by Toby Neal
That explained the dangerous tension between the kidnappers’ setup against each other and the tipster’s motive in reporting the child’s disappearance. She could tell by the glance Ken flashed her that he was thinking the same thing.
“We haven’t been able to identify anything about the tipster.” Sophie held up a cautionary hand. “It’s best not to jump to any conclusions. I know Agents Yamada and Gundersohn must have asked you this, but is there anyone you suspect of being involved? Anyone we can re-interview? Most kidnappings have some connection to the family.”
“No. Anna and our youngest, Kellie, have a nanny, but we trust her totally. We have some domestic staff. You’re welcome to talk to them.”
“Yes, I’d like their information, if possible,” Ken said. “Kidnappings rely on a lot of knowledge of the family’s movement patterns, so it’s important to find out who or how that information might have gotten to the kidnappers.”
“Who is your security company?” Sophie asked, prompted by the domed security camera she spotted through the window, an unobtrusive half-sphere the same color as the house.
“Security Solutions. They provide security for our house and business.”
Sophie suppressed a start of surprise at hearing the name she’d just been researching. “Can I get the contact information for them?”
“Sure, I’ll get that and all the staff’s info too. Need anything to drink while I’m up?” Belle was doing her best to make this into a social visit.
“No thanks,” Sophie and Ken murmured in concert, and she left. Ken narrowed his eyes at Sophie.
“Think there’s something up with this security company?”
“This is a good lead. I found something in my online searches connecting that company with a number of irregularities,” Sophie said vaguely. “Perhaps they have a breach of some kind. I’d like to run with this while you and Gundersohn follow up with the interviews of the staff.”
“Sounds good.”
They both sat up attentively as Belle returned with a handwritten list of names and numbers for Ken and a glossy, plastic jacket with promotional materials inside for Sophie.
“Security Solutions does all our services,” Belle said. “Home alarm, Internet, and a fully integrated nanny-cam artificial intelligence program that sends alerts too.”
The hair on Sophie’s neck prickled with excitement. “That sounds innovative.”
“Yes, it’s really cutting edge. They film your normal patterns for a week, and then the program runs all the time in the background and sends you alerts on your phone about anything unusual that happens. It’s so sensitive we had to keep adjusting it because it was too good, almost. It was always sending Charlie alerts when the girls did anything outside, since we have it set to notify us in case the girls get into the pool without supervision.”
“I’ve never heard of anything like that,” Sophie murmured. “Sounds unique. Is it exclusive to Security Solutions?”
“It is. We call our unit Helen. It’s always analyzing.” Belle had a warm note in her voice.
Ken frowned. “You don’t find that kind of computer surveillance intrusive?”
“Oh no. It’s like having your own eyes and ears everywhere in the house. This is a smart house in more ways than one.”
They wrapped up the interview, and Sophie shook Belle’s hand. “I have to return Anna’s rabbit sometime when she’s home.”
“She asks about Bun-Bun but has told me you need him to keep you company,” Belle smiled. “Don’t worry about it. Whenever you have time.”
Out at the car, Ken darted a glance at her. “Bun-Bun the rabbit for company?”
Sophie rubbed her shorn hair, ducking her head. “Yes. The stuffed animal was very dirty when Anna gave it to me. But it’s washed now.” She wanted to bring it back to the little girl, but there was no denying the rabbit somehow helped her sleep better at night. Sleeping was hard for Sophie, and her long ago kidnapping wasn’t the only reason. “I’ll have to come visit another time to give it back to her.”
Back at her workstation, there were three new computers stacked in the reception area, and she still had final reports to do on the four she’d been working on before. Sophie plowed ahead steadily, taking fifteen-minute exercise breaks every hour to keep her brain and circulation sharp, drinking water and tea, and finally she’d made enough progress on the backlog to make a few phone calls.
She had a contact at Honolulu Police Department she could alert to this situation with the gang leaders. She hit a button on her headphone and said aloud, “Call Detective Marcus Kamuela.”
The phone feature rang as she scanned the latest in DAVID.
“Detective Kamuela.” Marcus Kamuela had a deep voice with an edge to it like bitter chocolate.
“Marcus, it’s Sophie. I’m calling on official business.”
“Excellent. What can I do for the FBI today?” Sophie could tell her friend’s fiancé was injecting his voice with enthusiasm he didn’t feel. She and Kamuela respected each other, but Sophie suspected that they were each a little jealous of the time the other took from Marcella. Now that they were planning their wedding, Sophie’s time with her friend had become limited to working mutual FBI cases together and shopping for the wedding.
She told Marcus about the unknown relationship between the three murders. “Our computer analysis is telling us that the cases have to be related somehow. Those three situations just happening coincidentally, is unlikely. I thought I’d contact you about it.”
“A real gift horse is what that is,” Marcus said.
“Gift horse?”
“Yeah. You know. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”
Sophie researched the phrase, her fingers flying as she said, “Gift horse or not, it’s statistically unlikely for that to have happened without some kind of precipitating trigger.”
