Cold Truth: (Cold Harbor Book 2)

by Susan Sleeman

  “Structures are the arrangement of chemical bonds between atoms in a molecule,” she explained.

  He looked at her as if she’d sprouted another head. She got the same look from most people when she talked chemistry, but it didn’t stop her from sharing the field of knowledge that she loved.

  “Says they have sixty-one million structures.” Eryn’s voice crackled, and the connection seemed to fade. “I doubt your caller wants you to cull through all of those structures.”

  “You mentioned a Spinneret webzine. How do we see that?” Coop turned back to the screen.

  “Click on the blog link at the top of the page,” she said. “And it’ll take you to the right menu.”

  Riley followed her directions, and after a few clicks, the blog opened.

  “Weaving the chemical web one molecule at a time,” Coop read aloud from the page now on the screen. “Makes me think of spider webs.”

  “Spiders do emit silk through body parts called spinnerets.” She waited for Coop to turn and look at her. “Are you wondering if this is about spiders?”

  “No.” A gleam sparkled in his eyes. “I’m wondering if it’s about the biggest web of them all. The World Wide Web.”

  “The Internet? But how? Why?” she asked as questions raced through her brain.

  “That I don’t know.”

  “What if there’s a website we’re supposed to find?” Eryn said. “Could be this one or could be another one. Maybe your caller hacked this site and there’s hidden code. Or maybe he created a website specifically for you to find.”

  Interesting. “If he made a special website, how on earth will we find it?”

  “That’s a good question,” Eryn replied. “There’re over a billion websites on the Internet these days. Finding one is like the needle-in-a-haystack thing.”

  Coop slid back to the table. “Eryn, can you search the code for this site to see if there’s anything hidden?”

  “Yes.”

  “Okay, let’s start there.” Coop turned to Kiera. “If we can get a look at Kevin’s computer, we might find something to lead us in the right direction. Would you allow me to search his house?”

  Would she? She hated to have strangers paw through her brother’s things, but if she wanted the team to help find Kevin, that meant letting Coop into the house. But that didn’t mean she had to let him take charge. Since she’d gotten her life on an independent path, she hadn’t given up control to anyone and wasn’t going to start now.

  Even God?

  Like that was something she should ponder with a room full of men waiting on her answer.

  So what did she do? She could let Coop perform his search, she supposed, and she could still be in charge at Kevin’s place. She would set the ground rules, and if Coop wanted to be involved, he would have to do it her way.

  She met his gaze and held it. “I’m good with the search if you play by my rules.”

  “Name them.”

  “I go with you. You remain in my sight every second you’re in the house and you touch nothing without my permission.”

  “Don’t trust me, huh?” His mouth quirked up.

  “Honestly, no, I don’t. You and I both have our own reason for finding Kevin. I want him found because I’m worried about him. You want him found to fulfill your commitment to Oceanic.”

  His smile evaporated. “Deal. Let’s get going.”

  She held up her hand. “Not so fast. I want to see the lab video first. The one you say shows Kevin entering the lab last night.”

  “I don’t know if I can get access to that tonight.” His lips pressed into a white slash and he continued to stare as if she were locked in the crosshairs of his rifle.

  She lifted her shoulders and refused to look away. “You can. I know you can, and you do, too.”

  He scowled, and it took all of her courage not to look away, but she didn’t back down. “And if for some reason you choose not to, I’m out of here. If you want my help, do your best to make it happen.”

  Kiera had visited Kevin at Oceanic labs enough times that many of the security guards knew her name. But coming here at night? Nah, she’d never done that and didn’t know the burly man sitting behind the security station in the lobby. His nametag said Fergus, but he looked more like the Hulk.

  Coop stepped up to Fergus. “Cooper Ashcroft and Kiera Underwood. Nigel Moody is expecting us.”

  “He told me you’d be arriving.” Fergus swiveled a notebook to face Coop. “Both of you sign in, and I’ll give him a call.”

  She and Coop added their information, and Coop stood back. Not her. She wouldn’t miss the opportunity to question Fergus.

