Because it had to be Wally. Even if Felix had no idea what Francis had meant by his nonsensical claim that Agloe was real, all three of Dr. Young’s friends were deathly afraid of the same person. That had to count for something.
“This is the third incident at the NYPL in a week,” Naomi said with a sigh, mystified. “And the most brazen of all. If only our security system was fully installed.”
“It was scheduled to take another week, but it will be done by tomorrow, I promise,” William said. “But at least we already finished affixing every piece of their inventory with our micro RFID tags.” He frowned as he looked at his tablet. “And it seems that nothing was taken this time, again. We don’t have our own movement data from the first murder, or the first break-in, of course, but if we accept the library’s security data from those two events, nothing was stolen either of those times, too.”
“Out of everything so far, that part is the most confusing to me,” Naomi said. “Now not one, but two scholars have been killed there, and the building has been broken in to three separate times—what the hell could this burglar be after?”
You wouldn’t believe it even if I told you, Felix thought. None of them would.
“You look troubled, Felix,” William said to him then, noticing his expression. The Haberson Map dinged on his tablet with another update before Felix could answer.
“And how could they be leaving no trace every time?” Priya asked, turning back to Naomi.
Another update came through as Naomi and Priya continued to debate the strange crimes, and then another, until they all looked to William, waiting for him to pass along the information. But he was just staring at his tablet, his eyes glued to the screen. He’d been silent for a very long time, Felix realized.
“William?” Priya prompted softly.
Felix couldn’t read William’s expression at first, until he finally looked up from his tablet.
“What is it?” Naomi asked.
“It’s done,” William said. “The Haberson Map found the burglar.”
“That’s great!” Felix cried, spinning toward his own screen, where the map was also open.
But William didn’t look happy.
“I’m sorry, Felix,” he finally said.
“Why?” Felix asked. Warily, he clicked on the Haberson Map, but William was already reading aloud.
“According to the algorithm, the map has designated Dr. Helen Young as the primary suspect in Dr. Daniel Young’s case, as well as the attempted burglary of the library the day after, and the murder of Irene Pérez Montilla tonight.”
WHAT?
“What the hell?” Felix gasped, unable to stop himself.
It wasn’t true.
He turned away from his computer, his hands scrambling across his desk for his phone.
It couldn’t be.
He had to call her. Warn her.
You can’t warn her, she’s about to become a suspect, he thought as he continued to scramble anyway, unable to stop.
“Felix, what are you doing?” Naomi asked nervously.
He shouldn’t do this, he knew. The Haberson Map automatically updated Ainsley’s team and the police—a warrant could be out for Nell’s arrest in no time. But he didn’t want to warn her because she was a criminal. He wanted to warn her because she wasn’t.
His hand was already moving, unable to resist.
<Nell, this is an emergency. You’re about to be named a suspect.>
He sent the message, then fired off another immediately.