Justice Buried

by Patricia Bradley

  Sabra’s marriage was another reason she was in no hurry to tie the knot with anyone. Marriage was about spending time together and developing a deeper relationship. She did not see that with Sabra and Mason. What she saw was two people doing their own thing. Mason was too wrapped up in his work, and Sabra was too focused on Lily. Her sister would be lost when Lily went off to college. But hey! At least she had Lily, which was more than Kelsey could say for herself.

  She drove behind Sabra’s house and parked in front of the garage apartment, getting out as Brad pulled in behind her.

  “Where’s the bodyguard Sam was sending over?” he asked as he climbed out of his car. “And did you leave your front door open?”

  “What?” She jerked her head up toward the front door. It stood wide open. Adrenaline pumped through her veins. “N-no.”

  He walked to the back of his car and popped the trunk. “Stay here. I’m going to check it out.”

  “Sorry, but I’m coming with you. Whoever left the door open may be waiting for you to leave me.”

  “Then put this on,” he said, handing her a Kevlar vest.

  She didn’t argue with him.

  “It’ll be quicker to go in through the garage,” she said. “The front door opens onto the deck that wraps around to the back stairs. It’s why I usually come and go through the garage and use the stairs that lead to the kitchen. Let me show you where the remote control is.”

  “You don’t have it in your car?”

  “No. Sabra never remembers where hers is if she needs to get in, so I leave it here. And the remote for the other garage doesn’t work with this one,” she said, removing a brick halfway up the wall. “Otherwise she has to go all the way around to the back to enter through the front door. I never put my car in the garage anyway.”

  She handed him the remote, but instead of going in, he took out his phone and dialed a number.

  “This is Sergeant Brad Hollister. I need backup,” he said and gave the address. “Ten-four.”

  “We’re waiting?”

  He nodded. It wasn’t five minutes before three patrol cars pulled into the drive. Brad assigned one of the patrolmen to stay with Kelsey, and he sent another one to the steps at the back of the apartment. With his gun ready, he raised the garage door, and she inched closer as he and the other patrolman climbed the stairs to the kitchen.

  “Police! Come out with your hands where I can see them!”

  When there was no response, Brad repeated his command and then whipped around the door and disappeared inside. She tensed, expecting gunfire any second. When he appeared in the doorway, air whooshed from her lungs.

  “All clear. You can come up.”

  She grabbed her purse and computer bag—once she got upstairs, she was not coming back down. By the time she climbed to the top, the muscles in her legs had turned to wet noodles. “H-has the apartment been trashed?”

  “No, it looks really neat. I don’t see any signs of an intruder. Are you sure you didn’t leave the door open?”

  Kelsey shook her head. “I never even leave it unlocked.”

  She stepped inside and laughed out loud.

  “What’s so funny?” he asked.

  “Someone has been here, but I don’t think it was an intruder.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “My sister.” Kelsey definitely had to get a place of her own. “She cleaned my apartment and must have swept the deck and didn’t completely close the door. The wind probably blew it open.” She was going to throttle Sabra. “I’m sorry to cause so much chaos.”

  “No worries,” he said. “I’m just glad it wasn’t an intruder. But look around while I call Sam about that bodyguard.”

  “Sure, but I don’t think there’s any need.” Kelsey looked through the kitchen and her bedroom. Everything seemed normal. “Let me look in the office and then you can go.”

  A blue light emitted from the room as she rounded the corner, and she hesitated. “Brad? Can you come here a second?”

  He hurried down the hall, his phone still in his hand. “What is it?”

  “Did you check my office?”

  “Yes. It was clear. Why?”

  “My computer is on. I always turn it off when I leave, and it should still be off.”

  “Maybe your sister turned it on.”

  “Sabra would never touch my computer.” Kelsey walked to her desk and sat down. With a few clicks, she started a program to scan her computer.

  “Do you think someone hacked into it?”

  “Impossible. A hacker couldn’t get past my router. The only way I could be hacked is if I opened an email with a virus, and I haven’t received any suspicious emails.”

