Moving quickly, I headed for the door, hoping it was now unlocked, holding my breath until the very moment I pushed through the glass and stepped out into the hall. I rode down to the lobby like a woman who’d just narrowly missed getting creamed by a garbage truck. I felt a little rattled, yet euphoric, as though I’d teetered on the edge of a cliff and lived to tell about it. It was then that I glanced up and saw the security camera staring back at me. Neither of us blinked. I assumed it was operational and not there simply for show, which meant I was being recorded. Funny, I hadn’t bothered to look for it on my way up.

Building security would have the date and time of my arrival and departure duly time-stamped. Resigned, I offered the camera a weak smile. The kind a naughty four-year-old might give her mother after tracking mud all over the living room carpet. What else could I do? Spada would know he’d had an after-hours visitor. He’d call building security, they’d pull the tape, and there I’d be. When the elevator hit the lobby, I strolled through it and out into the night. I’d just have to wait to see which one of us made it to prison first.

Chapter 36

Chapter 36

“It’s him,” I said, sliding the clipping across my desk to Ben.

He eyed it and frowned. “Maybe, but we’ll get back to that. What did you just tell me?”

I’d just relayed the evening’s events: Spada’s Glock, the files, the Polish women, and, of course, the security camera. It might have been that final detail that made him blanch. I swiveled my chair around to my computer and began transferring the photos I’d taken at Spada’s so I could print them out. “I’ll admit, it wasn’t an ideal situation, but I left the place exactly as I found it . . . more or less.”

His brows raised. “‘More or less’?”

“Maybe a few picklock scratches . . . and the file, but before you start carping about it, Stella Symonds is a potential murder victim. Now that Darby’s gone, Spada could very well hire somebody else to take her out. And ID’ing Darby at Langham’s place lays that so-called accident right at Spada’s feet.” I smiled. “I’ve closed the loop.”

He looked as though someone had Tased him, his eyes glassy, blank, with a faraway look in them. “That’s unlawful entry and destruction of private property.”

I frowned. “You’re still on that? Haven’t you heard a word I just said? Technically, maybe, but I don’t think Spada’s going to push back on it, do you? He’s got bigger worries than that. I’m thinking about the greater good here, and I’m going to see Marta right now to discuss the whole thing.”