“And what are you going to do once you get in there?”
“Just look around. I promise. I won’t take anything.”
“If you’re lying to me—”
“I’m not lying to you. I don’t want to do this. But I have no choice, not now. Those guys didn’t get the job done this morning. They’ll be back.” He added, “Look, we better get going or he’ll be suspicious.”
“But he’ll know I switched—”
“It’s an exact duplicate, complete with screen saver and apps.”
“But if he tries to use it?”
“He won’t use it while I’m meeting with him. And once I’m gone, just keep him busy. I won’t be long. Then I’ll sneak back up and switch them back.”
“My God, do you know how many things could go wrong with that plan? And I would be in so much trouble.”
“It’s the only way to get to the truth, Michelle. If there were another way, I’d do it.”
“Look, Travis, I don’t really know you that well. And I’ve known Brad much longer. I know he can be a prick, but—”
“The Locust Group.”
“What?”
“The Locust Group. It owns your building. It owns the Lombard Theater. And it owns the brownstone where your buddy Christian Chilton lives.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Sara told Jennifer Stamos to check out the Lombard Theater. She was worried. She was scared. Then she ended up murdered. I checked the property records and found it was owned by the Locust Group. Just like your walk-up. I’m pretty sure Cowl is the Locust Group.”
“It’s not a crime to own property.”
“It is a crime to kill people, Michelle.”
“But you have no proof that Brad—”
“Give me the phone and I’ll try to find that proof. The fact is there’s an entire floor here that’s off-limits. I thought it was the firm’s high-frequency trading platform, but it’s not. It’s something else. And I need to find out what it is. I’m betting Cowl’s phone, which he uses like my security card, will get me in there.”
“But why are you doing this? Because of Sara Ewes?”
“Partly.”
“Were you more than just professional colleagues? And don’t lie to me.”
“We were more. We . . . I thought she could be the one, in fact. For me.”
“Did you sleep together?”
“Once. And then she broke it off. Now I think I know the reason.”
“Which is?”
“She was in love with someone else. A woman.”
Montgomery drew a long breath. “What’s the other reason you’re doing this, besides Sara?”
“You just have to trust me on that, Michelle. I took a big risk telling you all this. You could easily run to Cowl and tell him everything. But I trust you not to. Will you do the same for me? Will you trust me?”
An excruciatingly long moment passed, and Devine held his breath for all of it. Then she slowly held the phone out. He took it and handed her the fake one.
“Thank you,” he said quietly.
She didn’t look at him.
The security app was already pulled up on the phone screen. Cowl had no doubt done that before handing the phone off to Montgomery. Devine used it to get them on the elevator.
They rode it up, and when the doors opened into the foyer there stood Cowl. He used the wand on Devine, but didn’t go below his calves.
“Make this fast, Devine.” He nodded curtly at Montgomery and held out his hand. She passed him the fake phone; he didn’t even look at it. “Follow me.”
They walked into another room, where Cowl set the phone down on a table. “Thanks, Michelle,” he said, waving her away.
She walked off down a hall.
He sat on a couch and motioned Devine to join him. “Well?” said Cowl.
Devine sat across from him. “Some men came to see me, really early this morning.”
“Men, what about?”
“One of them had earlier pretended to be an NYPD cop assigned to Sara’s case. But he was an imposter. They came to make me tell them things about this firm. I refused, so they attacked me.” He showed Cowl his wounds.
Cowl barely looked at them. “What sort of things did they want to know about this firm?”
Devine had been watching him closely, because it was not outside the realm of possibility that, despite what Hancock had said about other people being out there, he was actually working with Cowl. He would certainly have a motive to get rid of Devine once and for all. But Cowl seemed surprised, and, more important, worried. Not for Devine, of course, but for himself.