“What am I looking at?”I asked.
“There,” Ace insisted, tapping the image right on the forearm of the figure.There was a tiny hint of a cuff peeking out of the hoodie that our delivery person had worn.Something with a round shape half-hidden under the black material, glinting against the light and throwing back a flared shine to the camera.“That’s Brody’s cufflink.I know it.”
“How can you be so sure?”I asked.“It’s… just a round cufflink.I can’t even see what color it is in the footage, the light is too bad.”
Ace’s mouth was set in a firm, straight line.“I know it.I’ve seen him a dozen times and every time, every single time, he’s wearing those damn cufflinks.I would know them anywhere.I’m sure of it.”
I saw how serious he was on his face.He was sure – more sure than left any room for doubt.I had to take his word for it.I felt like I could trust Ace, anyway.People like us are more aware of what we give away.Like me, he tended to notice things about people even when they first met, looking for potential signs of danger.
I didn’t know whether that was more to do with being gay or more to do with my father, and I didn’t know what was in Ace’s past – but there, at least, I felt instinctively that we were kindred spirits.
A rap at the door took my attention away from this new revelation and I looked up only just in time for Fernando to walk into the room, without waiting to be told he could.He had a serious but largely blank look on his face – no hint of a smile for either of us.
“I have to get your signature on an acquisition form,” he said, holding it out towards Ace.
Ace sighed and grabbed it, glancing it over.
“Hey, Fernando,” I said, in case he somehow hadn’t seen me.
He looked at me and nodded sharply.“Keaton.”
Was that it?
Ace signed the from and handed it back.“There you go,” he said and gestured once his hand was free again.“Don’t disturb us again unless it’s urgent, please.We’re working on something important here.”
At last, a smile twisted Fernando’s lips, but it wasn’t a kind or happy one.“Trying to fix the Ridley Angus mess?”
“Yes, vulture,” Ace said, and flapped a hand at him.“Out.”
Fernando gave him an arch look before stepping outside and closing the door behind him, and I turned to Ace with my mouth open.
“What?”he asked.
“I thought Fernando was just being cold to me.”
Ace gave a humorless laugh.“That asshole?He’s even worse than Brody.In fact, I’d be willing to swap them.He’s always been cold.We call him the Ice Queen behind his back.”
I frowned.“Always?”
Ace chuckled, but it died on his lips when he saw my expression.“What?”
I looked at my hands for a moment, considering whether it was a good idea or not to say this.“My sister is dating him.”
Ace winced.“Yeesh.Good luck to her.”
“He’s not like that with her,” I said.I paused.I remembered her text.I hadn’t had a chance to follow up with her and talk about it yet.Every time I got home, she was out or asleep, and we’d been so focused on this investigation that I had barely touched my phone in the office.“I mean, he wasn’t.”
Ace shook his head with a mock shudder.“I’ll tell you something absolutely for free,” he said.“The only way I could trust Fernando Quijada less would be if he started smiling at me.That would be when I knew something was really up.The man’s a snake, and everyone here knows it.The only reason he’s tolerated around here is because snakes happen to be pretty good at negotiating.”
I looked down at the table without seeing it.Instead, I was racing through things in my head.Fernando had always been so pleasant when I saw him with Clara, and she said he was loving, caring, and kind.I hadn’t seen evidence of any of that, and from what Ace was saying, neither had anyone else.
Could someone really, truly be two different people?One at home and one at work?
Or was there something else going on here?
“Well, this is good progress,” Ace said, tapping the pictures stacked on the table.“Now we know Brody is involved in this whole thing.I just don’t know what we can do about it.As you said, this is a pretty basic cufflink, and I’m sure he would be very easily able to claim it wasn’t him at all.Just a coincidence that the person who dropped off the contract wears something similar.In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he had an alibi lined up.”
“So, what do we do with this information?”I asked.“Confront him?Show Coleman?”
