Page 64 of Devil
“Money?” Devil asked, looking at Darius. They’d both been heads-down in research and hadn’t shared any findings.
“Family money is right. Lots of it. His grandfather was secretary of the treasury, and his father is a bigwig at the Pentagon,” Darius said. “But the real money comes from his maternal grandmother’s family.”
“So they have money and influence. Interesting he chose to be a DSS agent. Not that it’s not a worthy job, but it’s interesting,” Devil said, mulling it over.
“Anything about Crawford in your files?” Chad asked. “I assume that’s what you’re looking at.”
Devil nodded. “No, not about any relationship. But honestly, she doesn’t strike me as the type to be intimidated by money, so I have to wonder if those rumors were right. She grew up in a single-parent household. Her mom died when she was a kid, and her dad was a beat cop his whole life. He’s retired and living in Florida. She earned a scholarship to UPenn where she also played volleyball, and from there, she went to the State Department and, eventually, into DSS. She doesn’t appear to have much of a life outside work, but for our purposes, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.”
“Do you know the timelines on the relationships?” Darius asked. “I’m inclined to agree that that angle probably isn’t a solid one to take, but it’s worth knowing the details.”
Chad wandered into the kitchen as he answered and started pouring himself a glass of whiskey from the bottle Devil had left on the counter. “His relationship with Crawford lasted about four months. It ended a year ago. His relationship with agent Jessica Jacob—known as JJ—lasted nine months and ended two years ago. Those dates are approximate. My contact knows all the people involved, but not that well. I know the easiest way to get to the president would be if there’s a mole in the security teams, but why the special interest in Highborn and Crawford?”
Devil looked to Darius to answer as the buzzer went off in the kitchen. Swinging her legs down from the coffee table, she said, “I’ll go get the book. You can update him on what you saw this evening and our conversation with Franklin.”
“What book?” Chad asked as he passed her on the way into the sitting room.
“The notebook,” she reminded him. “Tell him about Dr. Patel’s visit, too,” she called to Darius. Then, tuning the two men out, she turned the oven off and opened the door. Warm air rushed out and after the first wave, she bent down to peer inside. The book still lay open on the cookie sheet. She could see blue ink scribbled across the pages, but the angle and the light prevented her from reading any of it.
Grabbing a pair of oven mitts, she withdrew the sheet and set it on the stovetop, then shut the door. Leaning over the open page, she started to read. Yes, it was the middle of the book, but she didn’t want to touch it until it cooled down.
She skimmed a very uninspired to-do list that included everything from ordering supplies for her lab to picking up dog food for the local shelter. The other page, though, well that appeared more promising. In a way.
Molecular formulae were sketched across the white paper. Leaning closer, Devil examined them. One looked to be an early rendition of the virus, but she didn’t know what the others were.
“Find anything?” Chad asked, walking into the kitchen with Darius following.
“Not yet. Well, other than the fact that she apparently donated dog food to the local shelter. I want to let the pages cool before I start going through it,” she said.
“Dog food?” Chad asked, one eyebrow raised.
Darius held out his hands as if he were weighing the options. “I feel like it’s one of those bad memes: unleash a deadly virus on the world or feed the lost and abandoned dogs.” Both Devil and Chad chuckled.
“I think it’s safe to say she was probably a complex woman. Or at the very least, a conflicted one,” Devil said, reaching out to test the temperature of the book. When her finger, then her palm, landed on warm but not hot paper, she gingerly picked it up. The two men parted and let her pass as she walked to the table. She sat with the book in front of her and gently closed it, intending to start from the beginning.
“As much as I want to know what’s in that book, I don’t think it’s going to do any good to have me hovering over your shoulder,” Chad said. “I’ll go pick up the research you were doing into Crawford.”
Devil gave a vague nod, her eyes already on the first page.
“I’ll head back to my research into Highborn,” Darius said. “Holler if you find anything.” She gave another nod. After the men took their seats in the other room and opened their computers, the house fell silent as they each dived into their tasks.
It didn’t take Devil long to find a pattern. The backside of each page contained a to-do list. But the front side comprised more interesting items such as scribblings from her research, random thoughts and questions, and notes on appointments. The pages weren’t dated, but the fifth one included a note about a scheduled call with a date six months earlier. Based on that, Devil assumed the book covered a period spanning from just before that call to the day she died.
Wanting to take notes herself, she scanned the dining area and spotted a legal notepad. Snagging it and a pen, she got to work. An hour and a half later, she had two pages of notes and more questions than answers.
“How are you all doing in there?” she asked, leaning back in her chair, which gave her a view of the sitting room.
“In case you’re wondering, the White House dinner went smoothly, and the president is back in his hotel. DSS is on the entrances and in the lobby, but the president’s people are the only ones on his floor as well as the two floors below him,” Chad called back.
Devil rose and walked into the room, taking her notes with her. Darius gestured to the spot on the couch beside him, and she sank onto the comfortable cushions. “Did Highborn eventually show up? I would imagine, as team lead, it would be weird if he hadn’t.”
“Not as weird as you might think. They have a sort of incident command and while he was never on the floor, he did make it to the command room,” Chad answered. “As for Crawford, she and two other agents were off rotation tonight since they’ll be on early tomorrow.”
“Speaking of Crawford, did you find anything more on her?” Devil asked, inching her foot toward Darius. Yes, they had serious things to discuss, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t rub her feet if he was so inclined. Without even taking his eyes from his computer screen, he reached over, wrapped his hand around her foot, and started digging into her arch with his thumb.
“By all accounts, she’s a solid agent,” Chad said. “Not always well-liked and doesn’t always fit in with a team, but a good agent. She’s scored well on all her exams—not the top of her class, but no slouch, either. She’s taking a few courses at a local community college. One in Spanish and one in criminal justice. Makes me think she might be contemplating a move to the FBI.”
“Any idea what she does for fun? I didn’t find much, but maybe you did?” she asked.
