"I understand." Lara followed him inside.
At first, it looked like a normal security office: desk, computer, file cabinets, a wall covered with monitors linked to surveillance cameras. But then she spotted the caged-off area in the back. Her mouth fell open.
A few weapons? She walked toward the padlocked cage, counting the assault rifles lined up on a rack. Twelve. Numerous handguns on a shelf. Bins filled with ammo on another shelf. But what really caught her eye were the swords. Gleaming broadswords and foils filled the wall on the left. On the right wall, lethal-looking daggers and knives were on display.
She curled her fingers around a chain link of the cage and studied the swords. Some of them looked really old. And what an old-fashioned way to protect a building.
Old-fashioned. Those words were starting to haunt her. "What's with all the swords? Are you expecting a horde of Vikings to attack?"
Howard snorted as he sat behind his desk. "The guys like to collect them." He typed on his keyboard. "Okay, I've got surveillance video coming up from Saturday night."
Lara turned to look at the monitors. They went fuzzy for a second, then cleared up. The numerical date for last Saturday was printed in the bottom right corner along with the time. Twenty-one hundred hours. Nine p.m.
Howard joined her by the monitors, holding a remote control. "As you can see, the building's fairly empty on Saturday night. Just security, and people going to Mass."
"I see." Lara had noticed that most of the monitors showed empty hallways. She recognized the main foyer. A few people were congregated there.
A blur of movement on a different monitor caught her attention. It looked like someone racing at warp speed through the wooded grounds. "How fast is that guy going?"
"Oh, it's just on fast forward," Howard muttered.
She wondered if one screen could be on fast-forward while the others weren't.
Howard pointed at a screen. "There's Jack, leaving this office."
She watched his graceful, long-legged stride. "How long have you known him?"
"Since I started working for MacKay S & I," Howard said. "About ten years, I guess."
Lara saw a little boy run into the hall. Jack swung him up into his arms. "Who's that?"
"Constantine Draganesti. Roman and Shanna's son," Howard explained. "That's Shanna coming out of the nursery with the new baby."
Lara smiled when she saw Jack step back. He'd looked perfectly comfortable around the toddler, but the baby seemed to terrify him. Shanna handed the baby to an older woman who had also exited the nursery. While the older woman returned the children to the nursery, Shanna strolled down the hallway with Jack.
"They're headed to the chapel for Mass," Howard explained. "I'll fast-forward."
Lara noticed Howard was wearing the same sort of clothes that Carlos had been wearing at the townhouse. "Are you wearing a uniform?"
"Yes. For MacKay guards."
"I've never seen Jack wear the uniform."
"Jack's one of our top investigators, and he works under cover a lot. He can do pretty much whatever he wants." Howard punched a button on the remote control. "You'll see them coming out of the chapel soon."
"It strikes me as a bit odd to have a church service here."
Howard shrugged. "Roman likes to do it. Okay, here they come." Howard motioned to the monitor as everyone exited the chapel. Most of them went into a room on the right. "That's the fellowship hall where we go for refreshments. There's no camera in there."
Lara spotted Jack in front of the chapel, talking to the kilted Scotsman she'd met at the wedding. Robby. The two of them strolled into the fellowship hall. The time in the corner of the screen said twenty-two hours. It looked like Jack did indeed have an alibi.
The older woman showed up on the monitor displaying the hall outside the nursery. She was walking with the baby in her arms, and the little boy was skipping by her side. They soon appeared in the monitor outside the chapel. The little boy jumped into his daddy's arms. Roman Draganesti hugged the boy, and Shanna took the baby. They were a lovely family and looked so normal.
All the people seemed normal and nice. Lara wondered if she was being too suspicious where Jack was concerned. Maybe she should just relax and enjoy being attracted to him.
She blinked when Jack suddenly walked into the hall. He had a glass in his hand, and he sipped from it. At last! Proof that Jack actually drank.
She pressed closer to the screen. "What is he drinking? Wine?"
The screen went blank.
"What—?" She glanced back at Howard and saw him set the remote control down on his desk.
"I assume that was enough to prove his alibi." He typed on his keyboard, and the monitors went back to real time. "Now would you like to see the information Jack compiled last night?"
"Yes, I would. Thank you."
"It's all in here." Howard picked up a laptop and strode toward the door. "You can use the conference room across the hall."
Lara grabbed her handbag to follow Howard and glanced back at the monitors. Was she just being paranoid, or had he tried to keep her from seeing something?
CHAPTER 12
Lara sat at the end of the long conference table and waited for the computer to boot up.
Howard hovered at the door. "Do you need anything to write on? Maybe something to drink?"
"I'll be fine, thank you." She did a double take at the computer screen. The desktop was surprisingly bare. There was only one non-system file, and it was labeled Apollo.
"I need to make a round," Howard said. "I'll check on you in fifteen minutes." He strode away, leaving the door wide open.
Security was certainly a priority around here. Lara turned her attention back to the computer. Jack had made sure there was nothing on this laptop pertaining to Romatech Industries or MacKay Security and Investigation. He obviously didn't want her trying to snoop around their business. What could they be hiding?
She'd gotten the feeling that Howard hadn't really liked her being in the security office or looking at the surveillance tapes. And what was the deal with all those weapons, especially the swords? She sighed. More questions to ask Jack.
At least he wasn't trying to hide anything from her regarding the Apollo case. Lara clicked on Apollo and two folders came up titled Negative and Positive. She opened the Negative file and found a brief description of five local women who had been kidnapped. She scanned down the page and realized they were all the wrong age or wrong hair color for Apollo.
She opened the Positive folder and gaped at the screen. There were twenty more folders. Jack had uncovered all this information in one night?
She opened the first folder and found a photo and brief report. A female student with dark auburn hair had disappeared from NYU last month. April.
Lara opened the second folder. A strawberry blonde had vanished from NYU the year before in June. The third folder showed Brittney Beckford from Columbia University, who had disappeared last July. The fourth and fifth folders showed two redheaded students who'd gone missing from Syracuse University.
Was Apollo kidnapping a new girl every month? Lara double-checked the dates. Each girl had disappeared on the fourth Saturday of each month.
How could something so blatant and horrible slip by the authorities? Apollo must be using mind control to cover his tracks so well that no one realized what was happening. In fact, most of these girls were merely listed as runaways. Thank God this criminal was finally coming to the attention of the police.