Page 28 of Fatal Conspiracy

“That would be like telling your kid you have two of their favorite blankets and trade them out to wash one. No, he didn’t know. I kept them at my house, other than the one in his office.”

“No one else has access to them?” Cal asked.

“Anyone could access the one at the office,” Derek said. “The extras would be more difficult to get to unless youknew they existed, but it was probably the worst-kept secret in the company. Hugo was the only one who didn’t know about it.”

“I can’t say that helps you in any way,” Roman said. “It would be better if you didn’t keep the spares at home.”

“You think someone switched the water bottle?” Derek asked, his brow furrowed.

“The antifreeze had to get in there some way, and it sure wasn’t you,” Alayah said.

“I assumed someone had tampered with it once it was onstage, but you’re right. There would be little time to do anything to it when no one was looking or when video cameras weren’t recording.”

“Are the bottles still sold in stores?” Alayah asked.

“At just about every big-box store in the nation. It’s not like they have a special logo or anything. He just liked how they fit in his hand and that the built-in straw made it easy for him to drink from it while wearing a microphone.”

“And he uses the same one at every conference? Or at least one that always looked the same?” Cal asked, and Derek nodded. “That means his weakness was always on display.”

“I hadn’t thought of it that way, but yes. It was a sure bet that if Hugo was at a conference, that water bottle was close at hand. It wouldn’t be difficult to purchase the same one.”

“We need to look at Josh for this,” Cal said to Roman. “We know he’s in town, and he has the opportunity, means and motive.”

“He was a rival for sure, but it’s hard to get there with murder,” Derek said, to which Cal shrugged.

“There are people in this world who will do anything to get ahead, and this guy sounds like the type. We’ll digdeeper into his past. How far along are you with watching the security footage? I’ve sent all the streams to you.”

“Not as far as I’d like,” Alayah said. “But we had a lot coming at us today that prevented me from fully mapping everything. I got the camera feeds showing me dropping him off at the gas station and picking him back up again, as well as him inside the store. While that doesn’t prove his innocence, it does prove that the recount we provided was accurate to time as well as his condition. After we eat, I plan to start mapping the security cameras here to track his movement through the convention center.”

“Sleep first,” Cal said, lowering an eyebrow at the woman. “You haven’t had much in the last four days, and we can’t afford mistakes. I would put one of the Secure Watch people on it, but you’re more likely to catch him walking through places where his back is turned than they are. It’s a first-thing-in-the-morning job. We can’t put it off any longer. It’s the only way to clear him.”

“What about you?” Derek asked, watching the exchange.

“I’ve been in worse jams,” Cal said with a shrug, as though that were the end of it.

“I’ll be mapping Cal’s movement, too, as well as the stagehands who touched the bottle,” Alayah clarified.

Cal turned to her. “No need on that one. They’ve already been cleared. They never moved the water bottle. The video shows one of them lifting the bottle to shift the stand, and the other moved the bottle aside so he could set a piece of paper down.”

“That just leaves my boss and the victim’s assistant to clear. No pressure,” Alayah said, biting her lip. “I’ll have the maps done by morning with time stamps for both of you. If there are any dead zones in coverage anywhere, I’llalso mark those so we can look for other cameras or images that might have caught you.”

“Still a problem if there’s crucial time missing. It wouldn’t take but a few seconds to dump in antifreeze,” Derek mused.

“You’re not helping.” Alayah’s words were tight, and he bit back a resigned sigh.

“Call me when you have it ready,” Cal said. “I don’t care what time it is, but you need a few hours of rest before you do anything.”

Alayah nodded, and Cal and Roman left, leaving them alone in the room. She turned to him. “I will find a way to clear you, Derek. I know you didn’t do this.”

When he smiled, he hoped it reflected all his sincerity and appreciation for her. “Knowing you have my back is what keeps me going right now, Alayah. It’s nice to know someone cares.”

When she smiled, he saw how true that was.

* * *

THE WIND WHISPEREDacross Alayah’s face as she turned toward the lake. Stars twinkled above them, and for the first time in too long, silence reigned supreme. It was late, but she didn’t care as she sat on the balcony of Derek’s hotel room with a chicken sandwich in one hand and a glass of wine in the other. It was just what she needed to refresh her body and refocus her mind. If only she could refocus on her work and not on the man sitting beside her.

“Hugo sure knew how to book a hotel room,” she said, leaning back in the chair packed with pillows to prop her up. He made a sound that turned her head. The smirk he wore as he chewed made her realize what she’d said. “Okay,yousure know how to book a hotel room.”