“When given a horse, it would be bad manners to inspect the horse’s mouth to see if it has bad teeth. This can be applied as an analogy to any gift: Don’t inspect it to make sure it matches some standard you have, just be grateful,” she read from the English Usage Dictionary.
“I’m well aware of the Triad and Boyz leaders offing each other here in Waikiki, but I’m not working that particular homicide. I’ll check with our team about an “external trigger” as you call it, and contact Hilo and Kona too. But like I said, gift horse.”
“I understand,” Sophie said. And she did, perfectly now. “But sometimes even gift horses can bite you on the ass.”
He laughed. At the deep, mellow sound of it, Sophie almost smiled. Yes, Marcus Kamuela was “quite something,” as her Geneva boarding school classmates would have said.
“I’ll let you know if I find anything connecting the dots,” Marcus said. “And thanks for the tip.”
“No problem. See you soon.”
“Yeah. The wedding stuff seems to be coming at us like an avalanche.”
“I imagine.” Sophie opened her calendar window in the corner of Jinjai’s screen to check the date, still a few months away. “See you then, if not sooner.”
She hung up with a sense of having done her duty. She’d passed this intel on, and likely nothing would happen from it. Marcus was a good detective, but he wasn’t even on the case and it was a local PD matter. They hadn’t asked for FBI support, a prerequisite unless a case automatically qualified for FBI attention. Because these murders were a ‘gift horse,’ investigators weren’t likely to have dug too deep to find out exactly how or why the gang leaders were killing each other unless, further negative consequences were felt by the communities involved.
Sophie decided right then she needed to get a look at the gang leaders’ phones in HPD evidence, no matter the challenges. She put a visit to HPD on the task list for the next day. She had another call to make before she met Alika for that run before the gym.
She hit a button on her headphones and called the Security and Exchange Commission, asking for the FBI liaison.
“Agent Kendall,” a brisk female voice answered.
“This is Special Agent Sophie Ang of the Honolulu FBI. We’ve become aware of an interesting situation with one of your cases, and we’re looking for some information about it,” Sophie said. She named the defendants, the date and more. “This case intersects with one of ours, and I’d like to speak to the agent handling it.”
A short silence. Then, “how did you get this information?”
“I prefer to discuss that with the agent I’ll be working with.”
“That would be me.”
“Well, then, I don’t think that’s the most important thing about my inquiry. Why don’t you fill me in a little more on the case, and I’ll let you know what might be relevant from my end.”
A short pause as the agent considered their stalemate, and then Agent Kendall snorted a laugh. “All right. As you mentioned, we had a call on the same day, close to the same time. Several traders who have been colluding with each other to manipulate the market each called in the other and reported. We’ve brought the defendants in and interviewed them separately. We’re planning to prosecute them and are gathering evidence, evidence they’ve been submitting willingly.”
Sophie rolled the stylus of the tablet she used for jotting notes between her fingers, her eyes wandering to the tall window in the corner with its ocean view. “Any idea what prompted these disclosures?”
“Yes. They each said they received a text that the others were turning them in.”
This was consistent with what Sophie was finding from the other cases. “Do you know what, if anything, a company called Security Solutions might have to do with this case?”
“I believe one of the defendants, Tom Calhoun, uses Security Solutions for his home and his trading firm’s security.”
“Thank you, I really appreciate this.” Sophie made a note of this confirmation on the pad.
“Wait a minute! So your case has to do with Security Solutions?”
“Yes. We’re investigating them as having a possible security breach that’s relevant to one of our cases.”
“So what are you finding?” Agent Kendall’s voice was sharp.
“Nothing specific yet.” Sophie frowned, wondering if she’d just given away too much information.
“Well, I’ll keep an eye out for activity from them over here for you if you do the same for us,” Kendall said.
“Will do,” Sophie agreed.
She still had a half an hour to kill before meeting Alika. She could poke around the mainframe at Security Solutions to see how tight it was boxed up. She opened up one of her hacker programs and dove in.
Half an hour later, Sophie sat back, impressed. The company website and its subsidiaries were shut up tight. She’d have to try again tomorrow. Security Solutions was going to prove difficult.
Sophie smiled. She’d come to like difficult.
Chapter Six
Sophie and Alika ran along the cement embankment separating the Ala Wai Canal from a strip of park and evening traffic in Honolulu’s bustling downtown. Sophie wore light nylon shorts and the tight sports bra she wore for MMA, and Alika was in the loose nylon shorts and black tank that had become his Fight Club uniform.
Sophie sneaked a look at Alika as he ran easily beside her. His face was calm, and she liked the way the lowering sun gleamed along the muscles of his arms. He caught her eye.
“You’re quiet this evening.”
“I was about to say the same about you.”
“Was wondering what you’re doing later.”
“Got a few practice rounds planned after this run with that Brazilian girl. She’s been asking for another bout.”
Alika snorted. “She ought to have learned her lesson the first time.”
“Well, some people are stubborn. Like you.” Sophie slanted him a glance.
“What do you mean?”
