Stolen Identity

by Lisa Harris

  The dimple in his cheek was back, taking her places she didn’t want to go. She shifted her gaze again to the window overlooking distant blue-gray waters. “What about you? Did you ever find the right woman?”

  “Me?” Jason was quiet for a brief moment. “Once I thought I’d found her, but I realized I was wrong.”

  Danielle pressed her lips together, wishing she hadn’t asked. There was no way to erase the years between them, nor were they years she wanted to erase. Even for the boy who used to bring her wildflowers and seashells, and who had once held the key to her heart.

  “There is still one more question that has to be asked,” she began, switching gears back to the investigation. “Why would someone have wanted to kill Garrett? How does a presumably cut-and-dried case of identity theft or financial fraud escalate into murder?”

  He strummed his fingers against the steering wheel. “I don’t know what the answers are. I don’t know how he let himself be pulled into some scam, let alone why anyone would want to murder him.”

  Danielle waited for him to continue.

  “I’ve gone over and over every phone call and conversation we’ve had lately,” Jason finally said. “He’d been distracted for weeks. Missed a lot of work, but he wouldn’t tell me what was going on even when I asked him straight-out. I thought he’d met someone, but even if that were true, why all the secrecy?”

  “So you think there could have been a woman involved in this?”

  “It’s possible. If Garrett did fall prey to some financial scam like he told you, maybe it’s because he let his guard down and trusted the wrong person. Women often make the perfect diversions.”

  As she mulled that over, Danielle watched the distorted reflections of the forest fly by through the passenger-side mirror. Fear twisted through her. Whoever killed Garrett was after her. Something caught her attention in the mirror. The same black truck she’d noticed when they’d pulled out of the parking lot of the restaurant was still trailing behind them.

  Danielle shivered, dismissing the thought they were being followed. With few places to turn off from town to her house, having a car behind them wasn’t something to worry about. She was simply being paranoid.

  She looked at Jason, wondering if he’d noticed. “There’s a truck behind us. It’s been following us the whole time.”

  “I noticed.” He glanced up at the rearview mirror. “I saw it when we left town.”

  “This has to be a coincidence. It’s not like there are a lot of places to pull off on this highway.”

  “Coincidence or not, my best friend is lying in the morgue after being shot twice in the back. I’d say a bit of paranoia is simply a precaution at this point.” He pressed his foot against the accelerator as he took the next curve in the road. “Let’s see what happens if we speed up.”

  The truck behind them accelerated, as well, further bridging the gap between them.

  Danielle turned around, trying to get a better look at the driver. Dark clothes, cap pulled low, sunglasses… Nothing to identify him.

  The truck sped up until he was right behind them. “Maybe he’ll pass—”

  “Hang on!” Jason interrupted. “He’s not passing, and he’s not slowing down—”

  Suddenly, the truck slammed the rear bumper of their vehicle.

  Danielle smashed against the door as Jason struggled to keep the car on the road.

  “He’s coming at us again.”

  Heart pounding, she braced herself against the door as Jason was forced to slow down in order to take the next curve. Their right tire dropped off the edge of the pavement, and the car skidded against the metal guardrail. “If he hits us again now, we’ll go over the edge….”

  Fifty feet ahead, the shoulder widened. If they could make it that far, they might be able to pull off and stop. Danielle held her breath and braced for a second impact.

  Thirty feet… Fifteen…

  With the truck still on their tail, Jason pumped the brakes and skidded off the road onto the widened shoulder. Gravel spewed from behind the back tires as the car started sliding toward the edge of the road.

  The truck flew past them as Jason’s car came to a stop inches from the twenty-foot drop-off above the shoreline. Danielle leaned back against the seat, struggling to breathe.

  “You okay?”

  She drew in a rugged breath, her hands shaking in her lap. “Beside the fact that my world has suddenly spun completely out of control, and I’ll probably have a couple bruises in the morning? I guess I’m okay. What about you?”

  “I’ll live. Thankfully.” Jason gripped the steering wheel. “There wasn’t a license plate.”

  “I know. Dark clothes, hat pulled low. He didn’t want to be seen.”

  “If his plan was to scare us, he succeeded.”

  What had just happened was clearly deliberate. Now all she had to do was figure out how she was connected to a scam that had cost Garrett his life—and could have easily just cost them their own.

  THREE

  Danielle stepped into the four-bedroom beach house she and Quinton had bought as an investment the year after Lauryn was born. Everything looked exactly the same as when she’d left this morning. Framed family photos lined the hand-carved wooden mantel, a pile of green apples sat in a wrought-iron bowl on the kitchen bar, the large mirror over the couch still hung a bit crooked. Even the stack of junk mail next to the door hadn’t been touched. No sign that anything unusual had transpired this afternoon.

  It was the same feeling she’d experienced when Quinton died. The day she’d walked back into her house after burying him, she’d been struck by the fact that everything was exactly the same. His toothbrush sat on the vanity beside their half-used tube of toothpaste. Socks and underwear lay scattered on the bathroom floor.

  Nothing had changed, while at the same time everything had changed.

