Victim 14

by KJ Kalis

  Slumping down on the bed, Emily pulled off her work boots, her feet hot and sticky from moving around in the Louisiana heat all day. After a quick shower and a clean set of clothes, Emily felt better, ditching her jeans for a pair of leggings. She sat down on the bed, crossing them, leaning against the headboard, her laptop in tow. She pulled her long hair around her shoulder, the damp strands leaving wet streaks on her T-shirt. She had to decide what to do next. Thinking about the last interaction she had with Bradley, Emily weighed whether he could be the killer. Could he? It was something worth thinking about. She picked up her phone and texted Mike. A second later, the videoconferencing software on her computer let her know he was initiating a call. She accepted and within seconds his smiling face was on the screen, along with Miner’s. “Well, this is a nice surprise!” she said, looking at her dog, who seemed confused to see Emily on a computer screen, “Hi, boy,” she said, her heart sinking in her chest. She swallowed, knowing she needed to stay focused on the case. In her mind, the image of Miner was quickly replaced with that of Lexi Cooper and her blonde hair, wherever she was.

  “How are things going down there?” Mike said, Miner disappearing from the screen.

  “Okay, if you count avoiding the FBI for a full day and coming back with no leads as a success.” Emily’s stomach soured as soon as the words came out. That was the truth, wasn’t it? She’d been in Tifton for a couple of days and had achieved not much more than avoiding local law enforcement, except for Agent Strickland, and talking to a couple of the families. Pick up the pace, Tizzano, she mumbled to herself, not loud enough for Mike to hear.

  “What did you say?” Mike asked, looking confused.

  “Nothing. Any news on your end?”

  “Yeah. I was just about to call you when you texted.”

  From the expression on Mike’s face, Emily could tell it wasn’t necessarily good news. “Spill it. What’s the problem?”

  “That agent you talked to earlier today?”

  Emily’s mind flashed back to the interaction she had with Cash Strickland at the restaurant. “Yeah? What about it?”

  “Well, apparently he didn’t buy your story. The FBI is looking into your background.”

  Emily’s heart started to race. “How’s that possible? I didn’t even give him my name!” Emily searched her memory for any possible way he could track her, “The truck.”

  Mike nodded. “That’s my guess. You know how I always suggest getting a rental car? That’s why.”

  Emily scowled, “They could search the records of the rental agency and figure out who got it.”

  “I can hide that a lot better than I can your big blue truck, that’s for sure.”

  Emily shook her head. She’d never had a problem taking the truck on cases before, but nothing about this case was going to plan. No leads. The FBI swarming all over the city. She shook off the thought. “How do you know?”

  “A couple of hours ago, my buddy who has access to the FBI files, let me know there was some strange activity. Turns out, after you bumped into Cash at the restaurant, he got your plate number and ran it. He asked the Baton Rouge office to do a full background check on you. Probably because you’re asking questions.”

  “Me and my big mouth,” Emily said, half-joking, but half not. It wasn’t like her to be impulsive. Maybe the stress of the case was getting to her already.

  Mike turned serious, “Emily, this is nothing to joke about. This Strickland, he’s got a reputation for being like a dog with a bone. That’s the reason the agency gave him the Tifton case in the first place. He doesn’t give up. Not ever. At least, that’s his reputation within the agency.”

  As Emily heard the words, the danger in front of her settled on her shoulders. Not only was there the ongoing grief of families who lost loved ones to deal with, but now the very present grief of the Cooper family. On top of that, she was in the crosshairs of the FBI. She swallowed. “Thoughts?” Emily almost didn’t want to ask Mike for advice, but she felt paralyzed. It wasn’t a feeling she was used to.

  “I thought you might ask me that, so my best suggestion would be that we figure out what he knows about you in case you need to slip away before something happens.”

  “And how do you propose doing that?” Emily said, re-crossing her legs on the comforter and staring at the screen.

  “The best way? I think you should clone his phone.”

