“Are we done with this goose chase?” said Heather staring at her partner, “Because while you were on the phone about Garicelli, I got a message that the commissioner’s office wants us to come in to do a briefing.”

“I’m done with it,” said Daryl, adjusting his mask and heading towards the fire door to go down the back stairs. Walking behind her partner, when the gray metal door swung open into the lobby, Heather spotted Zoe and Sean standing by the front desk. She tried to pull Daryl back into the stairwell, but it was too late. Zoe had already seen them.

“Detectives,” Zoe shouted with wild eyes, a broad smile and an exaggerated wave as she ran over to them. “We came here to see you.”

Trapped, the two detectives moved over to the row of wooden chairs for a brief powwow. Detective Williams quickly explained that there were no matches on the employee list from Thayer and Co.

“But that’s impossible. I know that woman works there, I just know it. What do we do now?” said Zoe, a frantic look creeping into her eyes.

“We,” said Heather making air quotes, “don’t do anything. You need to leave the investigating to us.”

“But—” said Zoe.

“There’s not much more we can do given the limited information,” said Daryl. “Unless you have something else for us to go on—”

“We do, actually,” said Sean stepping forward. “That Blue Crest Financial tote bag the masked woman was carrying. We found out that specific design was only given to employees.”

“Do you have any idea how many employees Blue Crest has in the New York area?” said Heather, obviously annoyed. “Thousands, maybe tens of thousands.”

“Oh,” said Zoe, tears welling up in her eyes. “We thought it was a really good clue.”

Daryl Williams cleared his throat, signaling his partner to dial it down. “Ms. Brandt, I’ll give the Thayer and Co list another pass tonight, but no promises.”

32

Sr. Bello considered himself a confident man, comfortable in his own skin, someone who almost always did the right thing. He didn’t cut corners, cheat on his taxes or use bad language—at least not too often. His life was neat and orderly. He had a nice wife, a beautiful home, a solid job where he was well respected by his colleagues. He paid the majority of his bills on time and even remembered to send a birthday card to his mother once a year. In short, he had everything a man could want—or so he had thought until the day he met Gabriela.