As Kathryn rambled on, he thought about how much access Noelle had had to other departments, something he hadn’t really considered before. He also hadn’t known that she’d spent time in Kyle’s office, which might have given her even greater access to proprietary information. But what was also interesting was Carter’s search of Noelle’s desk on Friday night.
Had Carter been looking for Noelle’s second phone that he’d denied having any knowledge of? And why hadn’t he mentioned that Noelle had left her phone at work and asked him to look for it? They’d specifically spoken about the phone. It was hardly something he would have forgotten.
Finally, Kathryn came to a stop. “Sorry, I’m chattering on. I’m a little rattled after what happened to Noelle. I heard she was stabbed. It sounds awful. And you found her, Avery? Was she alive? Did she say anything to you?”
“No, she didn’t,” Avery lied. “And she had her phone when she was with me. In fact, she texted me when she was running a few minutes late.”
“Maybe she found it then. Anyway, I just stopped in to grab my work computer.” She paused. “Oh, is there going to be a service, Avery? I’d like to go, and I’m happy to help with any plans. Just let me know.”
“I’ll keep you in the loop,” Avery said, as Kathryn moved into her own cubicle.
They walked back to the elevators in silence, not saying a word until they stepped inside and the doors shut.
“Oh, my God,” Avery said, her eyes lit up with excitement. “Carter was looking through Noelle’s desk on Friday night. He lied to us about Noelle’s phone. Maybe he is involved in her death.”
“He’s involved in something, but I don’t know what.”
“I’d like to go back and confront him.”
“I want to gather more information before we do that, and you have work to do.”
“That’s true. I know I need to concentrate on that, but it won’t be easy.”
As the elevator doors opened on the second floor, he put a hand on her arm, staying close as they walked down the hall to her office.
Avery opened the door to her office and waved him inside. It wasn’t a large room, but it was filled to the brim. Bookshelves lined two walls and were crammed with books, flyers, brochures, DVDs about space, and boxes of Nova Star swag: tote bags and key chains, journals and educational booklets for teachers and students. Clearly, Avery had had a hand in designing and providing information for everything.
She walked around her desk and opened her computer. While it was booting up, she looked back at him. “You can go now. I need about a half hour here, and then I have to take my computer down to the auditorium and run through the show. That could take another half hour. What are you going to do?”
“Check through the security camera footage and see what else Carter was up to on Friday night besides going through Noelle’s desk. Lock this door after I leave and call me if anyone comes knocking. When you’re ready to go to the auditorium, let me know, and I’ll walk you there.”
“Wyatt, you can’t babysit me every second. Tomorrow I’m going to be back here doing my job and the day after that.”
“I’m only interested in today. Call me when you’re done.”
“All right.”
He walked outside and waited for her to lock the door, then headed upstairs to his office.
* * *
Security ran lean on the weekends, and instead of the usual dozen or so men and women who worked in security operations during the week, there were six people in today: three sitting in front of a bank of security cameras, two working on their computers, and the last person sitting at a desk very near to his own. That person was Lance Hughes, a forty-six-year-old, ex-Navy communications tech who monitored their server for any unauthorized access to their computer system.
Hamilton liked hiring ex-military. He said he knew he could count on soldiers to not only protect but also to fight. And he was probably right about that. But what he most valued in the security personnel working under his direction was intuition, attention to detail, and an instinct for anomalies. Lance had all those traits and had become one of the people he relied most upon.
It also helped that Lance wasn’t competitive. He hadn’t cared that Wyatt had come in over personnel who had been there years before him. Some of his coworkers had definitely not liked his sudden appearance a month ago, or his close relationship with Hamilton, who had stated on more than one occasion that Wyatt was his guy.
Lance gave him a nod, as he looked up from his computer. “I didn’t know you were coming in today.”
“How’s it going around here?” Lance was one of the few people who knew that there had been a security breach several months earlier. He didn’t know that Jonathan Tremaine might have been involved, but he’d been put on high alert weeks ago to watch for anything unusual.
“It’s quiet for now.” Lance folded his arms across his chest as he leaned back in his swivel chair.
“What do you know about the homicide involving Noelle Price?”
“Not much. I’ve spoken to the police and the FBI. They’re digging into the case.”
“I noticed you came in with Avery Caldwell. How’s she doing?”
“Not very well. Hamilton has asked me to keep an eye on her. She went to Noelle’s apartment yesterday morning and ran into a man with a gun. Luckily, she was unharmed, but there’s concern she might be in danger.”
“And this has to do with Nova Star?”
“Don’t know yet. But I’m going to find out.” He moved over to his desk and sat down in front of his computer. Within minutes, he’d pulled up the security camera footage from Friday afternoon. He flipped back and forth between cameras as he tried to zero in on the path to Noelle’s desk.
When he got a clear shot of her desk, he backed up the footage until Noelle was on the frame. The time on the camera read five twenty. She pulled a phone out of her bag, and his pulse quickened as he saw the black case. She texted someone. He tried to zoom in, but the message was too grainy to read.
