Thoughts raced around in Carissa’s head. A plane crash with a missing body would be a great way to cover up a murder. But Daniel? She still couldn’t believe the trusted man could do this, but she was starting to see the possibilities. There were still several little holes in Alan’s theory. “If Daniel did kill my brother…” Michael’s hand tightened on her shoulder again, but she ignored it and went on. “…why hasn’t he come after you?”
Alan’s hand dropped to his side. Carissa could see the man hadn’t thought about that possibility. His eyes dropped to the desktop as he worked through the answer. “Maybe the king didn’t mention where he’d gotten the information.” He met Carissa’s gaze again. “He could have easily picked up any of these files while following this case.”
She glanced over the papers again, unsure what to do. If it were anyone else, she wouldn’t hesitate to go after them. Why did it have to be Daniel? She looked back up at Alan. “And what would you have me do? Arrest the head of Eternity?”
A perplexed look crossed Alan’s face. “It’s not the best option, but the man does have a lot to answer for.”
Michael grabbed the back of Carissa’s chair and spun her around to face him. “He didn’t do it,” he mouthed the words silently.
Carissa stared up into his angry face, shocked that he would interrupt her meeting like that. “Then explain this.” She held her hands out, fishing for some reasonable explanation for the lack of information.
Anger filled Michael’s eyes, but he could not give her an answer.
“I do not believe Daniel could ever hurt my brother,” Carissa said as she turned back around. “But I don’t know how to explain this.” She picked up the mostly empty folder containing Alex’s report. “I’ve never seen anything like it before. And I can’t just let it go.”
Michael let out a frustrated breath but didn’t protest further.
Dropping the file back to the table, Carissa picked up the phone. “Let’s see what Daniel has to say.”
Alan reached out and grabbed Carissa’s wrist before she could lift the receiver to her ear. “Before you do that.”
Carissa stopped and stared at the minister’s aide.
Dropping her wrist, Alan pulled his hand back and cleared his throat. “Umm…Perhaps you should have SWAT bring him in.”
Carissa cocked her head. “Why?”
Alan licked his lower lip before proceeding. “Well,” he started timidly before getting to his point. “On the off chance that he did kill your brother, don’t you think it would be wise to have some backup while questioning him?”
Carissa considered his point for a moment before dropping the phone back in its cradle. Alan had a very good point. Daniel was a very crafty man, and although she was a powerful mage, there was no sense in taking stupid risks. She hated to have Daniel arrested, but it was the best way to make sure they were all safe.
The muscle in the corner of Michael’s eye twitched as he watched Carissa pick up the phone to call SWAT. Daniel didn’t do anything wrong. Yes, there was some information missing from the files, but that was no reason to arrest the man. There had to be a logical explanation for everything. He just couldn’t think of it at the moment.
Frustrated, Michael turned and walked over to look out the window. Alan had laid a convincing case against Daniel, but something didn’t sit right. Why would Daniel falsify Eternity’s official documents? Michael thought back over everything he knew of the few cases he’d been involved with. There had been an inquiry into Jareth’s death. He’d been questioned in the investigations. Why wasn’t that in the file?
He pushed that aside and thought about Alex’s case. The lack of information was painful. He knew some of the stories from his visits to Terra’s hospital room. Why wasn’t there anything on Terra or the fact that she was turned into a dragon? He knew that Alex was having issues with his memory. That may explain why his report was incomplete, but there should have been something about Terra and her condition. Daniel should have documented that at the bare minimum.
An epiphany struck and Michael looked out over the green yard without seeing it. Something Alex said rang in his head. Someone from Eternity is leaking information. The truth of the matter coursed through Michael raising goosebumps. Eternity was compromised. Daniel was sabotaging the files. He was trying to keep important information from leaking out!
Michael turned around to tell Carissa but stopped. His dragon was screaming to be wary. He looked at the man standing on the other side of the desk. There was a very satisfied look in Alan’s eyes that rubbed Michael the wrong way.
Turning back to the window, Michael pulled out his phone. His instincts told him they had a problem. If Eternity was damaged enough for Daniel to alter the reports, they needed to proceed with caution. Someone had taken out Jareth while in Eternity’s custody. Having Daniel arrested would give them an opportunity to do the same to him. And with Kyle gone, that would leave no one to stop the compromised agents. He had to warn Daniel. But how?
Normally he would call one of his buddies. The Elites of Eternity could easily deal with this, but most of them were out on assignment. Of the few that remained, Michael didn’t know which ones he could trust. He chewed over his decisions and came to the conclusion that he didn’t dare trust any of them.
He listened to Carissa order a SWAT team to apprehend Daniel and hold him for questioning. An idea hit and Michael punched up the number for one of his drinking buddies in SWAT. He knew McGee could be trusted. He tapped out a quick message. Hopefully, it would reach McGee before SWAT got to Daniel.
3
Leaning back in his chair, Daniel rubbed the strain from his eyes. He yawned and stretched out his fatigue. For three days now he’d been trying to figure out what happened to Kyle. He couldn’t count the number of times he’d flown with the search parties over the Northern Sound looking for some sign of his friend. Dead or alive.
Finding the wreckage had given them some hope, but it was short lived. No bodies were found, and the flight recorder hadn’t been much help either. The thing fried itself as soon as the FAA technician plugged it in. No one said the word sabotage, but it was floating around in everyone’s mind. The crash was starting to look like more than just an unfortunate accident.
To make matters worse, Daniel’s instincts were screaming at him. Something about this whole situation stunk like yesterday’s garbage. He’d come back to Eternity’s main office to see if he could make heads or tails of it. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t come up with a reason someone would want to kill Kyle. Sure, he was the King of Dragons, but he was a fair and just man. He did his best to tend to his subjects’ needs. There were the occasional moments of malcontent, but Kyle usually handled those with long practiced grace. Unfortunately, those moments were happening more often now. Raven Nightingale’s death had sparked a call for Eternity to act, but that anger had been directed at Eternity and its failing, not Kyle.
The scar down the side of Daniel’s face ached. He rubbed it, trying to soothe the pain. The only time that old wound hurt was when he pushed himself too hard. This week was proving to be one of those times. He needed to get some sleep.
Going home would put him out of reach if news came in, but there were plenty of open beds down in the holding cells. He could get a quick nap in and still be on hand if the need arose. Daniel grabbed his coat and headed out the door.