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  She shook her head. “He was a bit odd, in an older person sort of way, but I wouldn’t say anyone had a reason to kill him.”

  “We talked to Mr. Tipring’s solicitor,” Dorland said. “He was going to give most of his money to different charitable organizations, but to his nurses, he left some money. Were you aware of that?”

  “I doubt that he planned to leave me any, not with how we ended our relationship. Would you like some tea?” Both officers shook their heads and Dorland lifted up his coffee cup in explanation. She sat down in a rocking chair beside the front window and offered them the sofa.

  “What happened between Mr. Tipring and yourself?”

  “I really don’t know. Sometimes I sit and think about what happened and well, I didn’t do what he said I did.” She stopped and looked at them. “Mr. Tipring had some jewelry, some earrings. I don’t know if you saw the box when you entered his house but, he really loved them. I believe they belonged to his mother. Whatever the reason. Well, I took holidays and some temporary nurses were called in from the agency to take over. I returned three weeks later and everything was fine. Then one day, about a week after I had returned, he comes into the kitchen when I’m preparing his lunch and starts accusing me of stealing one set of earrings from the box. I told him it wasn’t me but he thinks he remembers seeing them after I had returned. I don’t know. I doubt he knew when they went missing. Anyways, right there, right on the spot, he fired me. And because I’m accused of stealing, I never received severance pay and the agency dropped me.”

  “Did they ever find out who stole the earrings?” Dorland asked.

  “I’m not sure. I got a job at a tour company with my cousin. It’s where I work now.”

  “That must have made you angry.”

  “If you think that I had a motive, maybe the first week. But I got the job with my cousin two weeks later, it pays better, the hours are better, and I get large discounts and opportunities to travel the world. It was the best thing that ever happened to me. I met a man overseas in France and in three months, we’re going to be married. If anything, I should thank Mr. Tipring. No, I didn’t murder him. And as for the money, I doubt it will amount to much and I don’t really need it.”

  “So as far as you know, the person who stole the jewelry must have been one of the sub nurses?”

  “It’s really difficult to say. I can’t accuse anyone of doing it. I never had a chance to look into it. The earrings may have just fallen to the bottom of the case and are there now. He dismissed me and I left. If a pair of earrings is missing, I can’t explain what happened to them.”

  “Do you know if any of the earrings were worth anything?”

  Heather laughed. “Worth something? No, they were probably worth a few dollars combined. Sentimentality, nothing more. There were no pearls or diamonds that were real, cheap gold. Some were starting to rust, and gold does not rust. A nurse would have no reason to steal those earrings. They were worthless to anyone but him. No one would risk getting into trouble over those.”

  “Do you know anything about his art?” asked Dorland.

  “No, not really. He did them for his own enjoyment; he never sold any. Although, he did give two away. I know he gave one to his hometown, where he grew up. I used to drive him there once a year to see it; it was one of the few places he ever traveled to. Funny that, the man must be one of the vainest personages on earth, only leaving the city to see tile work he did himself. And I don’t know where the other went.”

  “I heard that he used to name them,” said Dorland.

  “Yeah, I forget what he used to call them. Unusual man, though. I think of him often.”

  “When you worked there, did he receive any visitors? Did he talk of his past, his family, his job?” asked Theo.

  “Not that I remember. He hated his neighbors, read the paper religiously, and preferred his tea a certain way. No one came to visit him, not regularly, and he was content in his own little world. I wish I could remember more, and I will try to, but it’s all I have.”

  “Did he ever mention working for the government?” asked Theo.

  Dorland looked sharply at him.

  “The government?” replied Heather. “No, he was an electrician.”

  “What about family? Do you know if anyone worked for the government?”

  She opened her mouth to speak but paused before replying, “I don’t know what you’re looking for. Patients often open up to their nurses. Sometimes you can’t get them to shut up, but not our Mr. Tipring. No, he kept the world to himself. Oh sure, he made chit chat, but if I think about it, I didn’t know anything about him really. What a way to live.”

