She put a hand on his arm. “It’s all right. I don’t think we’ll need anything like that.”
Gabe kept his gaze locked on Glenn.
“Why don’t you come around Agent Glenn? We can sit at the work table.”
Glenn took a seat, and Gabe flashed her a questioning look. She pasted a vacant smile to her lips. Nobody ever expected a model to have more than two brain cells to rub together. While that was a wildly false assumption, she was banking on it to get Agent Glenn out of her bakery.
She and Gabe sat across from Glenn, and the agent opened his satchel and took out a folder.
“Sir, I didn’t catch your name,” Glenn said, glancing up at Gabe.
“I didn’t tell you my name.”
“It’s Gabe Sinclair,” she replied and threw him a calm down look.
“The TV chef?” Glenn asked with a curious smile.
“That’s him,” Monica answered, trying to put a bright edge on her words. If Agent Glenn was here to ask about what had gone down in Portola Valley, she needed to come off as light and flaky and completely clueless.
Gabe shifted in his seat.
“My wife likes you. She’s got your cookbook,” Glenn said and jotted something into his notebook. “What are you doing in Kansas City?”
The coil of anxiety in her chest relaxed a fraction. “Gabe’s a friend of the family. He’s helping out with Langley Park’s first Oktoberfest.”
“Is that so?” Agent Glenn remarked.
Gabe nodded. “Yeah, that’s right.”
The coil loosened another notch.
“And you, Miss Brandt, is that what brings you back to Langley Park?”
She broadened her plastic smile. “Yes, it is.”
Glenn drummed his fingers on the folder. He peeled open the cover and slid out a grainy black and white photo.
The coil of anxiety in her chest wound back, tighter and tighter, forcing her breath to come in tight gasps.
The picture must have come from a security camera. In fuzzy shades of black and gray, there she was, walking toward the front gate of the Portola Valley mansion. She stood out in Jade’s white dress. She bit the inside of her cheek, hoping the pain would numb the fear.
“You see,” Glenn began, “we’ve been looking for you, Miss Brandt. We thought we were looking for a Jade Adkins. But this.” He tapped her form with his index finger. “This is not Jade Adkins.”
“Monica, what’s going on?” Gabe asked, staring at the picture.
She tried to maintain the vacant smile. “That’s nothing. I was helping a friend.”
“By going to a party?” Gabe pressed.
Her hand flew to her locket. “Sometimes people hire models to go to their parties. My friend Jade was supposed to go, but she wasn’t feeling well.”
Gabe’s eyes flicked to the picture. “You’re not a…”
Did he think she was some kind of call girl?
She raised her chin a fraction. “I’m not anything. I had an opportunity to go to a party. My friend thought there might be people there with connections for a modeling job. That’s it.”
“Miss Brandt. I think a little more happened than just attending a party.”
The agent pulled out more pictures. One of her at the front door and one of her entering the pool house.
She released the locket and clasped her hands. “I looked around the house, saw it wasn’t my scene, and left.”
Glenn leaned in. “All the security cameras cut out right after you entered the pool house. There’s nothing on any of them anywhere on the property for the rest of the evening. It was like the feed was cut on purpose.”
She frowned. “I wouldn’t know why. I didn’t even know whose house I was at. I certainly didn’t know there were any cameras or how to disable them.”
Gabe released a low disapproving huff, but she ignored it.
Glenn glanced at his notes. “Let’s shift gears. You were supposed to move in with Miss Adkins that day.”
She dialed up her smile. “My plans changed.”
“Miss Adkins said you’d fallen on hard times. You weren’t getting many modeling jobs, and you were unable to afford your apartment in San Francisco.”
Gabe’s eyes were on her, but she didn’t dare look his way. She schooled her features. “Modeling is a tough industry. Jade was kind enough to offer to let me stay with her, but I made other arrangements.”
“Oktoberfest,” Glenn supplied.
“Exactly.”
