Page 11 of Lost Hours
“Only because we thought they were safe.”
“How so?”
“We put them in a Faraday bag that Smythe placed on the buffet in the dining room, in our sight at all times. When we moved to this room, he brought the bag of phones with him and set them on the table by the door. Or at least we thought he did, but turns out he swapped the bag with one holding small boxes with weights in them to mimic phones.”
Creative. “Any thoughts on who this Smythe guy is and where he went?”
Nolan shook his head. “He seemed like a butler, but he could’ve been a trained actor. After we reported the murder, we searched the house and grounds for him. Found no sign of him ever having been here.”
“Nothing? Not even in the kitchen where the food must’ve come from?”
“It wasn’t cooked down there, that was obvious. Or if he had cooked it here, he completely cleaned up, which I don’t think he had time to do. But my guess is he brought prepared meals in from a caterer and simply served them to us.”
“Still, we’ll want to process that space for forensics. The dining room too.”
“Agreed, but you should know he wore cotton gloves the whole time he was with us. If he didn’t take them off in the kitchen, there won’t be any fingerprints. That doesn’t mean he wouldn’t have left DNA.”
He could be right, but she would have to wait for the state for forensic processing when she could get started on the investigation right now. “Do you remember what he looks like well enough to sit with a forensic artist to create a sketch?”
He nodded. “I don’t suppose you have someone on staff who can do that?”
“Actually, I do,” she said. “Most sketches are done electronically these days, and I have a deputy trained to do it. I can get him into the office right after we finish up here. I can give you a ride.” She could hardly believe she was offering to spend time with him. “But you’ll have to wait in the car while I notify Becca of her father’s death.”
“I could just meet you at your office.”
“Suit yourself.” She shrugged but was disappointed. Perhaps she was hoping he would share the trauma of doing a death notification call. She couldn’t bring him into the house with her, but he would be there when she got out. And things she knew for certain about him, he was understanding and super supportive. At least, he was until he wasn’t.
He’d been carefully watching her and let out a breath. “On second thought, I will take you up on the ride.”
She waited for an explanation but didn’t get one. Okay, fine. She would move on and hope her body language hadn’t given her away. “Back to the phones. Did you find them?”
Nolan nodded. “When we left the room in search of a phone to report the murder, we found the original bag on the buffet in the dining room.”
She looked around the space. “I was told this was an escape room, so I assume the door was locked. How did you get to a phone to call us?”
“We played the game. Solved the clues.” He shrugged. “We could probably have broken down the door, but once we found the mayor, we didn’t want to disturb any more evidence if possible. We’d solved most of the mystery by the time we found him, but then we still had to do a few more things to get the door unlocked.”
He sounded so matter-of-fact in his telling of the night. She didn’t know how he could be so calm, as he surely hadn’t seen many dead bodies in the Secret Service. Likely hadn’t seen any at all. And here he was with his team locked in the room with the deceased mayor shoved in the locker. It took a strong man to handle such a situation. But then she’d known he was strong. It was one of the qualities that had drawn her to him.
Didn’t matter.
She couldn’t let that affect anything that occurred tonight or in the investigation. She had to remain objective. This was her first murder investigation, and she had a lot to prove to the county residents who’d elected her. She would not fail simply because she was crushing on a man she would never get involved with again.
Nolan explained the puzzles and mysteries they’d solved to Mina, making sure he was all business. He had to ignore the way her blond hair softly curved over her shoulder and covered up the county sheriff’s logo on her chest. The way her uniform fit her five-foot-nine body as if custom-made for her. Or the way her large brown eyes were fixed on him, her attention to his every word.
His attention faltered, and he had to stop talking before he sounded like a complete idiot. He’d already agreed to get in a car with her when he could’ve driven on his own. But he’d had visions of her going alone to do a death notification call, and she seemed as if she wanted company. If being closed in the car with her was the cost of providing some support, so be it.
All he had to do was keep his focus on the investigation. Dig deep. Remember his past as a Secret Service agent where he learned to put on a game face twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week if necessary, no matter the distractions presented to him.
Tonight it was necessary. Imperative. Assuming he didn’t want to beg her to tell him why she didn’t respond to his note explaining his sudden departure. Why she’d blown him off instead of calling him.
Mina pointed, redirecting his attention. “So the lockers opened, and you found the body. Did they all open at that time?”
Nolan shook his head. “Jude’s was first, revealing the body. Then like I said, once we got over the shock of finding the mayor, we were still faced with trying to get out of the room.”
She cocked her head. “It must’ve been rough being in such a small space with Mayor Sutton deceased in the locker.”
“It wasn’t the greatest of times, but we’d already spent fifty minutes in the room and Smythe said it should take about an hour. We figured we only had about ten minutes left and were even more determined to finish the escape and find our way out.”