Five minutes later, she got up and tossed her phone into her bag and then said good-bye to Kathryn and walked out of her cubicle.
He watched her empty desk for another ten minutes, speeding up the footage until he saw Carter come into the frame. He pulled open Noelle’s drawers with force and anger, not seeming to care who might be watching him. Kathryn got up and said something to him and then came around to help him in his search.
As Carter slammed a final drawer shut, he said something to Kathryn, and as she replied, she put her hand on his arm.
His gut tightened. Kathryn was more than a little friendly with Carter. The way she touched him, the way she leaned in, suggested they had an intimate relationship.
What the hell was going on?
A moment later, Carter left. Kathryn glanced around Noelle’s cubicle for another minute and then went back to her own desk.
He forwarded through the footage again and saw Kathryn leaving ten minutes later. He kept the footage going until the room grew dark and then picked up again the next morning. But it was Saturday, and no one was working. The next person who appeared on the camera was Detective Larimer. An hour later, Joanna Davis and several FBI techs appeared.
His phone vibrated, and he saw a text from Avery. She was ready to head to the auditorium. He pushed back his chair and stood up.
“Are you leaving already?” Lance asked, giving him a curious look.
“Yeah, I need to take Avery to the auditorium.”
“Take her?”
“Like I said, Hamilton wants me to keep her close.”
“Rough job,” Lance said with a knowing gleam in his eyes. “She’s very attractive. Almost makes me wish I’d taken more science classes in school.”
He smiled. “I know what you mean.”
“Hey, before you go. I don’t know if this is anything, but someone tried to use Kyle Tremaine’s access code to get into his email file. The user was outside the company and after th
ree unsuccessful tries, they gave up.”
“And the ISP?”
“That’s the interesting thing—the ISP address led me to Brett Caldwell’s house.”
“Avery’s dad?”
“And Whitney Tremaine’s boyfriend. Now, it’s possible that Kyle was at the house and just forgot his new password. We’ve been requiring updates every week since the security breach.”
“Thanks for letting me know.”
As he left the security center, his mind spun with the latest leads. Kathryn and Carter were connected. Maybe Kyle and Brett were connected, too. He didn’t know where the clues would take him, but at least they had more to follow than they’d had an hour ago.
Chapter Fourteen
On his way to pick up Avery and escort her to the auditorium, he stopped by Noelle’s desk again.
Kathryn was gone. He wondered why she’d really come into the office. Had she wanted to take another look at Noelle’s space? Or had she simply come in to get her computer as she had said? He would have to catch up with her later.
He hurried up to Avery’s office and knocked, saying his name as he did so. She flipped the locks and stepped out with her computer in hand. “That took you awhile.”
“Sorry, I went back by Noelle’s desk,” he said, as they walked to the elevator.
“Why?”
“I’ll tell you when we get in the auditorium,” he replied, as they passed by another employee heading out of an office and into a nearby restroom.
Avery gave him a frustrated look but didn’t ask any more questions until they entered the auditorium. She flipped on the lights and they walked down the aisle toward the center stage, a thousand seats rising up two stories around them.
“Okay, talk, Wyatt,” she said, putting her computer on the podium. “We’re all alone here.”
“I reviewed the security footage from Friday night. Carter arrived at Noelle’s desk about ten minutes after she left, just as Kathryn said. He went through the drawers and seemed angry and irritated.”
“He was looking for her phone.”
“Here’s the thing—before Noelle left, I could see her texting on a phone, and the phone appeared to be in a black case. She put that phone in her bag.”
“That’s the one she had at the pier.”
“I’m guessing the person she texted was you.”
“She said she was running late,” Avery confirmed. “So, we still don’t know where her other phone is.”
“There was no sign of it on the footage I watched. There was one other interesting note. When Carter was about to leave, he and Kathryn had an intense moment together. She put her hand on his arm and looked into his eyes, like she knew him as more than a friend.”
“Carter and Kathryn?” she asked in surprise. “He was cheating on Noelle?”
“I don’t know if he was cheating. He could have had a relationship with Kathryn before Noelle got hired at Nova Star. But Kathryn definitely didn’t share that piece of information with us. She acted like she barely knew Carter, like she was almost afraid of him.”
“She did point a finger at him, almost as if she wanted to make him a target. Was that to throw attention off herself? Or maybe she wanted to get back at Carter for something—like choosing Noelle instead of her? We need to talk to her again.”
“She’s gone. That’s why I went by Noelle’s desk before I came to get you.”
“We’ll go to her house then.”
“We need to do some digging first. We don’t want to alert Kathryn to anything until we know more. This is too important to rush, Avery. We say the wrong thing to the wrong person, and all the rats will run for cover.”
She blew out a breath. “You’re right. I just want some answers.”
“Well, there’s someone else we need answers from,” he said, knowing she wasn’t going to like what was coming next.
“Who?”
“Your father.”
“What?” she asked in confusion. “What does my father have to do with any of this?”
