“You were running your mouth. It wasn’t a duel where you count to three. You wanted to fight, so I fought. It was three against one. What the hell did you expect, Marquess of Queensberry Rules? And I gave you lots of chances to walk away, but you wouldn’t take them. But if it makes you feel any better, I couldn’t raise my arms over my shoulders for a whole day, and my back still aches like a son of a bitch.” He touched his face. “And I’m not getting any better-looking with brick face.”

  The two men glared at each other for a few seconds.

  Chilton finally said, “Yeah, I guess fighting over that woman was pretty stupid.”

  “Fights over girls usually are,” said Devine, who was still suspicious of why Chilton had even been at the bar that night. “So, you frequent that place?”

  “Sometimes. Did you really know her?”

  “We work in the same office. A friend of ours died there.”

  “Shit, I read about that. Suicide, right?”

  “That’s what they initially thought. Now it looks like someone killed her.”

  Chilton went all wide-eyed on this, which made Devine even more suspicious. “Damn. Do they know who did it?”

  “Not yet. One more thing.”

  “What?” asked Chilton.

  “You were at that bar in Greenwich Village hitting on a girl who works at Cowl and Comely. Now you’re here.”

  “So what?”

  “Did you follow the woman to the bar and pretend to hit on her? Otherwise, I’m feeling a bit of a coincidence here.”

  “In case you didn’t know, the New York financial world is pretty small and that bar is popular with our crowd. So piss off.”

  As Chilton started to turn away, Devine said, “Hummingbird?”

  Chilton turned back. “What?”

  “Word on the street is your firm is interested in funding Hummingbird’s next investment round.”

  “How do you know anything about that?”

  “I work in that ‘little’ financial world you just referred to. And I keep my ears open.”

  “How do you even know about me or my firm?”

  “Your family came over on the Mayflower. Everybody knows you.”

  “You’re really starting to tick me off.”

  “Not really my intent. And we already did that dance. Actually a friend of mine told me. How can you do the Hummingbird deal so fast?”

  “I don’t have to explain my business to you.”

  “You’re right, you don’t. But if you want my two cents, Hummingbird is a great company. It’s going be worth a shitload really soon. Your investment will be worth a hundred mil in a year.”

  Chilton’s aggressive attitude faded. “Based on what?”

  “Based on the CEO. She’s the smartest person I’ve ever met in my life. MIT grad. Harvard MBA. World-class gamer. There’s nothing she can’t do with a computer. And she lives and breathes Hummingbird. Her subscription base is soaring, she’s got positive cash flow, her business strategy is sound, and all she needs is the capital to be the preeminent platform out there. And it’s a big market and only getting bigger.”

  “You sound like her CMO,” said Chilton, referring to a chief marketing officer. “You got skin in the game?”

  “About one-millionth of one percent. But I believe in her. I’ve been around a lot of business types. Some good, some terrible. She’s really in a league of her own.”

  Chilton looked away for a moment. When he glanced back at Devine, his entire demeanor had changed. “Everything you just said comports with what we’ve found in our preliminary due diligence.”

  “So can you really do the deal that fast? She’s got other suitors, but nobody who can pull the trigger as quick as you guys.”

  Chilton smiled. “We’ve heard that before. Fact is, we’ve got a ton of capital to deploy, and I’ve been looking at the online dating space for a while now. Tapshaw’s coming at it from a whole other angle. Not just dating, but a whole other array of services and benefits. It shows in the sophistication and thoroughness of the business product she’s put together. I think she really wants to bring people together. Most of the other platforms are clearly in it just for the bucks, at least that’s my opinion.”

  “So, where did you hear about her?”

  “We have spies everywhere. She talked to a Taiwanese VC firm recently. The Taiwanese don’t screw around. If they’re interested, we need to be interested.”

  “So you haven’t met Tapshaw yet?”

  “No, but we have officially reached out to her. We hope to have a face-to-face with her very soon.”

  This was all sounding legit to Devine. Maybe Chilton wasn’t targeting Tapshaw because she was Devine’s roommate. Maybe he didn’t even know they were roommates.

  “So where does all your money come from? Just professional curiosity,” he added.

  Chilton looked for a moment like he might lash out again. He shrugged. “I can’t give out names. But from all over. Family offices to institutional investors. My grandfather started Mayflower. I’m no wunderkind who built something from scratch. I’m just this generation’s rep. Been groomed for it from first grade. We have ties to everybody.”

  “Brad Cowl?”

  Chilton looked up at the house. “You must know him, since you’re here.”

  “He’s my boss. He invited me here to meet.”

  Chilton looked at Devine in a different light. “How’d your meeting go with him?”

  “Too soon to tell. So, you’re friends with Cowl, then?”

  “We do business together. He did the same with my father before he died.”

  “Good luck with Hummingbird. Treat her right, and you won’t regret it. But you’re not the only game in town, so be prepared to pay a premium valuation. Oh, I met Michelle Montgomery, too. Very nice. You know her?”

  “Yeah, she’s actually a family friend. I was over here the other night visiting her.”

