Page 68 of Hidden With You

ChapterTwenty-Two

“Carter Malloy,” Ollie repeated. “Carter Malloy was your mentor?”

“Yeah,” Owen said. “What’s the big deal?”

“Not a thing,” Ollie said, in what Jasper considered a completely unbelievable tone. “I’ve met the man. Back when I was working for the FBI. Joint task force.”

“So you know. He’s had my back since I was a trainee. Helped me get in as an analyst, climb through the ranks.”

“Recommended you for this job, too,” Ryan said. “Almost looks like he wanted someone inside with eyes on this operation.”

“No, that’s not—”

“And he smokes San Cristobal Ovations,” Jasper pointed out. “Lots of little things piling up. Not looking good for your buddy.”

“This is bullshit,” Owen said. “You have literally zero evidence.”

“We know that someone wants me dead,” Zelda said. “And we know that someone set up Jasper, trying to entice him to kill me. I know I’m not the most well loved person on the planet, but the odds that two people proactively want me dead seems slim. So I’m going out on a limb and saying it’s the same person.”

“Makes sense to me,” Ollie said. “And, gee, I wonder who might stand to benefit if you die.”

“Carter’s my stepfather,” she told Owen. “Just in case you need to catch up. And if I die, he and my mom get the land and house. Which, to be clear, is worth a fuck ton of money.”

Jasper fought a smile. The woman he loved had a serious bite.

“To be fair,” Ollie put in, “it’s Mrs. Malloy who would inherit. But I have a feeling that’s the kind of challenge that Carter Malloy can overcome in his sleep.”

Owen looked at each of them in turn, finally stopping at Jasper. “You all really believe this. You think he’s dirty.”

“I do,” Jasper said. “I think he killed Melanie. I think he tried to bait me into killing Zelda.”

Owen dragged his fingers through his hair, making it stand on end. “Okay, okay. I’m listening. But this can’t be right. There has to be an explanation.”

“Hold up, everybody,” Ollie said as he lifted his phone and shook it. “I just got something here.”

Everyone at the table turned to look at him. “What is it?” Zelda asked.

“So here’s the thing,” Ollie said. “You know how Matthew Holt told you two about the art files for the little target icon that goes above all the chapters in the book?”

Jasper looked at Ryan, who nodded.

“Well, he gave me a call and asked me to do some follow-up. We sent a forensics team into Holt’s offices, and we were able to track down an unauthorized download of that folder by a data processing team member.”

“Well, that’s excellent,” Zelda said. “Isn’t it?” She looked to Jasper, who nodded.

“I think it might be,” Ollie said. “Let me walk you through it. We pinpointed the date of the download, which corresponded to twenty-four hours before the threat appeared in Zelda’s mail. We also knew the location from which he downloaded it, and after watching him, we realized that he’s a creature of habit. He takes the same route to and from work every day.”

Jasper looked at Zelda and shrugged. He knew Ollie had a point; he just wished he would get to it.

“We had a team of agents canvas the area. Turns out he lives close and walked. This was good for us. It took some time, but we were able to check video footage at most of the locations along his regular route. ATMs, security cameras, traffic cameras, the like.”

“And you found something,” Zelda guessed.

“They just emailed it to me. Is there a way to project it up so everyone can see?”

“Send it to me,” Ryan said, and a few minutes later they were looking at a wall screen onto which the video was projected. At first, it was just the image of a street corner somewhere in Los Angeles. Then, a man came into view.

He was tall and thin and wore his hair pulled back in a ponytail. He stood on a street corner, shifting his weight back and forth from foot to foot. It looked like someone who was either very, very nervous, or desperately needed a restroom.