Nissa nodded, blowing him a kiss before she climbed the stairs out of sight.
Tommy finished his French toast, put his plate in the dishwasher and refilled his thermos before heading down to his office on the seventy-fifth floor to call his legal team.
Chapter Fifty-Six: Aftershocks
Thorn
Thorn knocked on Harvey’s office door and let himself in when he was told to enter. The tall, slender man stood as Thorn came in and inclined his head in greeting.
“How was your drive?” Thorn asked as he took a seat. Despite their different backgrounds, service records, and ways of reacting to situations, there was a deep mutual respect and friendship between them.
“Long.” Harvey sat, running a hand through his short steel grey hair. “Driving through the Catskills at night is a pain.” He looked at Thorn, weary resignation in his eyes. “So? Fill me in on things here.”
Thorn stretched his legs out, crossing his ankles. “According to Evie, Alex has been short-tempered and moody with her for about two months. Last night, while she was getting ready to come to my apartment to watch a movie, he confronted her about how much time she has been spending with Aaron Denton.”
Harvey raised an eyebrow. “The guy from Consulting who sometimes trains the security guards?”
Thorn nodded. “Yes. And they have been spending a lot of time together.” He still found that surprising. Evie used to complain about how annoying Aaron was. “They like the same types of shows, movies and books and enjoy discussing them. Anyway, another Security Services employee, Crystal Furlong, has apparently been interested in Alex for a while. She told himshe noticed Evie spending time with Aaron and sent him three videos as proof.”
“Do you think Evie was cheating on Alex with him?” Harvey leaned forward, steepling his fingers. Thorn frowned and rubbed his jaw as he considered it. His first instinct was to defend Evie, but he knew he had to stay objective.
“No.” He shook his head after a moment. “She is very physically affectionate with people she is close to. She loves to hug and cuddle, and she does not do that with Aaron unless she is comforting him, which tells me she does not feel close to him in that way. Evie needs to feel close to someone to be with them intimately.”
“I think it was more a matter of finding someone she could talk to about her interests without feeling like she was being tolerated, and someone who was not pressuring her for anything more than friendship.”
Harvey nodded, looking satisfied. “Do you think Aaron was trying to steal Evie from Alex?”
Thorn shook his head slowly. “Aaron’s wife, Paula, was killed in June. Their relationship was very self-contained, and I think he is lonely. He has since gravitated more to the women in the office, but he has the most in common with Evie.”
“I think Aaron is physically attracted to Evie, but she is very different from his wife. I do not think he would handle Evie’s need for physical affection well, especially if it did not lead to intercourse.” He paused, thinking it through. “It seems more like proximity and comfort than romantic intent.”
Harvey made a note on the legal pad beside him. “What happened when Alex confronted Evie?”
“She broke up with him. She was tired of his moods and what she felt was manipulative behaviour.” Thornallowed himself a small, proud smile. Evie had come a long way in asserting herself. He still felt she gave too many opportunities for change and saw minor improvements as bigger accomplishments than they were, but she had her limits, and she held them.
“How did she find out he was using the cameras to watch her?”
Thorn chuckled, remembering how proud she had been. “Evie is especially good at eliciting information using conversational traps. She will be able to explain it better than I can.”
“And then you told Tommy what she said.” Harvey made a few more notes. Thorn nodded, pulled the folded spreadsheet and USB from his pocket, and passed them over.
“Yes. It would be one thing if he were only accessing the Tower’s security cameras, but knowing what I know about Alex’s personality, I knew he would do anything he could to find proof.”
Harvey plugged in the USB. When the folder opened, his eyes went wide at the number of videos. “Jesus Christ. All these in two months?”
Thorn nodded. “Yes, but most of them are short clips from the elevator or lobby.” He tapped the spreadsheet. “He accessed the security cameras of one of our clients, Honey Oven Bakery and Cafe, on thirteen occasions to monitor her when she was there with Aaron, and there are thirty-three videos filmed on cell phones. Eleven were inside Sherlock’s Pub, the others were from following them to and from the pub.”
Harvey let out a low whistle. “How did he know when she’d be there?”
“She would tell him.” Thorn shrugged. “Every time she went to the bakery or pub and was going to be alone with Aaron,she would text him with the time and invite him to join them. He was also tracking her car with an OBD-II tracking module. Aaron lives in Astoria, so I think he was trying to catch her going there.”
Harvey picked up the spreadsheet and looked it over. “She wasn’t spending that much time with Aaron.” After a moment, he set it down. “It looks like a lot when you see the numbers. Thirty-nine out of seventy-seven days sounds high. But in reality, most of these were lunches, so they were together for maybe an hour and a half. And Nissa joined them almost half the time. Even at Sherlock's, it looks like it was dinner, and she was usually back in the Tower within two hours.”
He glanced at the clock. “She should be here soon. Is there anything else you can tell me?”
Thorn rubbed his chin. “With the number of videos filmed on a cell phone, we are concerned that Alex used multiple Security Services employees to spy on them. Aaron would have noticed the same person following them or sitting near them. Vanessa is looking into it, but she may need assistance.”
**********
