AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Nolan rolled his eyes. “Let’s go upstairs.”
Will followed him up the narrow staircase where they emerged directly onto a narrow hall. Nolan turned into the first bedroom.
“I’ll check the next one,” Will said.
Nolan made the rounds of the first room, which looked to be an unused guest room with a bed, two nightstands, and a dresser. A vase of dusty fake flowers sat on the dresser, reflected in its mirror.
After a check of the drawers, empty except for a Bible in one of the nightstands, just like in a hotel room, he felt under the mattress and looked in the closet. When he didn’t find anything, he stepped back into the hall, careful to leave the door to the guest room open as far as he’d found it.
He passed the bathroom, deciding to save it for last and try the final bedroom instead, an impulse that paid off when he opened the door and saw that it was obviously used as an office. But it wasn’t the desk sitting against the wall or the papers scattered across its surface that got his attention: it was the laptop sitting on the desk.
“What the fuck…?”
“What’s up?” Will whispered behind him.
Nolan advanced into the room. “I guess Seamus isn’t the Luddite we thought he was.”
“You have got to be kidding,” Will said, looking at the computer.
Nolan opened the laptop. It was 6:31 p.m. They had maybe until 7:30.
Maybe.
“Take a look around for the envelopes,” Nolan said. “If they’re here, take pictures of the names and put them back where you found them.”
“We could just take the computer,” Will suggested.
“That would bring way too much heat.” Nolan removed his wallet from his jeans and dug out the flash drive Christophe had given him weeks earlier. “I have a better idea.”
“What the feck is that?” Will asked.
“Flash drive.” Nolan slipped it into the computer’s USB port.
Will stared at him. “You want to tell me what you’re doing carrying around a flash drive?”
“No.” Nolan looked at the cursor on the password screen. “Any guesses?”
“The Cat? Black Cat? Cat?” He looked pissed, probably about Nolan’s answer to his question about the flash drive, but Nolan couldn’t worry about that right now.
Nolan thought about it. No one called the Black Cat anything but the Cat. He typed it into the box and a low thunk sounded from the computer to let him know he was wrong.
“That’s not it.”
“Shite,” Will said. “The Playpen? Playpen?”
Nolan tried it. “That’s not it either. We’ve probably got one more shot before we’re locked out for awhile. Any more ideas?”
“Nothing I’d bet the ranch on.”
Nolan looked around the office, willing his mind to think like Seamus’s. His gaze came to rest on the only photograph in the room, a faded picture of a young man with his arm around a beautiful bride. She was looking up at him with adoration, his face proud as he gazed into her eyes.
He started typing before he could change his mind: AGNES.
If it didn’t work, he’d take the fucking computer and deal with the fallout.
The computer opened. “Bingo.”
Will sighed, obviously relieved. He looked at the flash drive plugged into the computer. “How long will that take?”