  “Is that the only way?”

  “If I downloaded a file from an unsafe URL. And I never do that, either. I never download or open anything I don’t recognize.”

  Her computer dinged that the scan was complete, and Kelsey peered closely to see what the program had found. She didn’t see any unusual activity, but she was too distracted right now to be sure. When Brad left, she would run it again.

  “Everything is okay?” Brad asked.

  “I think so. If I find anything later, I’ll call you.” She stood and walked to the door with him just as a man joined the officers standing in the drive.

  “That must be the security detail Sam said would be arriving. King said he’s the best that Rutherford Security has. I’ll check him out.”

  She placed her hand on his arm. “Before you go, thank you and tell the officers that as well.”

  He nodded. “See you tomorrow?”

  “You know where I’ll be.”

  He nodded. “I’ll come by the museum sometime tomorrow morning.”

  After Brad left, the man came up and introduced himself. “If you need anything, I’ll either be patrolling the perimeter of the property or in the car,” he said. “Here’s my cell number.”

  Kelsey took the card he handed her. “Thank you.”

  She closed the door and walked back to her office, intending to run the scan once more. The monitor was black, and she wiggled the mouse.

  An image of Lily appeared on the screen, one she’d never seen before. Someone had hacked into her computer and inserted Lily’s photo as the desktop wallpaper. But why threaten Lily?

  25

  KELSEY SAT DOWN HARD in front of the computer. Her hand shook as she dialed Sabra’s cell number. Two rings, three . . .

  “Hello?” Sabra said, her voice low.

  “Where are you? Is Lily all right?”

  “We’re at the movies. And of course she’s all right. What’s wrong?”

  Kelsey’s world righted briefly. But the threat wasn’t over. “Someone hacked into my computer and uploaded a photo of Lily as the desktop wallpaper. Don’t leave the theater until you get a call from the police. Got it?” She walked to the front door.

  “You’re scaring me.”

  “I meant to. We’ll talk when you get home.” She disconnected and dialed the number on the card. “Can you come inside?”

  While she waited for the bodyguard, she dialed Brad’s number, and when he answered, Kelsey said, “I think you’d better come back. He hacked my computer and threatened Lily.”

  “I’ll be right there.”

  “Door’s open, so come on in.”

  Once she explained the situation, the bodyguard immediately called the police to get an officer to go to the theater, where Sabra was waiting. Kelsey’s hands shook as she moved the mouse to wake her computer. Whoever was after her had made a mistake when he hacked her computer. She would find this lowlife and turn the information over to Brad.

  Kelsey opened the network monitoring software program she’d installed on her computer to analyze communication to and from her computer and barely noticed when Brad arrived.

  “How did this guy get into your computer? You said it was impossible.”

  “I don’t know.” She chewed the inside of her cheek wh
ile she clicked on her email account and scanned for any unusual emails. Kelsey’s breath stilled when she came to the security job she’d bid on Sunday night. She hadn’t even hesitated to open the bid. She wanted to bang her head against the desk. Stupid mistake.

  “Here’s how he got in.” Kelsey highlighted the email.

  “What is it?”

  “This is the only attachment I’ve opened recently. It’s a bid for a security job. I’d heard this company was changing security specialists and queried them. When I opened the application, it must have launched a silent download that infected my computer. Let’s see what we can find out about this baby.”

  Kelsey typed in a filter for ports, and when the command turned green, she hit apply. “I’ve set a program to search a log for communication between my computer and other computers about the time I bid on the job.”

  “Does everyone have that program?” Brad asked.

  She shot him a lopsided grin. “No. But it comes in handy in my field of work.”

  Her screen filled with IP addresses, and she scrolled from the top, looking for a program with the company name from the email. She found it and took a screenshot. When she examined the screenshot, she noticed a strange file named a.exe extension and an open port. Immediately she knew he was listening to her computer. Kelsey clenched her jaw. He knew everything she was doing—when she logged on and what she searched for on the internet and when she logged off.

