Page 38 of Philly
A statement, but he nodded. “That’s how he knew to come to me when he needed help.”
“We all have clearance,” Leo chimed in.
They did. Not for this, but they did. Then again, both knew how to keep their mouths shut, and the person involved was no longer alive…
He sighed. “This goes nowhere outside this room. Not even your colleagues, Leo,” he added with a pointed look.
To his credit, Leo hesitated. “I’ll agree to that unless or until we need the information for legal reasons. In which case, we will go through the proper channels to verify it.”
It was the best Philly would get. He sighed. “Eleven years ago, Mara Nolan, Aiden’s wife, was kidnapped from a resort in Mexico. I was part of the team sent in to extract her. She wasn’t in good shape when we got her out, and Rian flew down to be with her. As you can imagine, neither the family northe governments of either country wanted the kidnapping to be made public, so everything was done under the radar. Including Rian’s travel and his stay with his mom. After a week, she was stable enough to fly home to New York, but he was with her that full week.”
“And where was that?” Callie asked.
“Military hospital in San Diego.”
“And that’s when you met Rian?” she asked. He nodded.
“We’ll see a similar scenario in the five years I looked into,” he said. “For the most part, the transaction dates aligned with when he was in New York City, but there are two he couldn’t have done because they were during the two days he brought Laura to upstate New York to meet with me and the team. They arrived the first day at eight in the morning, two hours before that day’s transfer, and he returned no earlier than nine the following night, more than eight hoursafterthat day’s transfer.”
“Interesting,” Leo said, finishing off his second piece of pizza. “Both of those trips—those time frames—were ones that, if asked, Rian wouldwantto say he was in the city. The first because of the secrecy around what happened to his mother.”
“The second because his wife had gone missing. And admitting he was in upstate New York with her and returned without her wouldn’t be a good look for him,” Philly said, inclining his head in agreement. He hadn’t considered that angle. Whoever initiated the transfers felt certain that if they ever came to light, Rian wouldn’t admit to being out of town those days.
“Can his mother confirm he was with her?” Callie asked.
Philly shook his head, then gave a pointed look at her pizza. She did a piss-poor job of stifling her annoyance—not that he thought she was really trying—but she picked it up and took a bite. A proper bite. “She died not long after,” he said. “Shestruggled with what happened, and Aiden refused to let her see anyone for help. She committed suicide.”
Callie blinked, a flash of regret in her eyes, then nodded. “I’m sorry to hear that.”
“Maybe we should cut this short,” Leo said. “Are there anyotherdates you were with Rian?”
“Ran into him at a basketball game one night, but I didn’t see any off-hour transactions.” He glanced at the others, who nodded in agreement. “I also ran into him at the airport in Rome about seven years ago. I was headed home to start the discharge process, and his flight was delayed. We ran into each other in the bar.”
“When was that?” Callie asked. That one day fell within the stretch she reviewed. He rattled off a date, and she scrolled through her own notes. They weren’t projected, but he imagined they were as tidy as Leo’s.
“Do you remember where he was coming from?” she asked, her attention locked on her screen.
Philly combed through his memories. “I think he said he’d been at a meeting in Greece the day before. Some sort of clandestine business meeting on a private island.”
She frowned. “Assuming he flew from New York to Greece, was there for, at a minimum, one day, before turning around and flying back, he was gone at least two, more likely three, days.” She wasn’t looking at him, but he nodded. “Which covers the timeline for three of my transactions.”
She set the crust of her pizza on her plate, having eaten the rest, and sighed. “Okay, we have three incidences that couldn’t be Rian even though they appear to be transactions originating from his computer in New York. That means there could be more.” She made a face and turned to Leo. “We’re going to have to check credit card transactions and social media, aren’t we?”
Philly frowned. “To look for things like lunches or events he was at in New York but would have taken him away from his computer?”
Both Leo and Callie nodded.
“No offense, but that sounds hellish,” he said.
“And you have a day job. Several,” Leo said.
“I’ll do it. It’s why I’m here,” Callie said.
Philly had images of her holed up in HICC, scouring pages of documents, not eating. His frown deepened. “Can’t you write a program for that or something?” he asked Leo.
Leo inclined his head. “Maybe. Callie and I can come up with a plan later today, but first, I want to clarify that we now all believe that someone other than Rian might be involved?”
Philly didn’t bother answering; they knew where he stood. He looked to Callie. She gave a thoughtful nod. “I agree that someone else is involved, but I’m not ready to rule Rian out completely.”
