by Fiona Quinn
“She fell onto the tracks in the Metro and was hit by a subway before she could be helped.”
“That’s really…” Zoe’s words trailed off as she searched for a word. The right word. “That’s really an improbable way for her to die.”
“The news said that she was leaving the theater. The Metro station was crowded for that time of night as people were going home from the performance. She was at the front.”
Zoe shook her head.
“Is there any question in your mind—is there any chance at all that she might have committed suicide?”
“No.” The word burst out of her mouth without any thought. She should reflect about it before spouting off. She should be clear and precise. She pulled her hand free of his. She needed to process what had been going on in Lily’s life. Lily had divorced. But Lily was happy now that she was no longer tied to her domineering husband. She liked her job, she’d had a new project that kept her busier than usual. But she seemed excited by what she was doing. She had a new man in her life, Charlie. “No to suicide. I’m pretty sure I can say no. Just yesterday morning she sent me a video by mistake when she was trying—did you pack my phone? I can show you.”
“I put your phone in your purse, but it’s on airplane mode. Let’s leave it there for now.”
Zoe blinked. Did he think someone was tracking her through her phone? That was the only reason that she could come up with for his saying not to use it. Her heart rate was off at a gallop.
“Can you tell me about what you want me to see?” Gage asked.
Zoe turned and searched the traffic out the back window, as if she knew how to spot a tail.
“No one’s following us,” Titus said as he flipped on his blinker and moved toward an exit ramp. “We’re almost to our destination.”
Zoe swallowed hard. “Yesterday morning was um…Thursday morning. Lily was supposed to go out of town tonight with Charlie, the guy she’s been seeing. He was taking her to a little bed and breakfast on the Maryland coast.”
Gage leaned forward. “Charlie?”
“Yes. Lily was so happy about it. She sent me a video she made for him by accident. What she really meant to send me were pictures of her trying on outfits. She wanted to make sure she was packing her cutest clothes, so she was trying them on and snapping pictures and sending them to me.” Zoe thought back to the pictures. Lily’s face had shined with expectation and joy. It was the happiest that Zoe had ever seen her. “She didn’t commit suicide. And it sounds like an improbable accident, even if the Metro was crowded.” Zoe rubbed a hand over her mouth and nose. They had gone numb again. “You remember that Lily lived with me. Is it possible…”
“I’ve considered that the people who broke in were coming after Lily and not you. It is possible. But we’re only at the beginning of trying to understand what happened. So it’s best not to jump to conclusions.”
“No. Data needs to be thoroughly examined before a conclusion could possibly be drawn.” Dread was the only word that Zoe could come up with to describe this feeling. Horror, maybe. She felt like she needed more oxygen than what she could get through her nose. She opened her mouth to take in big gulps of air.
“Zoe, look me in the eye. Right now. Look at me.” Gage’s voice pulled her from a very distant place.
She worked to comply. But she felt like she was drowning. Like she couldn’t get her head above water. She was flailing and floundering, desperation flooding her system. “I think I’m going to be sick.”
Titus was on the side of the road in a split second. Gage reached past her to shove the door open then held her hips while she leaned out and gagged up her just consumed breakfast. When the horrible retching calmed, Titus handed her a bottle of water. She swished and spit, dragging her wrist across her mouth. She reached for the door handle to pull it shut, but she didn’t have any power in her arms. She was powerless.
Gage reached out and shut it for her. He trapped her chin in his fingers and swiveled around so he could scrutinize her. His eyes were deep blue right then, and they shined with concern. Zoe felt like she should be handling things better. In her world of science, she liked to see cause and effect. She preferred when things were linear and defined. What was happening in her head and in her body was chaos, and she hated it.
Titus swung the Hummer back into traffic. “This is an overwhelming situation, I know. I have lots of experience at this, so does Gage.” He nodded Gage’s way. “This isn’t a movie where a good guy shoots a bad guy and then moves on with their day, completely fine. This is what happens in reality. Your reactions are absolutely normal. Okay?”
Zoe could see Titus in the rearview mirror. He wore the same expression he’d worn since she met him in the hospital, impenetrable and stern.
His voice, though, conveyed humanity if not warmth. “Gage says you’re a scientist. Mental health research tells us that it’s important in the long run that you don’t stifle your emotions and play brave. That reacting like this is actually a good sign. It’s psychologically healthy. I’m proud of you.”
Weird that he should be proud that I’m quaking and puking, Zoe thought as she nodded her acknowledgement to Titus.
He caught her eye in the mirror. “We’re here with you. You’re safe. But you need to go ahead and let your body do what it needs to do. Don’t force those feelings away. Be brave. Be strong. Deal with them as they come. Can I depend on you to do that?”
Zoe nodded again, like she had any control over her body’s reactions at this point.
Titus reached for his coffee mug and took a long swig. “Lots of nutritious food. Lots of sleep. Some exercise. You don’t want a big old case of PTSD, now do you?”
Zoe shook her head, not trusting herself to speak.
“Good. And thank you for not puking in my car.” He rolled his lips, and if Zoe squinted she could actually see the shadow of a smile there. Gage was holding her hand as they powered down the road a short distance and came to a halt.
