Claire’s brows rose. “Wow, have you piqued my interest. Let’s shower and get into the office. I’m willing to bet that, after a night off, everyone will be in for a morning catch-up. After which you’ll drive straight to your parents’ house.”
Ryan picked up his cell phone. “Let’s not leave it to chance,” he said. He Slacked the whole team, told them that he and Claire would be in before eight, complete with updates. He made sure to stipulate that, with Casey’s okay, everyone had to be there for an eight o’clock meeting, and that he had to leave the brownstone by eleven.
The replies ranged from Casey’s “Meeting approved” to Emma and Angela’s “I’ll be there” to Patrick’s “Already in” to Marc’s “Halfway there.”
“Good,” Ryan said. “Yeses across the board.”
Quickly, Claire drank down her tea, while Ryan polished off his coffee and muffin.
“C’mon, Mr. Mysterious,” Claire said. “Let’s shower and get moving.”
Offices of Forensic Instincts
Main Conference Room, Second Floor
Tribeca, Manhattan, New York
Wednesday, March 15, 7:48 a.m.
Emma was the final team member to arrive. She looked puzzled as she walked into the impressive room and stared at the entire group gathered around the sweeping oval table, iPads poised and ready. They were currently all sipping at their coffee mugs and nibbling on bagels and cream cheese.
“Am I late?” she asked with a glance at her Apple Watch.
“Nope,” Ryan assured her. “Early by twelve minutes.”
“Okay, then I’m confused. I stopped at the first-floor conference room as soon as I walked in. I thought we were waiting for next week to move back up here.”
In her seat at the head of the table, Casey leaned forward, interlacing her fingers in front of her. “We changed our minds.”
Emma turned her palms up in question. “Did everyone know this except me?”
Marc grabbed this bull by the horns, making sure it wasn’t going to turn into one of Emma’s unintentional poke-the-bear moments. “Nope. Just our esteemed leader, who says she’s feeling more than able to climb one flight of stairs. So grab a cup of coffee and a bagel, and join us—without asking Casey any more questions.”
Emma heard the pointed note in Marc’s voice and shot off a mock salute. “Got it. And thank you to whoever supplied breakfast.”
“That would be me,” Angela said. “The subway was actually on time today. So I got here with forty minutes to spare. And I figured we all needed sustenance.”
Quickly, Emma got her coffee and bagel, and then slid into her seat. “All set.”
Casey opened the meeting. “I hope everyone managed to eat dinner and get a decent night’s sleep. As you all know, that doesn’t happen often.”
She didn’t wait for responses, but continued. “To recap, Claire and I interviewed all the McKays yesterday. John met with more of his police contacts and utilized Yoda’s refined list to expand his questioning. And Marc shared Aidan’s findings about Shane’s and Caitlin’s blood both being at the crime scene with the team, after which he and Patrick called as many medical facilities as possible to see if Caitlin had been treated for her injuries. So we have lots to tell each other. But, once again, Ryan called this meeting, so we’ll let him go first.”
She glanced at Ryan. “Your Slack message sounded just as urgent this time as the last.”
“It was.” Ryan was barely able to sit still. “I’ve got something major to report. And Claire should go after me. She made some great headway, too—headway that will give us valuable insight and might even alter our course a bit.”
“Okay, go,” Casey urged.
Ryan told the team everything, from his suspicions about Kennedy’s pendant, to Fiona’s confirmation of the same, to the microphone on a chip that BUGGY had picked up, to the seeds he’d planted for Caitlin, and to the fact that, should those seeds bear fruit, he had a monumental task ahead of him—as did the team.
“Are you planning on telling us what this monumental task is?” Patrick asked.
“Yeah. As soon as Caitlin responds. My fingers are crossed that she’ll be sending me a lunchtime dessert with enough of a message for me to act. When that happens, I’ll tell you guys everything. Because, even though I’ll be doing the work, every single one of us is going to be on high alert, ready to take on the end result. But it’s a complex explanation with specifics we need to plan as a team, so I want to make sure we have what we need before I dive right in. If Caitlin comes through—and I really believe she will—we’ll have another meeting at the end of the day, I’ll give you all the specifics, and we’ll chart our course, so to speak.”
“Fair enough,” Casey accepted, although she looked as puzzled and curious as Patrick. “Most of all, amazing work on your part, Ryan. Truly impressive.”
“Thanks, boss.”
