“You don’t think she’s already being careful?” asked Melony.

“Yes,” said Liam, “but it would only take a phone call to get them to move the weapons and then pick them up at a later date. We know one thing for sure: she won’t be the one picking up the weapons now that she has handed the money to Placko. At some time in the near future she will have to give her boss the information.”

“Has anyone considered whether she is only there to hand the money over. She may never get the coordinates at all,” asked Sophia.

“That has been considered,” said Liam. “However, from our intel, she’s the only one who has contact with Placko’s men. And it’s all we have to go on.”

Chapter Twenty-Three

Mrs. Zamora, the first substitute nurse on the list, was a single mother with four boys. The four energetic boys chased each other around their front garden with large sticks. When Theo and Dorland entered the yard, all the boys stopped in unison and stared.

“Who are you?” the oldest-looking one asked. He was probably ten.

A younger asked, “My mum is inside with a headache. She sent us outside.”

“Well, we will try to talk to your mum, all right?” They all nodded their heads eagerly and slowly followed behind the two officers to their front door. A lady opened the door when they rang the bell. She rubbed her eyes.

Theo immediately showed the woman his warrant card and asked, “Mrs. Zamora?”

“Yes?” She glanced behind the two officers to her four kids who immediately dashed off in different directions, “What can I do you for?”

“We are investigating the death of a Mr. Tipring. We believe you once worked for him.” The woman stared at them blankly until Theo added, “A one-legged man with tiled art?”

“Oh yes. I only worked for him for a few days and it was quite a while back.”

“About four months ago?”

“For me that’s quite a while, Detectives. Do either of you have children?” Both shook their heads no. “Well, when you do, either time seems to go too fast to get things done or too slow for the work to end. You’ll understand. As for Mr. Tipring, I don’t remember much. What was it you wanted to ask me?”

“We are looking for any motive or reason that someone might want to kill him,” said Theo. “We have recently learned that there was jewelry stolen from the house. We are looking for any information, anything you might be able to tell us.”

“Jewelry? I don’t remember any jewelry. Was it very valuable?”

“No, not really.”

“Why then would anyone want to steal it?” The question seemed like an obvious one to her.

“So you don’t remember any jewelry? A box of earrings?” asked Dorland

“Afraid not.” She grabbed her forehead and rubbed it vigorously. “Why would a man keep jewelry? I do remember the art though. Kevin get down from there this instant, don’t make me come over there. Look, sorry, like I said, I only worked there for a few days. I hardly remember to put the rubbish out; I can’t tell you anything about any jewelry.”

Theo said, “If you don’t mind me asking where you were at around seven Wednesday morning.”

“At seven in the morning on a school day? Ask any one of my children, they will know I was probably yelling at the top of my lungs to get these lazy rug rats out of bed and to school on time. Believe me, I wish I had the time to think of watching a murder mystery on television never mind think of committing one.”

With that, she started running after her smallest son, and with a quick scoop of her finger pulled a large wad of rocks and dirt from his mouth. “Get in the house and rinse your mouth out. That’s disgusting.” She pushed him toward the house and started after another one. Dorland and Theo sneaked out of the yard.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Suddenly a voice interrupted on the radio. “Sir, we have a man approaching the house.”

“Who is it?” asked Liam.

“Unknown, sir.”

“Stay back,” Liam commanded. “This may be her contact. On alert, everyone.”

The volume was raised over the speakers. Everyone stepped a little closer to the monitors and watched. A man wearing a dark coat and baseball hat approached her door and knocked. Ms. Smith, who was hanging some dish towels on the clothes line, looked up and toward the front of the house. She wavered a bit but went back to hanging. The man knocked again, this time louder. Ms. Smith heard the door this time and after placing a pin on the line, wiped her hand on her apron and entered the house.

Before answering the door, Ms. Smith again looked over the state of her living room. Sophia watched to see if she looked at the chocolates but she didn’t seem to. Then she approached the front door slowly and opened it on the chain.

“Oh, come in,” she said, calmly. She unhooked the chain and stepped back. He entered and shut the door behind him—locking it. She stood there quietly, as if waiting for him to speak.

“Do you have something for me?” she finally asked.

The team leaned in closer, straining to hear the reply. The man reached into his jacket.

“Did he say something?” Liam asked.

“I didn’t hear anything.”

Until they did. The sound was barely audible over the speakers but the reaction was clear. Ms. Smith stepped back slightly and fell to the ground. He stood over her and aimed at her head. Another muffled bang resonated over the speakers. Sophia wanted to vomit. She clasped both hands to her mouth and looked away. Crystal stared at the monitors in disbelief.

“Shit,” Liam yelled. “Move in. Move in, all teams.”

The shooter stepped over the body and walked to the back garden. The officers were at the front door trying the handle and then banging their bodies against the door. Almost without effort, the killer scaled the back wall and disappeared from the screen. Liam ran from the flat. Some of the officers were running down the street, in hopes of catching the man.

Sophia followed Liam from the flat into the hall and leaned against the wall. Crystal came out and stood in front of her.

“What happened?”

“Someone came to Ms. Smith’s house and shot her.”

“What? She’s dead?” Crystal attempted to go back into the room but Sophia grabbed her arm.

“You don’t want to see it,” Sophia assured her.

Crystal didn’t go back in and instead stood in front of Sophia in the hall. “About three and a half minutes ago, before that man arrived, the same person signed into our network. I think it’s too coincidental to be one of us. There’s someone hacking the network. And he must be nearby.”

“So there’s a chance that he’s in this building.”

“Within network range.”

“But why? It doesn’t make any sense? What are they after? Are they hoping to access secrets? Did they download anything?”

“The only thing they accessed were the cameras,” said Crystal.

“That makes even less sense. Why would someone in close connection to Ms. Smith or the buyer want to be spying—or even need to be spying—on themselves?”

“Maybe it’s someone Placko set up to spy on Ms. Smith. To make sure she complied with the rules.”

“Yes, but whoever it was knew she was watched by us. They know we’re here watching her. If Placko did suspect, why would he send Miles to meet her?”

“For the money.”

“Yes, but Ms. Smith handed over the money without batting an eyelash. She never let on that they didn’t fulfill their end of the bargain.” Sophia paused and thought. “Unless she expected the killer because he was the one bringing the information about the shipment.”

“Maybe.”

“It doesn’t make any sense.”

Sophia’s mobile rang. It was Liam.

“I want you and Crystal over here going through Ms. Smith’s computer. Take it apart if you have to, but find out what we need to know.”