Data Capture

by Jesse J. Thoma

  Garvey’s wife interrupted her musings. “Seems you were telling the truth. I’m Susan Sandstrom. It was his third marriage. I kept my name, in case you were wondering.”

  “Nice to meet you, Susan,” Lola said, shaking her hand. “No judgment on my part. Do you mind my asking you a few more questions about your husband? I’m also a little worried about your safety after how you greeted me. Do you have somewhere else you can stay?”

  “Ask away,” Susan said. “I may go stay with my sister for a while. I’m rather fond of my kneecaps.”

  “You said your husband talked about Holt before he disappeared, so you knew of her. How did you know I worked for her?”

  “I guessed,” Susan said. “But you look like the type. I told you I looked her up when he kept talking about her. There are pictures of her out there. Not a lot, but a few. She looks like an army tank. So do you. Someone shows up at my door asking the kind of questions about Kevin you were asking? I can draw a straight line.”

  As Lola had suspected earlier, Susan was sharp. “Fair enough. Your husband has gambling debts?”

  “He did. Look, you’re going to find out all of this I’m sure, but my husband’s a flawed man. But when we met, he cared for me. I was sick. Cancer. He literally nursed me back to health. He’s a lot of things, but with me, he’s different than a lot of people say. I just want you to remember that when you’re out there looking for him. There are a lot of reasons to write him off. Most of the people in his life, rightly in a lot of cases, already have.”

  “I’m not writing anyone off, Susan. I want to find him.” Lola tried to reconcile this description of a caring man with what she knew of the father Isabelle had grown up with. She knew people changed, but it was still hard to come to terms with these two versions of the same man. She hoped the information he had was worth the headache.

  “All right, well yes, he did have gambling debts. He was a typical gambler. Casinos, the track. You name it. I guess about nine months ago he met some kids at the college. He’s a custodian there. It wasn’t long after he met these new kids that all the gambling moved online. Suddenly, he was making money. But he got weird and secretive. And then all of a sudden people started coming around demanding he pay them back or else. I don’t know what that was all about. About six weeks ago he started talking about Holt, and how she could solve all of our problems. That she would never turn her back on family and he would just have to make her understand. It freaked me out a little, to be honest. He was obsessed, but he wouldn’t say more than that. I don’t think she’s actually family, though. No family I know about.”

  “How do you know the kids from the college were involved with gambling online? Did you ever meet them?”

  “They came by the house once. Typical college boys. I think there were about five of them, and I overheard them talking about it. Kevin told me one night he found a get-rich-quick fix for all his problems but wouldn’t tell me what it was. But he spent all his time on his laptop.”

  “Do you still have the computer?” Lola tried not to get her hopes up, but she knew Max would want access to anything Kevin Garvey had been spending that much time on.

  “No, I don’t. The police searched for it, but never found it. You’re welcome to look around if you want. He spent most of his time out in the garage.”

  Lola followed Susan’s direction through the house and out to the attached garage. A workbench crammed with tools dominated one wall. Pegboard hung behind the bench from floor to ceiling, allowing tools to hang. Two nudie posters from decades ago, weathered and worn, hung above the bench. A lawnmower, a couple of folding chairs, and a washer and dryer were against another wall. There was no space for a car.

  She surveyed everything carefully from the middle of the room. Susan said Kevin spent most of his time out here, so Lola tried to picture what he would spend hours at a time doing. She pulled one of the folding chairs from its perch against the wall, opened it, and sat down. At that level she could see the pegboard under the bench. A section just under the bench about two feet square had been cut out. The original pegboard was back in place now, but Lola could see a handle that allowed the board’s removal.

  What do we have here?

  Lola squeezed under the bench and removed the pegboard. She took a deep breath and reached inside.

  Please no spiders.

  Her hand connected with something cool and metallic. She pulled it out. It was Kevin’s laptop. She flipped on her comms and Max answered.

