"But you can find the rider? The shooter?" asked Anastasia.
"It makes it more difficult because it's stolen," said Garrett. "I put out a BOLO and every cop in the city is looking for it. When we find the motorcycle, we'll probably know more."
"We'll walk out with you," said Dad. He gave me a quick hug and kiss and said, "Stay positive."
"I should go too," said Anastasia.
"Anastasia is staying with us," said Mom. "I insisted."
"But I'll come back later. Is that okay?" asked Anastasia.
I said it was and she left with my parents and brother. Dad and Garrett walked ahead and I figured my dad wanted to pump Garrett for more information without upsetting me. I wondered what they would say if I told them I already had all of that motorcycle information. I shot off a text to Lucas, telling him about the BOLO.
Dropping into the chair, all the energy was suddenly drained out of me. I slowly sipped the tea Anastasia brought for me, and pondered my next steps. While my agency colleagues searched Solomon's past and looked for the shooter, Solomon had given me two pieces of information that I still didn't know what to do with. One was the letter with the enormous check. The other was his whispered message, something I pushed aside but couldn't ignore any longer. What did he want me to go to Maddox for? Did that mean Maddox knew something?
Did he think Maddox shot him?!
Before I could even begin to get my head around that, Lily burst into the room. "I couldn't stay away," she said. "I just ran into your parents and your mom offered to take Poppy so I'm all yours. I can do whatever you need. Fetch you tea... oh! You already got one. Well, I can pick up some more clothes... but you already have your bag. Why don't I..." She paused, her nose wrinkling in thought. Finally, when she exhausted whatever ran through her mind, she finished with " —I'm here for whatever you need."
"Read this," I said, handing her the letter that I'd stuck in my pocket.
"What is it? No, shush! Don't spoil the surprise." Lily read it quickly, her eyes moving from side-to-side like a typewriter resetting every line. "What the fudgsicle?" she asked.
"There's this too," I added, passing her the check.
"Fudging fudgsicles!" she whispered, her eyes widening. She pushed back her blonde curls and they escaped her hand and fell around her shoulders again. "I have so many questions."
"Me too."
"Solomon has a million bucks to spare? That's number one. Number two, what the fudgsicle?"
I held back a smile at her obvious surprise. "You asked that already."
"It's so important, it needs to be asked many times. Where did you get this?" she asked, flapping the letter.
"A lawyer approached me outside the hospital this morning."
"How did they know to do that?"
"I didn't ask. I suppose word must have gotten around."
"What are you going to do with this check?"
"Garrett said I should cash it."
"I agree. Solomon wanted you to have it. He wanted to make sure you were looked after. He says so, right here." She tapped the letter.
"I get that. I wish I knew why he thought he needed to prepare for something like this. He must have thought there was a realistic expectation of it actually happening."
Lily glanced to Solomon. "You were right," she said to him. Then to me, "He was right."
"I heard you the first time."
"You should listen to both of us. Plus, what if someone comes after you? You can use this money to get on a plane and go anywhere you like to stay safe."
"I'm not leaving Montgomery and I am definitely not leaving Solomon."
"Yeah, I knew you would say that." Lily dropped into the chair Anastasia vacated.
"I'm going to speak to the lawyer," I decided. "Just because he didn't tell me anything when he gave it to me doesn't mean he doesn't know anything about it.
"When are we going?"
I smiled at Lily's assumption that she would come, without even asking. "I want to stay here a little bit longer; then I'll go later when one of the PIs comes and sits with Solomon," I said.
"You're not okay with that guy?" Lily thumbed the direction of the police officer still stationed outside.
"I'm sure he's fine but Solomon might have crossed paths with someone very dangerous, in which case, they might try again."
"Maybe you should put it out that he's dead," said Lily. Her hand flew to her mouth. "I did not mean for that to sound so blasé. I just thought it might protect him if someone thought their job was already completed."
"I know what you meant," I said softly because I wasn't mad at her. It was actually a good idea. I just wasn't sure I could pull it off. There were too many people who could easily walk past the room and see he was still here. "There's something else. Solomon said something."
"When?"
"Last night, after he was shot. He told me to go to Maddox."
Lily frowned. "What for?"
"I don't know. He passed out right after he said it."
"Do you think he was giving you to Maddox? Like, a parting gift?" Lily winced. "I didn't mean to say that either! Solomon is not going anywhere. Do you hear that, Solomon? You're not going anywhere! Do you think he'd mind if I kicked him? It might be the angry prod he needs to wake up."
"I think he would mind but thank you for offering."
"Okay, fine. No kicking. Back to your Maddox thing... Why do you think Solomon would want you to go to him? It's not like they're besties."
That was true. When I first met Maddox, he worked with Solomon and while they both got along, and respected each other, it wasn't an easy friendship. They tolerated each other but they didn't hang out. For a long time, I thought that was because of me. I was madly in love with Maddox and we had a happy relationship until it suddenly went wrong and abruptly ended. There had always been an attraction between Solomon and me but we never properly acted on it until after I was free. I called it off between Solomon and me initially for a while, giving me more time to think, but then I realized I wanted to give it a shot. Solomon wasn't thrilled about my continued friendship with Maddox but he accepted it. Or, at least, he tolerated it. Maddox warned me a few times to find out more about Solomon. Did he expect me to uncover something nefarious?
