“I brought my laptop in the car,” I said. “I’m going to bring everything inside.”

“Be careful,” Dina said. “Grant left the office twenty minutes ago.”

“He looked furious, and Vanessa was right behind him.”

“They know something is missing from the physical files.”

“I’ll be fast,” I said. “Keep your phone close.”

I hung up and tucked the pouch and the envelope under my arm.

I stood up, my knees cracking in the silence of the abandoned cottage.

I hurried down the hallway, the floorboards groaning beneath my feet.

The gray afternoon light filtered through the dirty kitchen window.

I ran out to my car, the cold drizzle stinging my cheeks.

I grabbed my laptop bag from the passenger seat and rushed back inside.

I set the laptop on the dusty kitchen counter and opened the lid.

The screen booted up, casting a harsh white glare across the peeling wallpaper.

I plugged the external hard drive into the USB port.

A prompt popped up on the screen, asking for a password.

“Damn it,” I muttered.

I redialed Dina immediately.