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“Because Naomi got him fired. He was lucky to get other employment so quickly.”
Edmond McCormick had failed to mention any of this. He made it sound like Kurt left of his own will, and if Kurt found fast employment, financial motive would be less likely. “How did she get him fired?”
“She messed up proofing a galley before a substantial print run and made it look like Kurt’s fault.”
“What is a galley?” Trent asked.
“Right. I guess you’d have no reason to know. Galleys are the last chance to catch and correct any errors before a book goes to print. If errors are significant enough, the run needs to be recalled and a new one done. That was the case there. If I remember right, it was an earlier version of the book and had some sections a lawyer had suggested be removed. Made public, the author and Between the Pages would have been vulnerable to legal action.”
And yet, Edmond thought Kurt deserved the promotion. Given his dealings with Naomi’s father, he may have suspected Naomi had framed Kurt. Yet he still fired him… Though it seemed he liked to remember Kurt leaving of his own initiative. Maybe that was Edmond’s dementia at work.
“When did this happen exactly?” Trent asked.
“The week before Naomi’s promotion.”
Amanda gave her closing spiel, handed over her card, and she and Trent left. Neither spoke until they were in the car.
She clicked her seat belt into place. “If Wendell suspected Naomi’s promotion was rigged, it’s entirely possible other interns did too.”
“Yep. And this Archer guy has strong motive. Setting him up to get fired? That’s heartless. It’s feasible he was in touch with the remaining interns and hearing about Naomi’s promotion from them set him off—new job or not.”
“Very possible. And Naomi may have set Kurt up because she viewed him as competition. She must not have realized her father was going to secure her promotion.”
“You know if her father never stepped in, we might not even be in this spot. Three women may still be alive.” He glanced over at her.
“I’m trying not to think about that.”
Trent took his phone out and was checking something on it. The clock on the dash told her it was now after five. Their visit with Wendell Barrett had been brief but informative.
“Do you need to cut out for the day?” she asked.
“Not that. Just checking to see if I have any messages. Thought I heard my phone chime. Turns out no texts, but I do have an email. We have access to Felicity Kelley’s cloud storage.”
“Take us to Central. Let’s log in and have a look.”
FORTY-ONE
Amanda and Trent were in his cubicle, and he was logging into Felicity Kelley’s cloud drive. She was sure she held her breath as she waited for the password to be accepted. It turned out she need not have bothered. There was nothing there.
“Son of a…” Trent said. “But it would have been too easy, right? We need a challenge.”
She shook her head. “For once, I’d take easy. We’ve hit a wall with her cloud storage, but we also talked about Felicity keeping backups on separate hard drives. The killer might have taken any drives, but it’s possible she might store a backup drive or sensitive material somewhere secure…?”
“A safe deposit box maybe?”
“Good thinking. We’ll check with Blair and Donnelly on Monday to see if there were any keys that might belong to one, or evidence of any receipts for its rental. There’s no time to sit around sulking about this. We have a lead we can still follow today. That’s if you’re up for it?”
“I’m assuming you’re talking about Kurt Archer. I mean, why not? It’s not like I have someone waiting on me. But what about Logan and Zoe? I’m sure they’re missing you.”
“They are and I them, but they understand I put away bad guys. So, let’s put on our capes and go catch one.” That netted the trace of a smile.
Trent looked Kurt up in the system and scribbled his address on a piece of paper, which he tore off and took with him.
According to his file, Kurt Archer was single and living in Dumfries. They found him in his backyard after knocking on the front door and getting nowhere. Music started up, and they followed the direction of the noise, which took them through a side gate.
“Prince William County PD,” Amanda called out ahead of them, to announce their presence and give them validity for being there.
Three men, all late thirties, topless and deeply tanned, sat around a small patio table. They must have been pounding back beers, given the number of empty bottles kicking around.
