“The man. Who was he?”

“I don’t know.” She blinks. “He introduced himself as a grad student and gave me a name, but I doubt it was a real name. The police are looking into it.”

“He got away?” There’s no one sitting in the police cars.

“He did. The campus police didn’t follow him. The cops arrived after he’d left the building.”

“There’s security footage?”

“Yes. One of the officers mentioned they would be checking it. The moment I saw him in the stairwell, I knew I couldn’t trust him. He had an aggressive stance.” She exhales. “And I knew it couldn’t be a coincidence that the elevators stopped working.”

“The elevators stopped?”

One of the policer officers, a Black female, mid-thirties, about five foot five, answers my question. “Electrical to the elevators was cut. Campus police said it looked like an amateur job. Also, if someone had been in them, it would have been an immediate emergency.”

“Do you have video of inside the elevators?”

“The university does,” she says. “We’ll be checking it.”

“If these are the same guys we’ve been dealing with, they’ve already deleted any footage that will give anything away.”

“You think you know who it is?” She positions herself directly in front of me, hands on her hips, elbows out to the side.

“I don’t know who the individual is. But I think I know the group. If you don’t find anything on the video, then we’re dealing with the same people.”

CHAPTER 27

Alex

“Yes, I’m okay. I promise.”

“There’s a flight out in the morning.”

“Dad, it’s not necessary. I’m okay. And I’m safe.”

Ryan sits beside me, his gaze never leaving me, scanning me from head to foot, in the same way he’s been doing since the incident at school. He insisted we pick up Trace and spend the night at his place. He says because of its location, it’s more secure than my standalone house that can be approached from any angle. He also placed a security guard at the base of the steps to his condo, an action I disagreed with, but he refused to budge, so I dropped it.

“Do you know why someone would target you?”

“The only thing I can figure is they think I know something. But we really don’t have any information the FBI doesn’t possess.”

“To your knowledge,” my dad emphasizes. “You know, typically, if an investigator is attacked, it’s at the crime scene. That’s why police officers guard crime scenes. In case a perpetrator returns to remove evidence.”

“I think they are trying to eliminate loose ends. Larry Reyes could clearly connect us to the persons involved, and they eliminated him.”

“Did you meet with him?”

“No. We didn’t get a chance. The FBI didn’t get to meet with him either. He lawyered up immediately, and the lawyer he hired was from Texas. By the time his lawyer arrived in California, Larry was dead.” The tea kettle whistles and Ryan heads into the kitchen.