Paradise Crime Thrillers Box Set

by Toby Neal

  Jake sighed. “You hardly had time to do much of that this time.”

  “I’ve been able to see a lot of interesting back roads, got to see the lava hit the ocean, and I’ve run on the rim of the crater, thanks to you. But you are right. Ginger is more than enough for me to deal with while hiking and camping.” She looked regretfully into the back seat. “She seems so happy with him.”

  “I’m sorry. I don’t want to give him up either.” Jake shook his head. “I just don’t know what else to do.”

  They reached the station, and Sophie’s phone dinged. She pulled it out of her pocket and held it up. “It’s the contact who knows something about the missing persons again. I think we should meet whoever it is when I’m done here. I don’t know how long it will take, but I will likely need a break at around two p.m. Will that be an okay time for you to pick me up?”

  “Fine. I’ll deal with the dog situation and keep an eye on Ginger. I’ll be back for you at two.”

  “Sure you don’t want to come in and greet Detective Freitan with me? I’m confident she will want to see you—preferably without clothing.” Her eyes sparkled playfully at him. “I cannot help enjoying this a bit after how you used to harass me.”

  “And if you were half as uncomfortable as I am, then I apologize again for the teasing,” Jake said. “Freitan is a piece of work.”

  “The same has been said about you.” Sophie picked up the small daypack containing her laptop. She petted Tank’s head. “Goodbye, my friend. I hope you quickly find a new home.” She dug into the outside pocket of her pack and pulled out a fistful of cash, tucking it into Jake’s pants pocket. “Here’s some extra money to pay for him to be there longer. Without being put down.”

  “I will talk to them. Make sure everything that can be done for him is done.”

  “I know you will.” She shut the door with a bang. “I still hate it.”

  Tank whined sadly as if understanding exactly what was going on. All three of them watched Sophie walk into the station’s utilitarian storefront doorway, and disappear inside.

  Jake sighed and put the Jeep in gear. “Might as well get this over with.”

  Chapter Seventeen

  Sophie unslung her backpack in the quiet computer lab of the South Hilo Police Department. She looked around at a row of aged desktops that made up the station’s tech workspace. “These appear to be at least ten years old.”

  “That’s right.” Kamani Freitan had had a shower but didn’t look any more rested than yesterday. She rubbed bloodshot eyes. “Good thing you brought your own equipment.” She pointed to a coil of blue internet cable. “That’s what you really came for.”

  “Exactly.” Sophie unrolled the cable and plugged it into her laptop. “Anything new on the Julie Weathersby situation? Did Webb and Rayme give you any pertinent information?” She opened her laptop at an empty workstation on the long table.

  “They both stuck to the story that they dropped Weathersby off on the side of the road. Wong and I put them in a cell overnight to think about things. When the officers searched their squat out in Oceanview, they didn’t find anything that clearly belonged to Weathersby. There were some items that seemed like they might have been stolen from tourists, though. Expensive sunglasses. Phones. Some camera gear.” Freitan shook her head. “Those two are nasty.”

  “I agree. I look forward to being able to determine if they might be associated with other missing persons.” Sophie didn’t want to describe how DAVID worked. Permission for her software to rifle through the police department’s databases was not going to be given, no matter how many confidentiality agreements she signed. She’d have to disguise how she obtained any data she procured through DAVID’s searches when she presented her findings to the detectives.

  Freitan departed. Sophie plugged in headphones. She queued up some of her favorite classical music, cracked her knuckles, and dove into the wired world.

  DAVID easily penetrated the police department firewalls, and soon she was surfing through reams of data on the missing persons situation on the Big Island.

  There were too many cases. Sophie set the parameters for a time frame within the last five years. She input filters screening out cases that had been solved due to runaways, kidnappings, misunderstandings, and more.

  She needed to know what bodies were turning up, and being matched to missing people. She started a new search on unidentified bodies. These turned out to be few and far between, though she was able to eliminate another layer of disappearances by reconciling them with recovered corpses.