"I can't work that out. It could be that Solomon realized it was something to do with the jobs they worked on together. Maddox might know something. They were on the same team when I met them. "
Lily huffed. "They've always been on the Lexi team."
"I meant the insurance scandal."
"Surely, this has nothing to do with that!"
"I doubt it, but maybe I'll add it to the list."
"There's a list?"
"A long one. We're trying to cross some names off it but it's going to take some time."
"Are you sure you wouldn't rather leave this all to the police?"
"I need to do something. I can't sit here and do nothing."
"You are definitely not that kind of person," said Lily. "I think you should ask Maddox. If he knows anything, he'll tell you and Solomon must have wanted you to go to him for a reason. He's the best lead you have so far."
"I'll call him," I decided as I placed the half-drunk tea on the small side table. I reached for my phone and scrolled the favorites list, pushing Maddox's name.
"I've been waiting for your call," he said when he answered. "What do you need from me?"
Chapter Nine
While waiting for Maddox to arrive, I pulled Solomon's phone from my bag. I tapped the screen and it came to life, showing the time and date before it requested the password. "There's a six-digit passcode," I said.
"Your birthday," said Lily. "Or try his birthday."
"That obvious?" I wondered as I tried them both. "Computer says no."
"Isn't that one of those fancy fingerprint reading phones?" asked Lily.
"Yeah. Now that you mention it, I never see Solomon entering a passcode. He just taps it."
"Probl
em solved," said Lily, pointing at Solomon's hand.
I scooted over and raised Solomon's hand. I pressed his forefinger on the small panel on the phone and the lock screen disappeared. "I feel like such a creep," I said.
"Pah! You'll get over it."
"Do you ever look at Jord's phone?"
"Sure. He looks at mine too. Neither of us care. The passcode is Poppy's birthday on both of our phones. Did you find anything?"
"A really nice photo of us both for his screensaver," I said, turning the screen so Lily could see. The photo had been taken at our recent engagement party and it was a lovely shot, both of us looking terrifically happy.
"Aww," cooed Lily.
I opened Solomon's text messages. He had several conversations available. I ignored mine, having already partaken in those conversations. There were other messages between him and Anastasia, Damien, all the PIs, and Lily. "You and Solomon text?" I asked.
"I helped with the engagement party, remember? Plus, where do you think he got that photo?"
"The party was beautiful." I smiled at the memory, my eyes filling with tears. Solomon had organized it as a surprise and enlisted Lily's help with the subterfuge. I wiped the tears with the back of my hand before they could fall and took a deep breath and continued to scroll through the messages. "There's nothing here. Oh, he sounds slightly annoyed at Damien."
"What does it say?"
"Damien asked him to co-sign a loan and Solomon said no and told him it was time that he stood on his own two feet. Then Damien said he was sorry he asked and it wouldn't happen again. Then there's another one immediately after that where he told Solomon he would regret the opportunity and Solomon replied, it didn't sound like an opportunity and he thought Damien should pull out of the deal." I looked up. "He never mentioned any of this to me."
"It doesn't sound like it's worth shooting someone over."
"No, it doesn't," I agreed, skimming through the other texts. "The stuff between Solomon and the PIs is all case-related. He invited them over when we went out last weekend and there is a group text regarding poker night. Something about taking some time off after we get married. Oh, that's nice! Solomon wants to take me on a long honeymoon."
"I wonder why," said Lily, giving me a big, exaggerated wink.
I didn't want to think about why. Or about when and if, and I didn't want to think about if at all.
"I'm going to check his emails," I said, hitting the mail icon. The mail app took over the screen. I scrolled to the bottom of the screen, then again, and again. There had to be hundreds of emails, if not more, and there was no way I could read every single one. Instead, I moved to his folders, looking for anything that said "threat." There were folders for me and all the employees, others for family members, as well as inactive and active cases. I clicked on a folder marked “personal.” Solomon stored various emails pertaining to us, from gift receipts to reservations and more. I decided not to click on them. Knowing how much he paid for things couldn’t help solve the case in any way.
Lucas probably had programs for searching an email account quickly, but I had to take the longer route. Into the search box, I typed "death threat" and a few results returned, each email marked with a folder and all of them were inactive cases. I clicked through several, noting the death threats had all been issued to the clients. Next, I tried "threat" and the search returned even more emails. Threat assessments, perceived threats, bodily threats, property threats, mouthy threats, and empty threats, but none were apparently aimed at Solomon.
I tried various permutations of threats, including innocuous, abstract, intimidating phrases someone might say like, "you'll get what's coming to you" or "I'll get you for this!" but nothing.
"I should probably leave the email searches to Lucas," I said. "I can't find anything that suggests someone might have threatened him."
"What if no one did? What if someone just waited for an opportunity and took it?"
"Then we'll never find them." I sighed, a terrible sense of hopelessness overwhelming me. "Maybe I should use the million dollar check to pay for another hit man on the dark web for whomever shot Solomon and let someone else deal with it."
