Page 66 of Cyn
She snorted. “How old are you?”
He lifted a shoulder. “Young enough to keep up with you.”
How the conversation had shifted from being one about stolen evidence to one filled with high school level innuendos, he wasn’t quite sure. What he was sure about, though, was that there was nothing to gain rehashing their decision to hold on to the USB, and talking about sex with Cyn was way more interesting. Even if they couldn’t act on it because they didn’t want to give the sheriff and her crew something to talk about.
By the time a detective stopped by their car to talk to them, over an hour had passed since they’d made the call. The detective, a woman with white blond hair and suspicious eyes, gestured them out and both he and Cyn donned their jackets, gloves, hats, and scarves. He gave a fleeting thought to calculating how much time he spent over the course of the winter dressing and undressing from his winter gear, but then decided not to depress himself.
“I’m Detective Donnel,” she started. “I’m with the state police since the sheriff’s department doesn’t have the resources to investigate a murder. Can you tell me how you came to be here?”
Cyn took the lead and spun the story they’d agreed to. The detective asked some follow-up questions, like who had recommended Bartlett—to which Cyn replied she couldn’t recall only that it was one of her colleagues—and how she and Bartlett been in touch—to which Cyn replied that she’d called him once, they’d spoken, and he’d set the appointment. Joe made a mental note to see if Lucy could plant a false phone record in Bartlett’s mobile.
Cyn confirmed that she’d called him prior to leaving for England and, because of her trip and the start of the semester, they’d agreed on a date in January for him to do the work. A few more questions came next, but all in all, their interview with the detective was over in thirty minutes, though she did take their contact information in case she had any more questions.
Five minutes after getting the green light to leave, he and Cyn were driving back toward Cos Cob and she had her laptop open, with the USB plugged in.
Winter dusk had fallen swiftly, and the roads were now dark as they made their way home. He kept his eyes in front of him, watching for ice and animals, but he could hear Cyn clicking away.
“Finding anything?” he asked. He hoped the USB had a lead, but he’d been around the block enough times to know that it was also possible that Bartlett had taken his last minutes to write a letter to his mother or his long-lost love or something else entirely.
“Oh yes,” she said, drawing the words out. He spared a quick glance in her direction to find her hunched over, her face close to the screen.
“Cyn?”
“I haven’t looked at everything on the drive yet, but he must have tapped into their phones and downloaded everything. And if you are wondering, whatever they are planning—and I haven’t found those details yet—Beni was right. It’s happening tomorrow.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“When you say ‘their’phones, you mean Waters, Persons, and Harrow?” Joe clarified as Cyn continued to click through the photos. She’d get to the rest once she was home, but the photos were an easy item to peruse while they drove.
“Yes,” she answered, pulling up yet another photo. “Like so many people these days, they thought it would be fun to document their activities. There are thousands of photos between the three phones. I’ve only looked at about a hundred, including several taken of flyers of local MLK day celebrations. There are also several photos of them with ammo and various explosive devices, including some of them buying the chemicals on that list. I don’t recognize any of those shops, but they probably won’t be hard to identify. Oh, what’s this…”
She felt Joe’s glance at her, but she was too busy studying the video file she’d opened. It wasn’t one downloaded from the phones, but a lone file in the drive.
“Cyn?”
She didn’t answer right away, wanting confirmation of the video contents before she did. Finally, when the thirty-two-second clip ended, she turned to face him. “Bartlett included a video of Waters, Persons, and Harrow arriving on his property. It was taken from one of the cameras that faces the driveway. Lucy would probably be able to tell us exactly which camera, but it’s likely mounted on either the house or the trees behind the house.”
“Any video of them leaving? And, more practically, doweneed to worry about that camera capturing our arrival?”
“I’ll check with Lucy, but I’m sure that’s one she shut down before we arrived. As for video of the three leaving, I’ll look for that next. I think our Mr. Bartlett was trying to ensure that Persons, Waters, and Harrow didn’t get away with what they’d done.”
“We know he was helping McElroy,” Joe said. “If we assume he was helping all of them, then they must have turned on him. In which case, that USB would be a nice little piece of revenge from beyond the grave.”
“My thoughts exactly. That raises the question, though, of why they turned on him.”
“What else do we have?” he asked, gesturing with his head to her computer.
“Again, no smoking gun, but when we catch these kids, there is a lot of evidence on here to support any case made against them.”
He turned onto the road that would take them into Cos Cob. “What about the flyers? Any events in Boston?”
Cyn shook her head. “No, but it’s indicative of intent, and when coupled with what I overheard in the library, I’m willing to bet that’s their plan.”
Joe nodded. “How are we going to explain the existence of the evidence? We need to get those pictures to Beni. She needs to know about those three kids.”
Cyn nodded. “I agree. I’ll have Franklin run interference for us. I’ve already downloaded everything onto my laptop so we can send her the USB, although with the timelines we’re talking about, she’s probably going to want us to email all the files.”
“You can do both. I doubt the USB alone will provide much evidence of anything, but they’ll probably still want the original source even once they have the contents.”