  “I would like to talk to the nurses that filled in for you while you were on holiday. Do you still have the number for the nursing agency?”

  She wrote it down for them.

  After leaving the flat, Theo said, “If one of those girls did steal the jewelry and Tipring found out whom, the culprit may have wanted to silence him.”

  “Over a pair of earrings? First, why would anyone want to steal a cheap pair of earrings and second, why would anyone kill for them? If he did accuse one of the nurses, she could easily argue that the man was crazy and explain they were worth nothing.”

  “I think we should find out if the old man was crazy or not,” Theo suggested.

  “How do you plan to do that?”

  “We should find out if the man has really had a pair of earrings stolen or not. We fetch the box of earrings and compare them to the pictures the solicitor has in his office. I’ll ring him and find out if we can come in. Follow me to Mr. Tipring’s house.” Theo made the call to the solicitor and agreed to meet him at one that afternoon.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  Crystal has made two copies,” Sophia said to Liam.

  “Will the two of you please watch the footage again, frame by frame if you have to. And Melony, watch Elaine. If she goes anywhere near that box of chocolates, I want to know. Is it possible he slipped a piece of paper under his tea cup or inside it?”

  “I don’t think so because she washed the cup without removing anything. Besides, if he did leave anything behind, she’ll have to inform her boss in some way and we’ll catch her.”

  “There is always that.” Liam sighed.

  Sophia thought it was best if Crystal and she divided up the task. She chose to watch Miles while her friend watched Ms. Smith. Almost frame by frame Sophia watched Miles enter the flat, hand the box of chocolates, and examine the ornaments in the room. Never did he place his hand in his pockets to retrieve the numbers nor did he write on anything. If he was placing the information for Ms. Smith to find, they had a clever pre-arranged system. No pattern stood out.

  Finally, Miles sat down on the sofa and picked up the deck of cards. One by one he dealt the cards out. Seven in a row. One by one he turned the cards over and moved them around.

  “Sir,” a voice came over the radio, “Miles has arrived home. He has entered the bathroom.”

  “Do we have cameras in the bathroom?” Liam asked.

  “No, sir, however, if he makes a phone call while in the bathroom, we will know. We just heard the toilet flush and he has only been in there twenty-two seconds. He is exiting the room and zipping up his trousers.”

  “I don’t think we need that much information.”

  “Well, just so you know, we don’t believe he has done anything in the room except take a piss.”

  “What is he doing now?”

  “He’s turned on the telly.”

  “Has he been on the computer or made contact with anyone?”

  “No, sir.”

  “What the hell did we miss?” asked Liam. “Damn it. What did we miss? They can’t be that clever. We are cleverer than the two of them, surely.”

  Crystal tapped Sophia on the arm and signed, “I found something.”

  Sophia leaned over and looked at the screen on Crystal’s computer.

  “Out of habit, I watch f
or lags in everything, the streams, the speed, and I think we have an anomaly. You see, the cameras are all streaming on our network. Everything is streaming through the network, including every mobile phone who chooses to use our network to update their Facebook page. Well, I catalogued the usage on the network from the moment we started here. I know what device matches what address. You see, your two computers are here and mine, here. That’s the computer with the monitors and right now our friend Bert is also accessing it.”

  Sophia turned to Bert who was intently typing on his mobile phone.

  “However,” Crystal continued, “I set a program to track our devices and their usage.”

  “That’s above and beyond . . .”

  “Well, I had created the program a long time ago. Mainly to track you and your life.”

  “Hmm,” signed Sophia, “that’s nice to know. Comforting.”

  “I can’t tell if you’re being sarcastic when you sign.” She waved Sophia off. “That aside, it tracks new devices as well. Anyone that isn’t listed by me—and all of Liam’s devices—are picked up and I get sent a message.”

  “When did you get a message?”

