Page 70 of The Deadly Shallows

Noah gaped. “Five million?”

“Worth five million then. In today’s market . . . depending on the company they were traded through . . .” Logan said. “Okay, here it is, Alatheum.”

“That’s it,” Brooke said.

“In today’s market”—Logan’s fingers danced over his laptop keys—“that would be the equivalent of fifty-five million dollars.”

“Fifty-five million?” Mason said, his jaw slack.

Noah shifted in his seat. The amount was incredible, but it was more prudent to stick with Brooke’s personal knowledge of the investigation. “Brooke,” he said, “what do you remember about Scott and these three instructors?”

“Early on in the investigation all the evidence pointed to Scott, but the reason the prosecutor claimed Scott committed the crime was sad.”

“What was the reason?” Noah asked.

“Something about Scott believing the military betrayed his dad.”

Noah frowned. “Any idea why he’d think that?”

“Sorry,” she said with a shrug. “It’s been some time. And if I remember right, that was just a news blip I caught from the trial’s news coverage.”

“You didn’t attend the trial?”

“No.” She shook her head. “Scott and I weren’t close. We shared lunch in the mess hall between classes now and again as we had a mutual friend. He seemed like a nice kid, though.”

“Kid?” Noah arched a brow.

“Very early twenties, at most. I think he entered the Guard right out of high school.”

Logan walked up to the whiteboard and tapped on the picture of the three bodies in the meeting room. “You said these three guys were implicated?”

“Yeah. When they arrested Scott, he plea-bargained, naming his coconspirators—Talbot, Ford, and Sydell.”

“So they went to trial?” Rissi asked.

“No, but I believed Scott was telling the truth about their involvement.”

Before Noah could ask why, Logan began. “It says here that Scott insisted these guys helped him hack into the military’s black box and steal the cryptocurrency.” Logan’s gaze raced back and forth across his laptop screen.

“Did Scott ever claim he was innocent of the crime?” Mason asked.

“No. Just that he didn’t do it alone,” Brooke said. “Which is a big part of why I believed him. He wasn’t trying to play innocent for something he did, and the three instructors had an interesting alibi.”

“Which was?” Noah asked.

“Something about a group hangout with their wives.”

Logan frowned. “So they claimed to be each other’s alibi?”

“And their wives,” Brooke added. “The kicker for me was when our mutual friend, Jack, talked about it as we continued having lunch together most days. He was an IT C-School student as well. He was convinced it had to be more than a one-man job.”

“Is Jack still on base?” Noah asked. “I’d like to have a chat with him.”

Brooke shook her head. “He mustered out when his reenlistment was up. I haven’t seen him for years.”

“Em,” he said. “See if you can track Jack . . . ?”

“Milhorn,” Brooke supplied his last name. “I heard he settled in one of North Carolina’s beach towns but no clue which.”