  I know. “Funny that you know her, and she knows Cowl, and you work with Cowl, too. Another coincidence.”

  “No coincidence about it. I was the one who introduced Michelle to Brad. This was over in Italy.”

  “Really? You had no interest yourself?”

  “We grew up together. And I thought it would be good for Michelle.”

  Rich boy and a girl who stays in student hostels grew up together? Curious.

  “Well, have a fun time in there.”

  Devine watched him walk inside and then he left, got on his bike, and sped off.

  He couldn’t believe that he’d threatened the head of one of the biggest investment firms in the world. If Cowl got the cops involved? If he said Devine had tried to blackmail him? The guy could probably make it stick, and Devine didn’t have enough money to hire the legal firepower to fight back, just like Cowl had intimated.

  So basically I’m SOL. And what else is new?

  And if he got swept out to sea there was no way in hell Emerson Campbell was throwing him a rope. Unlike being in the Army, now it was sink or swim all by his lonesome.

  CHAPTER

  35

  “DUDE?”

  Devine walked into the house and saw Valentine on the couch.

  “Yeah?”

  “Cowl is not doing high-frequency trading from your building.”

  Devine sat down next to him. “How do you know that already? I thought you were still thinking about whether to look into it or not.”

  “So I change mind, kill me. Anyway, I track flow over pipe, and confirm on both ends. Is very unique stream of data. Like a river that is green.” He laughed. “Green. You get my little joke?”

  “Yeah, very little.”

  “There aren’t many that do trading like that. Easy to check.”

  “Okay, you say Cowl isn’t doing high-frequency trading, but I know that they do have a division that does that. And you said you confirmed that data flow, so I’m a little confused.”

  “That is what I am talking about, dude. You are right. They have high-frequency trading platform, only it operates out of building in Queens. That is pipe I trace.”

  “You’re sure?”

  He looked at Devine with his head cocked and his features full of incredulity. “Dude? Digital signature is unique, okay? I’m no amateur.”

  “Okay, so what is Area 51 in my building, then? Did you manage to hack in there?”

  Valentine looked down at his screen. “It is . . . well protected. Take a lot of time to get in. And maybe not even then.”

  Devine had a thought. “Could they be doing crypto-mining in my building?”

  “Is possible. Takes lots of energy and computational power. Lots of people doing it. But in the end, I think it is bad thing.”

  “Why?”

  “Is perfect for ransomware. You can trace money wire. But very difficult to do with something like Monero, a decentralized crypto, very private. You can negotiate terms, and the really professional hackers always keep their word and unlock the encrypted files. Only way they stay in business. But is still bad because you can’t find where money went.”

  “Then I have to find another way to see what they’re doing on that floor.”

  “Why?”

  “It might have something to do with Sara Ewes’s death.”

  “You mean, she might have found out what is going on there?”

  “Prime motive for murder, don’t you think, depending on what’s there?”

  “Maybe. But, dude, crypto-mining is not illegal.”

  “But it might not be crypto-mining. And Sara might have heard or seen something she shouldn’t have. And maybe that’s where the untraceable email came from.”

  This got Valentine’s interest. “How will you get in there?”

  “I can’t access the floor with my card.” Something occurred to Devine. “But maybe I can find another way.”

  Devine climbed the stairs and knocked on Tapshaw’s door.

  She opened it, dressed in pale blue capri pants and a white blouse. He smiled and she returned it. “Got some news on Mayflower. I know it’s not the weekend, but how about having that tequila now, before the bar closes? I can fill you in.”

  She slipped on flip-flops and put her arm through his. “Let’s go.”

  The bar was within walking distance, a few blocks off the main street. The Mount Kisco area was an interesting mix of working-class and mega wealth. The bar they were going to would have no such mix. It was all folks living paycheck to paycheck.

  They sat outside, a shot of tequila and a bowl of nuts in front of each of them.

  “Well?” she said curiously. “Mayflower?”

  He told her about his meeting with Chilton. “So when they come in with an offer, triple the valuation. They’ll still bite. So long as you have the numbers to back it up, and I know you do.”

  “Can I kiss you?”

  He grinned like a schoolboy. “I have no problem with that.”

  She leaned over and pecked him lightly on the cheek, then sat back. “I really appreciate this, Travis. It was so nice of you.”

  He lifted his shot glass. “Hey, I’m a shareholder too, right?”

  They tapped glasses and drank their tequila. “So, after you take over the world, what’s next?” asked Devine.

  “You think way too highly of me,” she said.

  “Not from where I’m sitting.”

  “It’s ironic that I founded a dating service, because I haven’t been too lucky in that regard.”

  “Sometimes luck has nothing to do with it. Sometimes it just happens when you least expect it to.”

  “I’m still waiting for that to happen to me. Maybe I work too hard.”

  “There’s no maybe about it. You do work too hard. But you clearly love it, so maybe you don’t really work a day in your life. Isn’t that how the old saying goes?”

  She smiled and then her expression turned serious. “You haven’t seemed yourself lately, Travis. Is everything okay?”

  “A woman was killed at my office.”

  “What!”

  “They thought it was a suicide, but turns out someone murdered her.”