  She dug deeper for where and when communication with the program occurred. The where was the Ben Hooks Library, and the when was Sunday night.

  Kelsey turned to Brad. “This file, a.exe,” she said, highlighting it, “is on my C drive, and I didn’t put it there.” She pointed to another column. “This IP address is the library on Poplar. He was using their Wi-Fi.”

  “English, if you don’t mind,” Brad said.

  She tapped a line on her screen. “This is the program he installed on my computer. It had the capability to set Lily’s photo as my desktop wallpaper. And he did it using the Wi-Fi at the Ben Hooks Library.”

  “You got all that information from that screen of letters and numbers?”

  “Yep. And no telling what else he’s tampered with. I’ll be up all night checking. The thing is, he waited until after I checked the computer the first time tonight, and that means he’s installed a program that lets him know when I’m online.”

  “Don’t delete anything,” Brad said. “I don’t know a lot about computers, but can’t we use this somehow?”

  Kelsey studied the screen. “He probably doesn’t know I have any idea of how he put the photo on my computer. If I leave the program open, we may be able to catch him hacking in again and maybe he won’t be using public Wi-Fi. Then I can trace his IP address and find his location.”

  Suddenly small footsteps clattered down her hall, and Kelsey turned just as Lily burst into the room.

  “Why did that policeman come get us?” she asked and flung herself into Kelsey’s arms.

  She hadn’t expected Lily to be so upset, and she had no cover story.

  “He’s a special agent,” Brad said, lowering his voice to a whisper. “Because you’re a special person.”

  The child’s eyes grew round. “Really?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Why don’t we go find your mommy?”

  Thank you, Kelsey mouthed as he took Lily’s hand. Who would have thought Brad would have a way with kids? She followed them out of the office to the living room, where Sabra was waiting with her husband.

  “Your flight to Minnesota leaves at eleven tomorrow,” Mason was telling Sabra. “That should give you enough time to pack. And my mother will be thrilled with your visit.”

  “That’s wonderful,” Kelsey said, giving Mason a nod of approval, but the look he shot her was anything but. Not that she blamed him. If she hadn’t been playing with fire, none of this would be happening. Hendrix and Rutherford would still be dead. That she couldn’t deny, but knowing Sabra and Lily were out of harm’s way would take some of the pressure off.

  “I’ll call my brother in the morning, and he’ll take you to the airport,” Mason said.

  “No,” Sabra said. “We’re staying here in Memphis, with Mom and Dad.”

  “What?” Kelsey cried. All three of them turned and stared at Sabra.

  “My mother is expecting you,” Mason said, his voice rising. “I would take you to the airport except I have a meeting with the mayor, and it can’t be moved.”

  Same old Mason.

  “You won’t be up there for long,” Kelsey said. She looked at Brad. “Will she?”

  “She sure won’t,” Sabra said. “Because she isn’t going. I talked to Dad, and he’s beefing up security at the house. You have no way of knowing that this . . . this person won’t follow us up to Minnesota. And there won’t be any security there. Lily and I will be much safer at Dad’s.”

  “You are getting on that airplane—”

  “Daddy, why are you talking so loud?” Lily said, tears rimming her eyes.

  “He’s just tired and cranky, like you get.” Kelsey pinned Mason with a hard stare. “Isn’t that right?”

  He ran his hand over his short red hair. “Come here, pumpkin. I’m sorry if I scared you, but I really want you to go see Grandma.” He picked Lily up and set her on his knee.

  “But I want to stay here with Pawpaw Sam.”

  Her brother-in-law pressed his lips together and looked first at Lily then Sabra. He turned to Brad. “Do you think they would be safe at Sam’s house?”

  “It does have a security fence all the way around it,” Brad said, “and if he hires guards to patrol the area . . . well, like Sabra said, it actually might be better than Minnesota, where you won’t have security personnel.”

  Mason kissed Lily on the forehead and hugged her to his chest before he pulled Sabra to his side. “Then maybe staying with your dad would be better.”