Titus popped his seat belt and turned toward them. “This is it.”
Chapter Twelve
Zoe
Repeated visits to the mud pit enable the wasp to build its house.
~ African proverb
To call this a “house” would be an incredibly elastic stretch of the word. Zoe stood in front of what looked like an abandoned manufacturing plant. White paint curled and hung from the metal exterior. Rust accented the door with bright orange streaks along its hinges. “Safe” seemed right though. No one would suspect that anyone inhabited the interior other than maybe a rat colony. Zoe felt her nostrils flare and her nose wrinkle at the thought.
Gage pulled her bag from the back of the Hummer and came to stand beside her. Zoe sent him a wide-eyed gaze. She wondered if this was going to be a dump and run. Were the guys going to open the door, wish her well, and go home to their own beds? Gage didn’t sleep last night. He’s been up protecting me. I should hope that he’ll go and get some rest. Though it felt abundant in its selfishness, what Zoe really hoped was that he wouldn’t leave her here on her own.
Titus moved to the back of the vehicle where he removed a computer case. As he strode forward, keys in hand, he aimed for a doorway partially hidden by what had been a fire escape. The door screamed its resistance when he pushed it open. In single file, they moved into the open space. There, in the center of the enormous factory floor, was what looked like a large cube. Titus entered a code on the door handle and pushed it wide, as he snapped on the lights and gestured Zoe in.
Night and day. That’s the only way to describe the transformation that took place as she stepped from the filthy factory into the apartment. It was an open space with a modern, clean design. The high ceilings gave it an open, airy feel, despite it being windowless. The wall color was the cool tone of tropical water set off by crisp white woodwork that felt soothing and fresh. The furniture looked comfortable. There was a wall of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves with a library ladder attached to a rod so it could
slide along them. As Zoe moved farther into the space, she saw that the kitchen was up-to-date with stainless steel appliances and granite countertops. There was a bar. Zoe considered and then discarded the idea of a shot of vodka.
“There are three bedrooms, each with their own bathroom.” Titus indicated the three doors on the far side of the room. “When the safety door to the inner complex is properly shut, there are no telltale signs that anyone is in here. No lights. No movement. The walls are built to be noise resistant instead of noise cancelling. That’s so you can have some sense of what’s happening outside the cube. It means no yelling. No blaring music or television. You need to keep it down. But you don’t have to tiptoe around.”
Zoe opened and then shut each of the bedrooms. The last one, larger than the others, squeezed her heart. It held a queen-size bed, a bunk bed and a crib inside. A family had been in hiding with little kids. She sniffed the air, it had the slightly stale scent of a hotel room with a whiff of lemon. She moved to the kitchen and found a powder room and a broom closet. Zoe swallowed hard. “Wow,” she said as she turned back to Titus, wondering how long she’d have to hide out here.
“Here’s the plan.” Titus put his case on the table and pulled out a computer. “Gage has to get down to Quantico and sign papers so he can take leave and pick up his duffle.”
Zoe’s eyebrows were up to her hairline. Gage is leaving me here, was her knee-jerk reaction. It was quickly replaced with gratitude that he was going to use his leave to help her. She wondered if she actually needed help. Could the bad guys have really been going after Lily? Had someone actually killed her? Surely that was an accident. A horrible, horrible accident, Zoe reasoned to keep a new wave of bile from crawling up her throat.
“I’m going to take your phone back to Iniquus and get it checked by our forensics department. Then I’ll pick up some food and bring it back. What I need you to do right now, Zoe…Zoe, look at me.”
Zoe dragged her gaze over to Titus and worked to focus on him.
In a voice even more quiet than his usual low tone, he said, “I need you to make a list of what you’d like to have on hand. Say, enough food for a week to be safe. A grocery list. Include any toiletries, medications, anything that you need to be comfortable.” The timbre of his words forced Zoe to focus on his lips in order to hear and understand him. Her mind was stuck on the fact that they both planned to leave. She’d be there alone. She pulled out a chair at the dining table where a pad and pen lay ready for use.
Zoe had no appetite and no desire to menu plan. Her list started: fruit, vegetables, kefir, pasta, coffee…
“While I’m gone, you can use this computer to do research. But, Zoe, this is extremely important. Do not contact anyone. Not in any way, shape or form. You are not to go on any social media platforms. No Twitter. No Facebook. No Google+. I’m trusting you. Normally, we don’t allow Internet in our safe houses. But I think it’s important that you have this for your research. You can access news sites, for example.”
“Zoe, do you know Charlie’s last name?” Gage’s question seemed to come out of the blue.
Zoe shook her head and added: sandwich rolls, deli meats and cheeses, eggs…
“Do you know how Lily and Charlie met?”
As she scribbled chocolate. Lots of chocolate. Wine if it’s not already here, she said, “All I know is that he was considerably older than she was, and that felt a little weird to her at first. Why?” Zoe sent Gage a hard stare.
“I have a theory about who she was seeing. I have some circumstantial evidence, but—”
“Evidence? Do you think this guy might be responsible for Lily’s death? He wasn’t with her at the theater, I can almost guarantee. Lily said Charlie was getting ready for some big political showdown. He wasn’t coming up for air until the weekend.”
