Page 64 of Cold Silence
Claire smiled at the woman. “We appreciate your cooperation.”
“Of course. I know how important this event is to you and no one will disturb it.” She held the envelope out to Claire. “This was left at the front desk for you this morning.”
“For me? Here?” Claire reached out for the package.
Travis intercepted the package, but made sure to hold it by the corner to limit adding his fingerprints to the surface. “Any idea who left it?”
“No,” Michelle said.
“You have a security camera at the front desk, right?” Travis asked. “So we could look at the footage and see who dropped it off.”
“I suppose you could.” She smoothed a hand over her hair. “If my manager agrees.”
“Can you arrange that for us?”
“I’ll ask him when we finish here.”
Travis held up the envelope and looked at Claire. “Let’s wait to open this until later.”
Claire blinked, seeming to grasp the risks of what the envelope might contain.
“I’ll just give it to Gage to hold onto.” Travis strode to the door when he wanted to run. Gage stood duty just outside.
“This was left at the front desk for Claire. Doubt it’s a good thing.” Travis handed over the envelope.
Gage took it by the same corner without needing to be told. “Any idea who left it?”
“No, but I’ve arranged for the coordinator to help us get a look at the security video when Claire is done here.”
“If that doesn’t show us anything, we’ll need to get this processed for fingerprints.”
“Too bad Sierra isn’t still here.”
Gage nodded. “We could get it X-rayed. That way we preserve the evidence, and yet, know what the envelope contains.”
“Great idea,” Travis said, mulling it over. “I can’t see a doctor’s office or hospital agreeing to that.”
Gage stared at the package. “What about a vet’s office? They might.”
“We’d have a better chance there, but Claire doesn’t have a pet, and I doubt she has that kind of connection.”
“Maybe someone she works with does.”
“I’ll ask her and Julie if they know someone. Until then, get one of your men to take this to the vehicle for safekeeping.”
“Roger that.”
Travis went back into the room where Claire, Julie, and Eric were discussing the equipment that would be provided for the music. Eric, who’d seemed low-key, was animated as he talked about DJing the party. Could be he liked to live a little after his desk job. Travis had checked the guy out before letting him attend today’s meeting and learned that Eric came from a prominent, wealthy local family and was employed at a big retailer as a cloud solutions architect. A linear thinker like most IT people and not the kind of guy Travis would expect to become a DJ or a competitive bodybuilder, but he was both.
Travis stood back during the planning meeting, chiming in only when security-related items came up. Thankfully, it was all over in the thirty minutes he’d allotted, even with Michelle’s flirty behavior.
She started to walk away.
“You’ll check on that security video for us?” Travis asked.
“Right away, then I’ll meet you at the front desk.” She took off, her high heels clicking on the parquet flooring.
As they headed for the door, he looked at the group. “Anyone know a vet who might be willing to X-ray a package Claire received?”