"You can do that?" Lily gasped.
"I'm sure someone can. Not me though, even if it is a tempting idea. Plus, it was pointed out that the shooter might not be behind this. Someone might have paid them, but if that's the case, we need to find the shooter and go higher up the food chain." I turned my attention back to the phone, opening app after app, searching notes and documents but eventually tossing it onto the bed in frustration. "This is useless!"
"It's only a phone. How much important information can you store on your phone?"
"Lots of stuff!"
"Would you store a death threat on it?"
"No, I try to keep those in a drawer at the agency."
Lily's jaw dropped. "Really?!"
"Yeah, we have a drawer and the best death threat for the month wins a prize. No, Lily, I'm making that up! If we get any threats, they are turned over to Solomon and he checks them out. Mostly they’re just people shooting their mouths off because they got caught doing something they shouldn't have been. I need to go back to the office," I decided. I wanted to take a look inside that file.
"I can take you there."
"I might take you up on that shortly, but I just realized I can't go anywhere just yet. Maddox is on his way over here, and I'm not leaving until Solomon is being guarded by someone we trust."
"He's here," said Lily as she inclined her head to the corridor. I looked up. Maddox stood in the hallway. He flashed his FBI badge to the police officer and raised a hand when he saw me notice him. He wore jeans, a blue sweater only a fractionally lighter shade than his eyes, and a black leather jacket. While his clothes were casual, his expression was business.
"Can you stay with Solomon, please?" I asked.
"Sure. I’ll talk to him while you're gone."
"Be nice," I said. "He can't answer back." I got up and, after taking a last look at Solomon, stepped out the room. Maddox walked over, put his arms around me and hugged me. He smelled nice and his hug was warm and comforting.
"How is he?" he asked, releasing me.
"Stable, but still in a coma," I said.
He assessed me. "How are you?"
I wracked my brain for something appropriate to say but all I could settle on was, "I don't know."
"Someplace we can talk?"
"Over there." I nodded to the chairs stationed under the window at the end of the corridor, just a few feet past the next bay. We walked over and sat down. I realized the corridor hadn’t ended but instead made a sharp turn and continued to the right.
"I got an update on the way over here so I already know what happened. I also know they haven't found the guy yet," said Maddox, breaking the silence.
"Is there anything you can help me with?"
"Officially, no. This isn't a federal matter. Unofficially, whatever you need, I'll try and do it."
"Solomon said something to me before he passed out," I said. I stopped when I saw the medical staff moving around and chose my words carefully. I wondered what to say. It seemed to me that going simple was probably best. "He told me to go to you. Do you have any idea why?"
"To go to me? Are you sure?"
"He said 'go to Maddox,' and yeah, I'm sure."
"I have no idea why he would say that. Didn't he tell you?"
"No, there wasn't enough time. Could it have anything to do with why he got shot?"
"As in, do I know anything?" Maddox pointed a finger at his chest. "No. When I heard about it this morning, I was floored that anyone could manage to get the jump on him. He is not an easy guy to sneak up on."
"They didn't sneak up. They rang the damn doorbell! Solomon answered and someone shot him twice."
"I heard you didn't see who it was."
"No, I didn't. They were gone by the time I got to the door. We think it was someone riding a motorcycle and pr
obably wearing a helmet."
Maddox fell quiet, thinking. Then he said, "Maybe Solomon wanted me to protect you?"
"Maybe, but there's a lot of other people who could do that if necessary."
"True."
"Why you?"
"I don't know."
"I thought you might know something relevant to the case."
"Like I said, I know as much about the case as my contact at MPD told me."
"Who's your contact?"
Maddox grinned. "Garrett."
"He called you?"
"Yeah, this morning. I didn't want to intrude, but I really hoped you'd call."
"Why? I mean, why did Garrett call you?"
"He thought you might need a friend."
"Really?" I softened. Garrett had always been a sweet and kind man.
"That, and he wanted some more background on Solomon."
"I've been looking into his background too. You worked together. I thought you might be able to offer a suggestion as to who might have wanted him dead."
"None that I know of but we only worked the one case together; and you know how that turned out."
"I do. But maybe there's something else? Something that you heard that's unconnected to the case?"
"You know, I wasn't the only one who worked with Solomon on that case. Do you remember Special Agent Matthew Miller?"
"Yes. He was your boss when you were undercover at Green Hand Insurance."
"I was still with MPD then but Miller was my supervisor; and yes, it was his operation. I think he worked with Solomon on other cases. I could reach out, you know, and see if he'll speak to us."
"Please do."
"What else would you like me to do?"
"Can you tell me anything regarding Solomon's background? I'm trying to put all the pieces of his life together and I'm finding out all kinds of things I never knew. Stuff about where he worked, and cases he worked on."
"Good."
I frowned. "Good?"
"I asked you a long time ago what you really knew about Solomon. Lexi, listen to me. I wasn't trying to be mean then, and I'm not trying to be mean now, but you were owed answers about his life a long time ago. Get the answers about who he is and go from there."
Rules of Engagement (Lexi Graves Mysteries, 11) Page 9