Aaron was drafting a contract for a potential business partner when Aiden burst into his office without knocking, as usual. But this time the door opened so forcefully it hit the wall behind it with a bang, making him look up with a questioning stare.
Aiden was flushed and out of breath, which was unusual for him. Even if something was urgent he was more likely to stroll in as if he didn't have a care in the world.
"What is it?" he asked flatly.
"I nailed him! I have proof that Graydon Meyer murdered Lacy."
Aaron's interest was piqued. "I would have thought he would cover his tracks better. You found something the police could feasibly find on their own?"
The hacker nodded as he flopped onto the couch with an exhausted sigh. "Man, I shouldn't have run up here. I'm really out of shape."
"You wouldn't be so winded if you did anything other than play video games," he pointed out. "But that isn't important. Get on with it already."
"Right," Aiden said before launching into a longwinded explanation involving all of the little hacking details Aaron didn't care about. But he supposed it was necessary since he needed to be able to tell if the kid's assessment about the easy accessibility of the evidence was correct.
If the police couldn't have found this on their own, the whole plan would be ruined. Thankfully it seemed to involve very simple research the police were capable of and surveillance footage they would have access to.
"…long story short, I found out that the cab Lacy and the sunglasses guy got into had a hidden dash cam in it. The footage is stored in Taxi Star's main office. I had to do some shady hacking to access it but all the police have to do is get a warrant and they can see it for themselves.
"At one point in the video, very briefly, Lacy manages to pull the sunglasses off and you can see Meyer's whole face before he manages to get them back on. The driver probably didn't notice his face because it was so quick but the camera did," Aiden finished smugly. "Am I awesome or am I awesome?"
It proved Gray was lying about when he last saw Lacy and that he had taken her to the Bronx, which was fairly compelling evidence, but Aaron wasn't entirely sure it would get a conviction.
Lying to the police was a misdemeanor and would have very minor charges Gray could get out of due to his wealth. But since it was about a murder investigation it would negate his alibi and cause the police to look into him more closely.
Was it worth the risk? Aaron didn't think his half-brother would be able to connect this back to him if Aiden left an anonymous tip mentioning the video footage and Harry Ramone's dash cam footage. He would have to leave whether or not Gray got locked up to the courts at that point.
He needed to talk about this with Keeley and see what she thought. Originally he hadn't cared about the man getting away with murder simply because he hated the victim. But since Gray had an abnormal interest in him and his family…could he really stand by and keep appeasing a murderer forever simply to stay on his good side?
"Good work, Aiden. Let me explain the situation to Keeley and see if she wants to proceed with this information," he said.
Aiden was completely obscured by the back of the couch since he was lying on his back but he lifted his arm high enough to give his boss a thumbs up to go ahead.
Aaron clicked on Keeley's contact in his phone and began dialing. He was a bit nervous about proceeding if that was what she wanted to do but his heart calmed slightly when he saw her contact picture.
It was from her PhD graduation and she had the brightest, most joyous smile on her face. Her entire being radiated light. It was impossible not to smile looking at that.
"Aaron? What's up? I was just reading to the twins," Keeley said when she picked up.
"Aiden found evidence that might help convict Gray but I'm not sure if it will be enough. Do you still want to go for it?"
"Oh. What evidence is it, anyway?"
"Footage of Gray in a cab headed to the Bronx with Lacy," Aaron said grimly. "He really did kill her."
"…that seems pretty solid to me but then again, I don't know much about the law or police work. As long as you're sure it isn't traceable to you or Aiden I would have to say to go for it."
Her answer was about what he had expected but he was still glad he asked for her opinion. It was a sign that their relationship was good. He had promised there wouldn't be any more secrets or doing questionable things on his own and he had meant it.
"That's what I thought you would say. Alright. I'll get on that. Hug the babies for me. I'll see you in a few hours. Love you."
"Love you too!" she said cheerfully before hanging up.
Would Aaron ever get tired of hearing that? Probably not.
"So is that a yes or a no?" Aiden asked from his place on the couch.
"It's a yes. Be sure to call them from a public payphone that doesn't have any security cameras in sight or make sure you're disguised when you call in the tip. Gray is a hacker too but I don't know how good of one he is. We need to do this as low-tech as possible so he can't trace it," Aaron explained.
Was he missing anything? All of his bases needed to be covered. If Gray wasn't a hacker he would simply tell Aiden to email the information but since that wouldn't work they had to do it the old-fashioned way.
Brann Knighton's reward might be a problem too. If Gray found out it was refused by an anonymous tipster that might be suspicious. But Gray might know what Aiden looked like since he had looked into Aaron's people before; he couldn't exactly walk into a police station and accept the reward either.
They could always pay a random person to go accept the reward but that might put them in danger. This would be much easier to plan for if Aaron knew exactly how much access to the city's grid Gray truly had.
The man had eyes and ears everywhere in the form of human sources but was his omniscience also attributed to surveillance footage like Aiden's?