Brooklyn Sanchez turned her attention from the camera, but she never changed her demeanor. She looked just as annoyed with Luna as she had been with the camera just a few moments ago.

“Miss Sanchez,” Luna said as she sat across from Brooklyn at the table, and she set down her phone before her. “I’m sorry about keeping you waiting. Things are always rather hectic at the beginning of an investigation.”

Brooklyn answered with the mere lift of her shoulder in a shrug.

“My name is Lieutenant Pinkerton, and I asked you here because you used to be a business partner of Ethan Banks.”

Brooklyn’s face softened, and she turned her attention to the table.

“Yes, that’s what you said on the phone, and I heard what happened to him on the way here.”

“The business you had together was called CyberShell, correct?”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

“Would you mind telling me how that came about?”

That look of annoyance came back to Brooklyn’s face.

“Haskel Cook and Ethan Banks were good friends in college, and they decided to start a business together. I was friends with Haskel, and when he overheard that I had a large inheritance from my father, he decided it was a good time to ask me to come aboard. Of course, Haskel told me it was because they could use someone with a marketing degree, but I was so distraught over losing my father that I did not even realize they were just using me for money.”

Luna raised an eyebrow, and she grabbed her phone and pretended to type something into it. With the camera in the room, there was no need to keep notes, but sometimes it made the interviewees nervous when she did take notes. When Luna looked at Brooklyn, she could see that the woman’s eyes were wider as she worried about what the detective was saying about her.

“So, you feel as if they were using you?” Luna asked, urging her to continue.

“I do, and it’s the truth. I don’t blame them for it. They had big dreams, and they saw my money as a means to an end. Even to me now, it sounds like a good idea. Both of them had degrees in robotics and engineering, and Haskel and I both had some experience in running a business because of our fathers. At the time, we had thought we had known what we were doing.”

“At the time?”

“Ethan was a nice guy, but he made some stupid decisions. He hired too many employees. I agreed that they needed to be paid well, but we couldn’t afford to pay for five of them, let alone twice that. Haskel and I both wanted to fire half of them, but we couldn’t get Ethan to agree to do it.

“He also bought second-hand and lower quality equipment,” Brooklyn continued. “It was certainly nice being able to save money, but the equipment kept breaking down. We didn’t have many orders before I quit the company, but we spent a lot of money fixing the machines. The robots were also a lower quality than we had originally wanted. When Hollywood Android built Hoosiers Robotics out here, I knew we didn’t stand a chance against them. Their robots were just better than ours in every way.”

“When exactly was the point that you realized you didn’t want to be part of CyberLife anymore?”

“It was after only a year. I just couldn’t handle coming in every day to see that we had lost even more money, so I just left. They couldn’t pay me very much, so I only sold my third of the company to them at a tenth of the price. It didn’t feel right to take even that much, but I needed to make sure I was financially covered until I found a job.”

“Did you stay in contact with either Banks or Cook after you quit?”

“No, I only knew Ethan because of Haskel and the business, and I felt too guilty to talk to Haskel, especially when I heard that they went officially bankrupt.”

Luna nodded. She leaned back in her seat, and she rested her phone back onto the table so she could interlace her fingers together.

“You said that CyberShell could not compete with HRB,” Luna said. “Did you know that Ethan was working for HRB when he died?”

Brooklyn frowned, glancing away as she thought.

“No, I didn’t have any idea,” she said. “As I already mentioned, I didn’t have contact with him after I sold my part of the company.”

“Where were you last night?”

“Well, from eight o’clock in the evening to seven in the morning, I was in my apartment with my fiancé Dylan White. The complex is an expensive place with security cameras everywhere. I’m sure you can confirm my whereabouts with that footage.”

Luna sat in silence for a moment, drumming all of her fingers on the table, and then she nodded her head.

“Well, Miss Sanchez,” she said, “thank you for coming here today. You’re free to get back to work, but make sure you have your phone on you at all times just in case we need to contact you again—or you remember something and need to contact us, okay?”

Brooklyn’s eyebrows came together in worry.

“Ah, Lieutenant, is this all connected to CyberShell?” she asked. “Am I in danger, too?”

“I can’t answer that question just yet,” Luna said, sighing, “but it couldn’t hurt to be careful. Make sure you’re never alone. If you ever feel like you’re in danger, go someplace with a lot of people, and don’t hesitate to call the police, okay?”

Brooklyn nodded. Luna stood from the table, and she held open the door as Brooklyn left. She and Ezra watched her walk down the hall until she rounded a corner and disappeared from sight. Then, Luna placed her hands on her hips and clucked her tongue.

“I really thought she’d still be a major suspect after this,” Luna said.

“Did you believe what she said, Lieutenant?” Ezra asked.

“Yeah, she doesn’t seem to have had anything to do with what happened to Ethan.”

“Why do you seem so disappointed?”

“Because I really didn’t want to like her.”

“Why?”

Luna waved a dismissive hand, and she turned to her partner.

“You find anything interesting, Ezra?”

“I already took a look at the footage from her apartment building. You’re free to take a look at the footage yourself, but to me, it seems that her alibi stands.”

“Damn.”

“I still don’t understand why—”

“It’s not important. We need to discover what happened to Ethan Banks, and the one most likely to know anything about it would have to be Haskel Cook. Have you managed to get a hold of him while I was talking to Brooklyn?”

“No, Lieutenant. His parents called the station back, but they said they haven’t seen or talked to him all day. They’re starting to get worried about him.”

“All right, then, let’s try to get to him ourselves, shall we?”

“Of course, Lieutenant.”

“How far’s his last known address?”

“It will take about an hour’s drive.”

“All right, let’s get going.”

The two of them stopped at Luna’s desk to grab her windbreaker, and then they went to find their service car.