Mati nodded. “Yeah. That doesn’t—it shouldn’t change anything. I was there. That was way scarier than watching it now, after the fact, right?”
“Adrenaline is an amazing thing,” David said.
She tucked a curl behind her ear, her hand trembling. David captured it with one of his own.
“You don’t have to watch it again,” Reese said, “but I’d like to. I can do it wearing headphones, if you want.”
“No, I think I should,” she said. “I missed stuff with the split screens.”
David didn’t argue. He intended to review it several more times, but she and Reese were far more likely to pick out important details than he was.
They watched the second time in silence while she clung to their hands.
When the screen went blank, Mati frowned. “It’s weird they don’t talk, right?”
David nodded. “There’s a bunch of weird shit in this.”
“Like them wearing black to break into the house in broad daylight?” she asked.
“Huh,” Reese said. “That’s a good point. And actually…kind of stupid, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” David agreed. “Total amateur hour stuff.”
“Also, what was with the wavy thing at the door? Did they think they needed to do that to trigger the lock? They must have had the encryption code on that phone,” Reese said.
“I have a thought about that…” Mati began. She made a face like she knew she was about to open a can of worms. “Could that have been him making the sign of the cross?”
“Yeah, it could have,” David agreed, his eyes narrowing on Mati’s face. “You said Frankie wasn’t big with technology, right?”
“Right. I had to help him update his computer. He didn’t have, nor want, a smartphone. I doubt he’s everseena lock like the one on that door.”
Which, to be fair, wouldn’t be unusual. Reese and Hodges didn’t mess around when it came to choosing hardware.
“Okay,” David said, “but people change.”
“I guess, but from Luddite to hacker in a year? And why on earth would he want something from Reese’s office?”
“Could you have told him about something valuable? Or something that would have helped him get in? A password or gate code?”
“No! Never.” She clutched Reese’s hand and turned to him. “I would never—”
“Easy, sweetheart. I know that.” He ran a soothing hand over hers and looked at David. “There’s nothing truly valuable in my office. And there’s no fixed code to get through those locks, only the encrypted Bluetooth keys will open them. The gate does have a keypad option, but they didn’t come in that way.”
“How do you know?” David asked.
Mati shrugged. “That’s easy. If the gate opens for any reason—with a code, without, once because a plow pushed too much heavy snow into it—our phones and tablets are alerted and the camera shows us what’s going on. I would have known if they’d come in that way.”
David nodded approvingly. “That’s a good system.”
“I thought so,” Reese agreed, “but apparently not good enough. I want to know where and how theydidget on the property. Hodges said he and the police are working on that.”
“They are,” David confirmed. “But there’s nothing yet. Going back to Frankie. Did you ever tell him about the cameras?”
“No? I don’t think so? Why?”
“Because they don’t talk,” David said.
Mati connected the dots first. “Shit. They wore ski masks and didn’t talk.”
