Page 87 of Be Very Quiet

The others met him in the hallway as he found the footage and played it on his phone. He started with the back exit. Crime scene personnel combed the alley for clues, but no Liliana or Theo. He switched to the front of the building. Emergency crews came and went, but again, no Liliana.

“There.” Reese pointed to the top corner of the screen. “Can you tighten it up?”

Luca tried, but the brown car was out of range.

“There is a side exit out of Reese’s office,” Christian informed them. “He must’ve left that way to avoid the authorities.”

“We need to check street camera footage,” Audria said. She and Reese started making calls.

Luca kept the panic at bay and reverted to his detective training. Something clicked into place. “The murders occurred at houses that were on the market. We assumed Georgia was the accomplice, but it had to be Theo.”

Christian picked up on his thoughts. “Who better to know what’s empty but a realtor?”

“Exactly. We need to look at the search history on his computer.”

They found the cubicle where Theo worked. Luca ceded the task to Christian, who was an expert with computers. Christian sat in the chair and started manipulating the keys. “There are four in his most recent history.” Soon the printer began spitting out pages. Luca grabbed them.

“The FBI followed the car to a busy parking garage two blocks away,” Reese reported. “They’re sending cars now.”

“He switched them.” Theo had outwitted everyone so far.

“He’d want the location to be remote,” Audria reasoned. “No neighbors to see or hear anything.”

“It’s this one.” Christian tapped the paper showing the house located outside of Coral Gables. “No close neighbors. House surrounded by trees.”

“We can’t afford to focus on one and ignore the others,” Luca protested.

“I’ll have people sent to the alternate locations,” Reese said.

Luca glanced around. “We need to get out of here. It will be crawling with emergency personnel.”

As if on cue, officers arrived en masse, led by Detective Torres.

“I’ll deal with them,” Reese said. “You three go and keep me posted.”

“Take care of Smoke,” Audria yelled over her shoulder as they raced for the SUV.

Christian drove while Luca punched the address into the GPS. His phone buzzed, and he answered on speaker when he saw Tyler’s face.

“Audria called a while ago about digging deep into Theo Harvey.”

Luca glanced back at her. “I had a gut feeling when the cop said the man Liliana left with looked like him and texted Tyler.”

“Good for you.”

“I’ve got intel, and Luca, you aren’t going to believe this. Theo Harvey is Ted Rader’s brother.”

Chapter Thirty

“What?”Luca shook his head. “Ted Rader didn’t have siblings.”

“Theo is his half-brother. His father had an affair, and Theo was the result. The old man never acknowledged him, so their connection wasn’t revealed.”

“How did you find that out?” Luca asked. “And why wasn’t it discovered ten years ago?”

“Why it wasn’t discovered earlier, I can’t answer,” Tyler responded. “I uncovered it through old payments Ted Senior made to a Marta Harvey. She was the secretary at the church where the Raders worshipped. Seemed innocuous. He must’ve been making his yearly tithes to the church, right? In fact, that’s what he claimed on taxes. But I dug deeper.”

Damn, Tyler was incredible. Luca had no idea how much Tyler made, but he was worth ten times his salary.

---