Page 63 of Life

He chuckles softly and leads us into the Batcave command center.

A pimply-faced kid with messy curly hair and a pair of Clark Kent-style glasses turns around as though he’s a god in the high-back chair made to fit Elijah’s two-hundred-and-forty-pound bulk. This kid is at best a buck forty sopping wet. He grins when he sees the crowd of people. Then his lips flatten when he looks at the imposing stances of Austin, Jack, and Chase, all of whom are wearing black suits.

“What’s up with the men in black?” He hooks a thumb toward the men but looks to Eli.

I bite my lip so hard a drop of blood hits my tongue.

Do not laugh. Do not laugh. These people are here to help you.

“Friends of ours.”

Scooter crosses his spindly arms. “I need more info than that, Red. I’m not going down for your new girlfriend.”

Eli glowers at his young employee before turning around. He points to Chase first. “Billionaire Chase Davis, husband to Maria’s best friend Gillian.”

Gigi waves. “Nice to meet you, uh, Scooter.”

Then he points to Jack. “Jack Porter, ex-military, bodyguard to Mr. Davis. Austin Campbell, ex-military, bodyguard to Mrs. Davis.”

“Why do you two need a bodyguard apiece? To guard all your billions?” The kid’s attempt at humor falls flat in a room filled with testosterone-driven alpha males.

By this point, Eli’s lost it. He roars, “Get to the goddamned information, Scooter!”

The kid fumbles, pushes his glasses up his nose, and spins around to face the wall of monitors. “Okay, so I’ve been looking into Antonio’s alibi. Since you seem certain it’s him, I’ve been trying to find a way to prove he was, in fact, there.”

He points to monitor number one. “I’ve tapped into the street cams from the Department of Transportation. There you see the guy in a uniform wearing a hat.”

I squint to get a closer look, but it definitely looks like Antonio with a bit more bulk than a dancer’s body usually has and a tad longer hair.

“He enters the building from the side stairwell. Someone lets him in. All I can see is an arm holding the door open. That means the security team or someone who works in that building is helping our suspect,” Scooter adds.

I glance over at Chase. His lips go into a flat line, and that jaw tic thing pops up. His nostrils flare as he inhales loudly, his eyes focused on the monitor. Gillian grasps Chase’s hand, giving her own form of silent support. “I want the traitor found. I promise the tenants in my building a safe and secure environment, and they pay for the extra security. Jack…”

“I’ll handle it after this meeting,” he says with absolutely zero emotion. I wonder if he even has a heart.

“But that’s not all.” Scooter’s voice is chipper, as if he’s recently eaten a king-size bag of M&M’s and washed it down with a Red Bull. His fingers hit the keyboard, flying across so fast I can barely see them moving. “Check monitors two, three, and four.”

Eli furrows his brow and steps closer. “What am I looking at?”

Scooter points to the grainy images in black and white. It looks like a warehouse with boxes and pallets. Every so often, a pallet truck zips by carrying a load.

“I’ve tapped into the cameras we installed at Antonio’s workplace and cross-checked the time and day of the burglary with when his two coworkers claim he was at work. As you can see in these images, from multiple angles, he wasn’t there.”

“Wait, you said the cameras we installed?” I ask. A zap of worry prickles against the tiny hairs on the back of my neck.

Eli doesn’t take his eyes off the images. “When I went to visit him that first time, I had another member of my team install video bugs. They don’t pick up sound, but I wanted to keep an eye on him.”

“Well then, this proves their alibis were fake! All we have to do is take this to the police and they’ll put him back in the slammer for breaking his parole. Right?” I can’t suppress my excitement. I almost want to do a jig, or at the very least, a congratulatory booty shake, but the silence surrounding me cuts off any joy I’m feeling.

None of the men say a word.

“Uh, guys, this is what we needed.”

Eli shakes his head and drops it down. “Babe, these videos are not legal. Even if they were the company’s cameras, we still would have hacked them illegally. These videos will not hold up, plus they’ll get me and my guys in trouble for placing them without permission.”

Sadness engulfs me. “This sucks! So basically we’ve got nothing again.”

I turn on my toe and fly out of the room, down the stairs to the kitchen. Gigi follows me, and I’m sure right behind her is Austin.

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