Total pages in book: 105
Estimated words: 99132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 99132 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 496(@200wpm)___ 397(@250wpm)___ 330(@300wpm)
Laurel watched her carefully. Viv looked so young all of a sudden, despite the sharp mind and fast mouth. Too young to be anywhere near this. Her stomach twisted. This was on her—Laurel was the one who’d encouraged her. Encouraged all three girls to follow their interests, really. Pushed Viv toward law enforcement and criminal justice. Toward this world.
Was that a mistake?
Laurel wasn’t accustomed to kids. Never had been one, not really. She’d skipped childhood by being so much younger than everyone else at school. But somewhere along the way, she’d gotten close to this one and her sisters. Close enough that the fear had a name now. It wasn’t just worry. It was responsibility.
And the worst part was, she wasn’t sure what the right move was anymore. “Does your mom know about your afternoon?” she asked, her voice gentling.
Viv paled.
“That’s what I thought,” Laurel said. “I appreciate your initiative, but it’s too dangerous. I’m sorry, Viv.”
The girl nodded, not happy, but not pushing back either. That helped. A little.
Laurel hesitated, trying to shift the weight off her chest. “However . . . did you find out anything interesting today?”
“Yes.” Viv hopped in her seat. “Seriously. Nobody pays attention to interns, so I kind of had free run of the place. The techs aren’t careful at all about the security panels. I just walked inside after a couple of them. Not the clean rooms, but the rest. It was awesome.”
Laurel shook her head. “Viv. Your mother was kidnapped in an earlier case, and it hit the news. You have the same last name. If anybody at the lab really takes a deep look at you, they’ll know your mom works for the FBI. You are not going back.”
“Fine.” Viv groaned. “But for now, guess what? There’s a door on the bottom fourth floor, to the side of the clean room, that you can barely see. Did you see it during the tour?”
“No.” Laurel took out her phone and typed out a quick text to the evidence team to find the door and go through it. “Did anybody see you down there?”
Viv shrugged. “Sure, but like I said, nobody paid me much attention.”
Huck dug into the bag at his feet and handed a cheeseburger to the girl. “What else?”
She unwrapped it, smiling. “I had lunch in the break room, and I’d say that Bertra isn’t very well liked. She’s running the facility, and most folks don’t seem to like her.”
“Why not?” Laurel asked.
“She runs everything. Staff rotation, lab access, internal security. She’s polite, but everyone acts like she might pull the floor out from under them at any second. People are tense. Real tense.”
Huck eyed the bag. They’d bought tons of burgers. “Anyone say it out loud?”
Viv gave a small nod. “One lady named Jane joked that Bertra probably hired the sniper who took out Sandoval. People laughed, then got real quiet.”
“And Dr. Liu?” Laurel asked.
“I asked three people about her. One said she didn’t know, and the other two just walked away. One of them looked . . . scared. Not annoyed. Scared.” Viv pushed her hair away from her eyes. “Everyone believes that Melissa Palmtree died by falling down those stairs, and that Larry died by suicide. There are no whispers about either of them.”
Laurel exchanged a glance with Huck.
Viv wasn’t finished. “I think I stumbled onto something else, too.”
“Go on,” Laurel said.
“I went to Bertra’s office and the door was cracked. She was talking to a guy named John Fitz. He was wearing a lab coat and his badge showed he had top clearance, but that’s the only time I saw him. Bertra was mentioning something about moving the next round to the other lab, but she stopped talking when I stepped in.”
Huck’s eyes narrowed. “So you are on her radar.”
Viv shook her head. “Not at all. I played dumb and said I was ready for my next assignment. She bought it, I think.”
As they pulled into their parking lot, Laurel spotted Kate’s Volkswagen Bug parked to the right of the doorway. “Let’s go up and let your mom know about your afternoon. Then I want you to run me through the entire day again, step by step, with names and faces. I’d also like descriptions if you have them.”
Viv exhaled next to her, shoulders slumping a little. “Great,” she murmured, and looked away, out the passenger window. Her phone buzzed in her hoodie pocket, and she pulled it out to read the screen. “It’s from Oakridge Solutions.”
Laurel’s eyes snapped to the screen. “Please answer and put it on speaker so we can all hear.”
Viv obeyed, swiping to connect and holding the phone between them. “Hello?”
Bertra’s voice poured through the speaker, smooth and cultured. “Vivienne, I just wanted to personally tell you what a fantastic job you’ve been doing lately. The team has been very impressed. You have asked thoughtful questions, you’ve kept up, and you’ve showed real initiative. We don’t see that very often at your age.”