fix it. Spelling was never a strength of mine either. Just another thing for Grandpa to nag about.”

“Thanks, Finn,” Hanna said, packing the papers back into the folder. “That’s all we needed.”

Finn took the folder and placed it back in the safe. “Any time. That label thing’s a head-scratcher, but I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation. There usually is.”

“I’m sure there is too,” Hanna responded. She wasn’t quite sure if framing someone for murder was reasonable, but it was certainly an explanation.

Claire followed Hanna out of the room, walking back toward the lab. “What now?” she whispered. “If someone framed her, we have to tell someone.”

“No,” Hanna said. “Not until we know who did it. For now, we continue our work as if nothing unusual has happened. Eileen’s going to bring us to her dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and we’ll see what we learn there. It’s a shame we won’t have a recording. We’ll need to find another way to prove her innocence.”

“Hanna,” Arthur called from behind.

They both shut their mouths, caught off guard by a third voice interrupting their private conversation. Hanna spun around and waved, forcing a smile. “Hey, Arthur. What’s up?”

“Did you forget about our morning interview?”

Hanna slapped her palm to her forehead. “I completely forgot. I’ll be right there.” She turned to Claire and lowered her voice. “Head to the lab and get set up, but don’t tell anyone what we’ve found. Not yet.”

Claire nodded. “Not a word.” She walked away, toward the lab.

“Okay,” Hanna said, waving to Arthur again. “Let’s do this interview.”

They entered her office, where the camera was already set up and recording. They both took their usual seats, sitting on opposite sides of Hanna’s desk.

Arthur took out his notepad and pen. “I heard about your accident last night.” He pointed to her bruised cheek. “I hope you’re okay.”

“I’ll be fine. I just want to continue with our work. The sooner we can close this case, the better.”

“Are you sure it’s a good idea to continue?”

Hanna tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“With all of the setbacks we had yesterday. First with the computer overheating, and then with the storage server being stolen. It seems like we’re fighting an uphill battle, and we have nothing to show for it. You seemed so confident yesterday. Why aren’t things working out? What’s changed?”

“Nothing has changed. I still think we can do this.”

“Don’t take this the wrong way, but I personally don’t think the technology is reliable enough. I had my doubts on the first day, but Charles was so adamant about bringing you onto our team. Now that we’ve had a few sessions, I don’t see the value in continuing. Of course, we would still pay you. It’s in your contract. But there’s no shame in giving up.”

Hanna clenched her fist. There was an urge to slam it down on her desk, but she restrained herself. “We’re not giving up. I’m sorry you feel that way, but it’s not up to you. This technology is the heart of Core Tech Computing. I’ve spent most of my life developing cerebral infiltration. I would appreciate if you didn’t question the value of my work.”

Arthur lowered his head. “I apologize. That was out of line.”

“It’s okay. I’m just very passionate.”

“It shows. Do you mind if I ask about the incident last night? Given you were the only one in the office, I would like to get your official statement on record.”

“Yes, go ahead.”

“What time did you encounter the intruder?”

“It was around eight o’clock. Everyone else had already left. I was the only one in the office and I heard someone sneaking around in the lab, so I went to investigate. At first, I thought it was Russell. I thought maybe he had forgotten something and returned to retrieve it. But when I found him, I knew something was wrong.”

“It wasn’t Russell,” Arthur said.

“No. The man wore a ski mask, so I couldn’t see his face, but it definitely wasn’t Russell. Different body type.”

“Do you mean he was bigger?”

“Yes. Russell’s a skinny guy, and this man was not skinny at all.” She examined Arthur’s build, tempted to compare the intruder’s body to his but decided against it. “He was a large man.”

“And you’re sure it was a man.”

Hanna nodded. “Positive.”

“What were you doing in the office so late? You can’t work on the case by yourself. As I’m sure you know, you’re not allowed to look at the case files alone. So, what were you doing?”

Hanna tried to recall the lie she had told Charles and Howard. “Nothing important. Just cleaning the kitchen.”

“You weren’t working on the case.”

She shook her head.