  The way Mike said it, it came out as plain and as easy as asking her to make pancakes on a Saturday morning. Somehow, Emily didn’t think it was going to be that easy or without risk. It was the going to federal prison kind of risk. But Mike was right, knowing what the FBI knew could give her a significant advantage, one that might just be worth it. “How exactly would I do that?”

  “Well, actually, I’ll do it for you. The thing is, you gotta get close enough to him for your phone and his to connect. Once that happens, I’ll be able to see everything he sends out and receives on his phone.”

  “How close?”

  “Six feet. It’ll go quicker if you’re closer to three. Takes about a minute.”

  What Mike was talking about was close to professional suicide, not to mention breaking at least a dozen cybersecurity laws. It was one thing to get close to Cash Strickland one time, but to attempt it a second time? That sounded crazy. “There has to be another way. How am I going to get that close to him?”

  “I knew you were going to say that. The problem is my buddy with access to the FBI files can only get into them here and there. They keep changing the firewall on him, so Strickland could get information on you and try to make a move and we’d never know. Cloning his phone is the best way to figure out not only what’s going on with you, but with the case in general. His information will come right to my laptop. He’ll never know. You’d have the same information he does.” Flynn’s face emerged in the background. He waved but didn’t say anything.

  Although Emily didn’t like the sound of having to get close to Cash to clone his phone, she did like the idea of being able to access the same information he had. That might give her the edge she needed to get justice for some of the other victims.

  “Okay, let’s table that for a second. Listen, I ran back over to Bradley Barker’s house right before I got back to the hotel. There's something about him that I’m not sure about. Any chance he’s the killer? He’s got a bunch of tools in his garage. Said he needs them for fixing tractors, or something, but I’m not sure I believe him.”

  Mike got a faraway look on his face as he started typing on his computer. “Let’s take a look. Flynn and I did a quick search on him before you went down there, just making sure he was who he was, but I don’t remember all the details.” There was silence for just a second, Mike’s eyes darting back and forth across the screen. “Okay, here it is. Yeah, he was injured in a tractor accident a while back. Broke his leg. He’s been married to the same woman, Carla, for about thirty years. He worked as a farm equipment repair guy for his career, that was until he broke his leg. Took disability after that.”

  Flynn’s face emerged on the screen, “What exactly are you looking for?”

  “I don’t know. Something seems strange.” Emily got up off the bed, turning her laptop toward her, pacing, “This case, it’s got more twists and turns than I can keep track of. There’s just something about Bradley that’s a little creepy, you know? I mean, he has a murder board set up in his garage.”

  “He does?” Flynn’s eyes got wide.

  “Yeah, didn’t I tell you that? He’s got more information than we do about the case, I think.”

  “And you think he could be the killer?” Mike said, his face emerging on the screen.

  Emily stopped for just a moment, staring back, “Well, if he was, he’d be awfully clever. He would’ve had to kill his brother, though. Other than that, it would be like hiding in plain sight.” Emily shook off the thought. The more she ran the scenario in her head, the less plausible it seemed. “Let’s go back to talking a
bout cloning the phone. Exactly how do I do that?”

  * * *

  Ten minutes later, Emily hung up with Mike and Flynn, understanding what she needed to do. The more Mike talked about it, the more Emily knew he was right. They needed to know what Cash was up to on a moment-by-moment basis. That was the only way Emily would have any freedom to work the case at all. Otherwise, she might as well just get back in her truck and go home. The minute she thought about that as an option, the image of Lexi Cooper’s smile popped up in her mind, the stream of her long blonde hair behind her back, and the haunted look in Sierra Day’s eyes. Whether Emily figured out who was doing the killing or the FBI did, someone needed to stop the murderer. Someone needed to stop whoever was terrorizing Tifton.

  19

  While Jeremy was looking at the indentation on the windowsill, Janet came up behind Cash. “I’ve got the information you wanted,” she said. She pointed just beyond the backyard from where they were standing behind the Cooper’s house, holding a tablet out to Cash. “Just on the other side of the wood line is a small park. From the information on the plat and a map from the local park service, it looks like just a single loop. I just sent one of the Tifton officers to go drive it for us. One of the locals said there’s not much more than a couple of picnic tables there that no one uses. Probably some sort of conservancy land that was deeded to the county at one time or another.