  She still ended up with close to a hundred people who had gone missing in the last five years.

  Sophie shivered, looking at the number.

  But it didn’t have to be a serial. This area attracted people who wanted to disappear. Perhaps some were just using the Big Island as a launching pad to the rest of their lives, as she was. In addition, there was a booming underground drug trade here that caught many in its undertow.

  She needed to find a recognizable trend. She introduced filters and keywords screening for age, marital status, ethnicity, socioeconomic status.

  Patterns began appearing, emerging like snowflakes only to melt under the scrutiny of her analysis.

  Someone touched her on the shoulder. Sophie jumped, yanking her headphones off and thrusting back in her chair.

  Wong stepped back, his square face earnest. “Whoa. Didn’t mean to startle you.”

  “I’m sorry. I get so deep in concentration that I lose track of where I am,” Sophie said.

  Indeed, her body felt stiff and her muscles had locked up. She glanced at the clock on the far wall. Two hours had passed. She had only two more before Jake returned. Her gaze dropped to her phone, just as it dinged. “Want me to bring some lunch?” Jake had included a photo of a sandwich with layers of ingredients. “Never mind. I got you a BLT.”

  “Freitan sent me to check on you. See if you had anything to share, or needed anything.” Wong eyed her laptop’s screen curiously.

  Sophie closed the unit. “Unfortunately, I am not ready to share any data yet. I only have a few more hours to work here today before my partner and I have an appointment.” It felt strange to refer to a meeting with an unknown confidential informant in a community park by such a formal title. “I will let you both know as soon as I have anything of interest.”

  Wong leaned his hip against the table. “I’m not sure what you’re looking for. Something to do with missing persons, you said?”

  Sophie stood up and stretched her arms overhead, thankful she always wore easy-movement clothing. She hinged at the waist and set her palms on the floor, stretching her hamstrings and back.

  “Yes. I’m running statistics on the numbers and situations related to missing persons cases on the Big Island. This was sparked by our investigation into Julie Weathersby’s disappearance and then discovering that there are so many lost in a relatively small area.” Sophie straightened up and eyed Wong, taking his measure. The short, wiry Hawaiian Chinese detective had the kind of toned-down personality that didn’t get much attention in the shadow of his flamboyant partner. That didn’t mean that Wong wasn’t a sharp investigator; Sophie had already noticed how observant he was, and what a good foil for Freitan. Sophie had sometimes experienced that the quiet investigators were the ones who really got results. “Still waters run deep,” Marcella would say, a colloquialism that made sense.

  “I’m glad someone is taking the time to look at the big picture,” Wong said, meeting her gaze with intelligent dark eyes. “We are always so busy chasing each case that I have often worried we are losing sight of the forest for the trees.”

  That was a good saying too. Sophie nodded. “Focusing on the sand grains rather than the beach.”

  “Right. We’re going to get some lunch. Do you want to come?”

  “No, my partner is bringing me a sandwich, I believe. I have to get all I can done before that meeting this afternoon. But I look forward to a . . . rai
n check.” She was gratified that she had come up with the phrase, though that one made little sense at all. She needed to Google its origin. Wong turned to leave, and she touched his elbow. “Is there anything you can tell me about the body dump I found? About that family?”

  Wong’s expression went serious as his brows lowered and lips folded together. “The family was in Witness Protection under the cover name of Jones. They had hiked out to watch the lava at Kalapana much as you did—witnesses reported seeing them at the active lava site where you told us you spent the night. Somehow the killer coerced the family into walking to the kipuka, where they were executed. The Marshals think it was a professional hired by the organized crime outfit they were hiding from. We have uncovered photos and video of their execution being circulated on the dark web and being used as a lesson of what happens if you go against this outfit.”

  Sophie’s pulse picked up. “Who in your department knows how to search the dark web?”

  Wong had a dimple when he smiled a certain way. “Me.”

  Sophie frowned. “Have you been able to track the source of the video?”

