Page 144 of Penny For Your Thoughts
“So far as I know, it’s become a bit of a headache.”
“Oh? Really?”
Aaron’s surprise confirmed our suspicions. Like I’d said to Diem earlier, if Aaron worked closely with Lukyan, then he would know we’d discovered Darcy. He would have heard about the incident at the storage unit and Lukyan’s literal run-in with Diem. In fact, Aaron might have been told to notify Lukyan if and when we showed up at the home. Knowing I had an appointment this morning, I anticipated Lukyan might be lying in wait.
I didn’t see anything suspicious when I arrived, and Diem was convinced Lukyan was in hiding or had already fled the country. It would be wiser than dealing with us, he’d said. Lukyan didn’t know if we were working alongside the police, and that was a risk he wouldn’t want to take.
It was my job to play the player and see if I could figure out the millionaire’s whereabouts.
“You sound surprised,” I said.
“Oh. No, no. I… guess I figured you two would have had more success than the cops at finding that money.”
“Oh, well…” I slowed my pace, acting uncomfortable. It was time to play the innocent, jaded boyfriend card and hope Aaron fell for it. “Can I be honest?”
“Of course.”
“I’m not helping much with the case. Diem shut me out a couple of days ago, and…” I pressed my lips together, pretending to think deeply.
Aaron touched my arm, turning me to face him. “And?”
Sighing heavily, I continued. “Well, Diem’s never been great with communication. When things don’t go his way, he gets… grumpy.” I rolled my eyes for effect. “So, he hasn’t shared much about the case, no matter how many times I ask. We’re kind of… on the outs right now.”
“Oh.” Aaron did not move his hand from my arm. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“It’s fine. He’ll get over himself.” I plastered on what I hoped was a fake-looking smile. The kind a person used when they wanted to convince everyone around them that things were great when they so obviously weren’t. “What can you do? His business, not mine.”
Aaron took the bait, like he couldn’t help himself. “You’re too good for him, Tallus. Why do you put up with that?”
I didn’t want to lay it on too thick, so I feigned discomfort, removing Aaron’s hand and motioning down the hall. “Shall we?”
The event room was occupied by several residents. Elwood wasn’t present. Aaron showed me the projector and the laptop I could use to run my slide show.
“Go ahead and pop it in. We can do a test run and get the size and angle set up. I was thinking this wall here.”
I had come prepared. Fishing inside my pocket, I located the two USBs, palming the one with the nick I’d carved in the plastic casing and openly displaying the second, which I fit into the port on the laptop.
We waited for the computer to read the external drive, and when it displayed nothing, I frowned. “What the heck? Where’s the file? I swear to god, I downloaded it this morning.”
Aaron clicked around to no avail. He removed the USB and reinserted it. Nothing. He tried a different port. It continued to show as empty.
I took it from him and examined the device as though I might see a visible flaw. “The file was loaded. It was here. I double-checked before I left the house.”
Executing the next stage of my plan, I glanced at Aaron’s trusty tablet. “Do you mind if I try on your tablet? Maybe something is wrong with the laptop.”
“Sure. Hang on.” Aaron did something on the screen, keeping it angled so I couldn’t see, then passed it to me.
With a nifty sleight of hand, I switched the USBs, so the one I’d palmed was now between my fingers, and the empty USB was hidden. Even Darcy had been impressed with how I could switch them unnoticed.
I inserted the new drive into Aaron’s tablet. Diem had done his fancy computer trickery, so that when I opened the file—whichwoulddisplay this time—it would simultaneously download an undetectable malware program that would clone everything on the device and send it to an email account he set up to receive it.
“Huh,” Aaron said when the file appeared. “You’re right. There must be something wrong with the laptop.”
I opened the file on the tablet, taking my time to view the thumbnail photographs of Nana. They appeared in a neat grid—over twenty of them—and I clicked through them one at a time, purposefully delaying. Diem told me to give it at least two minutes to ensure theprogram was downloaded. I wouldn’t see it happen, he’d said, but it would be there.
Aaron was never without his tablet. In every meeting we’d had, and every time I saw him wandering the facility, he carried it with him. It could be strictly a work device, but I suspected it might be personal. If there was anything relating to Elwood or Lukyan’s scam, we would find it.
Satisfied I had waited long enough, I tugged the drive free and gave Aaron his tablet. “Let’s try it again. Maybe this USB is faulty or has a loose… something or other. I don’t know how they work.” I issued a self-deprecating laugh.