  She waited for him to finish his call to Nigel. “Do you know my brother Kevin?”

  Fergus frowned. “Hard not to. He’s like a frequent flyer here at night. No one else works as late or as much as he does.”

  “So you saw him last night.”

  Fergus nodded.

  “And you’re positive it was Kevin?”

  “Yeah, sure. I mean I didn’t get a good look at his face. He was wearing a cap and had the hood for his hoodie up because of the cold, but it was his cap. That I’m sure of. He always wears his Cal Bears cap when it’s raining, and we had quite a storm last night.”

  Kiera didn’t want to admit it, but the man was right. Someone had given Kevin a California Golden Bears cap when they’d attended the University of California in Berkley for their grad degrees. He had no time for football, but he claimed the cap came in handy to keep the rain off his face and wore it all the time for that very reason.

  “Did you talk to him?” she asked.

  “Nah, we never talk. He’s not like rude or anything, but he’s always in his own world. Keeps his head down and barrels through the lobby.”

  Hope flooded her heart, but she worked hard not to let it build into excitement just yet. “Then this man might not have been Kevin.”

  Fergus raised his chin and looked at her for a moment, his certainty wavering. “I suppose you could be right if someone got a hold of his cap or one like it. But the guy was Kevin’s size and build. And you forget. His fingerprint is needed to open the lab door. If it wasn’t Kevin, he couldn’t have gotten into the lab.”

  Her hope vanished. She knew Kevin didn’t steal the toxin, but she couldn’t explain the fingerprint. She glanced at Coop to see if he’d been paying attention to the conversation. Right. He had. Why did she even question it? He wasn’t the sort of man to miss any detail. She waited for him to gloat, but he didn’t show a hint of what was running through his mind.

  Footsteps coming from behind grabbed her attention, and she turned to see a slight male with a large potbelly stride toward them. He wore black knit pants, a white short-sleeved dress shirt, and black loafers. Not the kind of outfit most men would be wearing when called away from home, but not atypical attire for a chemist.

  He offered his hand to Coop first. “Nigel Moody, manager.”

  When he released Coop’s hand, she held hers out. “Kiera Underwood. I talked to you today. I’m surprised we’ve never met in one of my visits.”

  He seemed taken aback for some reason, but quickly recovered and shook her hand. There were plenty of female chemists these days, but some of the older men in the field still preferred dealing with males as they thought they had the corner on intelligence. Maybe Nigel Moody was one of these men.

  “If you’ll follow me to my office, we can review the video.” He spun, and his shoe ground against sand on the tile floor, a nuisance from proximity to the beach.

  They started toward a bank of elevators, passing several diagrams of the ocean and related chemistry mounted in large frames on the wall. They were rudimentary drawings with the most basic of concepts, and she wondered who actually stopped to look at them. Surely not the chemists. Maybe visitors, which according to Kevin, they seldom had.

  The elevator doors stood open, and he selected the third floor. The lab took up the balance of the first flo
or and the entire second floor, the highest level she’d ever visited. A quick ding announced their arrival and the door opened into a wide reception area with a large desk and plush chairs. The walls held additional drawings.

  Near wide glass doors to their right, Nigel pressed his index finger on a reader similar to the one outside the lab below. The doors swished open, and she followed him to his sparkling clean office with shelves holding ship models that Kiera suspected he’d put together himself.

  He gestured at a round conference table to the side with four chairs. “If you’ll have a seat, I’ll project the video on the television.”

  Kiera took a seat with a good view of the wall-mounted TV. Coop scooted a chair next to her and straddled it. She didn’t like his being this close. She couldn’t focus. Try harder. Thankfully, the video came alive on the screen, and she shifted to watch. A male fitting Kevin’s size stepped into view. Head down, he approached the fingerprint reader, but the ball cap prevented them from getting a look at his face.

  “Can you pause?” she asked, trying to be polite when she wanted to snap at Nigel.

  He complied.

  She stared at him so she wouldn’t miss even the smallest nuance of his reaction. “Is this the video you used to ID Kevin?”