  Cash nodded. They worked with plats a lot on their cases, the sizes and outlines of pieces of land and who they were owned by, usually kept by the local county recorder. “Any reports of something strange happening over there last night?”

  “The guy I talked to said he was on duty. Apparently, he rolled through the park at about the same time Lexi disappeared. Said he saw a van parked there with some sort of writing on the back – like a work van — but took a look at it and there was no one in it. He didn’t make anything of it. Said when he rolled back through it was gone. Figured it broke down and whoever owned it came to get it.”

  Cash raised his eyebrows, “And that didn’t seem suspicious to anyone?” His stomach churned.

  Janet took a step back from him, holding up her hands, “Now, before you get all hot and bothered about this, I asked him the same question. He said they have a lot of people that go to the park and hunt for a little while in the middle of the night. Small game, that’s all. So, seeing a van there wouldn’t have raised any eyebrows, though maybe it should have. But, then again, no one knew Lexi was missing when the guy saw it.”

  Cash shook his head. “Still, that could very well have been the escape route for our kidnapper.” He stared off at the woods, “Let’s take a walk.”

  As Cash moved toward the woods, he noticed Janet was lagging behind. She was on her phone, probably letting the rest of the team know they were headed off into the woods. By the time he reached the first line of trees, Janet had caught up, her blonde ponytail bouncing behind her. Cash glanced down at the ground and held up his hand, “Stop,” he said, bending down. Covered by a few leaves, he saw a partial footprint, heading away from the house. Cash stood up and glanced over his shoulder. He could still see the outline of the Cooper’s white house behind him. “There’s a boot print. Let’s get a couple more agents back here. Watch where you step, we don’t want to tread on top of them.”

  Cash felt his chest tighten a little, the first glimmer of hope he’d felt since arriving in Tifton. Could this be the first actual lead they had on the case? Cash stood and stared at the ground for a moment, glancing from side to side. They didn’t have a lot of time. The sun was dropping in the sky. He looked at Janet. “Better get some portable work lights out here,” he said.

  As Janet turned away, Cash stayed where he was standing until a few more agents arrived to mark the spot. With dusk approaching, the last thing he wanted to do was lose the one actual new lead they had in the case. It was the first in the couple of years since he’d taken over. Could this be the break they needed? Looking from left to right, scanning the ground, Cash looked for more footprints but didn’t see any. He tried to stay calm. That didn’t mean they weren’t there, it just meant he couldn’t see them. Finding them was Jeremy’s job. Luckily, it was something he was very good at.

  It was going to be a long night...

  20

  Emily slept fitfully, waking every few hours, wondering what was going on with the case. Every time she did, she rolled over to look at her phone, but there was no news from Mike or Flynn. It wouldn’t have surprised her if Mike was up all night long, trying to dig for more information, but on the off chance he was trying to get a few hours sleep, she decided not to bother him.

  By about six o’clock in the morning, Emily couldn’t sleep anymore. She had a project to do, a project that might not only save her life but Lexi Cooper’s. After taking a quick shower, Emily pulled on a pair of running shorts, running shoes, a tank top and a baseball hat. She pulled a light windbreaker over her shoulders and zipped it up halfway. After her call with Mike and Flynn the night before, she had to try to intercept Cash in town somewhere. It was a risk, but one that might pay off, getting them information on the case. It could also pay off in a bad way, though, with her sitting in a set of handcuffs in the back of an FBI car. Emily rubbed her wrist absentmindedly remembering the last time she’d been in cuffs. It wasn’t something she wanted to experience again.

  Was the risk worth it? Emily stopped for a moment, thinking, running through Mike’s reasoning again. He’d have moment-by-moment information he could share with her, plus give her a heads up if Cash decided Emily was the real target. Setting her jaw, she decided it was worth it.