“She never posted his picture? How long had they been seeing each other?” Titus asked.
“No to the pictures. I can’t remember the time frame. It would be on her calendar though.”
“We don’t have access to that,” Gage replied.
“Sure we do. She has it on Google calendars.” Zoe gestured toward the computer. She turned to Titus. “Can I go on Google calendars?”
“You have her password?” Gage asked.
“She has so many passwords to remember at work that she just has a single password she uses in her personal life—outside of her banking, of course.”
“Does anyone else have that password beside you?” Titus asked.
Zoe shrugged. “I wouldn’t know.”
“Okay, first things first. I need you to get into her accounts, her email, her calendar, everything you can access,” Gage said. “I need you to take screen shots of everything. We need to get that locked down before anyone has a chance to wipe it.”
“You think someone would?”
“We don’t know what’s going on. The important thing here is that we preserve everything ASAP in case it turns out there’s something significant in play.”
Zoe pushed the list toward Titus and waved her hand, gesturing for him to hand her the computer. “I’m not that particular; get whatever’s easiest at the store. I can make do.”
Titus pushed the computer toward her. “Glad to see you have your priorities straight.”
Titus ripped the list off the pad. The men moved toward the door. Zoe refused to watch them leave. She pulled up Lily’s accounts, not taking enough time to read them as she did a screen grab, dumped each image into a folder, and moved on to the next. Zoe imagined that she was racing some nefarious character in some underground dungeon, trying to beat her to the information, and her fingers flew over the keyboard. Lily was dead. That was a fact. Gage had said he went to the morgue and saw her body himself. Why would he do that? How could he do that?
Surely this is just an exercise in… She shook her head. What word did she want? Over-cautiousness? Conspiracy? Paranoia? Who would want to kill sweet Lily? She was a CPA, for goodness’ sake. She liked cats and hot cocoa and reading romances. She grumbled the entire time she exercised because she hated it so much, but she never missed a day because it was on her list of things to do. And nothing made Lily more anxious than not marking off every last item on her to-do list. Reliable Lily. Generous Lily. Funny as all get out Lily with her dry sense of humor. How could she be dead? Zoe pulled the pad of paper over and wrote: Check Lily’s “to-do” list.
As Zoe pressed save and moved on to the next screen, she wondered about Lily’s ex, Graham. What a misogynistic creep. Zoe had never figured out how those two had fit together as a couple. Obviously, they hadn’t. Their marriage hadn’t lasted long. Zoe picked up the pen and wrote: Is there any way to get a hold of the security tapes from the Metro? Then she moved on with her task. Zoe wasn’t sure how far back they needed the calendar. She arbitrarily cut it off at two years. She closed the screen then went to Lily’s Hotmail account.
Lily was very organized about her accounts. Everything was in nice neat little folders and her mailbox was basically empty otherwise. Since Lily had last logged in to her account, there was just some spammy crap about “lady Viagra”, time shares, and some guy who was willing to share his five-million-dollar windfall from Zaire. Lily hadn’t been dead long enough for more items to accumulate. Time was doing odd things in Zoe’s head. It seemed she had been living this ordeal forever. But no, she reminded herself, this had all just happened last night. Two men broke into my apartment, Gage killed them, and you died, Lily.
That the events happened in such quick succession made them seem like they absolutely must be connected. But she wouldn’t jump to conclusions. Her mind had been data driven for so long, it would be odd to suddenly give in to this emotionality. The sooner that Zoe could connect with her rational mind the sooner she’d feel more comfortable. She looked around the safe house and felt the solidity of the emptiness. How alone she was. Normally, that was what she craved—time without interruption so she could be in her head moving things around.
Now? It was seriously creeping her out.
Zoe forced her attention onto the emails. There were too many to open and capture them all. That would take days. Did Titus mean for her to get all of them? The folder for the vet, she could probably overlook, because Lily’s ex got the cat in the divorce. It was a hateful cat who destroyed the furniture and loved to jump onto counters and bat your drink to the floor. Enjoy the cat, Graham.
Zoe skipped over the folder from Lily’s sorority, and the one from her synagogue, and moved to the one marked XX. She had saved the first three items when everything in the folder disappeared. Zoe pressed undo and saw the icon swirling, and for a moment the folder filled again. Once again, the items disappeared. One by one, Zoe watched all of the folders being discarded. The “deleted items” folder now numbered in the thousands.
“No. No. No!” Zoe yelled at the screen as she tried to figure out a way to save them from being destroyed, but once the last file had been emptied, even the one from the vet, the discard folder went to zero. Zoe stared at the screen. Who would do that? And why? She clicked around to see if there wasn’t a ripcord she could pull, some parachute that would open and save the email. But she couldn’t find anything. They had been purged from the system.
As a last-ditch attempt, Zoe pressed refresh. The screen brought up the sign in page. That’s odd. She typed in Lily’s email address and passcode, and the red font in the box said that the password was incorrect. She tried again. Still incorrect. Someone had changed the password. It wasn’t enough that the files were emptied; but now she knew there was no way to retrieve the information.
Who would do this? Why would they care?
