Page 59 of Zero Divergence
“Naturally,” Rocky continued, “I prompted Clyde to tell me how his conversation with Bonita went. This woman is good. She got her grandfather to admit Reggie was a childless widower and only son to parents who died a while ago. He didn’t think twice about revealing Reggie’s personal story.”
“What do you want to bet she sized up every courier to see which one would make the best target?” Jonah asked.
Rocky nodded. “Reggie was an easy mark with no family to report him missing right away. The police probably weren’t notified until after he missed work for a day or two.”
Sawyer recalled the police report he’d dug up on the missing courier. “The evidence swap happened on a Friday, and Reggie’s supervisor reported him missing on Tuesday after he failed to show for work on two consecutive days.” Bile burned his esophagus. “By that time, Reggie had probably been dead for almost four days.”
“We don’t know he’s dead, GB,” Royce said gently, but Sawyer could see the resignation in his eyes.
“I agree with Sawyer on this point,” Rocky said. “I accessed his bank records. There were no unexplainable deposits indicating he received a payoff or sizeable withdrawals to show he planned to run. There has been zero activity on any of his accounts since he disappeared.”
Further proof Reggie wasn’t living out his days on the same beach in Mexico Humphries was visiting. Bonita “Bonnie” Brothers killed him to steal the evidence. But how did she know when to take it, and had Humphries put her up to it?
“What was Bonita’s job that brought her into contact with Reggie?” Sawyer asked.
“She worked at Sattler and Sons florists,” Rocky replied. “I called and asked to speak to her but was informed she no longer worked there. The person who answered got suspicious when I started probing further, so I don’t know when she left her job or why.”
“What do you want to bet Miss Bonita Brothers delivered flowers to all the key locations?” Blue asked. “No one thinks twice about delivery people.”
“The DA’s office, our precinct, and even the lab where Reginald worked,” Sawyer said, nodding. “What do you want to bet they all received flowers around that time?”
“I know for a fact people discuss shit they shouldn’t with a delivery person close by,” Rocky said. “I’ve used the disguise plenty of times.”
“Uh-huh,” Holly agreed.
“You’re not fully out of the doghouse yet,” Royce said, pointing at Rocky, “but this is a damn good start. Sawyer and I will take a trip to Sattler and Sons tomorrow morning and interview the staff there. If nothing else, maybe we can get a list of all her deliveries in the past four months. We can start with current ones and work our way backward, paying special attention to key dates in our timeline.”
“Anyone else have updates?” Sawyer asked.
“Stella and I reviewed all the prison footage Royce sent us,” Jonah said. Sawyer loved how the agent made his supercomputer sound like a human sidekick. “Bonnie never visited Humphries in prison. We also didn’t pick up any secret code used between Humphries and his visitors.”
“I’ve come up empty trying to find a public travel schedule for Humphries. It would seem the universities have removed all traces of his speaking engagements,” Felix said. “I know of at least three universities off the top of my head that were mentioned in various articles, but you get a big goose egg if you type in the universities plus Humphries’s name in the browser.”
“Lucky for us, I know someone with amazing computer skills,” Jonah said wryly, a telling blush staining his cheeks.How interesting.Sawyer had meant to ask how Avery was doing with his internship. They’d met the young hacker while investigating The Purists, which had turned out to be an insane priest who used the information parishioners confessed to him as ammunition to blackmail or expose them so he could build a new order. The kid could’ve freaked out and run from trouble when Royce asked for his help but had chosen to stay and direct firefighters to the correct part of the building. Sawyer and Royce were alive because of Avery Bradford. “Nothing is ever fully deleted once it goes on the internet.” Jonah started typing notes on his phone.
“Thanks,” Felix said appreciatively.
“No problem,” Jonah replied. If the big man noticed Felix’s attraction, he didn’t let on.
Rocky watched the exchange and rolled his eyes.
“What about you, Holls?” Royce asked. “Anything exciting happening in Humphries’s fan club?”
“Bizarre is more like it,” Holly replied. “There are no Bonitas or Bonnies in the group, but there is this one chick who raises red flags every time she posts or comments.”
“Why?” Jonah asked, sounding riveted.
“Her name is Beatrice, and unlike most of the women in the group, she’s never expressed a lot of respect or gratitude for Vivian Gross. As you can imagine, when the news of Vivian’s death broke in the group, most of the members were horrified. Some of them mentioned having a candlelight vigil in Vivian’s honor tonight. Beatrice got snotty in some comments, reminding everyone it was a fan club for Humphries, not Vivian.”
“Interesting,” Sawyer said. “Why does the name Beatrice sound familiar?” he asked Royce, who shrugged.
“Beatrice Ryen is her name,” Holly said.
Sawyer thought the name held significance but couldn’t be sure why. It hadn’t come up during any interviews. “I wonder if Beatrice Ryen disliked Vivian enough to want her dead? There’s no way in hell Humphries personally killed Gross.”
“How do you know?” Jacobs asked.
“He’s out of the country,” Royce said. “This information doesn’t leave the room. So far, the media hasn’t picked up on it, and we want to keep it that way for as long as we can.”