“One of my security team discovered an attempt to log in to Kyle Tremaine’s email account from your father’s house.”
“Well, my dad lives with Whitney, and Kyle does visit. So, maybe it was Whitney, or Kyle was there and just forgot his password. Your team has us changing passwords every other second these days. My father wouldn’t try to get into Kyle’s account. He can barely get into his own account.”
“It’s probably nothing, but I’d like to ask Kyle about it tonight at dinner.”
“This party is looking to be more fun by the minute,” she said dryly. “Is that it?”
“Yes.”
“Good. I need to focus and get this work done.”
“While you do that, I’m going to call the FBI and see what they know.”
“Really?” she asked in surprise. “Do you think they’ll tell you anything?”
“Probably not much, but it’s worth a shot.”
“I thought Hamilton wanted to keep the bureau at a distance.”
“He also wants to know what’s going on. I know how to play it.” As he left the auditorium, he didn’t dial Joanna; he contacted Bree. Now that she was part of their group, he preferred talking to her over anyone else.
* * *
Avery’s mind spun with Wyatt’s recent revelations, but as she opened her computer, she forced herself to concentrate on the task at hand. She had already sent the video file to the computer on stage, but she wanted to double-check that everything was working correctly and ready for the media at nine o’clock in the morning.
It actually felt good to think about work, because considering whether Carter had cheated on Noelle and whether or not her father had tried to log in to Kyle’s email account was making her sick to her stomach. She wanted new leads, but each one that came seemed worse than the last.
Wyatt returned to the auditorium a few minutes later and seeing him stride toward the stage with confidence and strength made her feel better. She was fast becoming addicted to his handsome face, strong presence, and the sharp intelligence in his eyes. When he was with her, she felt like they might just get to the bottom of everything. She also felt like he was the only person who really understood what she was going through, but that was because she’d shown him her grief, her fear, her vulnerability. She’d let loose of her emotions in front of him and cried all over him, and he hadn’t judged her; he’d held her.
Her body tingled as he drew closer, as his gaze met hers. It was scary how attracted she was to him. He’d only been gone a few minutes, but she’d actually missed him, and she felt an absurdly giddy feeling that he was back. Clearly, she was getting too involved. But she couldn’t back away. There was too much at stake.
“What did the FBI say?” she asked, as he stepped onto the stage.
“Very little. I told them they should look more closely into Carter and Kathryn. They assured me they were on it.”
“Do you think that’s true?”
“Yes. They won’t ignore solid leads, but they’re frustrated with Hamilton’s reluctance to give them unfettered access, so they weren’t particularly interested in sharing information with me.”
“Did you say anything about my father?”
“No.”
She felt an unexpected wave of relief. It wasn’t her job to protect her dad, but she was happy her father’s name had not come up.
“Like you said, it could have been Whitney or Kyle,” Wyatt added. “I can ask them tonight.”
“I’d wait until after cocktails. Both Kyle and Whitney enjoy their wine.”
“What about your father? Is he a drinker?”
“Not at all. He’s cleansed his body of toxins the past few years.”
Wyatt smiled. “I’m really looking forward to meeting him. He sounds very interesting.”
“Then he’ll like you, because he finds himself very interesting.”
“Are you almost done?”
“I actually want to run
through the show. It only takes fifteen minutes. What do you think? Feel like being my test audience?”
“Sure, why not? I’ve actually never seen any of your shows.”
“What?” she asked in surprise. “It’s supposed to be part of your orientation. Everyone sees the welcome to Nova Star video.”
“Hamilton fast-tracked me through orientation.”
“Then this will be good. You’ll be a completely objective audience, like the reporters coming tomorrow. Take a seat in the first row. I’m going to turn off the lights and soon you will be taking an incredible journey through the universe.”
He smiled. “This better live up to the hype.”
“Space always lives up to the hype. I know you don’t like to look up, but today you will, and I’ll be surprised if you aren’t amazed.”
“So says the space geek,” he teased.
She grinned back at him. “This is my world, Wyatt.”
“I can’t wait to see it.”
Something passed between them that had nothing to do with Noelle or Carter. It was a personal, intimate moment that only they were sharing. Her lips tingled as she remembered the kiss they’d shared the night before and wondered if it would happen again.
Wyatt cleared his throat, his gaze filling with shadows. “I better take my seat.”
“Yes,” she said, letting out her breath as she turned to her computer and got the show ready to go.
* * *
Wyatt kicked back in the leather recliner in the first row, grateful when Avery turned off the lights. It gave him a chance to regroup. For a moment there, he’d been tempted to kiss her again, and he’d promised himself that wouldn’t happen—shouldn’t happen. But that had been close, too close.
Thankfully, his racing heart began to calm in the cool darkness, only a small light coming from the podium where Avery stood in the shadows.
A moment later, she walked down the steps and took a seat in the chair next to him.
Then she pressed the switch in her hand, and the massive ceiling turned into the night sky. A trillion stars appeared, pulsating music playing in the background, building an expectation for what was to come.
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