Page 59 of Operation: Sharp Angel

“It shows,” she remarked. “Your team is impressive, Carter.”

He smiled. “Yeah, Shepherd Security is impressive.”

Before long, the two ladies came back down the stairs. Their pistols were re-holstered.

“Okay, it’s clear. Becca, if your sister or her husband were going to hide a laptop, where would you think that would be?” Madison asked.

“I’m not sure,” Becca answered. “I have about four places that are the most possible. In the boxes in the basement labeled Christmas decorations is my first guess because when Nicole purchased things for the girls she wanted to hide, that’s where she’d stash the stuff. Second would be in the garage. Nick hid things out there sometimes. I think we should check the tops of all the cabinets in the kitchen because of a joke Nicole made one time about where she’d hide drugs.” She stopped talking when all three of the others gave her a questioning look. “We were watching a movie, and the cops raided a house, looking for drugs. On top of the cabinets were the one place they never searched. It was Nicole’s sense of humor in pointing that out, that’s all,” she said, clearly defending her sister.

“And the fourth?” Tessman pressed.

“In the sock drawers.” Becca shrugged. “She always hid things in her socks when we were kids.”

“We save the garage for last,” Madison said. “Briana, you go back downstairs and search through all the Christmas boxes and bins. Look for anything that doesn’t fit, laptop or not.”

“Got it,” Briana said. She turned and walked towards the stairs to the basement.

“I’m going upstairs and will start with the sock drawers, but will search all the drawers in every room,” Madison said.

“I haven’t gone through any of the drawers yet,” Becca said.

“We’ll look on top of the kitchen cabinets,” Tessman volunteered.

Becca watched Carter hop on top of the counter and stand so he could see over the top of the cabinets in the kitchen. After checking over all of them, he hopped down, disappointed. No laptop computer, nothing that shouldn’t be there.

“I was hoping for at least a thumb drive or something,” he said. “Let’s go upstairs and help Madison search.”

Becca ignored the blood stains as much as she could, but knew she had to call the crime scene clean-up crew back to paint the hall stairs and maybe even replace carpeting. She might be better off just having the house torn down. Who’d ever want to sleep in a house where five people died?

Madison was in one of the girls’ bedrooms, looking through drawers. She hadn’t searched Nick and Nicole’s room yet. That was where Becca and Tessman started. Not only did they search the drawers, but they went through the closets with a renewed focus. Nothing.

Becca stepped into the master bathroom and gazed at the white cabinet that ran down the left side of the vanity area. “Carter, check on top of that cabinet.”

He hopped up on the counter and stood. Raising up on his tiptoes, he peered over the top of the cabinet. “Oh, hello.” He reached his hand up and retrieved the silver laptop computer, which sat nestled perfectly in the top quarter round that framedthe top of the cabinet. He handed it to Becca and then hopped down.

“Found something,” he called

Becca ran her hand over the smooth silver lid. She opened it, recognizing it. “It’s my mom’s.” It didn’t power up upon opening it as it should have. “Was there a power cord up there? It’s not powering up.”

“The battery could be dead,” Tessman said. “And no, there wasn’t a cord.”

Madison and Briana entered the room. “Where was it?” Madison asked.

“On top of the cabinet,” Becca said, her eyes looking at the top of the bathroom vanity cabinet.

“Nice job,” Madison said. “You knew your sister well.”

“We’ll have to take it back to HQ and find a compatible power cord. Looks like the battery is dead,” Tessman said. “We’ll grab a bag from the closet to bring it out in. Just in case this place is being watched, we don’t want anyone to see us bring it out.”

***

Becca was nervous as the laptop powered up, once a compatible cord was plugged into it. The four of them, plus Brielle, were in Brielle’s office on the seventh floor. They all huddled around the desk where Becca sat in Brielle’s desk chair. Once it powered all the way up, a family picture of her mom and dad, and she and her sister from Nicole’s wedding, appeared. A smile curved Becca’s lips. She had forgotten her mother had set this photo as her screen background. It was one of her mom’s all-time favorite pictures.

The box popped up to enter the passcode.

“This is easy, unless Nicole or Nick changed it. Mom always used Dad’s birthday as her passcode.”

“Not very secure,” Brielle said.

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