Random Acts of Iniquity

by Christy Barritt

  Chase and I exchanged a smile.

  “Now that no one is pretending anymore, I just want to say I’m really happy for you,” Jamie continued.

  “Thank you . . .” My voice was tinged with uncertainty on how to respond to that.

  “Now, what are you two doing today?” she asked. “Besides making googly eyes at each other.”

  I glanced at Chase. I really didn’t know—other than realizing I needed to check on Kari again. I also wanted to verify parts of her story, but I wasn’t sure I’d have time to do that today. Of course, I was desperately hoping for a breakthrough in the case.

  I wanted to talk to Kari about the man she’d been seen with. I also wanted to follow up on Perry, the man who’d come into my office. Had anyone ever confirmed that he was truly out of town during all this?

  I had so much to process and comprehend. The good news was that my boss was also my brother, and he understood why I couldn’t go back to work yet. Though I knew I’d have piles of paperwork on my desk when I returned, it could wait. For now.

  “I’ll be following up some case leads,” Chase said. “I’ll be working, just not in the office.”

  Again, he was rearranging everything for me. I hated that this had turned his life upside down, and, despite my logic, I felt responsible.

  I pushed the thoughts aside and cleared my throat. “Any updates you can share?”

  He leaned back and looked at a paper. “Actually, yes. Kurt Casey . . . we’ve been looking into him some more. One of his best friends said Kurt had received some threats before he died.”

  “What?” The word left my lips in a gasp.

  “He made some bad deals, hoping to get enough money to keep himself afloat. Unfortunately, some of them weren’t legal. Someone found out about it and threatened to expose him if he didn’t pay up to the tune of 500K.”

  “That’s a big chunk of change—especially for someone having financial problems.”

  “Exactly.”

  “So he could have killed himself to avoid the scandal or . . .”

  “Someone else could have killed him for not cooperating.”

  I leaned back. “Is this connected with the blackmail of my brother’s friend? I mean, two people in the same city being blackmailed at the same time . . . is that a coincidence?”

  “I haven’t seen any signs that the two cases are connected. But I can’t rule it out either.”

  I shook my head, trying to let all of that sink in. “Man, who would have thought?”

  “People will do whatever they can to make some money.” Chase studied me a moment. “And, Holly, never think you’re an inconvenience.”

  My cheeks flushed at his sweet words. “Why would you say that?”

  “Because I can read the guilt on your face. I’m doing all this because I want to, not because I feel obligated.”

  “And there you guys go again, sounding all sappy,” Jamie crooned with a playful eye roll.

  She was acting annoyed, but I could tell she really was happy. I knew my friend only wanted what was best for me. Besides, she was engaged now.

  “Well, I have to go to work,” Jamie stood, plate in hand. “So I’ll leave you two be. Behave yourselves.”

  “We will,” I called.

  But as she left, leaving Chase and I alone, I nearly felt giddy. As I put my plate in the sink, he stepped up behind me and put his arms around my waist. I turned until I saw his face, until I saw the smoky look in his eyes.

  He leaned down and kissed me, and I knew I was in trouble.

  Any man who made my toes curl like this was trouble.

  Before the kiss could deepen, Chase’s cell phone rang. He stepped back with an apologetic shrug and put the phone to his ear. “Hey, Wilson. What’s going on?”

  He muttered a few more things into the phone before ending the call and sliding the phone back into his pocket.

  “What is it?”

  “Apparently, they brought in an IT guy who works for a taskforce run by the state police. This guy found something on your computer, and Wilson wants us to come in so we can talk about it.”

  My breath caught. “He didn’t say what it was?”

  “No, no clues even.”

  I nibbled on my bottom lip. “Interesting.”

  “Let’s go. I know you want to check on Kari on the way out.” He grabbed his keys from the table.

  “That would be great.”

  “Let’s get moving then.”

  * * *

  As I climbed out of Chase’s car at the motel, I glanced around. I didn’t see anyone watching us. But, despite my giddiness at the turn in my relationship with Chase, the bigger issue right now was the man intent on making me miserable.

  He was doing a fine job. I felt the continual need to look over my shoulder. I kept expecting another phone call from someone to inform me they’d gotten a message from my phone that I hadn’t sent. I waited to see another video taken of myself unaware.

  The whole thing didn’t make any sense. I had no idea why someone would do something like this. Why they would target me.

  Sometimes, not knowing was the worst part.

  It was gray outside today and drizzling. Plus, the wind seemed to have shifted and brought with it a chill. I’d only packed a sweater for myself, but I pulled it around me, trying to stay warm, as I stepped up to Kari’s room and knocked at the door.

  I waited several minutes, but there was no answer.

  “Maybe she’s in the shower,” I suggested.

  “Maybe.” But the frown on Chase’s face showed what he really thought.

  He hadn’t been a fan of me helping Kari. He thought she was a con artist. Truth was, he could be right. But I’d rather believe the best in people and be hurt than to let my heart be hardened and become suspicious of everyone.

  I knocked again.

  There was still no answer.