  “Anonymous upload. Multiple VPNs masking the original entry point.” The spark died in Wong’s eye. “I don’t think we’re going to solve this case. The father was going to be giving testimony to a grand jury; that’s all the Marshal on their case would give us. It’s a real blow to have lost that testimony. WITSEC in Hawaii is freaking out, because this is the latest in a series of incursions and leaks that have resulted in the loss of valuable witnesses.”

  “I wonder if some of the missing persons I’m looking at are WITSEC,” Sophie said thoughtfully, tapping her lips with a finger.

  “Quite possible. They won’t tell us if they are, and we’ll never get that list. Local PD is always seen as too permeable for that kind of top level intel.”

  Sophie was more impressed with Wong by the moment. “Thank you for telling me. I’m sorry this is the situation. I wish I could help.”

  “I wish you could, too. And I’m sorry you had to find that family on your vacation.” Wong made air quotes as he gestured towards her laptop.

  “There are things I care about much more than a vacation. Justice for those who need it is one of them.”

  Wong gave a brief nod and exited.

  Sophie sat down, her mind whirring with the implications.

  This was the perfect case for the Ghost. Sophie did not have the time or ability in her current situation to burrow into the WITSEC database and organization to uncover the leak and the mobsters that were taking advantage of it. But Connor would love that opportunity.

  Saying the word “justice” aloud reminded her of Connor so clearly. His ocean-colored eyes. His disciplined body. His incredible musical ability. His genius behind a computer. His dedication to reaching those who couldn’t be reached by the law.

  Before she could second-guess herself further, Sophie dug the square weight of the external hard drive that contained the Ghost software out of the bottom of her bag. Connor had given her a copy of the software he used in his vigilantism, doubtless trying to lure her into being his partner on his mission. But it just wasn’t her style or passion to set up clandestine communication manipulations that resulted in consequences for untouchable criminals. That didn’t mean that she couldn’t appreciate the function that the Ghost performed, even respect the necessity of it in the grand scheme of things.

  Sophie saved her current results to the Cloud, shut down DAVID, and plugged the Ghost software hard drive into her laptop.

  She opened the program, her fingers tripping as they typed in the password, I*love*you*Sophie that Connor had personalized the portal with.

  “Talk about awkward,” Marcella’s voice said in her head. “He knew what he was doing when he programmed that password.”

  Sophie vividly remembered the hours spent trying to crack the code to get into the program and her initial disappointment that he hadn’t left her a clue or message through that process. It turned out he had, and in Connor’s usual way, it was bolder than anything she would have guessed.

  Using the Ghost’s search function, she imported the Hilo PD’s case information from the Jones body dump and downloaded a saved chunk of the missing persons data as well. She opened a chat box and sent a note to Connor:

  “I came across this body dump on the Big Island; a WITSEC family, executed by pros. Hilo PD has been shut out of the case, including the leak in Witness Protection that has led not only to this family’s execution, but to the loss of other valuable witnesses. A video of this family’s execution is circulating on the dark web and being used to intimidate. I don’t have time or resources to find out more, but I thought the Ghost might take an interest.”

  Sophie’s fingers paused. She stared at the message window, struggling with the secret hope that Connor was online. His pingback beacon on the software would have alerted him that she was in his program, and if he was active, he would write her back.

  Several moments passed. No response.

  “Son of a disease-ridden water buffalo,” Sophie cursed softly. She closed the chat window.

  “I take it your research is not going well.” Jake had appeared at her elbow like a large, muscular djinn.

  Sophie slammed the laptop shut and removed her headphones. “Hello, partner. You should alert me to your presence.”

  “I knocked, but you were in another world.” Jake set a bag, stained with grease, beside her computer. “You didn’t tell me what you wanted, so I took my best guess.”

  “Thank you, Jake.” Sophie opened the bag and peeked inside. She raised her eyebrows in question. “I appreciated the photo. But what is it?”

