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Harry opened the door for Roni, Brax walked around the limo and placed his arm on her lower back, and the couple entered the massive McCrae Dynamics corporate headquarters building in downtown Victorville and made their way through the expansive lobby. Hundreds of people were coming and going, but every lobby employee, from doormen to security to receptionists, didn’t hesitate to say hello.

“Good morning, Mr. McCrae.”

“Good morning, Miss Ross.”

Over and over and over again. Which astounded Roni. When they got on his private elevator that would take them to the top floor, she asked about it. “How would all of them know my name? I’ve only been here a few times in my entire life.”

Brax placed his arm around her waist. “You’re hard to forget.”

Roni smiled. “Sure buddy.”

“No, I’m serious,” he said, but he knew Roni didn’t believe him.

But as they climbed up to the twenty-fifth floor, Margo and the twenty-five other assistants to the Chairman were sitting behind the desks positioned in the suite outside of his office. They made up his personal staff. When Margo’s phone rang, she assumed it was the receptionist downstairs. “Hey girl.”

“He’s in the building.”

“Okay thanks for the heads up.”

“He’s got her with him,” the receptionist added.

Everybody at McCrae Dynamics knew who her was. But Margo was still surprised that she would be with him first thing in the morning again. “Thanks, Carol,” she said, and ended the call.

When the elevator dinged, Margo quickly stood up, grabbing the small vanilla envelope, and made her way around her desk. She watched as Brax and Roni got off the elevator and headed for his office. She was no fan of Veronica Ross. To Margo, she was just too young and too stubborn and from the wrong side of the tracks to be suitable for a man of Braxton McCrae’s stature. But there was no denying the girl had style, she thought, as she watched Roni rock those contrast green colors that suited her well.

“Hello, Margo.”

“Good morning, sir. Miss Ross.”

“Hi Margo.”

“Is that it?” Brax was looking at the package in Margo’s hands.

“Yes sir.”

“Come on,” he said, and headed for his office. Roni and Margo followed behind him. Roni closed the door behind them.

As Roni made her way around the desk and stood beside Brax, Margo was handing him the package. It was much smaller than they expected, but it was supposedly a video.

“How did it get here?” Brax asked.

“A courier left it at the package desk downstairs.”

“Did you inquire to see if anybody remembered what courier or from what company he or she worked?”

“I checked,” said Margo, “but the package desk says it was slotted in.”

“What’s that?” asked Roni.

“That’s when a package is placed in the outside slot without the courier coming inside. We get hundreds of packages that way on a daily basis.”

“Have you seen the video?” Brax asked her again as he pulled out a flash drive and a letter.

“No sir. After I read that letter, I didn’t go any further.”

Brax was seated behind his desk and Roni was sitting on the arm of his chair as he leaned back, put on his reading glasses, and opened the letter. It had been typed on a computer:

An embarrassment to Veronica Ross and yourself at the least ,” the letter read, or a crime punishable by death at the worst for your ladylove Veronica Ross. We want two-hundred-and-eighty-seven million dollars or we take it straight to the public. No law enforcement, other than the one who committed the murder, is to be contacted or we go straight to the public. We will be in touch .

“They must be out of their minds,” said Roni. “ Two-hundred-and-eighty-seven million dollars ? They can’t be serious!”

But Brax was taking them seriously. “This was the only letter?” he asked Margo.

“Yes, sir. That and the thumb drive.”

“Okay, thank you, Margo. That’ll be all. And remember,” he added and Margo turned around to him. “This is not fodder for gossip in any way, shape, or form. If you mention anything about this package to anybody other than Roni and myself, you will be terminated. And receive a visit from my brother.”

Margo glanced at Roni. She was the one who caused this trouble to come upon him, not her. Yet she would be fired? Scottie would pay her a visit? But she understood. Veronica gave him bed action. All she gave him was work action. “I understand sir,” said Margo, and then she left, closing the door behind her.

“They can’t be serious,” Roni said again, but Brax wasn’t in the talking mood. He put the flash drive in his desk scan, checked it for any viruses, and then, once cleared, placed it in his desk computer and played the video.

Both of their hearts sank when they saw that it was the video of Roni angrily hanging Bruce Synder upside down out of the ninth floor window, with Bruce jangling in uncontrollable panic and Dean Dixon hurrying to the window to help Roni control him. Roni could hardly watch it as she and Dean lost control and Bruce slipped away. Brax could hardly watch it either. Not because of that bastard dropping. But because he was terrified for what this would mean for Roni.

“I see they failed to record when Bruce had me dangling out of that same window,” Roni said. “They skipped over that part.”

But then her defiance turned into fear. “This is bad, isn’t it, Brax?”

Brax exhaled. “It is, yes.”

“Should we call the Commish? He’s in this cover up too.”

“Stop calling it that,” Brax admonished her. “And no, we aren’t calling the commissioner. Not yet.”

Roni looked at him. “I know you aren’t thinking about calling in Scottie on this.”

Brax didn’t respond.

“Brax we can’t!”

“I know we can’t. But this tape exists. If this video comes to light, you could go to prison for the rest of your life.” He looked at her. “That’s not happening. That will never happen as long as there is breath in my body. And whatever it takes to ensure that never happens, then that’s what we’ll doing. Understand me?”

