Page 65 of Nora
“I asked Sabina to look into the posts on the older sites since those are cold and she has better skills than I do. I’m looking into the posts on the Norway site. I don’t have IP addresses yet, but the messages are appearing between the hours of eleven at night and one in the afternoon.”
“So between five in the evening and seven in the morning here. Right when the participants have their free time,” Nora said. Then a thought occurred to her.
“Is there a device that could break a password?” she asked.
“Why?” Devil and Six both asked, warily.
“Of course,” Cyn answered.
“Could you get your hands on one and I can pick it up when I’m in Cos Cob for the party?” she asked.
“Nora,” Devil admonished. “You can’t go sneaking into their rooms to fish around their computers.” She’d obviously caught on to Nora’s new plan.
“I’m not sure why not,” Nora countered. “They are on a NATO program. All assumptions around privacy are suspended as this is considered a military-run event. Franklin might want to know, but I don’t need a warrant.”
Her friends were silent for a moment, then Devil huffed. “Okay, you have me there. Youcoulddo that. But is it safe?”
“As safe as it can be if I do it during a training session,” Nora replied. “I’m sure Lucian can arrange to have all three men in his group. He can keep an eye on them while I search the rooms and computers.”
“I like it,” Cyn said.
“I don’t,” Six shot back. “Lucian has had some issues the past few years. I’m not saying he’d intentionally do anything to put Nora at risk, but I’m not sure I’d trust him with something like this. I know I said he’d have your back, but I wasn’t thinking about you walking into the lair of a killer.”
Nora held her tongue while Cyn and Six bickered over involving Lucian even more. To her relief, Cyn defended him, arguing that he might have distanced himself from the family but that he’d never do anything to harm Nora. Six, on the other hand, kept pointing out all the times he’d turned away from his own family in the past few years. Nora didn’t know what had caused Six to change her opinion about her cousin, but she did know Six couldn’t be more wrong.
Finally, Devil interrupted. “Stop, you two. You are overlooking the most important question. Nora, doyoufeel comfortable and confident asking Lucian for help?”
The question shut both Six and Cyn up, and an expectant silence fell over the line. “Yes, without question,” Nora answered with zero hesitation.
Six started to grumble, but Devil quieted her down. When the grousing stopped, Nora spoke again. “If you can get the device for me, I can get into their rooms on Monday. I’ll ask Lucian tonight if he can arrange the schedule so that he has all three in his group.”
Six groaned but didn’t say anything. Cyn and Devil concurred that it was a good idea.
After a few more minutes of planning, she hung up and stared at her computer. She’d make a terrible detective, she decided. She was much too impatient. When she was on a mission, they were usually short and intense and there was never a question of what to do next. Not that she didn’t make decisions every minute of every op, but she was trained to make those decisions. Now she was floundering in the dark. Or so it felt.
With a huff of annoyance, she did the only thing she could think of to do. She opened the email from Cyn, found the day-trekking site from Norway, and started scanning the comments. Maybe, if she was lucky, she’d find some phrasing or word usage that would give her a clue as to which of the three men was their killer.
CHAPTERTWENTY-FIVE
“Jurgen is out,”Nora said to Lucian when he joined her in her room after the training sessions ended for the day. They had two hours to kill before dinner, and he had a few things he wanted to do before they talked murder.
“Lucian,” she said. Obviously reading his intent, she cocked her head to the side and put her hand up to stop him. He grinned.
“Will we catch the killer if you tell me now versus thirty minutes from now?” he asked.
She arched an eyebrow. She might not be amused by his question, but her non-answer gave him his answer. Reaching for her hand, he pulled her to him. “I’ve been standing in the freezing cold all day,” he said, nuzzling her hair. She had it up in a bun, no doubt because he’d mussed it up the night before. Something he planned to do again.
“Are you telling me I should take pity on you?” she asked, looping her arms around his neck.
He backed her toward her bed, then they both fell on it. He wanted to slide a hand under her sweater, but he hadn’t warmed up yet and didn’t want to shock her. Instead, he leaned over her and took her lips in a deep kiss. By the time he pulled back, there wasnothingcold about his body. “Pity isn’t exactly what I’m looking for from you,” he said. Then he spent the next thirty minutes showing her what he wanted and giving as good as he got.
Sated and content, they remained in bed, under the warm covers, as they talked. Nora’s body was curled up against his, and he was gently running his fingers through her hair. She complained it would make it even more of a rat’s nest, but she also sighed and nestled into him.
“Jurgen?” he asked. The light from the fireplace flickered in shadows against the walls and ceiling, but the room was otherwise dark.
“Cyn tracked down a social media site in Norway that we think the killer is using to identify his first victim. I checked out the messages, and two of them were sent when Jurgen was with Sophie in her room. I know it’s possible he was using her computer, but I don’t think it’s probable. I still don’t understand why he only spent an hour in her room last night, but I saw the kiss goodbye in the hallway. They are definitely lovers, and he didn’t leave on a bad note.”
He continued stroking her hair as he mulled over this new possibility. “I agree that if they are lovers, he probably wasn’t in her room to use her computer. But I’m not sure if it’s enough to take him out of the picture altogether. Maybe we should lead the dinner conversation around to the next session and see if he gives anything away.”