“Okay,” Arthur said. “It happened at eight o’clock, the suspect is a large male, and you were staying late to…” he glanced at his notes. “To clean the kitchen.”

“That’s right,” Hanna said, hoping her smile didn’t look forced.

“Do you have any other details that could help us identify the intruder?”

She did, but she didn’t want to reveal the mysterious handwriting to Arthur. “Nope. That just about covers it. I know it’s not much.”

“It’s plenty,” he said, closing his notepad. “We’ll do our best to track down your equipment, but right now, the focus should still be on the case. That is, if you still believe we should continue.”

Hanna stood up and walked to the door. “I do.”

Arthur remained seated, but twisted around. “I admire your passion. Good luck today.”

She left the room with a feeling of uneasiness. The questions Arthur had asked felt combative. He was insistent on ending their use of thought-hopping. He had expressed a reluctance of technology in the past, but this time his motives felt different. He had also brought up the rules in her contract. It was like he already knew she had broken them and was trying to guilt her about it.

When she reached the lab, Eileen was screaming obscenities. Howard held her down in the chair as Russell fastened the straps around her wrists and ankles “No!” she yelled. “I changed my mind. I won’t let you do this anymore. I won’t let you into my head. I won’t let you see the truth.”

Charles stood across from her with his hands in his pockets. “I’m afraid you don’t have a choice. We’ll sedate you, and once we’re inside, we’ll find what we need.”

“You’re liars,” she said. “You’ll make it up like you made everything else up. I’m going to make this as difficult as possible for you. If you want to see me in prison, you’re going to struggle every inch of the way.”

Hanna studied Eileen’s face. They had told her to act defiant, but her behavior now seemed genuine.

“Sir,” Hanna said to Charles, lowering her voice. “Could Claire and I speak with Eileen in private?”

“You’re free to try, but look at her.” He glanced at the snarling woman drooling with rage. “If I were a betting man, I’d say she’s ready to rip out the throat of whoever speaks to her next. Whatever happened in your session yesterday must have riled her up.”

“We’ll be fine. But it can only be Claire and I in the room. Absolutely no one else.”

Charles looked at Russell. “Are the straps secure?”

Russell tightened the last strap around her ankle and gave a thumbs up.

Charles nodded and looked at Hanna. “The two of you have five minutes.” He turned to the others. “Everyone else clear the room. Claire and Hanna want to speak with Ms. Warner alone. Let’s give them some privacy.”

Everyone emptied out, leaving just the three of them. Hanna and Claire took a seat across from Eileen.

“Are you being serious?” Hanna asked. “Have you really changed your mind about helping us, or is this part of the act?”

Eileen avoided eye contact. “Nope. I’m not doing it anymore, and there’s nothing you can say to change my mind.”

“Someone framed you,” Hanna said.

Eileen finally looked at her. “What did you say?”

“Claire and I have reason to believe that someone has framed you. They planted false evidence connecting you to the crime scenes. We don’t know who it was, but we know you’re innocent.”

“Then tell everyone else. If you can clear my name, tell the others and get me out of here.”

“I’m afraid it’s not that simple. Someone in the SCB framed you, and we think it’s someone on our team. I have my suspicions about Agent Arthur Freeman, but I have no hard evidence.”

“Really?” Claire asked. “You think it’s Arthur?”

“I don’t know what to think, but I’m not ruling out the possibility. Until we know for sure, we need to put on a show.” Hanna turned back to Eileen. “And the show they want to see right now is for you to cooperate.”

Eileen scrunched her face. “I thought I was supposed to act like I wasn’t cooperating. They’re not supposed to know we’re working together.”

Hanna sighed. “I’m going to be honest with you because I think you deserve complete transparency. The SCB knew what we were doing. They knew about the act. It was their plan to pretend like they didn’t. They wanted you to think we were working independently. But this time it’s real. This conversation is strictly between the three of us. We need to keep it that way, and the best way to do that is to play along.”

Eileen flashed a look of skepticism.

“Look,” Claire said. “We both know you’re innocent, but no one else does. If you let us in, your mind will reveal the truth for us. No tricks. Just me and Hanna. You can trust us.”

