Lesley rounded the corner into the kitchen and saw Rob looking out through the peephole. “Got any ID?” he said.
Rob was apparently satisfied with what he saw because he opened the door. A man wearing a striped tie under a navy blue overcoat stood in the doorway. Lesley could see other men behind him.
“Rob Edward Donovan?”
“Yes.”
“Special Agent Steeves. I have a warrant here to search your apartment.” He presented Rob with a sheaf of paper.
“I don’t understand,” Rob said. “Why?”
“May we come in?” Steeves said.
“Do I have a choice?”
“I’m afraid not.”
“That’s what I thought.”
Rob stood to one side as Steeves and three other men walked in. They were all clean cut and wore suits and ties. The last one in sported a substantial gut.
Two of the agents disappeared into the spare bedroom that served as Rob’s home office.
“This is my partner,” Steeves said. “Special Agent Hanley.”
Rob ignored the introduction.
“What am I supposed to do?” he said to Steeves. “Stand here and watch?”
Steeves regarded Rob coolly. “You need to stay here.”
“Lovely,” Rob said.
The agent with the gut reappeared. “Is your computer protected by a password, Mr. Donovan?”
Rob just looked at him. Lesley could tell he was becoming more agitated by the second.
“We’re entitled to examine the computer under the terms of the search warrant,” the agent said. “And I can take it into the lab and get past any password you’ve got on there, so you might as well tell me.”
“There’s no password,” Rob said.
The agent nodded and left.
Steeves looked at Rob with a slightly bemused expression.
“Is there something you’d rather we didn’t see?” Steeves said.
“Yes. My apartment. You have no reason to be here.”
Steeves shrugged. “We’ll see.” He folded his arms and leaned against the kitchen counter. Hanley did likewise. Lesley got the impression they were guarding the door.
Rob glared at them for a second, then stalked to the dining room and started to clear the table. Lesley grabbed him by the elbow. It took two tugs to get him to put down the dishes and follow her into the living room.
“Does this have anything to do with the bank?” she said in a whisper.
“How should I know?” Rob said, making no attempt to be quiet.
“You’ve got to calm down.”
“They have no right to just come in here like this and—”
Lesley stopped him with a sharp squeeze of his forearm. “Maybe they’re just checking out all the computer people who work at the bank.”
Rob seemed to consider that. “Yeah, maybe,” he said. “I never thought of that.”
She still held his forearm. “You have to chill out.”
“You’re right.” He sighed. “They obviously won’t find anything, so they should be out of our hair soon. But still, they’re like Gestapo troopers storming the place, you know?”
Lesley gave his arm another squeeze, one of reassurance this time.
A voice in the kitchen said, “I think you better have a look at this.”
In the living room, two heads swiveled as one in that direction. The first wispy swirlings of panic started a dance in Lesley’s lower gut.
Rob and Lesley walked to the dining area. They saw Steeves pull on latex gloves and then take a sheet of paper from one of the agents who had been in Rob’s office. Steeves said nothing as he scanned the page, then handed it back with a nod.
Then a voice from Rob’s office. “Hey, Steeves. Can you come here?”
“Rob?” Lesley said. “What’s going on?”
Rob’s belligerence had been replaced by a look of complete bewilderment. “I have no idea.”
Steeves reappeared and tossed the surgical gloves on the kitchen counter. “Put on your shoes, Mr. Donovan. You’re under arrest.”
Lesley’s mouth went dry. This couldn’t be happening.
“For what?” Rob said.
“Computer sabotage.”
“That’s crazy. I haven’t done anything.”
“Just do it,” Steeves said. “We’ll talk later.”
Rob pressed his lips in a thin line as he walked between the two agents to the closet. When Rob was dressed, Steeves produced a pair of handcuffs and moved behind him.
“You have the right to remain silent …,” Steeves began as he put on the cuffs.
Lesley didn’t hear the rest. Her eyes were locked on Rob’s — asking, imploring that this not be true. She got wide-eyed disbelief in return as Steeves led Rob out the door.
“What’s your name, ma’am?”
The words caught Lesley by surprise. Agent Hanley was looking at her.
“Your name?” he said.
“Lesley,” she said. “Lesley McGrath.”
He wrote it down. “Are you Mr. Donovan’s girlfriend?”
“His fiancée. We’re getting married.” Or are we? The thought came out of nowhere and terrified her.
“I need your address and phone numbers. Work, home, and cell.”
She told him and he scribbled some more.
“At some point we’re going to have some questions for you Miss McGrath,” Hanley said. “Also, our search team will be here in the apartment for several hours. You can stay if you like but it’s not necessary.”
“Where are you taking him?” she asked.
“Nowhere that you could see him tonight. I imagine he’ll end up in the Suffolk County Jail. You can check there tomorrow if you want.” He strode out the door, closing it behind him.
Lesley stood rooted to the spot. The rustlings and subdued scraping sounds of the search team filled the apartment — Rob’s life being examined in minute detail. She looked at the dirty dishes on the table, but couldn’t bring herself to clean up. She had to get away.
She grabbed her things and fled out the door, down the stairs and into the oncoming darkness.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Rob saw the face again through the small wire-meshed window in the door. The guy had looked in every few minutes since Rob had been left in the room to wait, which felt like hours. The room contained only a wooden table and a few hard plastic chairs. It didn’t take much imagination to figure out what was on the other side of the reflective glass “window” set in the wall. Was someone watching him right now? Rob shivered and tried not to look in that direction.
What made the FBI think he had anything to do with the attacks? Obviously something flimsy. Surely once someone came to talk with him he’d be able to explain their mistake easily and this would all be over.
The door opened and in walked the two agents who had arrested him. They sat down opposite Rob. Steeves looked coolly across the table at Rob for a few seconds.
“I think you know why we’re here,” Steeves said.
Rob swallowed dryly. “You think I had something to do with the attack on the bank.”
“Want to tell us about it?”
Rob licked his lips. “There’s nothing to tell. I didn’t do anything.”
Steeves’ eyes never left Rob’s face. “Nothing, huh?”
Rob found it hard to draw in a full breath.
“You can stop with the innocent act, Rob. We know what you did.”
Rob spread his hands in exasperation. “What could possibly make you think that?”
“Does the University of Kentucky ring a bell?” Hanley said.
“No. Should it?”
“Those emails you sent to the bank,” Hanley said. “One of the easiest trails we’ve ever had to trace. The folks at UCLA took less than an hour to figure out someone from the University of Kentucky had logged in to the account you used. Then we called Lexington and guess what? Same thing, only this time we traced it to your home Internet service account.”