Fireflies: A Katie Bell Mystery (book 1)

by BG Archer

  Martin stood up and examined the contents of the safety deposit box, which had spilled onto the bed. There were two syringes with a green liquid inside of them, two Spyderco pocket knives, three passports and ID combinations with matching credit cards all wrapped in a piece of plastic and bound with a rubber band, twenty thousand dollars cash, and a black velvet pouch.

  Martin selected one of the syringes and undoing the cap end he injected it into Dimitri’s neck.

  “How long should that keep him out for?”

  “Twelve hours or so.”

  “You know that was pretty hot,” Laura said getting up from the desk and moving over to Martin.

  He smiled and touched her hair. “You know it really is something special that you freed me.”

  “It’s been so boring without you,” she said and leaned in, her lips finding his.

  43

  8:32PM Friday, May 17th

  “So … it’s over huh?” Gideon and Katie were both sitting at his kitchen table.

  She was looking right at him, but he was avoiding her eyes.

  “I wouldn’t say it’s over, it’s just … We’re in a new paradigm of our relationship.”

  “This is because I pushed for a relationship and you don’t want that? I can do more casual if that’s what you really want,” he said, looking up and meeting her eyes.

  It was Katie’s turn to look away from him, and she shifted in her seat.

  “I don’t think that would be good for either of us. Our relationship is a lot more than just the sexual aspect. I just think. That stuff is more important than this one thing.”

  Gideon sighed. “Yeah, but that aspect is pretty damned vital to it.”

  Katie folded her arms across her chest. “What are you saying? We’re only close because we have sex a lot? Because that’s pretty messed up, Gideon.”

  “No, not at all. Of course our friendship is important to me. I wouldn’t have told you about my father if I thought this was casual.”

  Finally they looked at each other again, and Katie could feel her walls beginning to melt. “It wasn’t just casual for me either. This has been important to me. You are important to me. I wouldn’t have just told anybody about my mother.”

  She reached out, her hand on the table, and Katie fought the urge to get up and hug him. Gideon must have sensed the basic need for touch, because he reached out and took her hand in his, squeezing it.

  The CRACK at the front door made both of them jump straight up, but even as Katie was reaching for her messenger bag, Gideon was already running towards the splintered door, even as the man in the dark suit entered the apartment, gun raised, furry in his eyes.

  Gideon tried to swing, but the man moved faster and easily side-stepped the punch before bringing the butt of the gun into Gideon’s chest just below the neck. The teen gagged and coughed and dropped to his knees, holding his throat as he did so.

  Arthur Bell leveled his Glock at Gideon’s head, even as Agent Fields entered the apartment behind him, her weapon also raised, her movements more cautious than her mentor’s.

  “Who the hell are you?” Arthur snarled.

  “His name is Gideon, and he’s a friend of mine, Daddy. Put the gun away,” Katie snapped.

  It was like he hadn’t actually registered that his daughter was in the room till he heard her speaking, and then Arthur saw Katie. He lowered his weapon and ran to her, hugging her tightly. Katie was so startled by the gesture she didn’t know how to react, but after a few moments and as the hug continued she hugged him back.

  “Uh, Dad, what the hell is going on?”

  Fields still had her weapon out and was looking around the apartment. “Anybody else here that we should know about, Katie?”

  “No, we are alone,” Katie said pulling away from her father.

  Gideon stopped coughing and stood up. Fields was past him in the hallway, but she turned back, her weapon no longer raised but still at her side.

  “You going to be a problem?”

  Gideon’s face was red, but he shook his head. “I want to just state for the record it’s my apartment you two just broke into, but no, I will not be a problem.”

  Arthur turned back to the younger man. “That’s what happens when you’re trying to date the daughter of an FBI agent, son, and she doesn’t pick up her phone.”

  “I didn’t pick up the phone because it died and is charging in the other room, Dad. And it’s none of your business, but we are not dating.”

  Gideon flinched. “That’s right, sir, we’re just friends. I’m Gideon by the way.”

  He extended his hand to Arthur. Arthur looked at Gideon’s hand but didn’t take it.

  Agent Fields looked at everyone in the room and holstered her weapon. “Well, this looks like a classic case of a misunderstanding.”

  “How did you find me here?” Katie asked.

  Arthur glanced over his shoulder at his daughter. “I ran a trace on your phone.”

  “Did we not already have this conversation before? You do not do that, ever.”

  “Unless extraordinary circumstances occurred, which is exactly what is happening.”

  Katie wrinkled her brow. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  “You … you didn’t hear on the news?”

  “Dad, I’m in college. I don’t have a TV much less watch the news hour. If it’s not tweeted, Facebooked, or texted to me I don’t hear everything instantly.”

  “Shit, she’s right. It didn’t even break to the news till about an hour ago anyways,” Fields said.

  “What is going on?”

  “Honey, why don’t you take a seat.”

  Katie took a step back from him instead. “What the hell, Dad?”

  “He … he’s out. Snow’s out and on the run.”

  Katie stared at him like she didn’t hear him correctly, and looked past him at Gideon, like maybe he had actually heard what her father had said.

