“Thankfully he was on leave while Sophia was in the neonatal unit at the hospital. But once she was healthy enough to come home, I moved in to take care of her. Since I was on summer break from teaching, he went back to his team until he could push through the paperwork to officially resign.”
“So you’re a music teacher like you’d always dreamed?” Derrick asked.
“Yes,” she answered, wondering if Derrick ever missed a thing anyone said. “I’m a high school orchestra director. At least, I hope I’m still employed after my hasty departure.”
“I’m sure they’ll understand.” Dani slid back in her seat and draped an arm over the sofa. “So was your brother killed on duty?”
“No. He died in a car crash just a few miles from our apartment.”
“Just like his wife,” Derrick mumbled to himself.
“No, not like Becki at all,” Gina snapped then instantly felt bad about it. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have reacted like that, but I’m certain Jon was murdered. Becki was simply late for a doctor’s appointment so she was driving recklessly. She lost control and hit a telephone pole. From that day on Jon drove like a little old man. Slow and cautiously. The police say he was speeding and lost control near a cliff. I know better. He would never want to leave Sophia without a father, too. If he lost control of the car, someone must have tampered with it.”
“That should be easy to prove,” Derrick said. “Didn’t the police conduct an investigation?”
Gina faced him, making sure she conveyed the same tenacity she’d once hoped would convince the San Diego detective to keep looking into Jon’s case. “They say they did, but if so, how could they reach this conclusion? It just doesn’t make any sense. And I told them that. I kept after them until they finished the investigation and handed me his personal possessions.” She shook her head. “They were so terse. Like they were glad to be rid of him. Or maybe rid of me. It’s almost like they were covering something up and couldn’t wait to close the case and move on.”
Dani peered at Derrick, and they shared a look that Gina couldn’t read.
Were they like the police—doubting her story?
She sat up straighter. “I know you’re both thinking I’m a crazed sister who can’t accept that her brother is gone. But that’s not true. I had to let his loss go. For Sophia. But I can’t let go of my belief that the police are wrong and he was murdered.”
“Um, actually,” Dani said with a smile, “I was thinking you were a conspiracy theory nut.”
Despite the tension cutting through the room, Gina laughed. Dani always had a way of lightening things up even in the most difficult of circumstances.
“I haven’t gone off the deep end...” Gina offered Dani an exaggerated wink “...yet.”
“But you think the police are lying to you.” Derrick’s humorless tone killed the mood.
Gina shouldn’t have expected him to laugh with her, but his continued tight-lipped approach hurt. “Maybe they’re not lying to me, but after I was attacked in my apartment last night by a man who was looking for Jon’s flash drive, I know I’m not wrong that there’s more to his death than meets the eye.”
“Back up,” Derrick nearly shouted as he came to his feet. “You were attacked last night?”
“Yes. A masked man broke in—I’m almost certain it’s the same man who attacked Lilly and tried to chase me down tonight. He wanted a flash drive that was in the box the police had given to me. I was terrified for Sophia, so I gave it to him. I thought he’d take it and run. But he said I could’ve looked at the files on it, so he had to kill me.” Sophia whimpered and Gina leaned over to rub her back.
Derrick’s nose flared in anger. “How did you get away?”
“He pulled his trigger. The firing pin jammed. Jon made sure I kept a gun in the nightstand during his deployments, so I ran for it. The man kept coming at me. I fired in his direction, and he took off.” Though she was able to keep her emotions in check long enough to tell her story, a long shiver worked over her body, and she wrapped her arms around her stomach for comfort.
“Did you look at the files on the flash drive?” Derrick asked.
“Yes, but the only thing other than photos I took of Sophia was a log of some sort. It looked like someone snapped a picture of the document. Only the bottom part of it showed up, so I don’t have a clue what it was for.”
Derrick perched on the arm again and leaned forward. “I’m assuming you called the police after you were attacked and told them about the flash drive and the log.”
She nodded, moving back from his intense stare. “Not that it did me any good. I only glanced at the log, so I wasn’t able to tell them much about it.”
“If the detectives on Jon’s case didn’t back you up on the log then that must mean they didn’t look at the flash drive when they had it in their possession.”
“You know, I never asked,” Gina said. “But Jon hid the flash drive in a wooden cross that he wore around his neck. The police may not have even realized the drive was there. I doubt they thought it was more than a religious symbol, and they probably didn’t bother to examine it very carefully. Especially when they believed his death was accidental.”
Derrick arched his brow. “Why did he feel a need to hide his drive?”
She hated admitting this, but she had to tell the truth. “Rules prohibited him from carrying a flash drive on board. Guess the Navy worried about secrets being stolen or something.”
Dani nodded. “It’s a problem.”
Derrick gave his twin a fond smile. “And as our agency’s computer expert, she would know.”
“Well, Jon didn’t steal anything. He just wanted to have a way to keep current pics of Sophia with him during long deployments. They had computers on the ship for personal use, but they didn’t have internet access. So whenever they docked, he downloaded to his drive the pictures that I posted online.” She paused. “I know he was violating the rules, but after losing Becki, he needed these pictures to keep going.”
“Did you explain this to the police the night of your attack?” Derrick asked.
“Yes, but there weren’t any signs of a forced entry or odd fingerprints in my apartment, so they doubted my story. There was a bit of blood on the floor—I think I may have shot him—but they said it wasn’t enough blood for a gunshot injury and that maybe Jon had just cut himself weeks before, and I hadn’t noticed the blood until now.”
“So they stopped investigating?”
“Not until they called the detective working Jon’s case, and he told them I was a nutcase. That I’d hounded them all the time when they were already doing their jobs. He suggested I faked the attack to get them to reopen Jon’s case.” Despite wanting to remain calm and in control, Gina trembled.
“Do you have any idea of your attacker’s identity?” Dani asked.
“I don’t know,” Gina answered hesitantly. She hated to direct suspicion at Jon’s best friend.
Derrick eyed her for a moment. “That wasn’t very convincing. Is there something you’re not telling us?”
“No... I mean...” She shrugged. “I’m not sure about this, and I hate to cast doubt on a family friend.”
“I know this is hard, Gina.” Dani sat forward again. “But you’ll have to bare your soul to us if you don’t want your attacker to go unpunished.”
Dani was right. Finding Jon’s killer plus making sure she and Sophia stayed safe were the most important things. “Jon’s friend and