Eileen glanced at her wrists, and then back up at Hanna. “No restraints. No sedation. Then I’ll do it.”

Hanna smiled. “Done.”

She stood up to unstrap her wrists. Claire helped with her ankles. Once she was free, Eileen stood up and stretched her legs.

“What the hell is going on?” Charles asked, walking back into the room with the others. “Get her back in that chair, right now.”

Claire rushed over to hold him back. “Please, sir. It was her request.”

“I don’t care about her requests. She’s our prime suspect in a serial murder case. She needs to be restrained. Howard, get her back in the chair.”

Howard obeyed his order and walked over, but Hanna stood in his way. “Please, just listen. We need to reach her dorsolateral prefrontal cortex, and these are her terms for letting us in. No restraints. No sedation.”

Howard stopped and waited for Charles to make a decision.

After stroking his beard for a moment, Charles pointed his finger at Eileen. “Okay, but no funny business. If there’s even a hint you’re trying to escape, we’re stopping everything and doing it my way. Do you understand?”

Eileen sneered. “Yes, your majesty.”

“You will call me Agent Ward. You don’t want to test my patience. You’re already on thin ice. The only reason I’m even considering this is because Claire is one of my top agents.”

“Sorry, Agent Ward,” Eileen said, bowing her head. “Could I bother you for a glass of water? My throat is dry.”

Charles sighed. “Arthur, get her some water from the kitchen.”

Arthur nodded and scurried out.

“Lenny, keep an eye on the computer. Double check all the connections and make sure no one tampers with it while they’re in there. We don’t want yesterday to repeat itself.”

Lenny took a guarded stance in front of the computer. “Will do, boss.”

“And Howard, prepare the Passiflora sedative.” He pointed to the milkcrate by the control panel. “Have it ready. If she gets violent, put her under.”

“I’m not going to get violent,” Eileen said, rolling her eyes. “I just want to be awake for this. Is that too much to ask?”

Arthur returned with a paper cup full of water. Eileen saw him and tried to grab the cup, but Howard stood in her way, digging through to find the sedative. She peeked around him to look at Arthur, who held the cup out. She reached around Howard, accidentally nudging him.

“Don’t bump me,” Howard said, turning away from the milkcrate to face her.

“I didn’t mean to. I just want my water.”

“Then you wait until I’m done. You may not be strapped to the chair anymore, but you’re still in our custody. We still call the shots.”

Arthur placed the cup on the counter and backed away. “I’m just going to leave it here.”

She eyed the water and turned back to Howard. “Apparently, I’m not allowed to have it until this jerk says I am.”

Howard puffed out his chest and looked down at her. “I’m just doing my job. Agent Ward has asked me to retrieve the sedative, so I’m retrieving the sedative. Your job is to sit there and wait.”

“Then I guess you’re pretty bad at your job. The sedative is sitting right there, on top.”

“Are you provoking me?”

“I’m not provoking anyone. I just want my goddamn water, you prick.”

She shoved him into the counter, but he managed to catch his balance. He lunged toward her, but Arthur and Lenny stepped forward to hold him back. Claire and Hanna grabbed Eileen’s shoulders as she swiped at the air with her nails, trying to shred Howard’s face.

“Let go of me,” Howard commanded. “I’m going to sedate her.”

No,” Hanna pleaded. “We have an agreement. It’s the only way she’ll help us.”

“Enough of this nonsense!” Charles yelled. “Both of you stop. We will not fight like petty children. Howard, give her the water.”

Howard shook Lenny and Arthur off. “But she shoved me, sir.”

“Give her the water,” he repeated.

With a look of contempt, Howard grabbed the cup and handed it over. Eileen took it from him and brought it back to her seat.

“Now, if we’re done messing around, I would like to get started. We’ve wasted enough time already. Russell, please proceed with the session.”

Hanna and Claire sat down in their seats and prepared their own headbands, while Russell rushed over to assist Eileen.

“Don’t worry,” she said to him. “I don’t bite.” She gulped down her water and tossed the empty cup aside.

“Okay,” Russell said. “We’re all set and ready to go. Have fun in there.”