  “I don’t … I don’t understand…”

  “Katie, he escaped this morning. We believe he’s trying to get out of the country, but due to his connection to … our family I had to make sure you’re safe. Especially after he’s shown to be very capable, even from behind bars.”

  Katie leaned against the kitchen table and slowly sank down into the seat, her face the color of a ghost.

  They talked for another hour. Or rather, Arthur and Fields talked, while Gideon and Katie just listened.

  “So, honey, we really need to get you out of here and someplace safe,” Arthur said, finishing his long rambling speech at the end.

  Katie looked up sharply at him and shook her head. “No.”

  “Honey, this isn’t something we discuss.”

  “You’re right Dad, it isn’t. I’m not leaving school two weeks before finals.”

  “Do you not understand that this is your life we are talking about? He’s a monster, Katie. One that is very capable of going after you here. I can’t … I can’t guarantee your safety at this school. Moving you someplace else, I can.”

  “I’m not leaving the school. Besides, you said he’s on the run. He’s probably trying to cross into Mexico or something.”

  “Katie, I need to show you something,” Fields said, and took out her BlackBerry.

  She glanced at Arthur. He remained silent, which she took was a sign to continue. Fields slide the phone across the kitchen table to Katie. “Phones unlocked, scroll to the pictures on your left.”

  Katie did and saw the grizzly remains of agent Tapscott. She flicked through three photos and pushed the phone away. Gideon, who was sitting next to Katie also saw the images.

  “Those photo’s are from this morning, and are the remains of my partner. He was murdered by one of Martin Snow’s helpers, a woman not much larger than yourself,” Fields said, picking up her phone.

  “What’s your point?”

  “There’s more than one of them and they have a history of targeting your family. Unless you have a death wish
you should probably listen to the experts, who in this case happens to also be your father.”

  “I’ll be fine here, you guys. I won’t be an idiot and I’ll travel in groups till the year is over. I’ve got Gideon here, and he’s already helped me get out of one tricky jam this year.”

  Gideon nodded. “It’s true, I’ll be there for her.”

  “That doesn’t give me a sense of relief,” Arthur said.

  “Speaking of which, I’m just curious … why did you try to attack a guy coming through your front door when he was armed and you weren’t?” Fields asked.

  Gideon shrugged. “Muscle memory, and I didn’t know who you were. And I really don’t like guns.”

  “Be that as it may, a gun is going to be the only way to stop Martin Snow, and I don’t care if you finished first in the Boy Scouts, he would chew you up and spit you out without a second glance, kid,” Arthur said.

  “Okay fine, but I’m not leaving, so maybe instead of trying to imprison your daughter, you should be off stopping him, like you were supposed to do the first time,” Katie said.

  It was like she had slapped him in the face, and she knew it. Arthur winced and stood up, his hands shaking. “Fine. I’ll talk to campus security and make sure they track your every move after dark. You never go anywhere alone understood? And you’re not to leave your dorm room after dark.”

  Katie stared at her father for a long time before sighing. “That’s the best offer I’m going to get isn’t it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Fine.”

  Arthur turned and pointed a finger at Gideon. “And you may be next to useless, but if I hear that she’s attacked and you’re not on the ground dead having tried to save her life, I’ll shoot you myself, understand?”

  Gideon looked at the older man and smiled. “I mean, that’s certainly one kind of motivation, but yeah. She’ll be safe with me, sir. I promise.”

  “Good. You’ll be texting me every night when you go to bed too, understood?”

  “Yep.”

  Arthur turned and strode out of the apartment. Agent Fields got up awkwardly and looked at the two teens. “Katie, you know your father means well … We aren’t joking, this guy is a real threat.”

  “You would think if anyone was to know that, it would be me wouldn’t you, Agent?”

  “Right,” Fields said, heading for the door. She hesitated for a second and turned back, addressing Gideon. “Sorry about your door.”

  “Don’t worry about it,” Gideon said.

  Neither of them spoke for awhile after Arthur and Fields had left. Gideon got up and grabbed them a bottle of Bullett he had over the stove and came back, pouring them both a shot.

  Katie drank her shot and let the amber liquid burn her throat as Gideon wordlessly poured her another. He finished his shot and she went to pour him another, but he stopped her. “One of us has to stay sober tonight,” he said.

  She nodded and stared off into space. Katie killed the shot and sat the empty glass back on the table, and Gideon refilled it.

  “Do you mind … if I sleep here?”

  “Of course you’re going to sleep here. You get the bed.”

  “No, that’s not fair,” Katie said and downed the shot.

  “Under the current circumstances, of course it is.”

  “Gideon…”

  He silenced her with a raised eyebrow.

  Katie sighed, then got up and wandered towards the bedroom.

  A half hour later she walked back out into the living room, wearing only her tank top and purple panties. Gideon was sitting on the couch, his eyes closed, but he was not asleep.

  “Gideon,” she said hoarsely.

  His eyes opened. “You okay?”

  “Listen. Is there any chance you can come to bed with me and just … hold me? I don’t really want to sleep alone.”

