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“Is that Jeremy’s call record?” Nora asked.
“It is,” Violetta confirmed. “And he had two conversations with this number the morning before he died.” She pointed to a Boston area number. “But before that, there was this.” She pointed to another number, a call that Jeremy had received in the very early hours of the morning before he’d been killed. It was an international call, and although Gavin didn’t have his country codes memorized, it didn’t take a genius to guess the call had come from Indonesia.
“Do you know whose number that is?” Cyn asked, pointing to the international number.
Violetta shook her head. “Not yet. But I do know whose number this is,” she said, pointing to the Boston number.
Something niggled in the back of Gavin’s mind. Something he’d seen on another document. Quickly, he sifted through his memory and when it hit him, it hit him with the subtlety of a sledgehammer.
He squeezed Violetta’s shoulder, and she looked up at him. With his eyes locked on hers, he nodded to the screen. “That’s Julian Newcross’s number, isn’t it?”
Cyn, Devil, and Nora all shifted. Cyn even leaned down to look more closely at the screen as if the numbers themselves might divulge a secret. He kept his eyes on Violetta as she nodded.
“Any text messages or anything?” he asked. The phone log only showed the two men had spoken. The first time for six minutes and thirty-two seconds, and then again for two minutes and twenty-six seconds. A log of any text messages might give them some context.
Violetta shook her head. “I went through those first. There’s very little there other than a few conversations with his sister and a couple with friends. He has the same app we do on our work phones, though, so it’s possible they communicated over that.”
The app she was referring to was a texting app where the messages disappeared after a certain amount of time. Everyone in the office had it, and it allowed the staff to shoot off sensitive questions to each other without worrying that they might be discoverable by other lawyers later.
“I want to know about this call,” Devil said, leaning forward and pointing to the one from Indonesia.
“I backtracked the number,” Cyn said, drawing everyone’s attention. “Give me one second,” she muttered as her fingers flew across the keyboard. Cyn Steele was a tiny ball of energy, and Gavin wondered if Joe ever got her to slow down. Then he smiled to himself; he’d seen the way the couple tracked each other when they were in the same room. Yeah, Gavin would bet Joe Harris had a way of slowing Cyn down.
“Anyone know this man?” Cyn asked, moving her computer so everyone could see the screen.
In sync, Devil, Nora, and Violetta all tipped their heads to the side as they studied the image.
“He looks familiar,” Nora said.
“It’s the eyes. I recognize the eyes,” Devil said.
“Oh my god, it’s Bernie Macauley,” Violetta burst out.
Nora and Devil leaned forward, then both jerked back. “Oh my god, you’re right,” Devil said.
“Uh, who’s Bernie Macauley?” Gavin asked.
“We went to college with him,” Nora said.
“And he started law school with me and Jeremy, but then decided to join the Navy and dropped out after the first year. I haven’t seen or heard from him since,” Violetta said.
“Apparently, he now lives in Indonesia?” Gavin pondered, wondering about the connection between Bernie and Jeremy.
“He does,” Cyn confirmed, having taken her computer back and continued doing whatever it was she’d been doing. “He’s still Navy, but he’s been assigned as the military liaison at the US embassy. There’s been enough instability in the region that they have a dedicated post for him.”
“If he was only in law school with you for a year, would he and Jeremy have known each other well enough to stay in touch?” Gavin asked.
Violetta raised a shoulder and shook her head. “I don’t know. Jeremy never mentioned they’d stayed in touch, but maybe they reconnected when he started traveling to Indonesia.”
“Are you going to call him?” Gavin asked.
Violetta mulled this over. He could understand her reticence. They had no context for how—or why—Bernie and Jeremy were connected. If it was because Bernie was involved in the Shanti Joy activities, she wouldn’t want to tip him off to her investigation. On the other hand, if he wasn’t involved, and had been providing help to Jeremy, then connecting with him might be invaluable.
“Call him,” Cyn said. Violetta looked at her friend. “Trust me, call him,” Cyn said. Some unspoken communication passed between the friends, then Violetta nodded.
“It’s a little late at night, but if he doesn’t answer, I’ll leave a message,” she said. Rising from her seat, she then walked out to the living room where she’d have room to pace while she called her former classmate.
Gavin watched her leave, then retook his seat. If something had been set in motion by the call between Macauley and Jeremy, Gavin wondered if the financials might reflect that as well. He didn’t know for certain if there wasanyfinancial angle to the situation. It was a lead they needed to follow, though. And looking at transactions from the day Jeremy had been killed seemed as good a place to start as any.