Glenn watched her for a beat. “I don’t think the only reason you came back to Langley Park was to help in your grandmother’s bakery, Miss Brandt.”
“What other reason would there be?” she asked. If the agent had more cards to play, she might as well see them now.
Glenn pulled a slim digital voice recorder from his bag and set it on the table. He pressed a button.
San Mateo County Sheriff’s Office. What’s your emergency?
Um, hello, I, well…someone might be hurt at a home in Portola Valley.
Ma’am, can I get your name and location?
I’m not there, but someone could be hurt. They may need help. I’m not sure if they were shot. I think he’s still alive. I don’t know anything more.
The message ended with the caller rattling off an address. The sound of big rigs tearing down the interstate hummed in the background before the line went dead.
That call came in from a pay phone at a truck stop near Salt Lake City. Glenn held up his phone. “Here’s a screenshot from one of the security cameras.”
There she was, bent over, clutching the phone, and still wearing the black sports coat.
She stared at the image. “I didn’t know what else to do.”
“Jesus, Mon! What the hell happened?” Gabe asked.
The cocky edge he’d put on when Agent Glenn arrived had vanished. He looked at her with the same intensity as the night he’d saved her from Chip Wilkes.
She released a tight breath. “I did go to that party for Jade. She said there might be people there who could help me land some modeling work. That’s not a lie.”
Glenn nodded.
“When I got there, a gentleman offered to show me around the house.”
Gabe stiffened. She could feel the wave of tension rolling off him.
“At first it was completely innocent, but then he touched me inappropriately, and I asked him to stop. It angered him, and he tried to hit me.”
“Goddammit,” Gabe bit out on a tight breath.
Glenn ignored Gabe and narrowed his gaze. “Do you remember the man’s name?”
“Greg, I think.”
“Go on,” Glenn prompted.
She tried to give Gabe a reassuring smile, but it fell flat. “He didn’t hurt me. I moved out of the way, but his ring grazed my cheek. It started bleeding, and I went to the pool house for some privacy and to clean up.”
“What happened in the pool house, Miss Brandt?” Glenn pressed.
She shook her head a fraction as if that could erase the image of blood on marble. “While I was in the bathroom, I heard a man and a woman enter the pool house. I panicked. I didn’t know if I was going to get into trouble for being there. I was there under my friend’s name, and I didn’t want to get her into any trouble. I stayed quiet. I figured I’d wait until they left and then I’d leave. All I wanted to do at that moment was get out of there.”
“Did you see anyone?” Glenn asked.
She stared at the table and nodded. “A man came in to use the bathroom. I hid behind the shower curtain. He didn’t see me.”
“Can you describe him?”
“Medium build. Dark hair. Light skin. Maybe in his thirties. I only glimpsed from the side.”
Glenn slid another photo from the folder. “Does this man look familiar?”
She touched the picture. “That’s him. I remember the faint pink scar on the side of his cheek. The woman he was with called him Lex.”
Glenn’s eyes widened. “Yo
u’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
Glenn leaned forward. “This is one of the only pictures we have of Alexsey Strazds. In the cyber world, he goes by Black Bird. He’s a hacker wanted by the FBI for cyber-crimes.”
Snippets of the conversation she’d overheard whirled through her mind. “I heard him say something about ransomware. He had an accent, maybe Russian.”
Glenn stared at her for a beat. “You’re close. Not Russian, Latvian. He comes from a wealthy family connected with the Kremlin. He’s been behind some of the greatest data breaches our guys at the bureau have ever seen. He’s crippled companies, extorted millions, and is considered a threat to U.S. security. We were starting to think that Black Bird wasn’t just one person but a group of hackers working together. I think you toppled that theory tonight, Miss Brandt.”
Gabe pinned the agent with his gaze. “Is Monica in danger? Are these people going to come after her?”
Glenn leaned in. “The FBI is interviewing everyone we can find who attended the party. More than half the guests we’ve spoken to are like Monica—people in the modeling or entertainment industry looking to make connections in the tech world. She shouldn’t show up on anyone’s radar as anything but a model attending a party.”
