“Yeah. Just slept in. Ear bud’s chargin’ in the other room.” If we were face to face, Trevor would see through my not-quite-truth easily. But over the phone? I hope he’ll trust me.
“Right. I looked into the Yoden murder. Called in a couple of favors. I’m sending some photos to your cloud drive, but the guy in charge of the investigation, Peter Niehaus—”
“Wait, what?” I meet Zephyr’s gaze, unsure I heard Trevor correctly. But she’s as shocked as I am. “Who’s runnin’ the investigation?”
“Peter Niehaus. Why?”
“Because the man I’ve been talkin’ to is Dante Lambert. I told him I was headin’ to Newbury Street to check out a lead two nights ago, and half an hour later, I get shot?”
“Who the fuck is Dante Lambert?” Trev asks. “None of my contacts mentioned that name.”
“I need a minute. Can I put you on hold?” When Trevor agrees, I tap the screen and meet Zephyr’s gaze. “If I tell him I’m in contact with you, that Dante Lambert sent you to Boston, we might be able to convince Dax that you’re innocent.”
“You can’t.” Zephyr clutches my arm, her eyes wide. “What if they insist you come in? I can’t do this without you.”
“Trevor will listen. I helped get him out of some trouble last year, and he knows the importance of keepin’ secrets.” Zephyr trustsme, but she doesn’t know Trev at all. For her to put her life inhishands? That’s asking too much, and I know it. But do we have a choice?
“Tell him you found my laptop. It’s safer.” She scrambles for my Waterford t-shirt and pulls it over her head, then retrieves her panties from the floor.
Fuck. She’s getting ready to run. “Zephyr, stay. I can’t keep Trevor waitin’ much longer, but I won’t let him know I can get in touch with you.”
The wariness in her eyes hits me hard, but she sits back down next to me, her knees pulled up to her chest.
“I’m back, Trev. Listen, I didn’t say anythin’ yesterday, but when I found Zephyr’s stuff on Newbury Street…that included her laptop.”
“Holy fuck. You have to send that to Wren, ASAP.” His tone leaves no room for argument, but I have to try.
“Zephyr left it runnin’, and I faked her fingerprint to get access. My tech skills are shit, but I didn’t need Wren to see her chat history. She’s been talkin’ to Lambert too. Shetrustshim. He’s the one who sent her to Boston. Not to kill, but to track down a former member of the Strauss Cartel who has evidence of their crimes. Lambert’s playin’ all sides here, Trevor. Sendin’ Zephyr into danger, leadin’ me to her, and tellin’ the cartel where they can find both of us.”
Trevor doesn’t say anything for several moments, and Zephyr clutches the edge of the blanket so hard, her knuckles turn white. “I’ll send out some feelers on Lambert. But call the courier right fucking now and get that laptop to Wren. If you don’t, I can’t promise anyone will be able to save you from Dax when he finds out you had it for more than a day and didn’t say anything.”
“Thanks. The rest is in the drop to my cloud drive?” I ask, dancing around the implied order.
“Yes. Take a look, and this afternoon, if you want backup when you talk to Dax, conference me in. Ella’s on surveillance for my custody case. Dani sprained her ankle right before she flew back from Mexico last night, so I’m not going in today.”
“You need anythin’?” I don’t want to leave Zephyr’s side for more than five minutes, even though I’ll have to when I go to Second Sight. But Trev and Dani are family, and I’d find a way to help. Somehow.
“Nah.” Trevor’s voice fades, like he’s covering the phone speaker with his hand. After a beat, he’s back. “She keeps telling me I’m hovering. Doc said she’d be good as new in a few weeks. Until then, she’s in a walking boot.”
“Tell her that boot’s hard enough for her to kick your ass if she has to.”
With a laugh, Trevor says goodbye, and I fall back against the pillows.
“This is the proof we needed, luv. Knowin’ Dante isn’t runnin’ the case? Being able to contact the man who is?” I slide my arms around her and pull her on top of me. “We still need to find Martín Levi, but once I bring this all to Dax, we’ll have Wren and Ripper’s help, and you won’t have to hide anymore.”
Hope shines in her eyes, but her breath catches in her throat. “We still have to find Oliver, Theo, and whoever else they have with them. Until then? Every time I step outside—every timeeither one of ussteps outside—we’re in danger.”
She’s right, but this is more than I hoped Trevor would find. “Come on. I’ll make us tea and we can take a look at therealcrime scene report.”
* * *
Zephyr
Our laptops sit side by side on the coffee table, Dante’s file on my screen and theoriginalreport on Ronan’s computer.
“Accordin’ to Trevor, someone ‘altered’ the original report two days after the murder and deleted several notes Niehaus added when he toured the scene.” He opens a text file with a time stamp less than twenty-four hours after Yoden died and reads the contents out loud.
“The body shows almost no signs of trauma. No offensive or defensive wounds. With the amount of blood in the room, there should be some evidence of a fight.”
