Page 32 of Night Watch
“FBI agents married to the Veritas partners. They can all look into it.”
“Would be far easier if Sierra could process the envelope for prints or Emory could lift DNA from it,” Clay said.
“If it’s contaminated with a toxin,” Kennedy said, “there’s no way law enforcement will allow her to do that.”
“What do you think the odds are that it isn’t?” Brendan asked.
“With my mom’s connections to the scientific world, I think it’s very likely that we’re dealing with a deadly substance.” Her eyes narrowed. “I could be wrong about it being anthrax, though. Could be ricin or another substance. We’ll have to wait for Maya’s tests to confirm.”
“If it is a poisonous substance,” Erik said, “I would think the sender would be smart enough to wear gloves. So even if Sierra is able to process the envelope, it’ll probably only hold prints from postal workers. Maybe we’ll get prints or DNA from the food containers that I grabbed before all of this happened.”
“What we really need right now is Wanda’s personal and professional contact list,” Aiden said. “Then we can investigate everyone to see if one of them might’ve been angry with her.”
“With the potential anthrax scare, her computer will be taken into evidence, if it hasn’t been already,” Clay said. “And her phone, if it’s at the office.”
“Already ahead of you.” Erik grinned. “I started an image of her hard drive to upload to our server while Kennedy was working in the lab. I left it running and just checked it. The file completed. I’ll review the data as soon as I can. No phone or copies of Wanda’s contract at the lab, though.”
“Her phone is at the house,” Kennedy said. “I brought it home when I first got to town.”
“Then Sierra probably fingerprinted it, and we need to upload the contents before PPB asks for it.” Erik met Kennedy’s gaze. “With your permission, I’ll head over to your place after we finish here and do that.”
“Sure,” she said.
“I can also check Wanda’s personal computer and email while I’m there.”
“No personal email,” Kennedy said. “My mom didn’t believe in communicating via email except at work, and even then, she did it sparingly. Same is true of texts.”
“Then we’ll just have to depend on her call record and contacts.” Erik didn’t like that they’d have fewer leads in this investigation, but he’d have to deal with it. “And we all need to watch out for any military or militia-type connection to Wanda. Not that we think she’s involved in anything like that, but the intruder was dressed in camo and combat boots.”
“We also need to do a deep dive into Wanda’s assistant,” Aiden said. “I’ll get started on finding the basics. If we need more, you can take it from there.”
“Sounds good,” Erik said. “She could be in on this, and we need to talk to her, but let’s get the background on her first. Could help us formulate the right questions.”
Erik looked at Kennedy. “We also need to remember that the break-in might be more a case of the intruder looking for something and not expecting to find you there. Means we should try to determine what he might be after.”
“You think that’s likely?” Aiden asked.
Kennedy nodded. “It seemed like he was searching for something when I first saw him.”
“Then I’ll do a thorough search of the place too.” Erik looked at Kennedy. “Anything else I should get at your house? What about Wanda’s personal records?”
“I don’t know.” Kennedy stared at her hands. “I haven’t been able to bring myself to go through her things. I’m sure her will is there somewhere. It would be great if you looked at things while you were there. Feel free to search anywhere. Oh, and she has a printer with a copier, so make a copy of anything we could need.”
Erik was thankful for her cooperation, but it came with a dose of sad resignation, and he didn’t like seeing her this way. “You’re sure you don’t mind me going through her things without you?”
“Mind?” Kennedy stared across the room at the windows, then swung her gaze back to him. “Yeah. Probably. But you could’ve been exposed to anthrax, and I will do anything to bring the perpetrator to justice. Anything.”
8
Kennedy didn’t like sitting around in Erik’s condo, but she couldn’t do anything to help. At least nothing other than remaining in place where she was safe and Erik didn’t have to worry about her.
A knock sounded on the door, and she jumped. Erik wouldn’t knock on his own door. Should she answer it?
She strode down the hallway and glanced through the peephole. A tall, striking woman stood there. Sierra was with her and held a baby. He had bright blue eyes, and a smile on his adorable face.
Curious about the woman and the visit, Kennedy opened the door.
Sierra stepped forward. “This is Reed’s sister, Malone. She’s an attorney, and Erik thought it might be helpful for you to talk to her.”