  Lauryn ran into the living room wearing her favorite pink ballerina outfit and carrying her worn, stuffed Eeyore. Danielle gathered her daughter into her arms, breathing in the strawberry scent of her just-washed hair. And thankful for the sense of normality she brought. Still holding Lauryn against her, she turned to Jason who had just shut the door behind them.

  “Jason, this is my daughter, Lauryn.”

  Jason knelt down and tugged gently on one of her pigtails. “It’s nice to meet you, Pigtails.”

  Lauryn shook her head and giggled. “My name is Lauryn, not Pigtails.”

  “Aah…Lauryn, that’s right. You have a beautiful name.” He leaned forward and whispered in her ear, loud enough so they all could hear. “But I still like the name Pigtails.”

  Lauryn laughed again then snuggled against Danielle’s legs.

  “You always were a cutup, Mr. Ryan.”

  Danielle’s mother, Maggie, strolled into the middle of the room sporting her newly ash-blond look with a pair of cropped pants and a matching, flowery top.

  Jason shook her mother’s hand. “It’s good to see you again, Mrs. Taylor. I don’t think you’ve changed a bit since the last time I saw you.”

  “You always were a charmer, too. Don’t tell Danielle, but I was disappointed when she called off the wedding. You always could make me feel twenty-nine again. I miss that.”

  Danielle felt her jaw tense. “Mother, I’m standing right here.”

  “Well, what I said is true. Though, Jason, you are the last person I expected to show up in Pacific Cove after all these years. We lost track of you after graduation.”

  “Jason runs a security company in Portland.” Danielle ran her fingers through Lauryn’s pigtails, hoping to steer the conversation away from anything too personal. Like the last time she’d seen him.

  “Sounds as if you’ve done quite well for yourself, and what about your father?” Maggie asked. “I haven’t seen him for…well at least a decade.”

  “He still lives north of here about twenty miles or so.”

  Her mother nodded. “It’s hard to believe I haven’t run int
o him after all these years. Did he ever remarry?”

  “Actually, no. He seems content charming the women, without committing to anything.”

  “Like father, like son?”

  Jason’s gaze dropped. “If you’re asking if I’m single, as well…the answer is yes.”

  “Mother.” Danielle cleared her throat. It was time to change the direction of the conversation. “I’m sorry we took so long. It ended up taking a lot longer than I imagined.”

  “What happened down there? You had me all in a panic and you’re a mess.”

  Danielle glanced down at her wrinkled clothes. This wasn’t a conversation her daughter needed to hear.

  “I bet you’ve got a great view of the ocean from up here,” Jason said to Lauryn. “Do you think you could show it to me?”

  Danielle mouthed thank you, then turned back to her mother as Lauryn skipped toward the patio door with Jason and Eeyore in tow.

  Maggie leaned against the back of the couch. “You know I wouldn’t have missed out on having Quinton for a son-in-law for anything, but I always liked Jason.”

  “He was…is a good guy. I just wasn’t ready for marriage back then.”

  Her mother arched a brow. “This clearly isn’t a happy reunion, though, is it? What happened?”

  “The man I pulled out of the ocean died. Turns out he was Jason’s friend and business partner.”

  She wasn’t ready to tell her about the gunshot wounds, or the fact that they’d almost been run off the road. The police had promised to be on the lookout for the vehicle, but hadn’t offered a lot of reassurances that they’d find the driver. She reached up and touched the bruised shoulder she’d slammed against the car door. There were too many unanswered questions, and her mother would only worry like she always did.

  “Are you okay?”

  “I’ve had better days,” Danielle admitted.

  Her mother frowned. “I had plans to go out with a few friends tonight for dinner, but I’m not sure I want to leave you here alone.”

  “I’m fine, Mother.”

  She looked uncertain. “How can you say you’re fine after pulling a dead body out of the Pacific. I’d really feel better if you let me just stay here and fix you some homemade soup….”

  “You don’t need to worry…I promise.” Danielle opened the entryway closet, grabbed her mother’s coat and handed it to her. “You go have a good time with your friends.”

  The last thing she needed right now was the probing questions of her well-meaning mother.

  With a sigh, Maggie gathered up her purse and slung it over her shoulder. “All right…if you insist. But I’ll call when I get home tonight and make sure you’re okay.”

  A moment later, Danielle shut the door behind her mother then leaned back against it as Jason and Lauryn came back inside with the little girl’s hand tucked tightly into his.

  “Can he stay for dinner, Mommy?”

  Jason pulled his keys out of his pocket. “I’d love to, Pigtails, but I have some things I have to do tonight—”

  “Wait.” Danielle hesitated, knowing she shouldn’t ask him to stay. “You could stay for a while. You could call Garrett’s parents from here and help me figure out where to start. That is, if you don’t mind.”

  Jason cocked his head. “I don’t mind at all, but are you sure?”

  Danielle nodded. The truth was that while she wanted to avoid her mother’s probing questions, the last thing she wanted was to be alone right now. “I can whip up a box of macaroni and cheese later if you’re hungry.”

  Lauryn squealed with delight.

