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Pro took another sip. “He had a great technique. If I misbehaved, he would look at me with those puppy-dog eyes of his and say he was disappointed.”
“Oh yes, I remember.”
“That was enough for me. I did everything I could to make sure he wasn’t disappointed.”
Her mother moved past her into the kitchen and began to brew a cup of coffee for herself. “I worried about that sometimes.”
“Why?”
“When you decided to go to the police academy, I was always concerned that you did it just for Joe. I was afraid that it really wasn’t your calling, but you were so focused on Joe being proud of you, that you did it anyway.”
Pro smiled. “You never said anything.”
“I didn’t want to influence your decision either way. I just worried, as mothers do.”
“It was the right choice for me. I like being a cop, and I especially like being a detective. I make a difference.”
“And you always wanted to do that.”
“Besides, my first job choice, fairy princess, was already taken.”
Elisha chuckled. “That’s right. I remember you walking around in that dress every day. We had to pull you out of it to wash it.”
“So I guess cop is my second choice.”
Elisha picked up her mug and sampled the brew. “Besides, fairy princesses don’t get days off. Now, are we gonna go through those emails or what?”
“Might as well get started. I am officially off today, so now would be the time.”
Pro reached into her attaché and extracted the box with Max’s things and the returned printouts. She put it on the table and opened the lid.
“Are those Max’s credit cards and his phone?” Elisha asked.
“Yes, he left them with Sam Lovell for safe keeping. That’s why he didn’t have a wallet or anything on him when he was arrested the second time.”
“Because he knew he was going to escape and wanted them somewhere safe?”
“Best as I can tell,” Pro surmised. “Now here, look through those. I have copies that are already translated.”
Pro pulled out the copies she had made the previous morning and separated them into two piles: ones she had converted and noted the real message and ones she did not.
“I was doing it by date, so let’s go through.”
“Way ahead of you, honey,” Elisha said and began to go from one pile to the other.
“Since I have only one set of codes, you check those, and I’ll translate a new one.”
Elisha nodded, looking from one paper to the other. “The ones from Max are organized by date as well.”
“That doesn’t hurt,” Pro said and pulled out the page where she had written the Houdini and alphanumeric codes.
The pair of them were going through the pages when Elisha noticed something odd. “Wait, if these are organized by date, I have one that is out of order.”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean, you translated the one before it, and the one dated after it, but not this one.” Elisha handed the sheet of paper to Pro.
Pro looked at it. “That is odd. There should be a list of emails by subject line and dates with those papers.”