  I paced over to the window and tried to peer between the opening in the curtains, but it was no use. I couldn’t see anything.

  I nibbled on my bottom lip, trying to figure out the next step.

  “What do you want to do?” Chase turned toward me.

  There was only one thing I could think of to do. I grabbed the knob and twisted it.

  To my surprise, the door wasn’t latched.

  Chase and I exchanged a look.

  He nudged me back and drew his gun. “Let me go first.”

  I remained close to him as he stepped inside. I tried to see how the room looked, but I couldn’t see over Chase’s broad shoulders.

  “Hello?” He cautiously took another step.

  No response. No sound of the water running.

  Once I was able to, I shifted from behind Chase and scanned the room. The bed was made. Everything appeared in order . . . almost like Kari had never been here.

  My stomach knotted, but I tried not to play the “what if” scenario reel in my mind.

  “Kari?” Chase continued, stepping into the center of the room.

  Still, no answer.

  Where had she gone? Maybe she’d just run to get some breakfast. That seemed the best-case scenario.

  But as I followed Chase toward the bathroom, I nearly collided with him. He paused and peered down at the floor between the bed and the wall.

  I sucked in a deep breath.

  Blood. There was a puddle of blood there on the carpet.

  I closed my eyes.

  What had happened to Kari?

  Chapter Eighteen

  Wilson and his team had come to the hotel and scoured Kari’s room. They’d taken a sample of the blood and would send it off for testing. They’d also questioned everyone nearby, and no one had seen anything.

  It appeared that Kari had disappeared into thin air again.

  I crossed my arms and leaned against the rough brick exterior of the motel, staying beneath the overhang to avoid the cool drizzle of rain that had started to fall. Maybe I should never have left Kari alone. I’d never considered that
she might be in danger.

  Chase stepped from the hotel room and found me. His gaze indicated he was practically reading my thoughts right now—reading the guilt and the way I was beating myself up.

  “You couldn’t have known.” Chase stood beside me a moment, studying my expression with worry.

  “I know. But I still feel I should have done more.”

  “I’d say you already went above and beyond.”

  “I just don’t understand, Chase. Was she involved in this? Or is she a victim?”

  “Given her history—which has included a lot of lies—it’s really hard to say. Wilson and his men will look for her.”

  I nodded, even though I didn’t know if I believed him.

  Across the parking lot, I spotted a woman peeking out of her motel door. No doubt she was wondering what the commotion was about. But what if she knew more?

  “Did Wilson talk to her?” I nodded toward the woman.

  Chase followed my gaze. The woman saw him looking at her and slipped inside the room, closing the door. “I don’t think so. They didn’t hit every room.”

  “I’d like to see if she’ll talk to me.”

  “Let’s give it a shot.”

  We hurried down the sidewalk to her door and pounded on the wood frame. She didn’t answer.

  I tried again.

  Little did this woman know that I wasn’t one to give up.

  When there was still no answer, I leaned close to the door and said loudly, “Please, I have some questions for you. My cousin was staying in that hotel room where the police are. I need to know if you saw anything. Please.”

  It felt weird to call Kari my cousin. But we were related, and, if her story was true, we were cousins. It seemed the easiest explanation at the moment.

  I waited. Hoped. Prayed.

  A moment later, I heard something jangle on the other side of the door. The locks slid and turned until finally the door opened. The woman peeked out, her pale face looking dazed.

  “What do you want?” the woman whispered.

  Behind her, I heard a TV on and some other commotion. What exactly was going on in there?

  “I don’t want trouble,” I started. “I just need to know if you saw anything.”

  She stared at me, her eyes wide and scared. Her gaze darted beyond me to the police then to Chase. “I just try to mind my own business.”

  Something about the way the woman said the words, about the way she was dressed, and the little bit of the hotel room I could see behind her, made me think she lived here permanently.

  Another sound caught my ear. A little laugh.

  There were kids inside the hotel room, I realized. I’d seen more than my fair share of situations like this as a social worker. Sometimes, people didn’t have the proper credit to get a house or apartment. So they rented day by day or week by week at establishments like this. It wasn’t ideal, but at least they had a roof over their heads until they could get back on their feet.

  “Did you see something over at that room?” I asked, pointing. “Please. It’s important. Anything will help.”

  Her gaze darted to the room again before turning back to me. “I thought I heard a scream this morning. I peeked out the curtain. Honestly, I hear a lot of things around here. A nice car was in the parking lot—not like the kind that are usually around here. The next thing I saw was a man come out of that room. He had his arms around a woman, and he led her to his car.”

  I swallowed hard at the image. “She was upset?”

  “She seemed to be. She looked like she was crying.”

  “But she was alive,” I muttered, more for myself than anyone else. I needed confirmation.

  The woman recoiled, as if the question shocked her. “Yes, she was alive. They got in the car, and the man drove away.”

  “Did he force her into the vehicle?” Chase asked.

  “I . . . I don’t know. He stood close to her. But she wasn’t kicking and screaming. It’s hard to say.”

  “Can you describe the man?” Chase asked, using a softer than usual voice, probably in an effort not to scare the woman.