Roni just sat there fighting tears. All she wanted was to be a great detective. All she got was bullshit after bullshit. And she was tired of it. She stood up and went to the window behind his chair.

Brax exhaled. He felt for Roni. He knew how long she wanted to be a cop, and as soon as her dream came true, assholes came into her life and were doing everything in their power to snatch it all away. But who could be doing this?

“What if it’s somebody in on it?” Roni asked without turning around.

“You mean like Commissioner Lambert?”

“Or my precinct Captain, yes.”

But Brax was shaking his head. “You’re too paranoid, Roni. Those men know better than that. No.” Then he paused. “But I can get Scottie to find out.”

“I don’t want him to know about this,” Roni said. “I don’t want to owe him.”

“He’s my brother. He does a favor for family, you don’t owe him anything. He doesn’t operate like that.”

“I’m not family,” Roni said.

“You’re my family,” Brax said, “and I don’t wanna hear about your mother and my mother. That’s not what I mean.”

Roni leaned her head back. She knew his brother was the last result.

Then it occurred to her. She turned around. “The angle,” she said, and hurried back to his chair.

Brax looked at her. “What angle?”

She grabbed his mouse and rewound the video again. “Whoever took that video took it from the right angle.”

“Meaning?”

“You came in from the right angle. Your Maybach might have passed right by whomever it was, if they were still there.” She looked at Roni. “Please tell me that two-hundred-thousand dollar car you drive is equipped with dashcam.”

“It’s built-in, but yes.” Then he realized where she was going with it. “And I can pull it up on the computer,” he added as he clicked on the Mercedes icon and pulled up the dashcam video for around the time he arrived at that apartment building last night.

They rewound back several minutes leading up to his arrival on the street, but then they both saw a car parked on the side of the road. But Roni saw more than that. “Back it up,” she said. He did. “Now stop right . .. right there!” He did.

“You see that figure in those woods,” she asked, straining her eyes for a closer look.

Brax looked closer, too, and that was when he saw what she was seeing. “I’ll be damn,” he said. “It is somebody there!”

“Zoom in on the car’s license plate,” Roni said.

Brax rewound to when the back of his Mercedes was showing as it drove down the highway, and then he zoomed in and froze the shot. It was a New York plate, which meant the owner of the vehicle could be local, and there was a plate on the front and back of the vehicle. Brax zoomed into the back plate.

Then he looked at Roni when the numbers were clear as day. “We got the bastard!” he said.

Roni was relieved too. “I’ll call it into the precinct so they can run the number.”

But Brax nixed that idea. “Donte will run that tag,” he said as he picked up his desk phone. “We should know in ten minutes or less.”

But after Brax made the phone call to his head of security, Roni began pacing around his office. He could see she was worried sick. “We’ll figure it out, babe.”

“But who would follow me around and be prepared to take a video of my activities? Who does that?”

“And here you were thinking somebody was targeting me,” said Brax.

“That’s because that daughter was lying about her father.”

“Lying or assuming facts not in evidence?”

Roni looked at him. “You sound like Jayla. What do you mean?”

“He knew he was dying. Maybe he was being forgetful around her and she thought it was dementia. Maybe it was just depression. Maybe it was just him trying to figure out how he was going to get out of the situation he found himself in.”

Roni exhaled. “Maybe so,” she said, although her instincts were still telling her maybe not.

Then Donte phoned with the information they were waiting on. “Who’s the car registered to?” he asked his security chief.

“It’s an address from the City.” Victorville residents always referred to New York City as “the City.”

But that information surprised Roni. She and Brax assumed it would be a local address. “Out of New York?” she asked, to be clear.

“New York City, yes ma’am,” said Donte.

“What name?” Brax asked. He and Roni were halfway expecting one of her colleagues from the NYPD. That would make sense to them.

“The car is registered to a Gus Rogers,” Donte said.

Roni was floored. “ Gus ?”

Brax looked at Roni. “That’s all you got, Donte?”

“That’s all so far,” Donte said. “But I’ll keep searching. I’ll text you his address.”

“Okay, thanks,” Brax said and ended the call. He was still looking at Roni. “You know him?”

“Yes, I know him. I’ve known him for years. He was the reporter I gave that tape to when I met up with Jerard in that alley. He’s a friend of mine.”

Brax stood up. “Not anymore he isn’t.” He phoned his pilot. “Prepare the plane for takeoff,” he said. “I need to take a quick trip to the City.”

“Yes, sir,” his pilot said, Brax ended the call, and then he grabbed the flash drive and the letter.

“Let’s go,” he said to Roni. “The best way to capture these assholes is to capture them in their tracks.”

“But what if he’s still in town?”

“Then we’ll come back and look for him. But somehow I doubt that he is.”

“Why you say that?”

“He already got the money shot. Why would he stick around to get the payday when he can easily misdirect us to another town between here and the City, six hours of towns?”

“Or use the internet to get their money,” Roni said.

Brax nodded. “Right. He’s back home. Worms always go home.”

He placed his hand around Roni’s waist, and they hurried out of his office.