"Understood. I'm on it."
"Oh. One more thing. Once we have the artifact, there's no reason to keep her around anymore." Holmes ended the call and plastered his faux smile across his face again just as Stewart came near.
"Ah, Mr. Stewart. So good to see you. How are things going?"
"Things are fine, Mr. Holmes, thanks in no small part to your contribution last year."
"Well, I'm just happy to help." Holmes passed a fake smile and put his hands behind his back, tipping up onto his toes and back down again. He had no idea what charity the man was running. Apparently, Holmes had written a check he didn't remember.
"That's good to hear. I have to ask, have you considered making another contribution this year? Or are all your allotments otherwise spoken for?"
Holmes eyed him suspiciously, allowing the other man to feel awkward for several seconds. Right at the point Stewart felt he'd overstepped his bounds, Holmes slapped him on the shoulder and started laughing.
"Of course I'll make another donation. Get in touch with my secretary, and we'll set it up."
Stewart sighed, clearly relieved on multiple levels. "Wonderful. Thank you again, so much, Mr. Holmes. I truly appreciate it. And you won't regret it."
I already do.
Chapter 5
Fire trucks, police cars, and ambulances packed the streets around the rubble that had been the IAA headquarters. Cops stood around the perimeter, making sure none of the onlookers got too close. Firefighters and rescue workers dug cautiously through the building's remains.
Sean, Adriana, and Tommy stood huddled together as close to the destruction as the police would allow. Even though Tommy was the owner of the property, it was now a crime scene.
The three stared in mortified disbelief at the carnage. A million questions raced through their heads, but no one said a thing. What could they say? In the hour since the explosion, the only words spoken had been to various authorities who were trying to piece together what might have happened and who was inside.
Sean did most of the talking. Tommy was in shock. All Adriana could do was console him and keep her arm around him.
As they looked on at the flurry of activity in and around the destruction, a young man's voice interrupted the group's silence.
"What did you do?"
Tommy blinked for a second and then spun around.
Alex and Tara were standing behind them with beleaguered looks on their faces and cups of coffee in their hands.
"You're alive!" Tommy shouted and wrapped his arms around both of them. He squeezed them tight, nearly causing Tara to drop her cup.
"Yeah," she said. "We figured we'd go get a cup of coffee."
"Looks like coffee was a good call," Alex said. "Otherwise we'd be at the bottom of all that." He took a sip from the cup, almost as if he was unfazed.
"Right," Tara agreed. "And it was also a good thing we ran out at the office."
Sean let out a long sigh of relief. "Boy, are we glad to see you two. We thought we'd lost you."
Tommy finally let go of the big bear hug he was giving them. A tear streaked down the side of his face. "Sorry. But you guys are like family to me."
Tara couldn't speak for a second, catching her breath from the hug and still shocked as she stared at the destruction. "Do you guys have any idea what happened? Who did this?" she asked after collecting her thoughts.
"I don't know." Tommy shook his head. "Was there anyone else inside?"
"No, I don't think so," Alex answered. "The maintenance workers don't come 'til the afternoon. As far as I know, we were the only ones there this morning."
"That's a relief," Adriana said.
"Yeah, but your building," Tara pressed the point. "All the equipment, the research — it's all gone."
"Don't worry about all that," Tommy said. "Everything was backed up in the cloud. And any artifacts we had in stock were down in the vault. They'll dig that out eventually. But it would have taken a ton of explosives to break through that steel and concrete."
"Kind of makes you wonder why the whole building wasn't just built that tough." Sean's comment drew an annoyed glance from Tommy. "Too soon?"
Tommy turned back to the kids. "You didn't happen to see anything unusual this morning? A stranger lurking around the area, maybe walking by the building a few times? Someone hanging out in the lobby, perhaps?"
The two thought for a moment. Tara stared up into the sky as if the passing clouds would jar her memory. She came up with nothing. "No, I can't think of anyone."
"Now that you mention it," Alex said, "there was a guy I saw jogging by."
"So?" Tara asked. "We see joggers down here all the time. It's a popular place for people to get in a walk or a run."
Alex's head turned back and forth. "No, this was different. I saw him twice, running in the same direction."
"The same direction?" Sean asked.
"Yeah. I didn't think much of it at the time, like maybe he was just doing laps around the block. Now that I think of it, though, the time span between the sightings was too close for him to have done a full loop."
Tommy pressed the issue. "What did this man look like?"
"Hard to say. He had black running gear on, long leggings, a jacket, and a matching cap. Oh, and he was wearing sunglasses. He did sort of have big ears, but the rest of his features weren't really discernible."
"That's all you can remember — his clothes?"
"Yes. I realize that if I was the person who had to give the police artist a description of a criminal that they'd never find the guy because I suck at giving descriptions of people. Even people I've known for long time. I'm sorry."
"It's okay," Sean said. "You've given us something to go on. I'll let the authorities know what to look out for."
"He would have changed clothes by now," Tommy said.
"Still, won't hurt to pass along the information. They could always get lucky."
Tara stared at the destruction. "I guess it looks like we may be on vacation for an extended period of time." There was a twinge of sadness in her voice.
"Don't worry," Tommy said. "We'll get you two set up with a temporary space by the time you get back. Enjoy the vacation time. You two both need it."
"I feel bad," Alex said. "I don't think we should be leaving with all this going on. I mean, shouldn't we stick around and help you go through the wreckage, figure out what can be salvaged."
"There won't be much to save," Sean said. "Whoever rigged that thing to blow knew exactly what they were doing. If that jogger you saw was the bomber, he's either a demolitions expert, some kind of special ops, or both. The point is, he knew what he was doing."
"Yeah," Adriana agreed. "That opens up a whole new problem, though." She voiced what she knew everyone had to be thinking. "Someone was trying to kill you."
"We've had our fair share of enemies," Tommy reflected.
"None of them have ever taken it this far, though," Sean said.
"Stab anyone in the back lately?" Tommy asked.
Sean's right eyebrow rose slightly. "Literally or figuratively?"
"Funny."
Tara chimed in. "Actually, I don't think he's kidding."
Sean winked at her. "Besides, as far as the bomber knew, I wasn't going to be there today. That means he was coming after one of you three, not me."
Alex turned his head and looked at Tara.
"Don't look at me," she said. "I don't have any enemies."
"That you know of," Alex said.
"Maybe it wasn't someone you wronged," Adriana interrupted. She swiveled and faced Tommy. "You said you were going to Australia, that you got an email about a letter or something?"
Tommy nodded. "Yeah. It was a journal entry by a long-dead amateur archaeologist."