by Kathi Daley
“We’re almost there,” Levi said, breaking into my daydream.
I sat up and opened my eyes. “When we get to the Classic Cue I’ll go in and find the next set of instructions while you call Ellie. I know Salinger said he was going to head over to the house, but she must be frantic.”
“Yeah, I’m sure she probably is.”
“Tell her that Alex knows where everything she’ll need to take care of Catherine is. And tell her to keep the kids home from school tomorrow. I don’t want them to go out at all until we’re able to track this guy down and put him safely behind bars.”
“Okay. I’ll tell her.” Levi turned onto the street where the pool hall was located. “Maybe we can figure out who he is and where he’s holding Zak. If we can find him we can end this. At some point he’s bound to make a mistake, give something away.”
I glanced out the passenger side window. Familiar buildings passed as we slowly made our way down the street. It was cool this evening, so the sidewalks were sparsely populated; still, it seemed odd that there were people going about their normal lives completely unaware of the fact that Will was dead and Zak was missing. “Yeah,” I whispered as Levi stopped at a crosswalk. “We should keep our ears open. The sooner this is over the better.”
We arrived at the pool hall and I went in alone. Levi and I weren’t certain how the killer would react to his presence, so we decided it was best for him to hang in the background. The pool hall was crowded and the tables were all occupied, which was going to make searching for a note taped beneath one of them difficult. I walked up to the first table, where two men who looked to be in their early twenties were engaged in a game of eight ball. “I’m sorry to interrupt your game, but I need to crawl under your table for just a minute.”
“Did you lose something, sweetheart?” one of the men asked after looking me up and down with a suggestive grin on his face.
“I dropped an earring the last time I was here,” I lied. “I’ll only be a minute.”
The men stepped back and I got down on my hands and knees. I tried to ignore the catcalls as I slipped under the table. Yes, I realized my jeans-covered backside was sticking up in the air in a most unfortunate position, but I had little choice in positioning my body as I tried to move around in the tight space. Unfortunately, I didn’t find the note, so I thanked the men, then went to the next table and repeated the humiliating process. There were sixteen tables in the room, which would mean a lot of time crawling around on the dirty floor with my butt in the air if the note happened to be taped to the last one I checked. Luckily, I found both a note and a cell phone taped to the undercarriage of the eighth table I crawled beneath. I grabbed both and headed out to the car.
The note contained a set of instructions along with a riddle that, when solved, would lead me to a location. The note indicated that the phone would ring at exactly 9:14. I was to answer it on the third ring. If I had solved the puzzle and ended up in the correct place I would have the information I needed to be able to answer the second question. Once I provided the answer I would be given nine additional minutes to provide five additional answers.
“Okay, so what’s the riddle?” Levi asked.
“'To find the clue you must peel back the letters and find that which remains,’” I read aloud.
“Huh?” Levi asked. “What on earth does that mean?”
“I think it’s suggesting there’s a hidden message contained within the riddle. Or maybe invisible ink was used to write something on the back.” I continued to stare at the piece of paper in my hand. The psycho who had gone to all the trouble of orchestrating the game wanted me to play, so they wouldn’t have started off with a riddle I couldn’t solve.
“Peel back the words,” Levi said as he held out his hand, indicating I should give him the note. “Maybe he wants us to focus on part of what’s provided. I notice there seem to be a lot of pretty specific numbers.”
I thought about the note. The fact that he wanted me to pick up on the third ring and answer the second question was unusual, as was the time of nine-fourteen for the phone call.
“Okay; what numbers are mentioned in order?” I asked. I took out my phone to record them.
“The instructions state that you’ll get a call at 9:14, so that’s 9-1-4. Then you pick up on the third ring and answer the second question, so that gives us 9-1-4-3-2. After that you’ll be given nine minutes to answer five more questions.”
“That’s 9-1-4-3-2-9-5,” I said aloud. ‘I know where we need to go.”
“Where?” Levi asked.
“It’s Zak’s private line at Zimmerman Academy.”
Chapter 2
“Do you have your key?” Levi asked as he pulled away from the curb and headed back down the street. “Chances are the person behind the game wants you in Zak’s office, not just in the parking lot of the school.”
“No, I don’t.” I looked at my watch. “When you showed up at my house I just ran out the door and didn’t even bother to grab my purse. Phyllis lives close to the Academy. I’ll call her to see if she can meet us there and let us in.”
Luckily, Phyllis King, the principal and administrator at the Academy, was at home and was able to meet us and let us in the door. I’d told her time was of the essence, so she hadn’t asked a lot of questions, though I had a feeling I’d need to come up with some answers by the time we arrived at the school. Phyllis and Will had been romantically involved at one point, and while they no longer dated, they’d remained friends. She’d take the news of his death hard.
