Page 49 of Night Watch
Her hair twisted tight, she wiggled her finger and let it go, only to wrap it around her finger again. “I don’t like invading my mom’s privacy like this. What if we find something she wouldn’t want us to see?”
He could see Kennedy’s point, but they couldn’t stop. “You mean like the money?”
“That and more.” Kennedy let go of her hair and nibbled on her lower lip, worrying it hard with her teeth.
He didn’t like seeing her upset and started to reach for her bandage-free hand. A knock sounded on the front door, and he snapped his hand back.
“Probably one of the guys.” Erik charged to the hallway, thankful for the interruption.
Pong came running from his crate and trotted alongside, his footfalls a rhythmic clicking on the hardwood floors. He might be a trained search dog, but he was also just a dog who wanted to protect his owner at every turn, and Erik wanted to hug his little buddy for that. But he also didn’t want Pong to lose his training and paw everyone who came to the door.
“Sit,” Erik said at the door. Pong immediately complied. “Good boy.”
Secured building or not, Erik glanced out the peephole and found Aiden standing in the hall.
Erik opened the door.
“Got the information on the assistant.” Aiden tapped his foot. “Thought you would like it right away.”
Erik eyed his brother. “You could’ve emailed.”
“I could’ve, but one of us needs to keep an eye on the two of you.” His tone was joking, but his expression held a note of warning, as if Erik needed to be reminded to remain impartial in this investigation.
Erik rolled his eyes and stepped back.
Aiden entered, stopping to scratch Pong behind the ears. “Besides I need to make sure you aren’t suffering any anthrax symptoms.”
“We’re both fine.”
Aiden looked up and locked gazes. “You’re acting awful cool about this.”
Erik lowered his voice. “I don’t want to worry Kennedy any more than she is. So please don’t say anything to her.”
“Your wish is my command.” Aiden mimicked zipping his mouth closed and marched down the hall.
Erik followed, wishing everything with his strong-willed brother was as easy. Erik took a few breaths to let out his concern about the anthrax and offered a prayer that Aiden wouldn’t say anything that would make Kennedy uncomfortable.
Aiden greeted her and pulled out a chair across the table to straddle it. “How well do you know Nora?”
“Not well,” Kennedy said. “I only saw her a few times. She seemed very efficient.”
“Especially for her age, right?” Aiden asked.
Kennedy’s eyebrows went up.
“I’m not one for age discrimination, but I was surprised to learn that she was over seventy.”
“My mom hiring Nora surprised me too. First, that Nora was still working at her age. But my mom wasn’t very social, and she said she wanted someone closer to her age who she could relate to. I worried Nora wouldn’t have the computer experience the job required, but I was wrong. Nora has great technical skills.”
“Good enough to erase your mom’s phone?” Erik dropped onto a chair by Kennedy and explained the empty call log to Aiden. “Nora was the only other person with access to the lab, so it could’ve been her.”
Kennedy tapped her chin. “I suppose she could’ve done it.”
Aiden rested his elbows on the back of the chair. “She was the one who found your mother. Means she had the opportunity to erase it before she called the authorities, but what motive would she have?”
Erik gave it some thought. “Maybe Nora knew Wanda was up to something that she didn’t want anyone to know about.”
“Could be, I suppose,” Kennedy said. “Even more reason to talk to her.”
