“No, but caution is nevertheless advised.”
“Warning heeded,” Sienna said. “Thanks. And no, we have no need for you to be under our feet any longer than necessary. Witch or no, his spelling will never be faster than a werewolf in attack.”
I wouldn’t have putmymoney on that fact. I clattered down to the basement and followed Viceroy’s directions to his office, doing my best to ignore the noise, the smells, and the possibility of rats hiding in the distant shadows.
He glanced up as I appeared in his doorway. “You found me easily enough then?”
I nodded. “You were able to transfer the files?”
“Indeed, though I did a quick scan through the master file after I’d copied the timestamped section over, and the only person who showed up before you was a man who didn’t enter, although the door did appear to open. Which is strange.”
Very strange. And hopefully that “man” was René, because I really didn’t want to believe he could lie so convincingly to me. “A lack of apparent movement through any given area doesn’t necessarily mean no one passed through. There are spells that can fool an electronic eye, but they do leave traces of air distortion that are pretty easy to spot once you know what you’re looking for.”
“I had no idea something like that was even possible.” He paused. “Are there electronic means of combating such invisibility spells?”
“There’s an infrared system designed for that specific purpose, though I’m not sure how widely available it is or how expensive it might be.”
“I’ll pass the information on to the owners. We’ve quite a few high-profile owners in this building, and the additional security would be welcome, I’m thinking.” He ejected the USB and handed it to me. “Any idea how long forensics are likely to be in Mr. Ashworth’s place?”
“None at all. I doubt he’ll leave the apartment while they’re there, though. Why?”
“The next shift starts at two, and I just wanted to give them a heads-up on what to expect.”
I nodded and raised the USB. “Thanks for this, and for all your other help this morning.”
“It’s been a pleasure, young woman. I’m just glad Mr. Ashworth was not harmed in this misadventure.”
“Me too.”
I made my way out of the building. Once back in the car, I dropped his USB into the center console, then grabbed my phone and rang Ginny.
“You obviously survived the encounter with Tane Ashworth,” she said.
“I did, but the meeting was not without its interesting moments.”
“Oh,dotell.”
I did so—without mentioning René, because I didn’t want to sideline the conversation—then added, “I think we need to check out the USB he gave me before we hand it over. He was really insistent I keep it to myself?—”
“Which is reason enough to do the exact opposite if you ask me.”
“In a sense I already have, because I’ve told you about it.”
“I’m different?—”
“You certainly are,” I cut in with a laugh.
I could almost see her eye roll. “It might be worth grabbing a cheap laptop on the way back here. That way, if there’s a virus or some other nasty on the USB, it won’t infect the Society system.”
“I’m thinking the Society’s system has plenty of protections against virus and hacking attacks, random or not.”
“Undoubtedly, but let’s just play it extra safe until we know what the fuck is actually going on.”
A motto I mostly lived my life by. “Any sign of those phone transcripts as yet?”
“No, thank god. You coming straight back?”
“I should, because I need to get some evidence back to head office.”
