Page 62 of The Smart Killer
“Well, like I said. I’m here to help. I will get my planner so you can see where I was.” With that said, he exited the room, leaving Noah alone with his thoughts. Drumming his fingers against his thigh, Noah glanced over at the table where the stack of magazines was. He sifted through them, glancing at the headlines.Fortune, Entrepreneur, INC, Harvard Business Review, Bloomberg.He noted several articles on Extech, a growing company making waves in the technology world.Bloomberg Businessweekeven had a photo of Stephen on the front.
He flipped through a few, and then his eye caught an ad, and like pieces of a puzzle falling into place — dots began to connect, a conversation he’d had with Savannah flooded back in.
“He doesn’t seem like our guy. It’s too obvious. Additionally, we have no CCTV of him anywhere near those homes.”
“But Porter said Alejandro told you how anyone could control the smart home devices. He didn’t need to get close, Noah,” she explained, her voice patient.
“I’m not saying he needed to be in the vicinity for that, but think about it. You get sent away for 53 months. When you get out, if you were eager to exact revenge, wouldn’t you at least observe them?”
“Maybe he did. People are posting all manner of crap on social media.”
Noah got up, taking the magazine with him. In his haste, he almost collided with Stephen on the way out. “Leaving?”
“Something has come up. Do you mind if I take this?” he asked, holding the magazine up.
Stephen’s eyebrows went up. “By all means.”
Noah went to leave.
“Detective. Aren’t you forgetting something?”
He looked back, and Stephen was holding up some paperwork. “My schedule. The list of numbers, people I spoke to, places I have been over the past few weeks.”
Noah tapped his head and reached for them. “Right. Thank you. You’ve been very accommodating. If I have any further questions, I will be in touch,” he said as he hastily exited. He took out his phone and called theAdirondack Daily Enterprise.When someone answered, he responded, “Maggie Coleman, please.”
21
The next phone call he received overshadowed a glimmer of hope in the investigation. Noah squinted into the sun as he drove back from his meeting. His mind still raced with the case details when his phone jangled. Alicia’s name came up on the caller ID. He hit accept on the steering wheel.
“Hey, what’s up?” he said casually.
Alicia’s voice came through the line, full of concern.
“You want to tell me something?”
“What?”
“The tracker, Noah. The tracker.”
“What are you talking about?”
“In my toolbox.”
He screwed up his face. “You’ve lost me.” Noah’s grip tightened on the steering wheel; his foot hovered over the brake as vehicles slowed to a crawl ahead.
“Noah, I just got an alert on my iPhone that someone placed an Apple AirTag on me.”
“What?”
“An AirTag.It saysAirTag found moving with you. The location of this AirTag can be seen by the owner.Now, I don’tuse one, but I know you have one in your wallet and one for your keys, so you don’t lose them. Did you place one in my toolbox?”
“In your toolbox?” His grip tightened even more. “No. Mine are with me,” he said, glancing down at the keys in his console. He took his wallet out of his jacket and glanced inside. It was still there. He’d purchased the white circular device a few months back because he tended to put his keys and wallet down and forget where they were.
“Do you think your father put it in there?”
Noah narrowed his eyes, frustration boiling over, as he followed the road around a sharp bend. “Why would he do that?”
“Your guess is as good as mine.”
