Chapter 47

chapter

forty-seven

Gage listened to the conversation with interest.

Whatever had happened to Nia had happened to Cormac as well . . .

He hoped that with more questions and digging they’d be able to find some type of commonality to give them answers. Something very strange was going on here.

“We’re trying to put together the timeline of what happened to Rob before he died,” Gage told Cormac. “We understand you were there with Rob when he had a change of heart about this deal he’d made with The Anderson Group. Could you tell us about that?”

Cormac shook his head then ran a hand through his red hair, leaving the coarse strands standing on end. “I wish I could. I knew Rob had a meeting with The Anderson Group. He asked me to meet him afterward at his place because he wanted to work out a few kinks in the program. I was waiting for him when he got back to his apartment after his meeting with you. He seemed upset but didn’t explain why. We fiddled with the program for a few minutes. After that, everything is blank.”

“For how long?” Nia stared at Cormac from her position on the couch.

“I don’t remember anything else until about eleven o’clock that night,” Cormac continued. “I was sitting on the couch in my house trying to figure out what had just happened. I was so confused. How had I lost hours of my time? Later I got the text saying I needed to go to Rob’s. I tried to call him first, but he didn’t answer. I thought it was weird. Then I got there and . . .”

He didn’t have to finish.

Nia leaned closer. “Cormac, I’m missing big chunks of time too, and I’m trying to figure out why. Do you have any ideas?”

Nia watched as Cormac tugged at his collar, sweat still pouring from him.

“Earlier in the week, Rob said he thought he’d discovered something new,” Cormac started. “He didn’t tell me what.”

“Was it some kind of tech?” Nia felt desperate for more information—even if it might seem insignificant to Cormac.

“He honestly didn’t say. But I know he was playing with some other ideas. He was brilliant and creative, and he always liked to explore these different ideas. Besides, I’m not sure how tech would have caused a memory lapse. I wondered if it was something else entirely.”

“Like maybe a serum?” Nia asked. “Something that could have been put in our drinks?”

Cormac’s face went paler. “I do remember having a drink while I was there. It didn’t taste strange or anything.”

“If we wanted to find out more on whatever Rob was working on, how could we do that?” Gage asked.

“I’m glad you brought that up,” Cormac said. “Because when Rob bought that apartment, one of the reasons he picked it wasn’t just the view. It has a safe room.”

“A safe room?” Nia hadn’t been expecting to hear that.

“Yeah, you know like the ones people have in case someone breaks into their house and they need to hide.”

“I mean, I know what a safe room is.” Nia made sure to keep her voice gentle and not snappy. “But what does that have to do with all of this?”

“As soon as Rob saw the place, he knew exactly what he wanted to use it for. He wanted to set up a space to keep his ideas safe.”

“Kind of like the cyber key he developed?” Nia licked her lips after asking the question, knowing she could be treading on dangerous ground.

Cormac nodded.

“You don’t know where he kept information on this key, do you?” Gage asked.

“No, he was private about it. But I’m sure he wrote it down somewhere, just in case. I told him he should patent it. Really, the technology he developed for it was brilliant.”

“You said he had some type of workshop or office in that safe room?” Nia clarified.

Cormac nodded. “Exactly. No one knows about it. He even had the realtor erase any mentions of it from the archived listings.”

Nia and Gage exchanged a look.

“Where is it in the apartment?” Gage asked.

“You have to go through the closet in his master bedroom,” Cormac said. “If you move some boxes, you’ll find a door there. But you need a code to get in.”

“Do you know what that code is?” Nia asked.

Cormac nodded. “As a matter of fact, I do.”

Nia sucked in a breath.

Maybe this was just the lead they’d been searching for.