“Nothing out of the ordinary. It was quiet all day. Had to go home on time for once.”
“Bet your husband liked that.”
“The beast hollered at me for not calling ahead. It’s always something with him”
Lila chuckled. “Did you have a chance to review the camera footage from yesterday morning?”
“Yes. Tell the engineers that thermal never sensed you, at least not enough to trigger an alarm. Captain McKinley might have noticed it if she had more experience and if she had been looking right at the camera when you passed. As for the cameras themselves, I straightened them all yesterday. I even ordered a few more to fill out coverage. They should be here later this afternoon. I’ll boost their signals, and we’ll see if you can slip by them all next month.”
“Good.” Her commander might not have been technical enough to work on computer security for the estate, a lack that would keep her from the chief’s office, but she was extremely gifted with audio and visual security. She could install them, modify them, and boost their signals as well as manage and alter their output. Lila trusted her judgment. “If Captain McKinley never noticed that they’d shifted out of line, she needs more training. See to it.”
Sutton frowned. The commander had never really gotten along with Captain McKinley. Sutton did not enjoy the woman’s casual approach to the chain of command, specifically when McKinley ignored it and went over her head. “Yes, chief.”
“What did Sergeant Tripp and Sergeant Nolan find out at Bullstow?”
“They didn’t have much to report, I’m afraid. Bullstow evacuated the area, then charged the family militias with holding the perimeter. They claimed it was to keep everyone safe while they cleaned up the site, said they wanted to ensure the gas leak had been contained. Sergeant Tripp and Sergeant Nolan weren’t able to get close enough to see anything. Both of them tried. Repeatedly. There were rumors of paperwork on the streets, paperwork that Bullstow was very keen on recovering.”
“Paperwork?” Lila hoped the press ran with that scandal rather than digging deeper.
“Yes, files, I suppose. It was a law office.”
“They could have been protecting court documents. Legal privacy and all.”
“Could have been. They also closed the airspace around the site and kept the press away. I haven’t seen a single photograph of the area, apart from the official press release from the governor’s office. Half the photo is nothing but smoke.”
“Do you think something else was going on?”
“I don’t know. The media seems to agree with the official story, but I have a weird feeling about it. Bullstow didn’t shy away from letting us get close to the train when it derailed. Why would a gas explosion be any different?”
“Because there were dozens upon dozens of casualties who needed tending? Because we didn’t ask, we just threw ourselves in, regardless of whether or not the situation might have been dangerous?”
Sutton grinned. “Well, when you put it like that.”
“I suspect it was an abundance of caution on their part. Don’t stick your neck out for anything more on this case. I’ve already put some spies on it. I’ll see what I can dig up on my own.”
“As you wish, chief. You always manage to figure out these things, anyway. You have a better spy network than your mother.”
“Not better and not as well placed. I like to think of it as a close second, though.”
“Well, I’m glad that they’re on it.”
Lila nodded, vaguely annoyed that she had been forced to put any spies on the case, pulling them off their regular assignments. It would have been suspicious not to pretend an interest, though. Besides, she needed to know what the other families were finding out. She needed to know if she had a chance at convincing her father not to hand over Tristan’s name to Shaw, not that the idiot deserved it.
Lila holstered her Colt and short sword, then walked Sutton out of her office. She waved at Sergeant Jenkins, her private executive admin, as he rolled his wheelchair behind his desk, the Colt at his waist gleaming and polished to a shine. It wasn’t disuse but love that kept it so beautiful. He could outdraw and outshoot nearly anyone in Saxony, even edging out Sutton, who had once been a sniper for the army. Lila had studied hard under his and Commander Sutton’s tutelage. She’d even won several state competitions, but only when the pair chose not to compete.
Jenkins settled in front of his computer, his shirt starched and his jacket crisp, and bowed his head toward her. “Morning, chief,” he said, pulling off the top to his morning coffee. “It’s omelets today, before you ask. French toast, too. I suppose you could pour syrup all over them and pretend that they’re waffles.”
Sutton snickered.
“I might.” Lila escaped her office and headed for the elevator. She rode down to the first floor cafeteria, a large, plain room filled with plants and long rows of tables carved in oak. She filled her plate with an omelet, several slices of French toast, and a pile of fruit salad from the buffet. She then found a seat among her militia, those Randolphs who either had a drive to protect the family or who suffered under dividends that shrank with each generation, due to their birth plunging them further away from the matron’s chair.
These highborn needed a contract with the family.
They needed one that paid, and paid well.
It did not take long for a few lieutenants from the overnight shift to settle beside her, wanting a word about militia business and department budgets while they ate.
When Lila finished, she dumped her tray into the slot in the back of the cafeteria and peeked out the window. The sun had risen while she had been catching up on her work.