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“Trust me,” Bit muttered as he tried to concentrate on the screen in front of him. “You’re better off without a guy like that.”
Sylvie sat up a little straighter and rolled her chair closer to the monitor.
“That’s weird,” she said over the crinkling of the chip bag. She’d folded the top down and then tossed the bag next to one of the keyboards instead of the basket. He winced at the clutter in his workspace. “I didn’t see his name on the list.”
Sylvie quickly picked up one of the tablets that he’d made sure was on the counter for moments like this one. She had accessed the guest list from their files. Another quick glance at the monitor confirmed whose name she was searching for among the invitees.
“Josh Perisot,” Sylvie murmured with interest as Bit went ahead and quickly typed out the new intel. “He’s not on the guest list, and that most definitely isn’t his wife. Their wedding picture had been on the wall near the front door.”
The woman who Josh was now escorting through the entrance was not someone who Bit recognized, so he quickly and efficiently stopped the footage, scanned her face, and then uploaded her photo to his facial recognition software that he might or might not have tapped into the federal database.
He’d learned quickly that being vague was in everyone’s best interest.
“Nora Mallor,” Bit said as he then typed her name into another program that would provide them with basic details until a more thorough background check could be conducted using the proper channels. “Forty-seven years old, divorced, and a neurosurgeon.”
“Well, well, well,” Sylvie said as she continued to monitor the couple. “I wonder if his wife knows that he’s out for a night on the town. See? We can learn some things from these types of events.”
Bit and Sylvie settled back and continued to monitor the cameras for anything that looked out of place. It wasn’t long before she once again had the bag of chips in her hands, eating them one at a time. She’d brought with her a travel mug of hot tea, but she’d finished that hours ago. He’d made sure that there were bottles of water, soda, and even some juice bottles in the mini-fridge. The three side panels of the appliance held his energy drinks.
“Are you…”
“I’m watching, Little T,” Bit said as he rolled his chair closer with interest. He was going to have to buy rolling stools with backrests. He and Sylvie kept having to shift backwards so that they were resting against the other side of the van. “Devin Cranston is currently a mile away from our location. Do you think that he’s driving here?”
Bit had pulled up the text messaging app so that it was positioned in the corner of the monitor. He wanted to be able to send Brook and Theo an alert should Devin decide to crash the event.
“There’s a chance that he isn’t happy with how the hospital board has handled the situation with his father,” Sylvie said as she continued to watch the red dot on another screen inch closer to their location. “Think about it. When Millie accused Dr. Kolsby of murdering someone, the hospital board’s answer was to transfer her out of ICU and basically accuse her of being under too much stress. Dr. Cranston parks near a burial site, and the hospital board cancels his surgeries until such time that it’s determined the police have cleared him of any charges, which hasn’t happened yet. Considering both men hold prominent positions, my guess is that Dr. Kolsby bills more hours with his patients. With his clientele, he’s got to be raking in the money.”
“I’m sure all the press coverage regarding Dr. Kolsby talking that jumper down off the hospital’s roof helped their public image,” Bit said as he relaxed somewhat after monitoring Devin’s position on the screen pass their location. “Kolsby is practically a celebrity.”
Sylvie crunched on another chip.
They would keep observing the locations of everyone to ensure that nothing was missed in the coming hours. As for what was transpiring at the fundraiser, Theo was now speaking with Millie and Kyle, while Brook was engaged in conversation with an older gentleman. She wisely had Dr. Kolsby in her line of sight.
“Did you notice that Gary Heinsel has been watching every move that Brook makes?” Sylvie asked skeptically, if not even with unsettling concern. “It’s downright creepy. It’s obvious that he knows who she is, but why such an odd amount of interest?”
Bit didn’t have to respond to Sylvie’s question, because they both understood the attraction, especially if Heinsel was guilty of murdering a woman. Something had crossed Bit’s mind that he hadn’t brought up in their daily debriefing this morning.
“Hey, Little T?”
“Yeah?” Sylvie finally tossed the empty bag into the small trash bin that he’d secured to the wall of the van next to the refrigerator. She turned to meet his gaze. “Uh-oh. I know that look. Plus, you pushed your hat back. What’s going on in that head of yours, Bit?”
“Have you noticed that Boss hasn’t given us an entire profile?”
“Yes,” Sylvie said, drawing out her answer. “It’s tough. I mean, she was given a suspect before finding the bodies. And we still don’t know how three of the victims died, which is a major part of how Brook drafts her profile.”
“What if Heinsel is working with Kolsby? I mean, what if that’s why Boss is having such a hard time?” Bit proposed hesitantly, accepting that his mind had definitely been warped since working in the private sector of law enforcement. “I’ve said it before, but what if therearetwo killers?”
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Brooklyn Sloane
December 2022
Monday — 9:11pm
“AsIsaid,Ibelieve that we handled the situation appropriately given the circumstances,” Raymond Bonvoy stated matter-of-factly.
The board member had intentionally sought Brook out after hearing that she’d obtained an invitation. After all, he’d handpicked the attendees this evening either based on the balance of their portfolio or what their presence could convey to the media come tomorrow morning. Millie clearly fit in the last category, evident in Dr. Kolsby’s advancement toward the stage. He was still carrying himself rather gingerly from his previous surgery.
