Chapter 38

Hez groaned and leaned back in his chair.

Simon looked up from his phone. "Is something wrong, Uncle Hez?"

Hez gestured at the monitor on his desk. "They somehow got into my computer and deleted everything I had on your mom's case, plus a bunch of other stuff."

"Does your phone unlock with facial recognition?"

"Yes."

"Do you have remote access for your computer?"

"Yes."

"And you let your phone remember your passwords?"

"Yes."

"Yep." Hez nodded slowly as he thought it through. "You're a smart kid, Simon."

Hez chuckled. "She must've been furious."

Simon looked at his shoes. "I just... I want to help."

"Which is the exact opposite of what you did yesterday. Aunt Savannah said you'd be the death of her, and that was almost literally true last night. I'm surprised any of us woke up this morning."

Simon's reply was barely audible. "I know."

The pieces finally fell into place. He sighed and turned to Simon. "I know why we're alive, kid."

Simon frowned up at him. "What do you mean?"

"Beckett and his friends didn't have to kill us to keep us quiet. All they needed to do was get rid of the evidence we'd discovered. Once they did that, killing us would have been counterproductive because it would have gotten the police involved, and honest officers might have been assigned to the case. As things stand now, all we have is a wild and completely unprovable story. After last night, we don't have a single shred of evidence that Beckett, your dad, or any of their friends broke a single law. It was the perfect crime."

***

What would Hez say if she told him she'd changed her mind? And how did she even bring it up?

"How did you know where I was?" When his lips tilted in a smirk, she fisted her hands. "What? You were watching me?"

"The campus has cameras all over, Savannah. It wasn't hard to figure out your location. It never is."

"You don't need to threaten me."

Cold fear shuddered down her back. "Simon has nothing to do with what is going on at the university."

On that, at least, she could wholeheartedly agree. "Absolutely not!"

"Good. And you and Hez will leave things to me."

"I understand." But she refused to say they would stop. She couldn't—not while Jess was in jail.

"Does Hez?"

"I'll make sure he knows your demands."

Beckett's smarmy fake concern made her skin crawl. "I'm leaving shortly too."

When he disappeared down the steeper slope, she exhaled and started that direction too. There had to be some way to find the truth without putting her nephew in danger. Jess was facing a conviction for two charges of capital murder, and Savannah's greatest fear was that her sister would be sentenced to death. Maybe Hez would have an idea how to get Jess released. Once that happened, Savannah could whisk her and Simon out of Beckett's reach and get to the bottom of what was going on here.

***

He lifted his foot to crush the little spy, then stopped. Even if he was able to find and destroy every single bug, Beckett and his minions would just install new ones and hide them better. Or they might conclude that Hez and Savannah were continuing to investigate despite Beckett's warning and simply kill them.

The phone was probably bugged, so Hez chose his words carefully. "Is the blood his?"

"I'm waiting on DNA results. I'll send you a copy as soon as I have them."

Hez winced at the mention of the package. That was the last thing he wanted Beckett to hear. He had to do some fast damage control and get her off the phone. "There won't be a package. Sorry. I, uh, misplaced the materials I was going to send you."

Surprise and disappointment mixed in her voice. "You did?"

"Yeah, I did. Hey, I'd love to chat, but it's been a rough couple of days and I was just about to head out for a run."

She'd picked up on his hint. "That would be great. I'll meet you in half an hour outside your office."