  “I’ve got a laptop for you,” Lola said. “I’m turning it over to the police, but I figure you want to have a look around too.”

  “Of course I do,” Max said. “You still have that thumb drive I gave you?”

  “The one you told me never to lose?”

  “Yes, that one. Plug it in and turn on the computer,” Max said.

  “And if there’s passwords or security or something?” Lola asked.

  “That’s why I told you not to ever lose the thumb drive. I’ll take care of it.”

  Lola did as she was told, and before long Max alerted her she had everything she needed from the computer. Lola shut down the laptop and checked that it was the only thing in Kevin’s hiding place.

  “I found the laptop,” Lola said when she found Susan. “You should alert the police. They’ll probably want to have a look.” She handed the laptop over.

  “Anything useful on it?” Susan asked.

  “Who said I took a look?” Lola asked.

  Susan gave her a look that could best be described as “oh please.”

  “I don’t know yet,” Lola said. “We’re still decrypting the data.” She hoped that was the right term. She’d heard Max use those words strung together in that way before.

  “All right,” Susan said. “I’ll give the police a call. Maybe someone can find something useful.”

  “One more thing before I leave,” Lola said. “Do you mind giving me a list of the casinos and tracks Kevin frequented? And any of the people he liked to gamble with, or any other names you have that might be associated with either his gambling or his disappearance? Even if you gave them to the police.”

  Lola left with a list of places and names, ready to start her hunt. But first, she needed some sleep. She was physically exhausted, but emotionally riding a bit of a high. Not only had she found a potentially really useful piece of evidence for finding Kevin Garvey and hopefully those holding him, but she’d run into Quinn again. That alone was enough to make today a fifteen on a one to ten scale. Dubs is right; she stimulates my neurosciences. Not good.

  Chapter Nine

  “What brought you to my fine city, Lola Badger? Please don’t tell me it was my Intro to Neuroscience course.”

  Quinn wanted to laugh at the look on Lola’s face, part embarrassment, part guilt, part kid getting caught with her hand in the cookie jar, but something in Lola’s eyes stopped her. There was vulnerability there, shyness maybe.

  “Spotted me, huh?” Lola asked. “You’re an amazing teacher. I’m learning so much.”

  “And here I thought you just slipped in to watch me for an hour.” Quinn was teasing, but she realized she didn’t mind the thought.

  “Shame on me for not mentioning how smoking hot it is to watch a woman show off how brilliant she is for an hour. I definitely stayed to watch that,” Lola said.

  Quinn felt herself blushing. She looked down at her breakfast and made a show of pushing her pancakes around her plate while she willed her cheeks to return to a normal color. Lola had spontaneously invited her to breakfast after one of her shifts ended, and since Quinn didn’t have class that morning, and had once again slept at the office, she’d agreed. Since then, it had just become an unspoken thing they did, and Quinn was beginning to look forward to it more than she probably should. There was no pretense to Lola and no underlying agenda. She wasn’t competing with her or trying to outmaneuver her for praise or grant dollars. It didn’t hurt that she was hot as hell and every time they wer
e together, and quite a few times when they weren’t, Quinn couldn’t stop thinking of how she kissed.

  “So, you didn’t answer my question,” Quinn said. She was determined not to look at Lola’s lips now that she was thinking about kissing her.

  “And what question was that?” Lola asked.

  Lola slowly brought a bite of omelet to her mouth. Quinn followed the path of the fork. Shit.

  She pulled her eyes up from Lola’s mouth and fell into Lola’s gaze instead. Clearly, Lola knew exactly what Quinn had been thinking about as she broke into a large grin before popping the bite of omelet into her mouth and chewing slowly and licking her lips unnecessarily.

  “My city, what brought you to my city?” Quinn said.

  “Oh, right. I needed a change. The weather sucked back East. Bad breakup. Take your pick.”

  “Well, that was intriguingly cryptic,” Quinn said.

  “I didn’t mean to be,” Lola said. “I really was just looking to do something different. Get out on my own for a little while.”

