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Duke grabbed a Coke. “First, in my opinion, we can scratch George Kittleman. He’s no longer our prime suspect.”
“Why is that?” Terry asked through a mouthful of pizza.
“Personal observation. No reaction to any of our trigger words, plus the fact that Serena’s government car had a tracker. Also, the obsession with the USB drive doesn’t fit the romantic stalker type. But we have a new name?—”
“Stop,” I said, cutting Duke off before he could mention Harvey Fox. I leaned over and whispered, “Remember, we can’t talk about him.”
“You owe me an explanation,” Duke whispered back.
“Consider who?” Constance asked.
I was glad I hadn’t accepted the pizza as my stomach churned. Now that these two knew there was something we were holding back, Monday’s conversation was going to be an even bigger deal.
Terry leaned back. “What’s going on?”
I glared at Duke.
He shook his head. “Sorry, something I learned today is confidential, and I need to get it cleared first.”
Terry sat forward, glaring at Duke. “Working with an arm tied behind our backs sucks.”
“Drop it,” Duke commanded. “Let’s get back to the basics of what we know.”
Terry sighed. “It happened right after she visited the plating and chemical companies. They could be involved.”
“I’m with you,” Winston agreed. “Start with the ones with the most money to lose.”
Duke nodded along. “So we launch Jordy on a deep dive into those two companies.” He turned to me. “Who did you meet with at those two places—the decision makers, not the peons?”
“Uh, Excalibur Plating was Larry Pollock, their president. At Knife Creek Chemical, there were two, Aiden Pons, the COO, and Gabe Woodward. I don’t remember his title.”
Constance took notes.
Duke steepled his hands. “Yaroslavsky practically told us the source he got the info from isn’t in LA anymore. That means he’s either out of town?—”
“Or dead,” Terry finished.
Constance checked her notebook. “The body would have had to drop recently, and Winston, you didn’t find any that fit the torture MO locally, right?”
“Nope. I’ll expand the area.”
“Good. What about that second call?” Terry brought up.
“It was to his brother in Miami,” Duke answered.
Constance had been writing a note until the word Miami. “You didn’t tell me he called Miami.”
Duke answered. “Sorry, you weren’t with us, and we might have summarized it as a call to his brother.”
I got the tingle that said we’d found a thread to unravel things. “What’s the significance of Miami?”
“She’s not here now,” Constance said, leafing through notes. “But I was told a previous EPA employee in the office relocated to Miami.”
It clicked for me. “Sophia Rossi. When she left, that created the opening for my promotion. I knew she relocated to the East Coast, but nobody mentioned which city.”
She looked up. “Yup, Rossi is the one, and it was definitely Miami.”
Duke pointed at Winston. “First plane out. Let’s find out what this woman has to say.”