Gabe had taken her hand. His knuckles were almost white as he entwined his fingers with her.
“What about Jade? Whoever set up that party has her name, not mine.”
Agent Glenn nodded. “Like I said, most of the people there were actors and models. Whoever set up this meeting with the Black Bird wanted cover. They wanted an unassuming event where they could easily blend in.”
She stared at Gabe’s hand wrapped around hers. If only they could go back in time to their summer when their days centered around baking cakes and stealing kisses.
Her shoulders sagged. “Are we done?”
“Almost, Miss Brandt,” Glenn said, softening his tone. “You need to tell me how you know someone was hurt and how you left the pool house.”
She closed her eyes then opened them slowly. “Two men joined Lex and the woman in the pool house. They seemed to know the woman.”
“Why would you think that?” Glenn probed.
“The men knew they were buying ransomware from Lex. They told the woman they were concerned it wasn’t worth the money or wouldn’t do what they wanted it to do, I’m not one hundred percent sure. I only remember that what they were buying from Lex was expensive, and they needed to outbid a competitor.”
“But something happened that disrupted that transaction,” Glenn prompted.
She nodded. “When Lex came into the bathroom, he did something on his phone. But I couldn’t see what he typed from where I was hiding behind the shower curtain.”
“What happened next?” Glenn asked.
A tear ran down her cheek. She couldn’t help it. The sharp pop of sound ricocheted through her mind.
“Mon, if it’s too hard, you don’t have to go on,” Gabe said, anguish lacing his words.
She looked at their hands. Now it was her knuckles that were white. “I’m okay. I can do this.”
He nodded, but his eyes burned with emotion.
She released a slow breath. “The woman said she knew they’d been betrayed and then there was a loud pop.”
A pocket of silence engulfed the room.
Glenn softened his gaze. “Go on. It’s okay.”
“I saw blood pool under the bathroom door.”
“Christ, Monica,” Gabe whispered on a tight breath. He wrapped his arm around her.
She didn’t pull away. She needed the comfort. Up until this point, she had pushed the memory of that night into the darkest corners of her mind. Everything had been about survival. Getting out of the Portola Valley, getting out of California and getting back to Langley Park was all she could focus on. Her mind centered on the safest place she could go, and that was standing next to her oma, braiding strudels in the Little Bakery on Mulberry Drive.
“Do you think you heard Alexsey get shot?” Glenn asked.
“I’m not sure. After the gun went off, people were talking, voices overlapping. But whoever got hurt was still moaning.”
“How did you get out of there?” Glenn pushed.
“Jesus,” Gabe said on an exasperated breath. “Isn’t this enough for one night?”
She could see the pain in his eyes. “It’s almost over. I’m okay. I can go on.”
He furrowed his brow and pulled her in closer.
“There was a window in the shower. I opened it, climbed out, and ran through the woods until I found a road. From there I caught a bus back to the Palo Alto Transit Center.”
“No one saw you? No one knew you were there?” Glenn pressed.
“Someone opened the door, but I was already more than halfway out. And nobody followed me. I would have seen them. I was all alone when I hit that road, and the bus came along seconds later.”
“You left for Langley Park after that?”
She wiped a tear from her cheek. “I got to my car. I’d left it parked at the Palo Alto Transit Station. I should have called the police right then and there, but I was frightened. All I knew was that I needed to get out of there.”
“I think that’s enough questions for tonight,” Gabe said, his arm tightening around her.
“I agree, Mr. Sinclair.” Glenn pulled a business card out of his pocket and slid it across the table. “I’m going to need to know if you decide to leave town, Miss Brandt.”
“Monica’s not in any trouble, is she?” Gabe asked, anger creeping into his tone.
“No, she’s not. The FBI is still piecing this whole situation together. We’ve been to the Portola Valley home. The team is still gathering evidence. But we may need you to make an official statement or possibly testify.”
“Testify?” she echoed on a shaky breath.
