“What’s that have to do with us?” Keegan still looked at his phone.

For an instant Holland imagined grabbing Keegan’s phone and snapping it in half. “We believe two individuals associated with this company were involved in the homicide.”

Keegan looked up, smiling. “Really? I’m sorry, officers, but this is a sixty-million-dollar startup. We’re building a new tool for search engines, and our first major launch is in three weeks. The people out there are working twenty-four seven and don’t have time to—”

Rivas removed from his folder a piece of paper bearing the company’s logo. He slid it across the table. “Elise Durand, our victim, designed this.”

Keegan glanced at the logo. “I’m not involved with marketing collateral. I work mostly with the teams writing code. You’d have to speak with—”

Holland leaned forward. “Let’s keep it simple. We just need to locate the two men.”

“Who are they? We have many employees from the North Bay.”

Rivas took out the photo of the three men in Spring Lake Park. “We’re trying to identify these men. We believe two of them are Benjamin Thackrey and Victor Banerjee. The third is an Asian male.”

Keegan whistled. “Benjamin Thackrey?”

“You know him?” Rivas asked.

“Obviously. Guy’s a legend. But Ben Thackrey wouldn’t be involved in this.”

Rivas suddenly saw how out of place the black-and-white homicide photos were on the table of this brightly lit conference room. What did the couple across from him, or the people in the workspace beyond, know about murder? Their lives and their busyness were based on the illusion that they weren’t inches away from a stranger reaching out and taking their life.

Keegan pulled the photo close. His face paled. “It’s a little difficult to see anything in this picture.”

“So you don’t recognize them?”

“I didn’t say that. What’s that…thing?”

“That thing is the body of Elise Durand,” Rivas said.

Keegan shoved the photo to Palmer. He held up his hands. “Look, guys. I don’t mean to sound uncooperative. But in the digital age, privacy is the new frontier. And this company has a commitment to preserving the privacy of employees and customers. It’s right here in our original mission statement.” Keegan ran a finger across his phone screen and held it toward Holland. “Third bullet. Commitment to ensuring the privacy of personnel and users.”

Palmer straightened in her chair. “I think what Josh is saying is, this company requires a subpoena before revealing any information about its principals, staff, or investors.”

Holland smiled. “A subpoena?” He gathered the photo and the logo and put them back in Rivas’s folder.

“That’s correct. It’s standard administrative procedure in circumstances such as this. You’ll find the same thing at other companies.”