Page 106 of Blind Prophet

“For the record, I don’t believe you’re guilty. I suspected your father.” Our eyes lock, and his gaze softens. “But not you.” It could be my mind playing tricks, but I feel like his demeanor visibly calms with my admission. “At the moment, we’ve divided efforts to investigate persons and countries of interest.”

“And they assigned you to investigate me.” His dry, clipped words tell me exactly how he feels about that.Fair.

“I volunteered.”

His index finger taps a steady beat on the leather armrest.

“Because I believe you’re innocent. The more suspects we eliminate, the closer we come to figuring out how to stop further attacks or…” It sounds surreal to say this… “Avoid a world war.”

“Nick made a cryptic comment. Told me to keep you here, to keep you safe.”

“Did he?” I pick up my phone and tap out a quick note to remember to discuss this with Sophia, now that I know he’s the source who originally named Dorian.

When I set my phone back down, I meet his gaze once again. I could join him on the sofa, but it’s better to keep the desk between us.

“We have confirmation that you met with arms dealers and government leaders on the terrorist watch list.”

He shrugs. “I’m sure I have. As a matter of practice, I don’t scrub my meetings with the terrorist watch list. To be honest, I don’t know that I’ve ever obtained the list. Why would I? Without having seen your list, I’d bet those meetings pitched Zenith. Or it’s possible they’re Bedrock clients. Now”—he holds up an index finger—“we do our research to ensure we minimize our exposure for funding terrorism. So if those meetings had something to do with a Bedrock connection, that would be an error of due diligence within the firm, and I’d appreciate knowing who we shouldn’t be taking on as an investment client. But,” he waves a hand in the air, “I shouldn’t have mentioned that. As a board member, it’s rare that I meet with a Bedrock client. That would likely be a coincidence with us taking part in the same conference or symposium.”

That’s exactly what I assumed.

“You’ve also been hedging complex derivative trades and shorting positions before events.”

“I have?” His eyelids lower, and his lips purse. “It might surprise you, but I leave my investments to the experts. If you recall, I don’t get the same thrill from investing as my father.” It had been a sore point between them. Halston hadn’t been keen at all for him to leave Bedrock and launch a new venture. “Can you get me a list of those trades?”

“Yes.” I add it to my list to request from Sophia.

“Although, I’ll tell you, many trades are based on complex algorithms these days. Our systems could pick up on activities within markets that might appear prescient but are actually reactive.”

“That’s fair.”

“What else?”

“The team identified encrypted communications sent at odd hours from your father’s accounts. Conversations with known extremists and Russian sympathizers. Calls to burner phones where the attacks occurred. The frequency of those calls has been increasing, not declining.”

He leans forward, intrigued. “Phone records show this?”

I nod.

“Can you see the content of the communications?”

“No, I don’t believe so. But for encrypted written communications, my bet is we’ll see it shortly.”

“Right. If you can’t, I’ll ask Nick. He’s got the best in the world.”

“Arrow has some talent, too.” He’s definitely not acting like someone who has anything to hide. And we’re in his office, which means Arrow is listening. “What’re you thinking?”

“That my father might be reaching out to old contacts. I didn’t think he did much of that, but I could be wrong. I would imagine his communications are erratic, nonsensical, but…”

“Maybe they aren’t?”

“AI could help him craft communications. On the phone, I think he’d ramble. Weave. There would be more evidence of dementia on the phone than in writing.” He focuses on a far-off spot on the floor. “If this is true, I fucked up, leaving him with a phone and email. I just didn’t think…” His foot taps the floor with three quick beats. “He might’ve had conversations with old friends, but he’s not the mastermind behind anything. I’ve been watching him deteriorate for the last several years. His short-term memory is weak. He repeats conversations, doesn’t remember anything from the day prior. He forgets words or mispronounces them. He’s erratic.”

“I concur,” I say loudly, hoping that whatever team is listening to us hears my conviction. “When I met him, I had the same conclusion.”

My phone lights, and I read the incoming message.

SF

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