Glenn stood. “Let’s take it one step at a time. I’ll be in touch. Don’t hesitate to call if you remember anything else.”
She swallowed hard then remembered her manners. “We’ll see you out, Agent Glenn.”
She pulled out of Gabe’s hold. He loosened his grip, but his eyes told her this wasn’t over. The FBI agent may be leaving, but he had questions. They burned in his gaze.
She and Gabe led Agent Glenn to the door and walked him out onto the sidewalk.
“I’ll be in touch,” the man said and disappeared down the street.
Monica stared into the distance. The night breeze did nothing to dampen the heat coming off Gabe. She could feel the questions smoldering inside of him. Or maybe it wasn’t him. Maybe that heat was caused by the scorching humiliation burning through her veins. It was bad enough she’d come home to Langley Park a failure. Again, her need to be more, her need to try and claw her way back into modeling had led her here, possibly a witness to a murder of one of the world’s most wanted men, and all because she went to that damned party trying to jumpstart her career.
Gabe traced the thin scratch across her cheekbone. “Monica, we need to—”
The sound of an engine turning over stopped him, and he dropped his hand. It wasn’t Glenn’s car. The agent had gone the other direction. She watched as a pair of taillights disappeared a block away and scanned the street. The events of the past few days had left her frazzled. The car was nothing. She lived in the middle of the Langley Park town center, for Pete’s sake. Even though it was late, it didn’t mean the driver had sinister motives.
She crossed her arms and walked back into the bakery with Gabe hot on her heels. He locked the door. The click of the bolt sent another shiver down her spine. “I can’t fight with you, Gabe. Not tonight.”
She blurted out the words like a dramatic teenager. She couldn’t help it. After Portola Valley, seeing Gabe, Oma’s accident, and the visit from Agent Glenn, the fragile band of self-preservation holding her together had worn thin.
“I’m not here to fight with you, but I think I deserve some answers.”
She kept her back to him. She couldn’t look at him, couldn’t let him see the shame and fear and humiliation. “I’m going to bed. You can let yourself out the back.”
“I’m not leaving you here alone. Not when you’re involved with cybercriminals and possible murderers.”
She let out a tiny bark of a laugh. If it wasn’t all real, her situation would almost be comical. Girl leaves boy for fame and fortune only to return home penniless and involved in an FBI investigation.
She weaved her way past the display case with Gabe close behind. He moved silently, but when they got to the staircase, he didn’t leave out the back door. His heavy footfalls followed her up the steps to the apartment. She walked into her darkened room and flicked the light switch. A small lamp next to her bed came to life, warming the room with a dim, golden glow. Her gaze settled on the charm bracelet laid out flat along her nightstand. It had sat like that for over a decade. While Oma had regularly cleaned her room over the years—it was immaculate the night she returned home unannounced—she hadn’t disturbed the piece of jewelry. In the few days she’d been back, she hadn’t been able to bring herself to touch it.
Gabe released a tight breath. He saw it, too.
She could almost hear the rip as the last strands of her dignity fell to the floor, leaving her bare and exposed. She spun around. In the soft light of her bedroom, Gabe looked younger. The hard edge he’d acquired while they were apart had vanished. He was frozen, gaze still locked on the charm bracelet.
She glanced at it as if it might have disappeared and with it, the summer they had fallen in love. Had it been gone, had it magically evaporated into nothing, all this might have been a dream. But there it was, the reminder of his devotion and her betrayal.
“You have every right to hate me. I know what I did to you was unforgivable.”
His gaze stayed locked on the bracelet. “We don’t have to do this, Mon. Not now.”
She shook her head and blinked back tears. “No, this needs to happen. You see, I have nothing to lose. All my mistakes and all my shortcomings are out on display. You can think what you like about me, but I need you to know one thing.”
He tore his gaze from the bracelet. He was doing everything to maintain his control, but the tight set of his jaw told her he was on the edge right there with her.
The Complete Langley Park Series (Books 1-5) Page 93