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“Because if we can’t find the laptop we need evidence. And if everything you’ve said about your uncle is correct, then he’s going to have some dirty names in his contacts. I might be able to prove guilt by association. See who he’s in bed with, where those contacts go, shake some trees.”
Robin nibbled on her lower lip as a sense of dread settled over her. “I don’t know about that, Jess…”
“It’s been almost seven months, babe. No leads. No laptop. I’m sticking my neck out over here trying to figure out how he’s getting in the country. Seriously, Robin. He’s not on any manifest, which makes me wonder if he’s traveling legally. And if he isn’t, why? Who is looking for him? What’s he got to hide?”
Those were all really great questions. And Jessica had a point. She was the one taking risks, not Robin. She blew out a breath and stared up at the ceiling.
“Okay, say I do get his phone. How do I copy it?” she asked.
“That’s easy,” Jessica gushed. “I’m going to meet you in Florida and bring you a small device. All you do is plug it into the phone and it copies it. This way we can put all the data on a new device and review it at our leisure.”
“Wait, you don’t have to come—”
“Did you translate those pages yet?”
“Not all of it. I told you my Arabic is really bad and my reading comprehension is even worse. Seriously, I wish I could let Harper look at it because he could do this way faster than me. Besides, what I did translate doesn’t make sense.”
“To us!” Jessica sighed. “It sounds like code. Like your dad was saying something else behind what you translated. Regardless, your uncle is up to something. We know that. We just need one thing to help us prove it.”
Robin agreed, but how did they go about finding that piece?
She was beginning to think this might be hopeless. If the police hadn’t figured out Mom’s murder after all this time, what hope did Robin have of getting to the bottom of it?
Chapter Twelve
Monday.Harper’sSafeHouse,New Orleans, LA.
Harper placed the mug on the drying rack just so. The methodical nature of washing dishes soothed his tumultuous mind, taking him back to simpler times when he was expected to help Mom with the dishes every night. One of the first things he’d done as an adult was buy Mom a dishwasher. She’d scoffed at the thing in the beginning, but after the first big, family meal she’d hosted, he’d made a convert out of her.
These days he missed those moments where it was just the two of them sharing an activity, which was why when his mind was loudest he still rolled his sleeves up and washed dishes by hand.
“What are you doing?” Samuel asked slowly.
Harper glanced up. He’d been lost in thought to the point he hadn’t realized Samuel had returned.
“You get a tail on Daar?” Harper asked.
Samuel blew out a breath and set his laptop bag on the kitchen table. “No. He’s not taking a family car, and he isn’t going out of the front of the house. I haven’t been able to get a camera on the back, so it’s completely believable he hires a car, they pull around back and he’s gone without us realizing it.”
Harper grimaced.
That wasn’t good.
They’d lost Daar a handful of times. Where he went or what he was doing, they had no idea. But given that it only happened when he was alone, chances were whatever Daar was doing was business he didn’t want the family involved with.
“What did Robin want?” Samuel asked.
Harper wiped his hands. “You weren’t listening?”
Samuel held his hands up. “Wasn’t sure I wanted to be a third wheel.”
Harper pulled in a deep breath and a little of his anxiety relaxed. “Cassim invited me to go to Florida with them. I’d also appreciate it if we could lose some of the audio from today.”
Samuel regarded Harper for a moment. “You’ll have to give me timestamps.”
“I can do that.”
It would be a huge burden off his shoulders if he knew beyond a shadow of a doubt that the audio of their time together was gone.
