“If I can’t find it, they have someone better than me, or had someone better than me, make it disappear. Usually, that isn’t a problem for me. The fact that the digital footprint has been erased is a big red flag. That is next to impossible.”
“Was there anything about China or Russia getting into those files?” Sam asked.
She shook her head. “At the time, the crypto was just getting started. And yes, both countries were doing quite a bit of hacking into the accounts, but I couldn’t find anything on that. While the Chinese are good at hacking, they tend to leave a lot of breadcrumbs. It was a newly formed group, but that was right before my family was killed.”
Even now, the pain hit her. It had been over a decade, but the loss still gave her pause. It wasn’t as intense as when they died, but it lingered in her heart and stole her breath.
Pushing that aside, she focused on the present. That was the only way she would find the person who killed her parents and brother and who was after her.
“What about your father? Was there anything he was working on that would have brought people after him like this?” Ian asked.
She shared a glance with Sam.
“What?” Ian asked.
“My father was on sabbatical from the CIA. I didn’t know that he had been passed over for a promotion.”
That got a sharp look from El. “Your father was passed over? Who got the job?”
She sighed. “My mother.”
“Damn,” Jenner muttered.
“Jenner,” Ian said, warning in his voice.
“Calm down, Ian. I’ve been down that avenue. My father was the prime suspect until they confirmed his identity. Well, that and the money disappearing. They knew it had something to do with that.”
“The money disappeared when?” Ian asked.
“Within an hour of my house blowing up. The CIA was in full freak out mode. Two analysts being blown up was not an everyday occurrence. They knew right away that it wasn’t a gas explosion no matter what they told the media.”
“And why did you share a look with my father?”
She sighed. “I think my mother was thinking of divorcing my father. There was a lot of tension around the house. I mean, they didn’t fight. My father was like me. He kept his emotions under control, and, well, my mother was English and raised by one of the best spymasters ever.”
“And I think Eloise had talked to Judith about divorcing him,” Sam said. “But she kept that from Lila.”
She rolled her eyes. “There was no need. Why do parents think they can hide things from us? Kids can always pick up on the undercurrents. But since my father was ID’d through DNA and his dental records, there was no doubting he was in the blast. Then, the money disappearing ruined their murder/suicide ideas. Plus, he wouldn’t have done that without making sure I was there.”
“That’s morbid,” Jenner said.
She shrugged. “Family annihilators who commit suicide always want to take the entire family with them. I wasn’t there, and it had been the plan for a while. Believe me, I spent a lot of time researching my father and if he could be connected to this.”
“Your brother and mother were ID’d?”
She nodded. “Through DNA.”
All of a sudden, a wave of dizziness hit her. It had been a long few weeks on the run. It had been over two years since she had been burned, but the last few months had been particularly treacherous. Someone had been on her trail, coming at her when she least expected it. And now with this injury, her body just didn’t feel as if she could go on. She blinked a few times.
“Okay, I think that’s enough for now,” Ian said, stepping forward.
“I can answer more questions.” But she sounded exhausted even to her own ears.
“They can wait for a bit,” he said, herding her back to the bedroom.
“Fine.”
He made sure she got into bed, then pulled the covers up to her chin. Her eyelids felt as if they had two-ton weights on them.