“Took you forever to ask me out. If this is even a date.” Somehow moving helped Sophie keep from getting all stiff with him. She was surprised when he laughed.
“I thought you… Oh hell. I thought you only liked me as your coach. So I dragged it out for way longer than you probably needed to work with me.”
Sophie stopped in her tracks. The sunset of evening gilded the smooth surface of the canal, reflecting off of the shapes of coconut palms and skyscrapers, the sound of traffic a counterpoint.
“What did you say?” she exclaimed.
“Yeah. You were always so standoffish with me unless we were practicing that I thought you didn’t like me that way. But then sometimes…” His voice trailed off as their eyes met. “Sometimes I felt something, and it seemed like you did too.”
“I did feel something.” Sophie took a tiny step toward him.
He reached out. Slowly he slid a hand up to her shoulder, back down again. She liked the feeling of his hand on her skin. She could feel how much he wanted her vibrating between them, see it in his eyes as he gazed at her mouth. She took another step closer. Their bodies, hot from the run, were almost touching now. She tilted up her face to look at him.
“I did feel something—and I might like to feel something more.” She spun and ran away, laughing over her shoulder. He jetted after her, and they pounded full speed down the walkway, arrowing around other pedestrians and bikers. Sophie leaped over a park bench and did a flip off a low parapet. Alika whooped behind her.
Finally, the burst of energy worn off near a patch of park, Sophie bent over, hands on her knees as she caught her breath. Alika flopped on the grass at her feet, panting.
“I don’t think I’ve got your cardio,” Alika said.
“You don’t.”
He grabbed her leg and yanked it out from under her so that she landed on the grass beside him. “I have other skills.”
“I’m looking forward to learning what they are.”
Alika laughed. Sophie couldn’t believe she was flirting with him like this, but it was fun.
“Serious, now. I have to tell you about something I know you might not like, but before we start anything, you need to know. It’s another reason I took so long to ask you out. I was hoping to get things settled, but it’s only been escalating.” Alika’s face was close to hers as they lay on the grass. She noticed gold flecks in his light brown eyes. She wanted to smooth the worried line of his brows.
“You’re married.” She tried to make it sound like a joke.
“God, no. You know my real estate development business is my main gig, right?”
“I know you build houses. That’s all you’ve ever said about it.”
“Well, there’s an investigation into my business. It started some years ago, when I was going out with Lei on Kaua`i.” Gravity brought his dark brows down like shutters over his eyes. “I’m over your friend Lei. It was a long time ago, but what got started then, back on Kaua`i, never really went away. Some detectives on the island have had it in for me for years now, always poking around looking for wrongdoing in my business. That’s why I came to Oahu. But it seems trouble followed me here.” He sat up, pushed a hand through wavy black hair. Sophie kept her neutral mask on, trying to really listen without reacting as she sat up beside him. “You should know this up front so you didn’t think I was manipulating you or something.”
“I wouldn’t think that,” Sophie said softly. “I’ve known you too long.”
“You can check me out if you want. Run a background. I’ll answer any questions you have.”
Sophie frowned. “What are they looking at you for?”
“Smuggling drugs from Asia. Hidden in shipments of hardwoods I order from Bali and South America for my houses.” Alika flipped over and began doing agitated pushups. “When I got here and set up my business, I refused to pay the “tax” the Boyz in Honolulu levy on the construction trade. Next thing I knew, some heroin trace was found by drug dogs that came around one of my warehouses. The cops were tipped off by an anonymous call telling them to check my shipments. And believe me, they have
been.”
“Okay. How can I help? I have friends in the local PD.”
“It feels wrong to ask you for help. So far nothing has stuck, but I’m worried that if I don’t pay the bribes, those drug dogs are going to find something more.”
“To whom are you supposed to pay? What’s the connection? Maybe I can do something from my end.” Sophie bent over, grasping her toes in the sleek Nike running shoes, conflicted but knowing she trusted Alika. “If we had someone to go after, I’m sure my detective friend would act on it. He’s straight. I guarantee it.”
“I’ve been afraid to make the situation worse, because these gangsters have law enforcement ties, and I didn’t know whom to trust. Anyway I’m telling you way more than I meant to. I just wanted you to know so you didn’t think I was hiding anything. Because I’m not.”
Sophie gazed up at him as they both stood. “I appreciate your telling me.” Her eyes held his for a long moment. “I never did a background on you. I wouldn’t. I don’t think it’s fair. But it’s just stupid to have connections to law enforcement and not use them.” She moved, and her shoulder brushed his. She felt the chemistry between them, magnetic and potent. It was not enough, and too much at the same time. “Can we get some dinner after my bout with the Brazilian?”
“You asking me out?” He grinned, and it lit his face.
“I guess I am.” She smiled back. He leaned forward and set his warm mouth on hers. His lips felt firm and supple, and he seemed to be waiting to see how she’d respond. Sophie was surprised but stayed with it for a moment. Suddenly it was too much, too soon. She broke away and turned. “Let’s get going.”