  He blinked and sat up. “Of course,” he said, and walked with her back into his bedroom.

  44

  3:20PM, Sunday May 19th

  Katie paced the study room while Gideon and Stacy watched her.

  “This was … this was not supposed to go this way,” Katie said, continuing to pace.

  She had an open Red Bull on the study desk and picked it up and took a long gulp from it.

  “We know he was lying now. We have the evidence,” Stacy said.

  “Evidence that we can’t show to the police because they’ll know we’ve tapped their system, and I can’t report because, well it’s a violation,” Gideon replied.

  Stacy glanced at Gideon. “Of what exactly?”

  “It’s easier to make a list of what it’s not a violation of.”

  Stacy rolled her eyes. “But it’s the truth.”

  Katie stopped pacing and took a seat at the end of the table, facing her friends. “We think it’s the truth.”

  “You’re seriously telling me you don’t think he killed them?” Stacy asked.

  “No. I do. I just want to know what the motive was. I also want to know how the hell she got from the damned bedroom to the downstairs.”

  “Maybe there’s a secret passageway,” Gideon suggested.

  “This isn’t Scooby-Doo,” Katie snapped.

  “We still don’t have a murder weapon, or a motive.”

  The problem they had discovered with bugging the APD’s computer system was that while it was 2013 in the world around them, the Asheville police were still running about a decade behind in some departments. Katie may have planted Stacy’s virus two months prior, but it wasn’t until the previous Wednesday that their computer system was upgraded and the closed loop video from the last three years of cases was uploaded to their servers. Once they were, Stacy was easily able to access the data and go through the interviews that both detectives Brooke Levitt and Lewis Powell had conducted in the days following Dan Reedman’s murder.

  There were about a dozen hours of relevant videos to watch, and between studying for finals and general classes, it had taken both Katie and Stacy most of the week to watch everything and make as many notes as possible. As with everything else about their process, they didn’t get Gideon involved until after they had found the digital needle in the haystack.

  Walter Pike, sophomore frat boy and general asshole, was in the tenth interview they watched. He seemed high when the two detectives interviewed him, and acted in general too-cool-for-school.

  The interview lasted a half hour, and it wasn’t until the final two questions that caught Stacy and Katie’s attention.

  “So where exactly were you when you first heard the screaming?” Detective Levitt asked Walter.

  Walter thought about it for a moment before responding. It was the longest pause during the entire interview, like he was really thinking about the question.

  “My friend Roxanne wasn’t feeling good so I was taking care of her. She had too much to drink.”

  “So you didn’t see anybody?”

  He shook his head. “Nope.”

  The two girls watched the video again and then stopped it.

  “You’re telling me they were having sex?”

  “Yeah, definitely, but she was so out of it there’s no way she wouldn’t back up his alibi. But if she was out of it…”

  “He stabs Dan, comes back into room and screws Roxanne. Disgusting,” Stacy said.

  “It matches both the ME’s report and the list of items found in the house. Remember how trace amounts of GHB were found in Dan’s bloodstream?”

  “That’s right.”

  “So I figure, Walter gives Dan a little so he’s easier to take out. He does his thing, grabs the bag, and then runs down the hall back to his room, where Roxanne is still doped out. That’s when you walk in, and he has his witness. A minute later you smell the smoke and go to investigate.”

  They showed the video to Gideon and explained everything, which was how they found themselves all in the study room at the library, unsure exactly how to proceed.

  “There’re still two probl
ems with this theory guys,” Gideon said.

  “You mean motive?” Katie asked.

  “I mean aside from motive. Police searched the house and everybody at the party. No knifes were found that matched the weapon. The knife was found in Golding’s room. Also the backpack was never found, remember? Nor any vials containing GHB.”

  “Yeah, but Walter lives in the house, you think he wouldn’t know where to hide the backpack?” Stacy asked.

  “So what do we do now?” Gideon asked, spreading his hands. “I believe the real killer’s out there, and it could well be Walter. But what are we going to do about it? We can’t take this to the police, after all you only know what he told the police because you hacked their computer system.”

  Katie killed the rest of her Red Bull. She was staring at the back of Stacy’s MacBook Air.

  “The photos. Can you bring up the photos again? The ones we grabbed from the thumb drive?”

  Katie got up and walked around the table as Stacy brought them up. Katie started flicking through them till she stopped at one of them. It was unclear who Dan was having sex with, but the angle was right across from his bed.

  “Okay, what is it?” Stacy asked.

  Katie understood it now, and from the look on Gideon’s face, he was getting it too.

  “We know his room was being bugged. What if the killer didn’t know it though, and was caught on tape? But they have something that our mysterious man who was blackmailing Dan wanted. Whatever’s in the backpack,” Katie said.

  “Two parties involved, not one,” Gideon finished for her.

  “Exactly. If we can locate the blackmailers and get the video, we can take that to the detectives.”

  “Okay, but how do we know they haven’t already traded?” Stacy asked.

  “Because they were fighting at the New Year’s party remember? The Latino guy, Felipe. I saw him and Walter arguing. I have a feeling it’s because they haven’t come to an agreement,” Katie said.