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It's becoming a regular habit, and this might not be exactly the same thing, but it feels just as tense and awkward.
Spencer is at Leanne’s right side, on the corner of the desk, basically, with Echo squeezed in at his other side, and Echo’s got an arm wrapped around him, and he has his head on his shoulder while they watch the video.
I’ve somehow ended up at Leanne’s left side, and I feel like I’m breathing too loud.
It happens sometimes when I’m nervous. It’s like all I can hear is my breath, and it doesn’t matter how many times people tell me they can’t hear it, I’m convinced that they can.
I try to ignore it, to keep my eyes on the screen.
E.A.’s to my left and it feels like he’s sitting back a little so he can watch us watching the video.
He can be a little creepy sometimes.
He’s probably the smartest guy I’ve ever met, and he’s definitely not someone I’d ever want to get on the wrong side of. I’ve seen what he can do to someone if they cross him. Harlan West is lucky he’s so connected. Otherwise, E.A. would have taken him out a long time ago.
“Wait,” Leanne says. “What’s that?”
E.A. rewinds and pauses the video on a still of the inside of the elevator.
I glance at him.
He nods and hits play. “There’s a key that’s required for entry to the top floor. You’ll need it when you’re going to sneak up there, and you can only go if he’s not at work.”
“You have it? Or do I have to get it?”
“I have a copy,” E.A. says. “I’ll give it to you when it’s time.”
She nods and he restarts the video.
As boring as it’s been up until this point, I can’t help but stare, transfixed, as the elevator doors open on the top floor office. It’s all one big room with a few support beams strategically placed around.
There are glass panels almost all the way around the room, looking out over the city in every direction.
It’s hard not to be impressed. Compared to our offices here, this is like a window into another world.
“Kind of scary what no morals and unlimited money can get you, right?” Spencer waves at the screen.
“Where do we think the jar is?” I ask, not wanting to lose track of the purpose of this video.
“Patience, Toshi. Leanne needs to take in the details of the room,” E.A. murmurs.
Right. This is for Leanne.
She’s the one who’s going in.
She’s the one who’ll be rescuing that evidence.
I keep quiet and take in the room, wondering where someone who keeps trophies of his victims might decide to store those trophies to keep them safe and out of sight.
The space is barely furnished. There’s a seating area with couches close to one of the three corners, a closed off room that I assume is a bathroom in another, and the third corner contains a huge desk and a couple of sections of wall where there are no windows. Where the windows begin on either side of this area, the first few panels are hidden behind thick, heavy looking drapes.
“It’s got to be somewhere around the desk,” Leanne murmurs beside me.
The cleaning woman moves around on screen, emptying a wastepaper bin and dusting the top of the desk. The more I watch, the more convinced I am of the same.
“Has to be,” I agree with her.
She glances at me and smiles.
