Broken Build Read Online Free PDF Page A

deeply.
    “Jen, you still there?” Owen’s voice called. “Meet me at the station. Say, five minutes.”
    Jen stared at her laptop. “Sure.”
    She scrolled through her email and tapped an instant message to Praveena, the lead software developer.
    Jen: Code checked in?
    Praveena: 20 min
    Jen: I gotta go, can u kick the build?
    Praveena: Sure, np
    Jen: thx
    Now, why did Rey have to turn up dead? They’d been so careful, no electronic trails. Communicating by postal letters and chance meetings at the gym where she worked out—until he stupidly showed up at her apartment and forced her to go on a date. Jen swallowed a surge of acid and grabbed her keys. Better to say nothing.
    The drive to the police station was short and straightforward. Jen followed Owen between two large and imposing date palms into the lobby. Minutes later, they were seated in Detective Mathews’ office.
    Mathews gestured to Jen’s purse sitting on his clean desk. “Here’s your purse.”
    She took it and opened it.
    “Anything missing?” The detective swept his bloodshot gaze over her and steepled his long fingers. “Kind of a warm day for a turtleneck.”
    “Detective,” Owen said, “did you call us to chat about her clothes and the contents of her purse?”
    Detective Mathews held up his hand to silence him.
    Jen flipped through her wallet. “The credit cards are here and so is my license.”
    The photo of Rodrigo was gone, but she couldn’t remember if she’d replaced it when she last changed wallets. She shut the wallet quickly and fumbled through the rest of the purse. Her cell phone was also missing.
    “The jerks stole my cash and my cell phone. Where did you find this?”
    “At the crime scene.”
    Jen jolted upright. “What?”
    The detective cracked his knuckles and leaned closer. “Suppose you tell me why your purse was there.”
    “Wait,” Owen said. “She lost her purse Friday night.”
    Jen shook her head. “I thought I left it at Starbucks, but maybe someone stole it.”
    The detective rubbed his goatee, his deep brown eyes unwavering. “Did you report it missing?”
    “The employees at Starbucks. I went back to ask if anyone turned it in.”
    Mathews pushed her cell phone across the table. “Here’s your cell. You have quite a few missed calls.”
    “Sure, thanks.” Jen palmed the phone.
    The detective came around the desk and stared down at her. “Can you explain why the deceased, Rey Custodio, left a text message on your phone?”
    Cold sweat ringed Jen’s face, and she resisted the urge to look at her phone.
    “Wait a second,” Owen said. “You can’t look through her text messages without a search warrant.”
    The detective grinned. “The message was staring at me when I opened the phone to check who owned it. Of course, now that she’s connected to the deceased, I’ve put in a court order for all her text messages and call logs.”
    Owen held up his hand. “She’s not a suspect, is she?”
    The detective crossed his arms. “The victim dies in the parking lot where she works. She was in the building at the time of death, admittedly rebooting the servers. Her job description, according to her employer, is Build Engineer. And the victim texts her, ‘Bitch, you broke the build.’”
    “Circumstantial,” Owen replied.
    Broke the build? Why would Rey accuse her when she hadn’t even given him the code? Had Rey stolen her purse and dropped it when he was killed? But he wouldn’t have texted her, knowing she didn’t have her cell.
    Mathews sat on the edge of his desk. “Let’s go back to Saturday night. You told me you entered the building around nine, nine-thirty?”
    “Yes.” She’d stick to the basics and not give anything away.
    Mathews tapped on his desk and pulled a printout from a manila folder. “The badge log says nine thirteen. Why didn’t you tell me you reentered the building shortly after eleven?”
    “Wait,” Owen cut in. “She doesn’t have to answer the