  “It’s a BLT. Bacon, lettuce, and tomato. And some homemade taro chips.” He reached into the bag and produced a thick purple slice of taro, staple food of the Hawaiian diet. Boiled, sliced and fried, the starchy tuber was delicious—Sophie had tasted it served that way in Honolulu.

  Sophie took the chip. “Mine. Thank you.”

  “Fortunately, I brought my own.” Jake held up his own bag. “I’m sure this isn’t where they want us eating, but forgiveness is easier than permission.” He sat beside her and pulled out a wrapped sandwich. He produced bottles of iced tea, and soon they were lunching in companionable silence.

  “What did you find?” Jake eventually asked. His mouth was full, so his words were a little hard to understand.

  Sophie swallowed her bite with a gulp of ice tea and answered. “Too much. Too many. I think there’s something going on, but I need a lot longer to work through the different variables.” Holding up a taro chip, she pointed it at him. “Wong came by. That man has a lot more going on than initially appears. He has computer skills.”

  Jake clutched his chest theatrically. “Oh! The easiest way to Sophie Ang’s heart has been revealed. And here I was, trying the old-fashioned way of getting to her through her stomach.”

  Sophie’s brows scrunched. “I do not understand.”

  “Never mind. Fill me in on these mysterious skills of which you speak.”

  “Well, he told me that the Jones family, the body dump I discovered, was in the WITSEC program. He confirmed that there’s a possible leak in that program, and that photos and video of the family’s execution are being used to coerce other witnesses. He discovered this fact himself online, surfing the dark web.”

  Jake finished his sandwich, as usual a fast eater. He wiped his hands on a napkin. “You are thinking of hacking WITSEC and trying to track that case?”

  “No.” Sophie was still on the first half of her sandwich. She dabbed her lips with a napkin. “I do not have time, resources, or the protected online access I’d need to do such an investigation, let alone an agency willing to back me by acting on any intel I might uncover.”

  “But you know someone who does.”

  Sophie met Jake’s gaze. His eyes were a darker gray than usual, the blue in them bruised-looking. Something was bothering him. She looked down at
her sandwich and took a bite, refusing to answer.

  They’d never discussed the Ghost and his association with Security Solutions, let alone Sophie’s personal connection to the cyber vigilante. Unless Bix had told him about the FBI probe into Sheldon Hamilton at the agency, he wouldn’t know about any of it.

  As if reading her mind, Jake pushed back the rolling office chair he sat on and extended his black-clad legs, stacking combat-booted feet on the edge of the desk. “I think it’s time we discussed the Ghost.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  Jake wove his fingers together and rested them on his stomach, fixing his gaze on Sophie. She set the uneaten half of her sandwich down and picked up her bottled tea. Her eyes flicked to the computer. “I have some more filters to run before we go,” she said, ignoring his prior statement.

  He wasn’t giving up so easily.

  “And I said it was time we talked about the Ghost.” He wanted to know what she knew about that slippery cyber vigilante Bix had told him was allegedly associated with Security Solutions. “The FBI’s trying to make a case against our CEO, Sheldon Hamilton,” Bix had told him before he left Oahu for the Big Island. “But they can’t get anything to stick. And they won’t. Hamilton’s nose is clean.”

  Bix had brushed off the rest of Jake’s questions. “I only told you so you won’t be surprised if you get questioned by one of Sophie’s former teammates. And she knows all about this.”

  That Sophie knew about the Ghost and had never said a word rankled Jake. He hated secrets.

  Sophie raised her eyes to his. “Please, Jake. Don’t ask me about this. I can’t talk about it.”

  The naked appeal in her gaze disarmed him. Such a warm amber brown, and those lashes! Her eyes were a damn superpower.

  “Fine,” he said gruffly. “Since you don’t trust me.”

  “I trust you. I just . . . don’t want you to be hurt. And the less you know about this particular subject, the better for you.” She stood up abruptly. “I won’t get anything more done here, today. Let’s go. We can case the area where we’re meeting the informant first, which is good practice.”