A Face to Die For (Forensic Instincts 6)

Grinning at her own joke, Lina jumped up and dashed into the kitchen. “I have invitations for you to give to the whole team,” she said, the decision apparently a done deal to her. “I’ll tell my parents to be expecting you. They’ll be honored. My dad spoke highly of you the night Brianna came over for dinner. Oh, this will be awesome!”

Emma took the invitations, feeling like a fish out of water. She’d been a street kid most of her life. Lina’s lifestyle was completely foreign to her. But she wasn’t going to let this chance get away.

“I’m really touched you want to include us,” she said. “I have to talk to the team, make sure they’re all available. I promise to do that right away and get back to you ASAP.”

“That’s fine, but no is not an option. Unless someone is on vacation or dealing with an emergency, the whole team will be there. I won’t have it any other way. My mom refused to let my dad hire a caterer. She claims they don’t know how to cook. In her kitchen, she’s the queen. And trust me, once you taste her cooking, you’ll agree.”

Glancing from the classy calligraphy of the invitation to Lina’s decisive gaze, Emma knew this was a done deal. The team would be there—and not only because of Lina’s insistence. This could be an opportunity to gather info on Joseph and Donna Brando.

Between this invite and the info Lina had innocently provided, Emma had a lot to share with the FI team.

CHAPTER 23

Office of Forensic Instincts

6:30 a.m.

Ryan was in his lair.

He’d hit the gym at five and then headed straight to the office. Gia and Dani had dropped off their laptops for him to check out. His project had been to find and analyze any spyware in time for the seven thirty–a.m. team meeting that Emma had requested.

Dani’s laptop had been first up. Once he’d located the spyware, Ryan reviewed the data from the packet sniffer he had placed onto her computer to see if he could track where the keylogger was sending information. It appeared that the spyware was nothing special—just run-of-the-mill software that was available commercially. Data was being sent to a website where the customer could log in and see the data that had been collected. These companies marketed their digital spy service as well-intentioned: allowing concerned parents to monitor their children, enabling paranoid companies to track errant workers. They strenuously denied having clients with illegal intentions, and their terms of service were crafted carefully by the best lawyers to escape both prosecution and the potential of being shut down. But there were also suspicious and jealous lovers and all forms of pervs watching who knows what.

Ryan decided the quickest path to finding out who had been spying on Dani was to set up his own spyware account. Once he had valid credentials, the trick would be to find and exploit a security weakness in the site where he could elevate his account to admin status. With unfettered access, he could dig in to the logs and find out who was spying on Dani.

It would take him a couple of days to get his answers. Who knows, maybe he could even use the same software to spy on the spy himself.

A wry grin tugged at Ryan’s lips. How poetic.

Fifteen minutes later, he wasn’t smiling. He’d done a thorough search of Gia’s computer and come up empty. Nothing. No spyware. The computer was completely clean. Whoever the person was who was monitoring Dani’s every move, her entire online activity, wasn’t doing squat to keep tabs on Gia. What the hell did that mean? Was Dani a bigger factor in this surveillance, and did she know more than she realized, more than Gia did?

Ryan swore under his breath. It was good that the two girls were coming in soon. He had questions that needed answers.

* * *

At seven thirty sharp, the entire FI team was gathered around the conference room table. All eyes were on Emma, as she was taking the lead on this meeting.

“Tell us what happened at Lina’s last night that has you so worked up,” Casey began without preamble.

Emma was practically crackling with electricity. “First of all, did you know that Lina’s dad is running for national office?”

“Yes.” Casey nodded. “Ryan discovered that yesterday when he was doing his cursory research on Joseph Brando. I take it Lina talked about her father’s candidacy.”

“She did more than that.” Emma slapped the invitations onto the conference table. “She invited us to the victory party they’re having after his anticipated win. All of us. She won’t take no for an answer.”

“That’s good.” Casey pursed her lips. “I think it’s time we met the Brandos. We’re going to have to talk to them soon enough anyway. When’s the party?”

“This coming Sunday.”

“We’ll be there. But that’s obviously not all you found out. You sounded like you were about to explode when you called.”

“I was. I am.” Emma looked around the table. “I have a ton of information about Lina’s birth—at least what she was told about it, truthful or not.” With that, Emma blurted out everything, from the fact that Lina believed she was her parents’ biological child to Donna’s alleged pregnancy to the snowstorm to the date and place of Lina’s birth.

“That’s a pretty elaborate story,” Patrick said.

“One that’s easy enough to check out.” Ryan made note of his new assignment.

“You’re both right.” Marc was tapping his pen thoughtfully on his knee. “Unless Donna Brando had triplets and gave two of them away—which I highly doubt—the story Lina was given was a complete fabrication. You’d think her parents would keep it as mundane as possible, so it wouldn’t raise any red flags. Instead, they concocted an elaborate story that’s easily confirmed—or disproved. Why?”