  “That just might cinch the deal.” Jason grinned. “I do love mac and cheese.”

  Danielle looked down at Lauryn and smiled, intent that her daughter wouldn’t sense what was really going on. “Sweetie, Jason and I need to talk for a few minutes before dinner. Why don’t you take Eeyore and have a tea party with your stuffed animals. You can even have a few gingerbread cookies from the cabinet, if you’d like.”

  A moment later, Lauryn was skipping down the hallway with her treats in hand. Danielle turned back to Jason, wishing she didn’t feel so vulnerable.

  “You really don’t mind staying, do you?”

  There was a long pause. “I don’t think I want to be alone right now any more than you do,” he admitted.

  “Good, because I meant what I said. I don’t even know where to start.” Danielle swallowed hard. She’d been through worse. The death of her husband, struggling as a single mom, running a business on her own. She would get through this. As long as she could figure out what exactly she was up against.

  “First, you’ll need to go online and access all your accounts—credit cards and banking—to see if there is any sign of fraudulent activity. And I guess I have a phone call to make.”

  He was dreading calling Garrett’s parents. She could see the worry in his eyes. Just like she was in no hurry to face the computer, afraid of what she might very well find when she went through her accounts.

  “Do you know Garrett’s parents well?”

  “I spent a lot of holidays there. Mrs. Peterson was an incredible cook. Christmas roast turkey and homemade stuffing, New Year’s black-eyed peas—”

  “Whoa.” She folded her arms across her chest and shook her head. “You’re making me feel a bit insecure about my boxed mac and cheese.”

  “Don’t be.” Jason laughed. “Remember, I’m the guy who used to live on ramen noodles and Cap’n Crunch. I survived that, didn’t I?”

  She did remember. Too much. His love for classic cars, shooting ranges, French fries dipped in honey and scrambled eggs with ketchup….

  “Why don’t you make that phone call, and as soon as I’ve had a quick shower and change of clothes, I’ll start searching online.”

  Fifteen minutes later, Danielle sat down at her computer in the corner of the living room and clicked on her internet browser. She thought she’d always been so careful. Never using public computers, never following links in emails claiming to be from her bank, never sending online banking credentials via text messages.

  She glanced at Jason, who was still on the phone, his expression grim. He was the last person she’d expected to walk back into her life, but despite everything that had happened between them, there was something comforting about having him here.

  He hung up the phone, then crossed the room. “Anything?”

  “Nothing yet, but I have a feeling it will take a while to go through everything.” She tried to read his expression. “What about Garrett’s parents?”

  “I decided that rather than tell them over the phone, I needed to contact their pastor. He’s driving over there right now. I also spoke with Mandy, Garrett’s sister. She’s in shock, but is planning to meet Pastor Mike at her parents’ house.” He scrubbed a hand across his face. “The police promised to keep his name from the media until the next of kin was told, but it’s going to take some time for them to let all of this sink in. They were a close family.”

  “I’m so sorry. I know how hard this is on you.”

  He turned away, but not before she saw the pain flickering in his eyes. “I’ll drive up to their place in the next day or two. See if there is anything I can do to help….”

  Danielle suppressed the impulse to step into his arms and comfort him. Except she no longer held the key to his heart. “It will mean a lot to them for you to be around.”

  A new email popped up on her screen. Danielle clicked on the message automatically, started reading, then froze. “Jason, you need to take a look at this.”

  He leaned in closer, reading over her shoulder.

  Your account is being held for ransom in exchange for the information obtained by Garrett Peterson. You have twenty-four hours. If you don’t believe I’m capable of doing further damage—check your bank records.

  Il Truffatore

  Danielle gripped the mouse with her fingers. “Garrett was right.”

  She didn’t know how, but he�
��d found her.

  Jason scooted a chair over from the dining room table and sat down beside her. “Il Truffatore? What does that mean?”

  “It’s Italian. It means The Swindler.”

  “Skip the credit card accounts for now and look at your bank records.”

  She clicked through her bank’s website and entered her user ID and password. It didn’t take long to find what she was looking for. Nausea spread through her as she read through the statement. “Six days ago, there was a $350,000 transfer from my home equity loan.” She couldn’t breathe. “I never authorized this, Jason.”

  “He expected to be long gone before you ever found out about it.”

  She gazed at him in confusion. “I don’t understand. How did he do this?”

  “I’m not sure, but there is a good chance that the money has already been transferred out of the country.”

  “He’ll ruin my credit, and I’ll lose my business.”

  “Not if we can stop him,” he fired back.

  “What about IP addresses?” Danielle searched for something, anything that would help them figure out what was going on. “Can’t someone’s location be traced that way?”

  “Typically yes, but someone like him will know how to hide his tracks. Still, it’s worth a try. Scoot over for a second.” Jason leaned over and started typing on the keyboard.

  Danielle felt the panic set in. If he was nearby and knew where she was…

  “There he is…” A few minutes later he had the answer. “The IP address is from China.”

  “Meaning?”

  “More than likely he’s used a proxy server to change his IP address. We’re not dealing with your run-of-the-mill hacker here. This guy clearly knows what he is doing.”