  The most likely place to bump into Cash again would be at the same little restaurant she found him the day before. No matter whether the agents were up all night or not, they would need food at some point during the day. It might be a long stakeout, but she had to get it done.

  Emily swallowed. What Mike and Flynn asked her to do, getting close enough to Cash to clone his phone, felt a lot like walking right into a lion’s den. Trying to stay anonymous was the part that made her job work. Without it, she had no cover — no way to protect herself — and the peace she’d found after being fired from the Chicago Police Department could evaporate at any moment, shattering the little life she’d managed to put together after she lost her job and her husband.

  Emily walked into the bathroom after getting dressed, staring at the mirror. Not sleeping well was taking a toll on her, black circles under her eyes. She smeared some balm on her lips, wondering if she should just go home. But as soon as she thought about the idea of getting in her truck and driving away to avoid Cash and his FBI cronies, the image of Lexi Cooper surfaced in her mind. How could Emily leave the little girl behind, not knowing what happened to her? That might be something the FBI was okay with, but Emily wasn’t. She looked in the mirror, pulled the brim of her hat down low and headed out of the bathroom, grabbing her cell phone and her truck keys, sending Mike a text before she left the room, “On my way. I’ll text you when I see him.”

  Outside, the heavy heat of Louisiana had already started to descend, even though it was still early. She had no idea when or if Cash would show up at the restaurant. He could just as easily send one of the other agents to go get coffee for the crew since they likely wouldn’t take the time for the elaborate breakfast at the Tifton bed and breakfast, but for some reason, Emily doubted that. Cash seemed to be the kind of guy who liked to be in charge, in control. Not to mention he might want to get away from the Cooper’s house for a little while. Emily knew how hard it was to sit with the victim’s family for hours at a time. Unless the FBI had active leads, there would be nothing much for them to do until there was a ransom demand or a break in the case. As Emily pulled out of the parking lot of the bed-and-breakfast, she frowned. If there was an active lead in the case, she was sure that Mike would’ve texted her to let her know. A second later, her phone chirped. It was Mike. “I’m ready when you are,” the text read.<
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  Out on the road, there was little traffic around Tifton. Emily passed a few cars and a couple of trucks headed to work. Passing the restaurant, Emily saw there were only a couple of cars in the parking lot, none of them long black SUVs like the FBI drove. She chewed her lip for a second, and then spun the wheel, pulling the truck into an abandoned office building that was two doors down. She drove around the back, angling to see if there was a good view of the restaurant parking lot. There was. She pulled the truck in, hoping Cash or any of the other FBI agents wouldn’t notice her out-of-state plates if she parked two doors away. Sitting back in her seat, Emily rolled down the window and shut the engine off. It was time to wait.

  About a half-hour later, Emily saw what she was looking for, a long black SUV pulling into the restaurant. “Time to feed the agents,” she muttered to herself. Emily leaned forward in the seat, wondering who would get out. From the distance, Emily could see two people, but she couldn’t tell exactly who they were. If it was Cash, she only had a couple of minutes during which he’d be in the restaurant. She picked up her phone, “Heading in.”

  Her phone chirped back, “He’s there?”

  “Don’t know,” Emily wrote, shoving the phone in her pocket. She pulled a pair of sunglasses from the visor in the truck, rolled up the window and locked the doors.

  Emily walked down the sidewalk, approaching the bakery from the front. At the last second, she decided to use the side entrance, hoping that Cash was standing somewhere near the front of the building. As she walked in, she immediately looked down, pretending to check her phone. She hoped that with the change in clothes and the baseball hat, he wouldn’t notice her. She stayed by the door for a second, pretending to look at something, and then glanced up. He was there. She saw his broad back at the register, in almost the same position he’d been in the day before. Cash was standing next to another agent, one with a long blonde ponytail piled on the top of her head. They were talking in low, hushed voices. Emily sent a quick text to Mike, “Game time,” she wrote, setting her phone to vibrate.