  He blinked a few times. “Yes, why?”

  “Why?” The word erupted from Coop’s mouth before she could speak. “With the man’s face hidden, you can’t possibly give a positive ID.”

  Nigel flinched under Coop’s verbal assault. “He’s wearing Kevin’s cap. No one else here has one like it. And Kevin’s print was used to access the door.”

  Coop shook his head. “Important facts, but there’s no visual confirmation that it’s Kevin.”

  “I suppose not, but—”

  “But nothing.” Coop slammed his fist on the table.

  Nigel jumped and cringed. After his sloppy work, he deserved to be afraid of Coop.

  “What about when this person exits the lab?” Coop asked.

  “I’ll show you,” Nigel quickly answered. “We don’t have cameras in the lab so I’ll fast forward until Kevin exits.”

  Coop’s mouth dropped open. “You deal with dangerous toxins. Why in the world don’t you have cameras in your lab?”

  Nigel lifted his chin, a haughty look claiming his face. “We prefer not to foster an atmosphere of distrust with our chemists. They’re highly educated and responsible individuals. Besides, you can harvest the biotoxins we work with from the ocean. It’s only since Kevin synthesized one that we possessed anything not found readily in Mother Nature. And now that Kevin has stolen it, we have no need for those cameras.”

  “Allegedly stole it,” Kiera said, her anger building.

  He gave her a whatever look, and she felt the urge to get up and cross the room to deck him. She didn’t believe in violence, but this man was ignoring the obvious. Maybe a good thump on the head would knock some sense into him.

  “It’s Kevin.” Nigel tilted his head. “You can tell. Head down, the way Kevin walked all the time. He didn’t interact with others. He lived for the chemistry, not people. As his sister, you know that’s true.”

  She hated that this man was right about Kevin’s personality. His comment made it seem like he was right about the theft, too. “Kevin had more personality out of work, but at work, yes, that’s true.”

  “And with the fingerprint, we know Kevin is the only possible suspect.” Nigel spoke Kevin’s name like it was a curse word, when not more than a few days ago, the entire lab management team was glowing from her brother’s progress.

  Nigel turned his attention to his computer and started the video, showing the man stepping from the lab. “Note that Kevin—”

  “Stop saying Kevin’s name,” Kiera demanded. “When you have no proof it’s him.”

  “Kevin.” Nigel paused to lift his chin in defiance. “Is clearly hiding something under his jacket. We all know it’s the toxin. He didn’t come back to do any work. He just came to steal the toxin when no one else was around.”

  Kiera ground her teeth. “You’re making no sense. Kevin knew there were cameras. He knew his print would show he’d accessed the lab. My brother is a highly intelligent man, and he wouldn’t put himself in a position like this.”

  Nigel stood. “Intelligent, yes, but was he really a man who thought about things like cameras and fingerprints, or was his mind too full of his work?”

  She hated to admit that if this had been Kevin, he would have been focused on the work. But Nigel was wrong, too. Kevin did think about the camera at times. He’d commented on it when she’d visited, and he passed it multiple times a day. Of course, he had to know about the reader, too, but none of it mattered.

  Not when he didn’t steal the toxin. Now it was up to her to prove it.

  5

  The sheriff’s car sat outside Kevin’s house, and indecision weighed on Kiera. Had she done the right thing by calling him? She wanted to have an unbiased opinion on what they might find. That meant someone outside Blackwell Tactical. Coop told her that the sheriff could do nothing about the theft unless Oceanic reported it to him, and so she believed he’d be that unbiased person. At least she hoped he would be.

  She hurried up the walk to greet him. Over six feet tall, he had broad shoulders and a confident stride.

  He smiled. “Ms. Underwood?”

  She nodded and held out her hand. “Thank you for coming, Sheriff. Especially so late at night.”

  He took a firm grasp of her hand and shook. “Please call me Blake.”

  “And I’m Kiera.”

  “Evening, Blake.”

