“Oh?” There was rustling on Peter’s end of the call, like he was grabbing a pen. “What did it say?”
“Avi claimed that he was framed, that he was investigating Cobra. And that, if anything happened to him, it was Cobra that did it.”
Peter’s tone sharpened. “You still have that letter, Krish? We’d love to see it.”
“I left it at Avi’s house,” Krish lied.
“Okay. No worries. We can get it. Anything he wrote before he disappeared, it might help. We’re trying to stay ahead of this before it leaks. Our superiors aren’t eager to deal with the press.”
“Do you think it’s possible? What he wrote in that letter? Because that would mean that Cobra could have kidnapped or hurt him. That he didn’t run.”
Peter hesitated. “It also sounds like something he would have written a beloved brother if he was guilty and didn’t want his memory to be tarnished forever.”
Krish cocked his head. “You think my brother would rather I believe he was dead by foul play than running from the law?”
“In one scenario, he’s a hero. In the other one, he’s a coward. If he was never going to see you again, I could imagine him thinking one scenario was better than the other.”
No. No. Krish couldn’t believe that.
But then again... who had Avi always looked to for approval? Their mother, yes, but then his eyes had always sought Krish out next. “My mom said you showed her some evidence of Avi’s guilt. What was it?”What could turn a mother against her son?
“I told her the investigation had conclusively linked a number of expensive gifts from one of Cobra’s known associates, an attorney, to Avi. A Ferrari, cash, the addition on his home, at least three vacations, to Paris, Sydney, and Milan. Before that, the Bureau had already noticed a pattern of Avi accessing databases he didn’t need for any active cases. He took an unusual interest in Rushali’s arrest, even tracking witnesses and potential witnesses. He also came into a pretty big sum of money the day before he disappeared. He emptied all his accounts.”
Believe that Avi did what he was accused of and ran off.
Impossible.
The part of Krish that was ride-or-die for his brother lurched to attention, spitting out counterarguments faster than he could catalog them. Avi had always driven nice cars, even before he’d joined the FBI. Avi was probably accessing those files for a good reason. Cobra must have framed him to get him off their trail. There was no way his brother could go to the dark side.
Krish bit the inside of his cheek. That was a lot of evidence, though.
Was this how the subtle slide to acceptance started? Had his mother experienced this wild seesaw of thoughts and beliefs before finally swallowing that her younger son was guilty of betraying his oath to protect? That Avi was someone who had, as she’d noted, probably gotten people killed?
If Krish gave up right now, he didn’t have to plot anymore. He could focus on the crisis at hand, bid his guilty on-the-run brother adieu, and then take that vacation to a tropical beach.
He hated that he was thinking like this. The fact that Sejal was involved left an even nastier taste in his mouth, like he was betraying Avi for a woman.
Thinking critically and questioning things is not—
Wait a minute. Speaking of vacations. “Did you say there was a trip to Paris?”
“What?”
“You said that you linked the money from Cobra to vacations Avi took, including one to Paris.”
“Yes. Three years ago. June.”
Krish’s brain raced, cataloging. “And someone found a direct, definitive deposit of cash for that?”