  “You must miss George though.”

  A look of raw, unfiltered pain and sadness flittered across Lola’s face before she smiled, and her eyes lit up at the thought of her nephew. Quinn wondered at the source of the pain. What or who had hurt her so deeply? The thought of Lola in that much distress made her more uncomfortable. They didn’t know each other well, but there was something about Lola that drew her in.

  “I do miss that little guy. Since the day I found out about him, he’s been one big adventure.”

  “What’s your sister like? Does she look like you?” Suddenly, Quinn wanted to know everything about Lola. She had a grant waiting for her back at the office that wouldn’t write itself, but lingering over omelets and pancakes with Lola was much more appealing.

  “God, no. Holt is a walking, talking, Greek god. Captain America is jealous of her. She’s got the moral compass to match as well, which is just the tiniest bit annoying to be honest.”

  Lola said it with a smile, so Quinn knew Lola didn’t really resent her sister.

  “Holt is the kind of woman that walks into a room and everyone stops and stares at her. She just has a presence that commands a room and fills up the space. Not in a threatening way, but in the kind of way that lets everyone know she’s in charge. She used to notice, but she doesn’t anymore now that she’s found Isabelle.” Lola frowned. “Actually, now everyone is staring at Isabelle. Poor Holt. Lost her place at the top.”

  Quinn stared at Lola. If anyone else had given Quinn that description, she would have thought she was talking about Lola. Sure, she wouldn’t have used such masculine descriptors, Lola was much more feminine than Captain America, and she was all goddess, but the rest was spot-on. “It sounds like you and your sister are exactly alike.” Quinn reached out and traced her fingers up Lola’s forearm. It wasn’t a gesture meant to entice so much as reinforce her words.

  Lola shook her head. “That’s just because you haven’t seen Holt in person. She’s built and could clear this room with a glance.”

  “Sweetie,” Quinn said. “I could bounce a quarter off your ass, and if you flexed you could send someone to the hospital on the rebound.” That ass is as close to perfect as they get. “And as for clearing a room, on the night we met, you had two bar stools all to yourself at the most popular club in town.”

  “Well,” Lola said, looking a little flustered, “I was saving one for you.”

  “So you’ve said.”

  Quinn flagged the waitress and paid for their meal. “Walk me back to campus?”

  Lola got a text that she read quickly before answering.

  “Yes, of course. But we’ve spent all breakfast talking about me. I’ve seen your Intro to Neuroscience class, but I have a feeling that’s just scratching the surface of what you do. Tell me more. What’s on those fancy computers I was about to blow up when you dragged me out of your lab? Or what about what you work on all night, every night in your office? Or what’s your family like?”

  “You really want to hear about the reason Jessica scolds me every morning and no one in the department likes me? Or about how my family doesn’t talk to me because I can’t stop thinking about women like you?” Quinn knew she sounded bitter and a bit sad, but she couldn’t help it.

  “Of course I do,” Lola said.

  Lola went out of her way to make eye contact even when Quinn tried to avoid it, which Quinn appreciated.

  “What is it that keeps your brilliant mind occupied? I see it working even when we’re talking.” Lola waved away Quinn’s apology. “I never feel deprived. There’s nothing more invigorating than watching a mind at work. But just as a point of clarification, is it women like me, or me specifically, filling your thoughts?”

  “I’m sure you’d like to know,” Quinn said.

  That got a smile from Lola.

  Beautiful smile. Definitely you. “As for the rest, I know I’m not always the best company. I’ve been told as much many times before.”

  “Well, then you’ve been keeping the wrong company.” Lola scooped Quinn’s hand, laced their fingers together, and gave her a reassuring squeeze. It felt nice, really nice. Quinn would have been happy to walk around the rest of the day holding Lola’s hand, but apparently, Lola didn’t agree. She pulled away quickly. The gesture did seem out of character for Lola who, so far, had let Quinn lead all of their interactions, but as far as Quinn was concerned, Lola could lead away if that’s the direction her initiative took her. It turned out Lola wasn’t blowing smoke when she asked to know more about what Quinn did. She was curious about everything, asked great questions, and had a better understanding of some of the complexities of Quinn’s work than a few of her graduate students.