  “Coop.” Blake nodded while keeping his focus solely on her. “Before we go in, tell me more about what you think has happened to your brother.”

  She glanced at Coop who was frowning at her, probably still irritated that she invited the sheriff to join them. Turning to Blake, she recounted every detail she could remember, starting with the first phone call of the day and ending with their visit to the lab. “So as you can see, Nigel’s visual ID of my brother doesn’t hold up.”

  Blake shot a look at Coop. “That right?”

  Coop nodded. “But you didn’t hear anything from me.”

  “Why’s that?”

  “Oceanic doesn’t want law enforcement involved in the theft investigation, which is why we didn’t notify you.”

  Blake planted his hands on his trim waist and continued to eye Coop. “Can’t say I much like that.”

  Coop seemed unfazed by Blake’s study. “It was either that or let some half-baked detective work this case.”

  Blake continued to look at Coop, then shook his head and focused on her again. “You want me to have a talk with Nigel?”

  “I’d love that,” she said, despite Coop’s glare.

  “And we obviously wouldn’t,” Coop said.

  “Let’s take a look inside. If after our visit, I think talking to Nigel is the right thing to do, I will.” He held out paper booties to cover their shoes and latex gloves for their hands. “I may have agreed to come here unofficially, but we still don’t want to contaminate any potential evidence.”

  Kiera led the way to the door, snapping on the gloves on the way. Before entering, she paused to don the booties. Maybe paused to rethink her decision about inviting the sheriff here. She might be leading him to evidence that could make Kevin look guilty of theft. Not that Kiera believed he was guilty, but Blake and Coop both could take things out of context. She sighed. It was too late to do anything now.

  She unlocked the door and stepped into the foyer. She turned back to the men. “A reminder. You both stay in my sight at all times and don’t touch anything without asking. We good on that?”

  They both nodded, but Coop looked like he might explode by having to agree.

  She chose to ignore him. “I want to check Kev’s computer first.”

  She started down the hallway to a small office filled with books and research papers that he’d ar
ranged in alphabetical order on shelves covering three walls. She sat at the old wooden desk their father had given to Kevin when he received his PhD. Her dad had inherited the desk from his father, and it had been in his office for as long as she could remember. Her dad felt bad about only having one desk to pass down, but he thought he should keep the tradition going. And he’d given her a lovely pen-and-pencil set that their granddad had owned, too. That actually meant more to her than a bulky old desk. She’d chosen a light and airy glass desk for her place.

  She clicked the mouse for Kevin’s computer, bringing up a password screen on the monitor. She didn’t even have to think about it, but entered her first name and date of birth, a password he’d used for years. Blake and Coop stepped up to her and lingered over her shoulders. She didn’t feel odd with Blake nearby, but the heat from Coop’s body made her want to move closer to him.

  Argh. He was right. She was attracted to him. Totally, and it simmered right beneath the surface every time he came close. How could she react this way to him, especially when they were at odds over her brother? She’d had crushes in her life, but she’d never felt this almost visceral response to a man.

  “Do you recognize any of the senders’ names?” Blake asked, and she was glad he’d brought her focus back to where it should be.

  She scanned the list, but before she could respond, Coop said, “I recognize the first three. They work at Oceanic. And of course, we all know your name, Kiera.”

  “Then let’s look at the work emails first.” Kiera opened them one at a time. Her brother had been trying to arrange a guy’s night out for bowling. That shocked her as much as his disappearance did. “I’m surprised at the bowling. He’s never done anything like this.”

  “So it might be a ruse,” Coop said. “To give him an alibi for the theft.”

  “Ruse?” She spun to look at Coop, knocking his leg with her knee, a sizzle of awareness traveling through her, but she ignored it. “No. Of course not. He didn’t steal the toxin. Why would he need a ruse or alibi?”

  Coop seemed like he wanted to say something, likely to correct her, but he didn’t speak. Good. It probably wouldn’t have been helpful anyway. She turned back to the emails, starting with the Inbox. She opened one at a time and scanned the contents. She skipped the messages she’d sent, as she already knew what those contained.