"He might have wanted to prevent someone else from suffering that kind of loss," she said. "I can't see him trying to concoct some scheme to make money for himself."
"Why not, Haley? You grew up poor. You stole ice cream to make sundaes. Why wouldn't Landon want to make money? And look where he was—Westbridge University, a private college inhabited by rich kids, probably flaunting their wealth. Maybe he wanted to have that life for himself, to take care of you for a change."
She wished she could refute his theory, but a part of it did resonate, especially the part about Landon wanting to take care of her. "He used to say one day he'd pay me back for everything I'd given him. Of course, I told him that wasn't happening, that I could take care of myself, and I just wanted him to have a good life."
"He wanted the same for you."
"I still don't know if that's what he was doing. He certainly didn't have extra money at the time of his death."
"Maybe that's because he hadn't used the algorithm yet, or whatever he was working on was stolen from him."
"Possibly," she admitted, her brain swirling with new questions. "What's in that last folder? The one labeledsecurity."
"Let's find out."
As Matt opened the folder, four video files appeared. He clicked on the first one, and her breath caught in her chest as the grainy images appeared to show a bedroom. "That's Landon's apartment. What is this?"
"Looks like he set up a security camera."
For several seconds, there was no movement. Then a woman walked over to Landon's desk. She pulled open a drawer and then stopped, looking over her shoulder. As she did so, the camera caught her very pretty face.
"That's Brooke," she breathed, feeling Landon's sense of betrayal as clearly as if it were her own. "What is she doing?"
"She's looking for something." Matt pressed play on the next video.
It had to be a different day or later that night, because the light was different. It was darker, no light coming from the windows, which made the details more difficult to make out. Brooke went back to the desk and dug through the drawers, pulling out papers, file folders, and several black notebooks.
"There they are," she exclaimed as she watched Brooke toss the notebooks into a backpack and zip it up. A man came up behind her, but all she could see was a shadowy figure, an arm, reaching for the pack. "Damn, we can't see him."
"There's a ring on his finger, maybe a class ring."
"Can you lighten the image?" she asked.
"Not on this computer."
They watched for another moment. After Brooke gave the backpack away and the man disappeared, Brooke turned and looked at Landon's bed. She wrapped her arms around herself as if she were upset. She shook her head several times and then, with her head down, she turned and left the room.
"She stole Landon's notebooks and gave them to someone else," she said.
"And your brother knew it. He saw these files before he put the drive in your necklace."
"He knew she'd betrayed him. But how long did he know?"
"I'm not sure. There's no date stamp on these." Matt clicked the next video, which was from a camera in a different bedroom, one she didn't recognize, but it was a smaller room with sports paraphernalia and clothes strewn about.
"Where's this?" she muttered.
"Maybe a room at the fraternity house?" Matt suggested.
They watched for several long seconds and then a man came into view. He looked like he'd just gotten out of the shower, shirt off, hair damp, towel around his hips. As he turned his face, she realized who it was. "That's Drew Sanderson, Landon's big brother." She watched as Drew picked up a phone from the bed, read a text, and then tossed it back down. "I wish there was sound," she said in frustration. "Why would Landon put a camera in Drew's room?"
"There had to be a reason. There might be a way to zoom in on that phone and see what that text said," he murmured as Drew walked over to answer the door. "But again, not on this computer."
She watched the video as Drew held the door partway open, but they couldn't see who was on the other side. Whoever it was, Drew wasn't happy to see them. He waved one hand in the air in apparent anger or frustration. Then he shut the door and slammed it with his fist before walking out of view.
"What's the last video?" she asked, impatient to find more answers.
Matt opened the file to reveal another scene from Drew's room. This time there was another person with Drew, a woman who looked like Jill Adler. "That's Jill." She watched as Jill and Drew talked, and then the door opened again, and Henry walked in. The three of them appeared to be arguing. Jill was very animated. Drew seemed annoyed, and Henry seemed to be watching it all with a smile.
