The man sitting in front of one of those monitors was Derek Blake. In his early thirties, Derek was thin, intense, and with the pale complexion of someone who spent a lot of time in this windowless room.
"I got Sabrina Lin's phone," he said shortly, already having learned that Derek wasn't into casual conversation. "It's locked."
"That won't stop me from opening it." Derek took the phone from his hand, his fingers moving across the touchscreen. A moment later, he said, "Got it."
"That was fast."
"Really? I thought I was a little slow," Derek said, hooking the phone up to the computer so they could look at Sabrina's texts on the monitor.
As he and Derek read through the thread from the unknownA, it became clear that this other person was aware Sabrina was looking into something dangerous and warned her to drop it more than once. Sabrina said she couldn't stop without knowing the truth. Neither one mentioned specifically what they were discussing. But one thing was clear: the person who had texted Sabrina felt like a concerned friend, and he needed to talk to her.
He pulled out the chair next to Derek, reading through the other texts while Derek trackedA's phone number. None of the other threads seemed to have anything to do with Sabrina's work or her death. They were about Pilates classes, someone's bachelorette party, and a few texts from family members, making him feel for the loved ones in her life, who had just gotten the worst notification they could ever imagine.
"The phone number traces to Alanna Morris, an attorney at Hartwell and Associates," Derek said. His fingers flew across the keyboard as he put Alanna's name in their system. "Looks like she graduated from Westbridge Law School, same as our victim."
His pulse jumped. Another Westbridge connection. "I need her contact information."
"Texting you her business and personal address now."
"Thanks," he said. "Are you coming to the conference room?"
"Nope," Derek said. "But I'm here for whatever you need."
"Got it."
When he entered the conference room, Flynn, Jason, and Andi were waiting for him. At Flynn's request, he went over his conversation with Haley and the possible connection between Sabrina Lin and Landon Kenton's death at Westbridge University. Then he got into Alanna Morris and her text message.
"How can we help?" Jason asked when he was done talking.
"I'd like to head over to Ms. Morris's office now and speak to her in person. I need someone to work with Derek to see what else might be on Sabrina's phone. We also need to dig into her employer, the cases she was working on, and if there's a tie between those cases and Westbridge University."
"I don't know about her cases," Jason said. "But Graham Adler, the senior partner and founder of Adler and Briggs, is a Westbridge University alum, and his son Henry graduated from there a few years ago. My father was friends with Graham, and I belong to the same country club as the Adlers. I'd be happy to go with you when you're ready to meet with them."
"Good. Let's do that after I speak to Alanna. I want to chase her down before she gets spooked and runs, unless that's already happened."
"Text me when you're done," Jason said with a nod. "In the meantime, I'll go through the boxes our team brought back from Sabrina's apartment this morning."
"Perfect."
"I'll look into Landon Kenton's death," Andi offered. "I have a friend at LAPD who might be able to offer more insight than what we can find in their files."
He was more than happy to have a team ready to jump in with little direction. "I'll touch base after I speak to Alanna Morris."
Alanna's employer, Hartwell and Associates, was located in a three-story office building in Culver City. The commercial neighborhood was middle-class, with a mix of offices and retail space. Matt parked on the street and was almost at the entrance to Alanna's building when he saw a woman approaching from the opposite direction. They reached the door at the same time and the annoyance he felt was reflected in her blue gaze as their eyes met.
"What are you doing here, Agent Lawson?" she asked, a breathless note in her voice.
"I was going to ask you the same question, Haley." How the hell had she figured out whoAwas without Sabrina's phone?
"I'm following a lead," she said, squaring her shoulders as she gave him a defiant look.
"Is that lead Alanna Morris?"
"Yes. I think she's the woman who sent Sabrina that warning text. She went to Westbridge Law School at the same time as Sabrina, and they've seen each other socially over the past few years."
"How do you know that?"
"Internet research. Social media connections, law school class lists, timeline matching." She shrugged. "It's what I do."
