Aidan also grew serious. “Ready when you are.”
Marc walked over to the sofa and gave Maddy a tender kiss. “Aidan and I will be in my office. Text if you need me.”
“Promise,” she replied. “But I’ll be just fine. Brunch. Reading material. I’m all set.” She waved her hand in the direction of Marc’s office. “Go have your meeting.”
Marc and Aidan settled themselves in the two club chairs in Marc’s office.
“Shoot,” Aidan said.
Quickly and succinctly, Marc filled Aidan in on their case, where things stood, and what the FI team needed from him and from Zermatt.
Aidan let out a low whistle. “FI has really backed itself into a brick wall,” he said. “You’re walking targets, both to the FBI and to Scott Security. Any move you make will be a bad one.”
“Yeah, that much I knew.”
A corner of Aidan’s mouth lifted. “Fortunately for you, Zermatt has no such problem. We’re totally off the grid. No law enforcement agency has crossed paths with us—at least to their knowledge. And none of the scummy companies we deal with has any idea who screwed them over.”
“We need the works—everything about Scott Security, who exactly is part of the criminal arm of the company, how far their reach is, specifics on what they have and what they’re doing, how they’re getting their money?—”
“This isn’t my first rodeo, frogman,” Aidan cut in, looking amused. “I’ll get it all, and then some—and do what has to be done. And, before you ask, I’ll be bringing Terri on board.” His grin widened. “She’ll jump at the chance to bring these bastards down.”
Marc nodded. “Good. Ryan already programmed two computers—one for him and one for Caitlin Walsh—both with the ultimate levels of security. He’s waiting for the go-ahead from me to program a third computer for you, so you can communicate with him, and also with Caitlin.”
Aidan folded his arms across his chest. “Give it to him. I need that computer yesterday. We need to jog Caitlin’s memory enough to get more specifics about Shane’s killer. That’ll be your job, former BAU agent. You’ll do the talking. Terri and I will do the listening and move on whatever you learn.” A frown. “When can we realistically expect Ryan to finish programming the computer and get it to us?”
“Less than a day. I’ll hand-deliver it to you tomorrow at your place and we can make that call. I’ll tell Ryan to let Caitlin know about our arrangement so there won’t be any surprises.”
Aidan rose to his feet. “And Terri and I will get started today. We’ll already have a shitload of information by the time we talk to Caitlin.”
Marc nodded. “I never doubted it.” He gripped Aidan’s shoulder. “Thanks.”
“For what? You know what Zermatt is about. This will be a labor of love.”
Offices of Forensic Instincts
Main Conference Room, Second Floor
Tribeca, Manhattan, New York
Saturday, March 18, 1:45 p.m.
Casey frowned as she hung up the phone with John Nickels. John had used his NYPD connections to get a lowdown from the NYFD on the status of the fire at the McKays’ residence.
No surprise that it was being investigated as arson. The guy who’d started the fire had all but left his calling card at the house. Even so, Casey’s gut told her that the incident hadn’t been done to kill or to cause maximum structural damage, as much as it had been done to scare the crap out of everyone, Maureen in particular. Scott’s goal had doubtless been to push Maureen to her limit, to the point where she’d contact Caitlin and get her out in the open—assuming she knew where Caitlin was.
Well, that plan had backfired. Maureen had no clue where Caitlin was, although Casey was sure that despite Ryan’s mom’s reluctant lack of questions, she was well aware that both Kennedy and Ryan had spoken to Caitlin.
No one but the team, and of course, Kennedy, was certain of that.
The fact that the McKays were now staying at FI kept them safe, plus it allowed Kennedy to talk to her mommy daily. It also kept the specialized computer safe in Ryan’s lair, and eliminated Ryan’s need to commute to the Bronx. Less time away. Less risk by not having to move the computer back and forth. It was a win-win.
Meanwhile, Ryan was in his lair now, working at the speed of light to clone the third computer so it would be ready to turn over to Marc early tomorrow morning, where it would then be transferred into Aidan’s and Terri’s capable hands.
With a hard wince of pain, Casey leaned back in her chair and massaged her temples. She knew damn well that FI had to stop in its tracks after that, at least where it came to overt action. It didn’t take a scholar to know that Hutch was watching them like a hawk, and that if they so much as dug deeper into the arson investigation, he’d be taking legal action against them in the blink of an eye.
Damn the man.
And not only because of the existing threat he represented, but because everything he’d said to her about her health had been right.
