The Lost Key

13

Nicholas kept his hand on Sophie Pearce’s pulse, still fast, but steady. It was a shock, he knew, it was always a horrible shock to have the death of a loved one come swiftly, violently. She’d closed down.

Mike appeared at his elbow with a glass of water. “When she comes out of it, we’ll give her some water. I doubt it will help, but it’s something.”

He set the glass of water on a side table and rose. “I think she knows who EP is. Try to get her to tell you when she gets herself back together. I need to get the ETA of the crime scene techs. I’ll be right back.”

“Nicholas, be sure to tell them someone else accessed the hard drive before you did. I’m betting Mr. Olympic was here and he did it.”

“I agree, but he didn’t find the SD card and I’ll bet it was the key to access the good stuff on Mr. Pearce’s computer. I’ll try to find the origins of all those files, see what they have to tell us.” He looked again at Sophia Pearce, moaning now, her eyes fluttering open.

He said abruptly, “I need time to sort everything. I’ve never seen anything like this.”

“Listen up, Nicholas. You don’t have to do everything alone. We’re all in this together, you and me and Zachery and Louisa and Ben, plus I’ve asked Gray Wharton to be attached to the investigation, you know how good he is. You’re now a part of a big team. No more carrying the world’s weight on your shoulders.”

Sophie Pearce opened her eyes. “I heard you talking about my father’s computer. What was on it?”

Mike handed her the water and watched her drink, then set the glass back on the table.

“Please, talk to me. Tell me what you’ve found. None of it makes sense to me.”

Mike said, “I know this is a shock, Miss Pearce. We’ll go slow, one step at a time. Now, when you say the store, you’re talking about his bookstore, Ariston’s?”

“That’s right.” She was getting a little color back, though she was still too pale. Mike helped her sit up, and introduced herself and Nicholas again, waving toward Nicholas, who was speaking on his cell in the entryway. “My father is an antiquarian, one of the best in the field. Ariston’s is renowned for rare books. He has a worldwide network.”

“So he’s very successful.”

“Oh, yes, he has a gift for this, always has. Agent Caine, I don’t understand, who would kill him? He didn’t have any enemies. Everyone loved him.”

Nicholas stepped back into the living room. “We don’t think it was premeditated, Ms. Pearce. You know as well as I do that enemies can be seen and unseen. As your father was a preeminent businessman in an esoteric field, he surely had rivals, people he upset when he bested them. My grandfather’s a bit of a collector; I know how cutthroat the auctions can get.”

Sophie nodded. “So you understand, then. It’s such a small field. He had rivals, certainly. But enemies? No. Not my dad. No way.” She sat straighter. “Now tell me again how he was killed. You said a man stabbed him?”

Rather than answer her, Nicholas asked her again, “Tell us who EP is.”

He was looking closely this time and he saw it again, a flash of knowledge in her pale eyes, then it was gone. She didn’t look at them, didn’t say anything, simply shook her head.

Mike said, “Your father was stabbed on the street after an argument with another man. As he died, your father said to the man who stabbed him, ‘The key is in the lock.’ Does that mean anything to you?”

“The what?”

“The key is in the lock.”

“No, I don’t know.” Nicholas saw nothing in her eyes, no clue to give away that she knew what this meant.

“Could it have been a robbery?”

Nicholas said, “No, Miss Pearce—”

“Sophie, please.”

“Sophie. No, he wasn’t mugged. He had his phone and his wallet on him when he was found, and nothing appears to be missing.”

Quick as a whip, she faced them again. “You said you found something on my father’s computer. What was it?”

14

This was interesting. Nicholas gestured toward the office. “I’ll show you, and you can tell me what you think your father may have been involved in.”

He walked down the hall to the library, Sophie behind him. She hesitated for a moment at the door. He could have sworn she sca

“Everything all right?” he asked.

She gave a short jerk of her head.

“What do you do, Sophie?”

“I’m a translator at the UN. I specialize in Asian policy and economics,” she said, as she stepped into her father’s office. He watched her look around, swallow, then cross her arms over her chest, steeling herself. “Show me.”

Nicholas thought, Be careful now, no reason to give it all to her, since for whatever reason she’s not being straightforward with us. He leaned down and hit a couple keys and brought up the schematic of a satellite.

“Do you know what this is?”

“It looks like a satellite.”

“Correct. The problem is, this isn’t just any satellite. This is a high-tech LEO-synchronous spy satellite, one the military will be using. Not to mention it bolsters the NSA’s ability to listen in to pretty much any conversation it wants in the Northern Hemisphere.”

“Um, English, please, Agent Drummond?”

“LEO, short for low-earth orbit. It’s where most spy satellites are placed.” He clicked a few times. The image was of another satellite, similar to the first, but with a few changes.

“This particular satellite hasn’t been launched yet; it’s still under development. Classified development, on a classified military project, on a classified server owned by a very big aerospace firm, who will be quite displeased when they find out the plans for their super-secret spy satellite are residing in the computer of an antiquarian in Manhattan.”

He stood straighter, to intimidate, and said very quietly, the threat clear in his voice, “Would you like to tell me what your father is doing with classified material on this SD card?”

Sophie Pearce smiled for the first time, not much of one, but still a smile. “It’s not what you think, Agent Drummond. My father’s not a criminal, he’s an expert in military history. He has friends who perhaps share things they shouldn’t, because he’s known for his discretion. He could write a book with all the stuff people send him.”

“You’re telling me his friends send him classified material that could be used against the United States if it were to be discovered by the wrong people?”

Narrowed eyes replaced the smile. “Yes. What are you implying?”

“I’m saying a civilian having access to these plans violates hundreds of laws. And the friend you speak of, the one who e-mailed these plans? He masked the e-mail address, bouncing it through about forty servers all over the world, so it’s virtually untraceable.”

He stopped, reached down and clicked the mouse, closing the image on the screen. That was enough for now—the satellite image didn’t even scratch the surface of what Nicholas had seen, but she didn’t need to know that.

“My father would never do anything to hurt this country.”

Mike paused in the doorway, listening. She saw Nicholas was towering over Sophie, but Sophie hadn’t moved. She looked mad, ready to square off with him. Mike had the distinct impression Sophie Pearce was more than the sum of her parts. Like the Fox, she thought, who’d very nearly brought them down, Sophie had that same feel to her—softness covering steel. She knew more than she was saying, a lot more. How to make her level with them?

Mike stepped into the office. “Excuse me. Nicholas, can I speak with you a moment?”

He shot her a look, nodded. Mike said to Sophie, “Do you have other family here in town? Someone who can come be with you?”