  “Oh my God. Why would someone do that?”

  “I don’t know. Yet.”

  “Helen told me the police were questioning you but she didn’t say what about.”

  “I think they believe I had something to do with it.”

  “Did you know the woman?”

  “I did.”

  “What was her name?”

  “Sara Ewes.”

  Tapshaw slowly put down her shot glass, looking like she might be ill. “Sara Ewes? That’s her name?”

  “Yeah. Wait a minute, did you know her?”

  “No, but I know the name.”

  “How?”

  “A woman named Sara Ewes was one of my very first subscribers on Hummingbird.”

  CHAPTER

  36

  IT WAS THE SAME SARA Ewes. Devine was in his room staring at her picture on Hummingbird. He’d gone over her dating file. She’d had matches with three men. All had been right around the time she had signed up on the site, years earlier.

  Ewes looked younger and carefree, though she would have already pulled time at the max prison otherwise known as Cowl and Comely. She had obviously been looking for someone to share her life with. And hadn’t found him. And perhaps she had grown disenchanted, because, after these three tries, there had been no more activity on the site for her.

  She was smiling, her hair was set just so, grazing her shoulders. He knew she had a nice laugh, an easygoing manner. Nothing pretentious about the woman.

  He had liked her. He could have maybe come to love her, given time.

  And now her body had been autopsied, with the remains to be handed over to her crushed parents. At age twenty-eight. Nothing could be more tragic.

  He looked up at his open doorway as Tapshaw appeared there. “Is . . . is it her?”

  He nodded slowly.

  “I’m so sorry.”

  “You have a good memory for names.”

  She walked over and stood beside him. “My first hundred subscribers were the only ones I had for a long time. I studied them every minute of every day, figuring out how to get more just like them. I knew them in some ways better than I knew my own family.”

  “I can see that.”

  She glanced at the image. “Was she nice? I mean, in person?”

  “Yeah, she was very nice.”

  “Did you two . . . were you dating?”

  He looked away for a moment. “Maybe I would have wanted that.”

  “I sense a but coming.”

  “But she apparently didn’t.”

  “Did you two . . . ?”

  “TMI, Jill.”

  “Right, sorry,” she said, her face reddening. “It’s just the matchmaker in me.” She looked at the screen again. “Will this help find who hurt her?”

  “Maybe. I looked at her profile. There were three men she had matches with. But I don’t know more than that.” He glanced at her. “Can you help?”

  “Get up.”

  Tapshaw sat in the chair in front of the screen, cracked her knuckles, and her long, slender fingers flew over the keyboard so fast he could barely follow the movements.

  “Here are the three men,” she said.

  Devine looked at the photos of a trio of handsome gents with refined features. They all looked remarkably similar.

  “And here are their backgrounds.”

  More key slashes and another screen came up with the bios.

  “One in the theater, one in finance, and one in medicine,” he said, reading off the information. “Do you know what happened to them?”

  Her fingers flashed again and multiple screens came up.

  “Okay, the one in the theater posted that he’s in London working in the West End. I guess that can be verified. The businessman met his beloved on Hummingbird and is married with a newborn in Boston. Again, that can be checked. Now, the doctor.” She studied the screen, brought up still more screens, studied them, shook her head and said, “Let me try something.”

  The keyboard rattled again as she attacked it. Then an obituary popped up with a picture.

  “That’s him!” said Devine. “He’s dead? What happened? He was around my age.”

  Tapshaw ran her eye down the page. “He was working in Chicago in a COVID ward near the beginning of the pandemic. He caught the virus and died. No wife and no kids.”

  “Damn, when you think you’re having a bad day, think about people like that.”

  She straightened and looked at him. “When I founded Hummingbird, I have to admit, I did it really for myself. It’s so hard to meet people and develop a relationship. But then I started thinking beyond myself.” She looked at the screen. “To people like them.”

  “So, do you have a profile on Hummingbird?”

  “I used to. And I got some matches. But none that really went anywhere. I think I’m resigned to building my business and then looking for someone.”

  “Well, thanks for all this info,” he said. “You are a true artist with computers.”

  “I got my first Apple MacBook when I was eight and never looked back.”

  “I remember you telling me about your parents. Did they encourage you?”

  “Oh yeah. My dad has a slew of patents he developed for companies like Microsoft and Intel. He also lectures all around the world. My mom teaches physics at Caltech.”

  “Well, you clearly didn’t inherit any brains from them,” he joked. “You told me before that you had a brother?”

  “Dennis. We’re twins. He’s a scholar-athlete, sort of the perfect sibling. It can be intimidating. But I love him to death.”

  “Yeah, I’ve got the perfect-sibling thing going, too. It can be tough. But I don’t see how anyone can hold a candle to what you’ve accomplished.” He looked at the keyboard. “Hey, Jill, can I ask a favor?”

  “Sure.”

  He pulled out his phone. “I got a weird email from someone who I think might be involved with Sara’s death.”

  “What?” she gasped. “Have the police traced it?”

  “That’s the thing. It seems to be untraceable. I’ve had people try, including Will, but no go.”