"Good. I need to go into the office here and check my messages on the computer."
"Can I do that, too?" she asked. "Just in case Julia found something. I know I'm not supposed to be talking to her, but she doesn't know that, and she might send me some information."
"Sure."
He led the way into the office and opened up the computer, setting her up to check her text messages, but she had nothing new from anyone, which was disappointing.
After that, he did the same. "This is odd," he said, pointing to a text. "Shari wants to meet tomorrow morning. She says she has information that could help me with the connection between my case and Westbridge."
"That sounds interesting, but also like a possible trap. Do you trust her, Matt?"
"I used to. I'm not sure anymore."
"It seems prudent to be suspicious. But she was spending time with Senator Matson, so maybe she does have information."
"It's possible." He tapped his fingers on the desk, as he thought for a moment. Then he turned to her. "When our investigation into Meridien Developments was abruptly ended, Shari wasn't nearly as upset by that as I was. In fact, she said she could see why Director Markham didn't think we had enough evidence to keep going."
"Did that piss you off?"
"Yes. I was angry and frustrated with everyone." He paused. "I need to go through that file again, but in the meantime, let's see where the executive board of Meridien went to school." He opened the Meridien website and ran down the list of officers as well as the board of directors. "Look at this," he said, pointing to one of the names. "Charles Adler is on the board of directors at Meridien."
"That can't be a coincidence. What about your new FBI director?"
"Good question." He opened another tab.
She peered over his shoulder as he ran the search on Rebecca Markham, her excitement growing when she saw that Rebecca had graduated from Westbridge. "She's one of them."
"She is. But Rebecca is in her early forties, so she's too old to be tied to Landon's grade and too young to be tied to any of the parents, but she is part of the alumni network," he said. "Maybe she shut the case down because Charles Adler asked her to do so."
"And if Shari didn't care about the investigation ending, perhaps she has a connection, too," she suggested.
"Possibly. But I know Shari didn't go to Westbridge. She graduated from NYU. She didn't even move to California until a few years ago."
"Did Shari ever mention Adler when you were working on the Meridien case?"
"Not that I can recall. We weren't focused on the board, though, more on the top executives and their financials."
"In light of this, what do you think Shari wants to tell you?"
"I have no idea. She mentions both Sabrina and Westbridge, and I told her Sabrina's case might be tied to a death at the university."
"She was with Senator Matson the other day. She might have asked him about Landon's murder after you spoke to her." She paused. "What do you want to do, Matt?"
He thought for another moment, then said, "I want to flip the switch."
"What does that mean?" she asked curiously.
"I'll tell Shari I'll meet her at Café Luna on Third Street at nine a.m.," he said, as he sent the text. "But I'm not actually going to meet her."
"I'm confused."
"I'll plant a tracker on Shari's car so we can see where she goes after I call her and give her some information that will make someone very nervous."
She smiled at the sly expression in his gaze. "Well, don't leave me hanging…"
"I'm going to tell her I got delayed at work because we just found evidence tying Trent Adler to Landon's death, the death Sabrina Lin was looking into when she was killed."
"That's an interesting choice. You're picking Trent because he's Charles's son?"