  “Shortly before the meeting started. I ignored the message at first because we were trying to focus on the meet but now I’m curious. Who logged onto our network and how were they able to gain access?”

  “Are you doubly sure it’s not just someone in the room? Or perhaps it was one of the team that followed Miles over to the house. While they were waiting for the meet to end, they logged into our network.”

  “That might be the case. I’m running a check through all the systems to see what was accessed. I didn’t set up the security on the network so I can’t be sure how protected it is. If, however, someone who was not given the key was able to access the network, he . . . or she, is amazing.”

  “You think it may be someone like Ms. Smith who accessed the network?”

  “Or someone she knows.”

  Sophia looked to Liam who was currently on the phone, explaining the situation to his superiors. “If that’s the case, there’s a lot more to be worried about.”

  “Yes. We can hope it turns out to be one of us. But, if it doesn’t, not only is there a chance the information we collected is accessed but, they know we’re here—watching them.”

  “Maybe we should shut down the network and re-establish it.”

  “If we do that now, we risk not only missing any feed while the cameras are down but we also risk alerting the hacker that we know we’re on to him or her.”

  “Well, at least take offline whatever is not crucial. Especially our computers. If the person is capable of that, he may be able to access our drives.”

  “All right. And it may turn out in the end to be one of us. In which case, the panic is for nothing. But I don’t think we should ignore it.”

  “No.” Sophia breathed out deeply. “We have to let Liam know.”

  “No, just you.”

  Sophia tapped Crystal’s shoulder as she rose. “Thanks for the support.” She went and stood by Liam and waited until he finished his call. She really had no idea how to tell him, not even sure he would understand. Perhaps though, this news would be good news. At least it would be something and a chance that the hacker left a trace behind. When Liam slammed his phone in his shirt pocket and turned to face her, she doubted the wisdom in telling him.

  “What is it?” Liam asked her. “Have you found something?”

  “Well, maybe.” She started biting her fingernails but Liam pulled her hand out of her mouth.

  “Talk.”

  “It wasn’t my find exactly, it’s Crystal’s discovery. We think there might be a chance—and right now it’s a strong might—that someone may be piggybacking one of our networks.”

  “What does that mean?”

  “Someone may be accessing our network.”

  “What for?”

  “We’re not sure yet. It could be something as simple as using our Internet or something more serious.”

  “How serious?”

  “Well, there is a chance that someone is hacking into our system.”

  Liam’s mouth hung open. “That’s bad.”

  “Yes, that’s worst case. However, we don’t know what the person is up to. Why did they choose our network and who is it? We’re not sure it’s even related to the case here.”

  “Is there a chance it’s related to one of the cases you’re working on?”

  Sophia shrugged. “Doubtful. We’ve only noticed an increase since we’ve been here—we being Crystal and I—which leads me to believe it’s not. Crystal is doing a diagnostic and as soon as we know something, you’ll know about it as well. In the meantime, I’m going to keep reviewing the footage. Something is not sitting right with me.”

  “What?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  Sophia went back to her workstation and started the footage again. She continued to watch Miles play solitaire, slowing the frames down to assure herself Miles didn’t write information somewhere on a card or paper on the table. Sophia paused the footage and rubbed her eyes. This was going to make her batty. The shipment information had to be in the box of chocolates. However, if it was, why wasn’t Ms. Smith doing something with that information? She hadn’t been near the box again since eating the one caramel.

  “Where did Miles pick up the chocolates?” Sophia asked Liam.

  “He works for a chocolate factory,” Liam replied. “That’s why it didn’t surprise us when he said he wanted to bring chocolates. However, we assumed it may be the perfect ruse to get a message. It had to be considered.”

  “And it still has to be considered,” said Melony.” We may have no choice but to get that box.”

  “Yes,” said Liam, “but, if it’s not inside and we pick it up, she’ll just be more careful with the real way she’s going to be delivering the coordinates.”

  “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.