  Sometimes Kelsey forgot that Mason really cared for his family, but seeing him with Lily reminded her of his commitment to them. She sighed. If anything happened to Sabra or Lily because of her . . . Somehow she had to figure out who this killer was and put him behind bars.

  26

  MORNING CAME MUCH TOO EARLY FOR BRAD. He’d spent another hour after he left Kelsey trying to put the puzzle pieces together, and then he’d taken Tripod for a run on the dirt road behind his house. Having open spaces was one advantage to living on the edge of the city.

  And now he was on his third cup of coffee from the Keurig someone had donated to the break room.

  He doodled on his desk calendar. Why had someone broken into Kelsey’s computer? The question had not ceased to run through his mind since last night. Did the killer think she’d written up an account of what happened last Thursday night and stored it on her computer?

  If that was the case, it was an indication of how the hacker thought—or possibly it involved his line of work. He probably wrote reports routinely. Like a detective . . . or salesman . . . or executive. But what linked Hendrix’s murder to Rutherford’s? Other than Kelsey? He looked up when Lieutenant Raines stepped into his office. “Morning, sir.”

  David nodded. “Have you settled on a case?”

  “Yes, sir. Probably two—or one and a half, since the second one may be an active murder.”

  “Rachel Sloan’s box of bones?”

  “It’s an interesting case, and I’d like to explore it.” He sipped his coffee. “Caldwell is doing the autopsy this morning, and we’ll know if it’s murder or not.”

  “Sloan okay with you exploring it?”

  “Yes, sir. She invited me to sit in on the autopsy.”

  “Good. I like to see teamwork between Homicide and the Unit. You said two cases.”

  He hesitated, remembering the ribbing about having a romantic interest in Kelsey yesterday morning . . . Had it been just a day ago? “Paul Carter disappeared twenty-eight years ago, and after he left, numerous artifacts from the Pink Palace Museu
m were confirmed missing. There’s been no trace of him since. I know it’s not a murder case, but if I can track him down, it would bring the family closure and return the artifacts to the museum.”

  David rubbed his jaw. “I wouldn’t spend too much time on it. Even if you found him, the statute of limitations on his crimes has run out. Do you have any leads?”

  “No.” He hated to admit the chances of finding Paul Carter were slim to none. “I thought I’d give it a week, and if nothing shows up, I’ll choose another case.”

  “Good deal. If you need anything, let me know.”

  After David left, Brad checked his watch. Nine thirty. Kelsey should be at work. He dialed her number. “How are you?” he asked after she answered.

  “Very tired, but I couldn’t find any evidence he left any surprises on my computer other than Lily’s picture.”

  “Good. I was going over your father’s file, and I’d like to pick up that box of papers at the house on Snowden sometime today.”

  “We agreed on five thirty, right?”

  “Just double-checking.”

  “You know, you might want to check out that old desk too,” she said. “There may be some files from the museum in it.”

  “I’ll look tonight. Do you plan on taking it?”

  “Definitely. Thought I’d make arrangements to get someone to pick up the desk and deliver it to my apartment this weekend.”

  “I can borrow my dad’s truck and help you. By the way, is your bodyguard with you?”

  Her voice dropped. “You’ll be happy to know he’s lurking around somewhere just outside my door. You’ll also be happy to know I decided not to attend the autopsy on the bones. There’s too much to do around here.”

  Brad chuckled. “You’ll get used to having him around.”

  “It just seems unnecessary to have a bodyguard here with so many other security guards in the building.”

  “The same security guards Walter Rutherford had,” he said.

  She had no response for him, and they talked for another minute. He disconnected without telling her that Rachel had texted that Dr. Caldwell was examining the bones midmorning if he wanted to be there. He’d been surprised when Rachel offered to let him work with her, and he looked forward to puzzling this mystery out. The first thing he wanted to know was why the bones had been delivered to the museum. Maybe when they discovered the identity of the body, it would make sense.