Page 86 of Be Very Quiet

“How long ago?” Reese asked.

“Five, ten minutes.”

“Was he wearing a uniform?” Luca questioned.

“No, casual clothes.”

“What did the guy look like?” Audria asked.

“Short reddish-brown hair, medium build, about five-ten.”

“It sounds like Theo Harvey,” Audria said.

“He wasn’t here when we locked the building down,” Reese noted. “How did he get in?”

“There is a back exit.”

Luca headed down the hall and stopped, noting the empty case that had held the defibrillator.

Audria picked up on it too. “Maybe someone in Rex’s office suffered a heart attack with all the commotion.”

A cop was stationed at the emergency exit. “Did anyone come by here in the last five to ten minutes?” Luca asked.

The woman shook her head. “No. No activity.”

“Christian, Audria, check the other offices.”

They dashed down the hall while Luca opened the door to the storage and laundry room. The scent of fabric softener slapped him in the face as he flicked on the light. Liliana wasn’t inside, but the defibrillator was lying on the ground.

“Luca, look.”

He turned to where Reese was pointing. A filing cabinet had been shoved aside, and a wall panel moved, revealing a hole.

“Clear,” Audria said as she and Christian returned. “Liliana didn’t take her purse or cell phone with her. What the hell?”

“This has to be how the killer brought Shonda inside.” Luca had a sick feeling as he crouched down and crawled through the opening. He stood and looked around the storage room of Rex Raines’s real estate office.

“Oh, damn.”

Luca turned to see Christian holding up a watch. It was Liliana’s—the one with the backup tracker.

The place was quiet. Eerily quiet. Deathly quiet. With hand signals, he motioned Christian to go one way and Audria the other. He and Reese made their way to Rex’s office with their guns drawn. The man was sitting in his chair with his back to the door.

“Mr. Raines?”

No answer. Reese eased forward and spun the chair. Rex Raines slumped over, leaving a trail of blood on the white leather.

“One down in front,” Christian informed them. “Female, mid-sixties.”

“One here too,” Luca replied. “Rex Raines.”

“Any sign of Liliana?”

“Negative,” Christian responded.

“We cleared the rest of the office,” Audria said. “Nothing.”

Luca tried to remain calm. He needed his wits to find Liliana. “I’ll pull up the security feeds.”

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