  It didn’t work. She seemed to shrivel back as soon as Chase spoke.

  “It’s okay,” I said. “He’s with me. He’s one of the good guys.”

  I’d learned that not everyone trusted the police. Some people saw them as avengers who took their children away, who followed the law at the cost of serving the people. Sometimes, police work wasn’t well received, especially in poorer communities.

  The woman pulled her gaze away from Chase and back to me. “It’s hard to say. He was far away. He wore a black hoodie.”

  My stomach dropped with disappointment. “What about his car? What was he driving?”

  “It was also black. Like I said, it looked expensive. I don’t know what kind it was, though.”

  “You didn’t by chance see the license plate, did you?” I asked.

  “Only the first three letters. AN3.”

  I glanced at Chase. It was something. I’d take that over nothing.

  And at least we knew that Kari was still alive when she left her hotel room.

  * * *

  Chase and I went back to the station. We met with Wilson in his office, and I’d nearly forgotten that the detective had said they’d discovered something on my laptop. All I’d been thinking about was Kari.

  “There are a few things I want to ask you about, Ms. Paladin,” Wilson said as we sat in his cramped office.

  “Okay. What’s going on?” A strange flutter of nerves went crazy inside me. Chase sat beside me, waiting to hear the update also. I figured it was big if he’d called us in to talk face-to-face.

  “As this guy from the state police-appointed taskforce was looking through your computer, trying to figure out how this guy was able to access it so easily, we came across some online searches you’d done that made us curious.”

  The flutters in my stomach grew larger. I’d searched for a lot of crazy stuff. I’d stuck my nose in many places I shouldn’t have. But I had no idea which particular thing he was talking about.

  “What was that?” I asked.

  “It appears you were doing some research on a company called Axon Enterprises.”

  My stomach dropped as I realized where he was going with this.

  I glanced at Chase, starting to explain but realizing I didn’t know what to say.

  “That was the company my brother worked for.” Surprise laced Chase’s voice.

  “I know—”

  “You were still looking into his death?” His surprise turned into accusation as he turned toward me.

  He’d asked me to stay out of it. The subject had been one of our many fights. Whatever world Hayden had been involved with, Chase wanted me to stay far away from it. But I hadn’t listened.

  “I can explain. It’s not like it sounds.” I felt things going south and knew I needed to quickly correct them before this misunderstanding led to something unsalvageable.

  “I’ll let you two talk about that later.” Wilson looked like he didn’t want to be in the middle of any drama. “I need to know what you were looking into exactly.”

  I shifted in my seat, wishing I could disappear. But I couldn’t. I had to face this and hope that I could make things right with Chase later. But my stomach churned with unease.

  I turned back to Wilson. “How is this important to this investigation? That search was just something I was doing in my free time, a way of trying to find answers.”

  His lip twitched, as if he didn’t like being questioned. “It turns out the IP address of that website is linked to the IP address of whoever accessed your camera.”

  The pit in my stomach grew deeper as connections began forming in my mind. This couldn’t all go back to that . . . could it?

  “So?” Wilson shook something in his pocket—probably a container of orange-colored candy, if I had to guess.

  I could feel his patience waning.

  I turned
my gaze away from Chase. There was no need to deny what I’d done. “Yes, I was looking into Axon. As you probably know, they shut down a couple of years ago.”

  “That’s correct. They were a tech company.”

  I nodded nervously. “Yes.”

  “What exactly did you find out, Ms. Paladin?”

  I rubbed my hands on my jeans, trying to ward away my anxiety. “About a month ago, I found a woman who used to work for them named Barbara Jostens.”

  “I talked to Barbara after my brother’s death.” Chase’s voice went from outraged to just plain disappointed.

  The disappointment felt harder to swallow than anger.

  I licked my lips before continuing. “Yes, I know. But when you talked to her, it was fresh after your brother’s death. It’s been six years now.”

  “What difference did it make?” Chase asked.

  “A lot of time has passed,” I said. “Barbara seemed a little more willing to talk. I suppose an armchair detective with a penchant for wearing dresses isn’t as intimidating as a former pro football player turned detective who’s angry about his brother’s death. I was supposed to meet her two weeks ago.”

  “Two weeks ago? Were you not going to tell me about this?” Chase’s eyes probed mine, searching for the truth.

  “Detective, we need to stay focused,” Wilson said.

  Chase looked away before letting out a long breath. “Of course.”

  I glanced at my lap, trying to pull my thoughts together. “It didn’t matter. Barbara chickened out. She didn’t meet me, nor did she answer any more of my phone calls. I was disappointed because she’d seemed excited to talk to me. In fact, she said she hoped that someone would come knocking again because she had information she wanted to share.”

  Wilson typed a few things into his computer. As he stared at the screen, his lips pulled down in a frown. “The Louisville Police found her dead in her home.”

  He showed us a police report that he must have just pulled up.

  “She was shot in an apparent home invasion,” Wilson continued.

  I glanced at Chase. His bottom lip dropped. He obviously didn’t know either. Then again, he probably hadn’t been following Barbara. At least not recently.