“What exactly is that supposed to mean?”
Marcus didn’t answer.
He pointed at the device beneath his car.
Richard looked down.
For half a second, his face changed.
Shock.
Recognition.
Fear.
Then it vanished.
But Marcus caught it.
“Do you recognize it?” Marcus asked.
“No.”
“You looked like you did.”
“I said no.”
Evelyn suddenly found her confidence again.
“You see?” she said to Hayes. “This man has been harassing me for weeks.”
Marcus slowly turned toward her.
“Weeks?”
“Yes.”
“That’s strange.”
Marcus removed his phone again.
“I returned from Denver three days ago.”
Richard looked at Evelyn.
She avoided his eyes.
Marcus continued.
“And according to building access records, Evelyn entered this garage eleven times while I was out of state.”
Hayes frowned.
“Why?”
“That’s what I’ve been investigating.”
Richard stepped forward.
“This conversation is over.”
“No,” Marcus said.
“It isn’t.”
Richard’s voice dropped.
“You work for this company, Marcus.”
Marcus nodded.
“Exactly.”
“You answer to senior leadership.”
“I answer to the board’s independent audit committee on internal investigations.”
Richard’s face tightened.
“And three weeks ago, that committee authorized an investigation into unauthorized access to restricted company servers.”
Evelyn stared at him.
Marcus continued.
“Someone has been entering the executive floor after midnight.”
Richard said nothing.
“Someone copied confidential defense-contract files.”
Still nothing.
“Someone also deleted eighteen minutes of security footage from this garage last Thursday.”
Evelyn’s eyes shifted toward Richard.
It lasted barely a second.
But Marcus saw it.
“So I restored the backup.”
Richard’s composure cracked.
“You did what?”
There it was.
Marcus smiled faintly.
“I restored the backup.”
The garage suddenly felt colder.
Hayes glanced between them.
“What was on it?”
Marcus looked directly at Richard.
“Your sister.”
Evelyn went still.
“Meeting someone.”
Richard’s face hardened.
“Who?”
“I didn’t recognize him.”
Marcus paused.
“But maybe you will.”
He opened another video.
The footage was grainy but clear enough.
11:47 P.M.
Evelyn entered the garage.
A silver SUV pulled into a blind corner near the maintenance corridor.
A man stepped out.
Baseball cap.
Dark jacket.
Evelyn handed him a large envelope.
The man gave her something in return.
A small black case.
The exact shape of the device now attached beneath Marcus’s car.
Hayes looked at Evelyn.
“Who is he?”
“I don’t know.”
“You met him in an empty garage at midnight.”
“He asked for directions.”
Marcus almost laughed.
“With an envelope?”
Nobody spoke.
Then Hayes’s radio crackled.
“Unit en route. Bomb squad notified.”
Evelyn suddenly panicked.
“Bomb squad?”
Hayes nodded toward the device.
“Until we know what that is, nobody touches it.”
“It isn’t a bomb!”
The words echoed across the concrete walls.
Marcus stared at her.
Hayes slowly lowered his radio.
Richard closed his eyes.
Evelyn realized what she had just admitted.
Hayes stepped closer.
“So you do know what it is.”
Evelyn’s hands began shaking.
“I…”
Richard interrupted.
“She’s upset.”
“Stay out of this,” Hayes said.
Richard’s voice hardened.
“You have no idea who you’re speaking to.”
Hayes stared at him.
“I know exactly who I’m speaking to.”
Marcus watched Richard carefully.
Something about the man’s reaction bothered him.
Richard wasn’t worried about Evelyn being arrested.
He was worried about the device being examined.
That meant whatever was under Marcus’s car mattered more than his sister.
Marcus looked again toward the black case.
A thought struck him.
“What if it isn’t a tracker?”
Hayes glanced over.
“What?”
Marcus stepped closer to the vehicle without touching it.
“I assumed she wanted to track me.”
Evelyn’s face tightened.
“But she already knew where I worked.”
Marcus looked at Richard.
“She already knew my schedule.”
Richard said nothing.
“She didn’t need GPS.”
Marcus’s eyes returned to the device.
“So what does that thing actually do?”
Richard suddenly pulled out his phone.
Hayes raised a hand.
“Put the phone away.”
“I’m calling our attorney.”