  “Have you been holding out on me, Lola? Are you a professor, or graduate student spying on us for some reason?” Quinn was clearly joking, but she did wonder why Lola was working as a custodian when she should have been in a research lab.

  Lola looked so confused Quinn didn’t prolong the teasing.

  “Some of my graduate students don’t understand half of what we were just talking about. I’m the one invigorated by the brilliant mind at work now. Where did you study?” Quinn thought Lola looked embarrassed and uncomfortable. She wondered why.

  “You know I’ve been sitting in on your class,” Lola said.

  “Lola,” Quinn said. “I’m a middling professor at best. I’m a researcher at heart. It’s not possible you learned all of this from my class.”

  “I guess that’s true. I’ve been doing some reading too. Some books and articles. A few you wrote, which are intense and amazing.”

  Lola’s voice was almost a whisper now, and now she wasn’t making eye contact despite Quinn’s best efforts.

  “So you never took any of this in undergrad. You learned all of what we just spent the last couple of hours chatting about from my class and reading on your own?” Lola nodded and Quinn felt like her mind might explode. “Jesus, and I always thought I was a fast learner. So, if this is just something you picked up on the side, what topic captured your heart in school? Can I guess your major? Please don’t tell me you were a double major?”

  Quinn wanted to know what academic pursuit was worthy of Lola’s full attention.

  Lola looked horrified.

  “Triple major?” Had Quinn underestimated her and been insulting?

  “Look, I’ve got to go,” Lola said.

  She was out of Quinn’s office and loping down the hall before Quinn could react. Quinn replayed their conversation quickly as she hurried after Lola. Shit. I made a lot of assumptions in that conversation. Not everyone goes to college, you idiot. In her rush to catch up to Lola, who had a head start and a much longer stride, she didn’t notice that Lola had stopped just inside the double doors leading to the campus quad. She would have smacked right into her, and given how rock hard Lola’s ass was, probably bounced three or four feet into a heap on the floor if Lola hadn’t turned around and caug
ht her in a tight embrace, stopping her momentum.

  “Whoa. Where are you going in such a hurry? People are trying to stand here grumpily without being bowled over, you know.”

  “I’m sorry I upset you,” Quinn said. “You just sort of knocked my socks off back there and I made some assumptions.”

  Lola still looked embarrassed, but she looked at Quinn this time.

  “My big cowardly escape plan was thwarted by the rain,” Lola said, pointing outside. “I’m not prepared for riding in this weather. I’m too tired to risk it anyway.”

  “I have a hard time picturing you on a bicycle,” Quinn said.

  “Then don’t try. That’s not the kind of bike I was talking about. Mine has much more horsepower.”

  “Could you get any sexier?” Quinn realized she’d muttered it out loud, and contemplated her own jog back down the hall to escape but settled for clamping her hand over her mouth instead.

  “If you feel that way, it makes me happy,” Lola said. She gently moved Quinn’s hand from her face. “But I have to work hard at it. You just have to walk in a room and no matter what else is happening, you’re the most beautiful thing in it.”

  It took a moment for Quinn to be able to speak. Lola was incredibly sweet and often caught her completely off guard with a sincere declaration of admiration and attraction. “Come on, smooth talker,” Quinn said. “I’ll drive you home so all your hard earned swag doesn’t wash off in the downpour.”

  Chapter Ten

  Holt waited impatiently for Lola to answer the phone. Everyone else in the office was busy working. She didn’t feel like getting an update from Lola was real work, but it was all she was left with. She’d delegated the rest of the work to everyone else. If she was being honest, she missed Lola and was happy for the chance to talk to her, even if it wasn’t real work.