“This key was found in the teddy bear given to Nina Suzette Novak, born Nina Marie Singer, by her parents before they went missing. The engraving on the key led us here.”
I inserted the key into the lock, turned it right, knowing it wouldn’t work.God, I fucking hate lying. I turned the key to the left, wiggled it until I heard the click.
I pulled the door wide open and choked on the dust rushing out. G and Jack moved closer and filmed the contents before I touched anything.
“Your tails are impatient. They’re pacing the sidewalk now.”
We couldn’t respond to AJ, but we all knew his words meant it was only a matter of time before they came inside.
I pulled on blue latex gloves.
“The locker contains a small cedar jewelry box,” Picking it up, disturbing as little dust as possible, I opened it for the camera. There was a tangle of jewelry inside, but nothing looked valuable.
And nothing to ID’d the Singers.
We were short on time, so instead of examining the contents, I carefully tilted the box. The jewelry shifted, revealing a photo hidden beneath.
I blinked twice to make sure I wasn’t conjuring the image I wanted to see.
The Singers, at their wedding.
Schooling my features for the camera, I said in as dull a tone as I could muster, “The image inside appears to be a wedding photo of CIA Officers Travis and Melissa Singer.”
I closed the box and handed it to Gibson.
I pulled out the remaining items, describing them as I did. “A five by seven red journal, and three legal-sized, sealed manilla envelopes.” I turned them so the cameras could record the front and back of each before handing them to G. “We’ll open them at the office.”
I didn’t say which office.
G and Jack gave me the thumbs up when they’d stopped recording.
“Let’s get out of here.”
We shoved everything into Jack’s backpack, sent him downstairs and out the back door while G and I went back to the manager’s office and asked to buy some supplies.
“What kind?”
It literally didn’t matter.
“Whatever you have.”
His eyebrow raised and pointed. The room adjacent to the office reminded me of pantries in hotel lobbies.
“We have basic travel supplies, hygiene items, and snacks.”
G and I grabbed a random selection, making sure not to deplete any one item.
“What do we owe you?”
“They’re headed your way,” AJ warned.
G and I emptied our wallets, not caring that we overpaid by a ridiculous amount. “Keep the change,” G said as we crammed our bags and hoisted them over our shoulders.
We loosened the straps so they’d slip off easily if pulled. The last thing we wanted was to trip and fall when they yanked on our bags.
“Exiting now,” I updated AJ.
“We’re on the move,” Jack said, confirming he’d gotten away clean.