I called Salinger while Levi merged onto the highway and headed toward Zimmerman Academy. He wasn’t at all thrilled with sitting on the sidelines, but I did my best to assure him that so far Levi and I had this game nailed down and the thing I most needed him to do was to make sure my family was safe.
I still wasn’t sure how the person behind the game was going to feel about the fact that I was getting help from my friends, but I had in my possession two cell phones provided by them, and if they had a problem with Levi helping me, they could call and tell me so.
Phyllis was waiting in her car near the front of the school when Levi and I pulled up.
“Thank you so much,” I said, then grabbed the key and ran toward the door. I had exactly one minute to make it to Zak’s office. I was sure Phyllis was confused as she watched me go, but I didn’t have time to explain if I was going to make my deadline. At exactly nine-fourteen the burner cell I’d found taped to the table at the pool hall rang. I waited until the third ring and answered. I was again met with a deep automated voice.
“Are you in the office?”
“I am,” I said, although I wasn’t sure if anyone was listening on the other end or the whole thing was automated. That must be question number one because the note said I’d need to locate information to answer number two.
“Turn on the phone’s GPS,” the voice instructed.
I went into the settings and did as I was told.
“Good,” the voice said. “Now, I want you to go to the file cabinet and look for a file labeled CASS. After you retrieve it I want you to turn to the first page and find the project number. It should begin with NS and be followed by nine numbers. When you get that text it to the only contact the cell you picked up has programmed into it. You have two minutes. When the code is received the phone will ring again with the next set of instructions.”
I set the phone on the desk and hurried over to the row of file cabinets. There was a wall of plexiglass in front of it. The wall, which was really more of a door, was locked. I knew Zak hid a key in the monkey paperweight Alex had given him on her first Christmas with us. I unlocked the glass door, then opened the first drawer in the first file cabinet and hurriedly searched for the file. Unfortunately, Zak had a lot of files.
“What are we looking for?” Levi asked as he slipped into the office, with Phyllis trailing behind him. He must have filled her in on the situation because it was obvious she’d been crying.<
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“I need to find a file labeled CASS. Zak has a lot of files and I only have two minutes—actually, less than two minutes now—to find the file and the project number, and text it to the psycho pulling the strings.”
Phyllis and Levi each opened a file cabinet and began looking. Hopefully, one of us would find it in time. After about a minute Phyllis announced she had found the file. I opened it and looked for the project number. The voice had said it would begin with NS.
“Do you know what CASS stands for?” Levi asked as he looked at the file over my shoulder.
“No idea. The voice on the phone didn’t ask me that, so I think finding the project number is the most important thing.” I quickly scanned the page and found the number the caller had asked for.
“CASS stands for Classified Arial Surveillance System,” Levi said as I began to type in the numbers following NS. “And I think NS stands for National Security or some such thing.”
I paused after typing in the last number. All I needed was to hit Send. “I don’t care,” I said as I hit it. “It’s Zak’s life we’re talking about.”
“Yeah, I get it,” Levi said, although he looked somewhat less certain than I felt that we’d done the right thing by giving the psycho the information he wanted.
After a few seconds the phone rang. I answered. Again, I was greeted by a deep computer-generated voice. This time it told me to look through the files for one labeled MGGS. I was to once again find the NS number and text it. This time he only gave me one minute. At least now I knew what I was looking for and where to find it. After I provided the project number for Military Grade Guidance System I was asked to find four additional files for other projects Zak had worked on at some point in his career. I had to admit I had no idea he was involved in so much secret military stuff. A quick glance at the dates on the files indicated they were associated with old projects he’d worked on before we’d even been married. Still, in all the years we’d been together he’d never said anything that would lead me to believe he had a high security clearance.
After I delivered all the file numbers I received a final call instructing me to destroy the burner cell, head to Lucky’s Bar, and wait for the final set of instructions for the evening.
“Final set?” I said aloud. “The initial instructions indicated I would have eight tasks to do. Surely they aren’t going to drag this out over several days!”
“It kind of sounds like that’s exactly what they’re intending,” Levi said. “We should go.”
“I’m coming with you,” Phyllis said. “I have a lot of questions. You can answer them on the way.”
I wasn’t sure whether whoever was behind this game cared that Levi was helping me, and I certainly wasn’t sure they’d be okay with two helpers, but Phyllis had helped us out in a crunch and she deserved some answers to her questions. As soon as Levi took off toward town, I began filling Phyllis in on what we knew. I was sure she was horrified to find out what had happened to Will, but I reminded her that there wasn’t anything we could do to help him, though we could help Zak, which had to be our top priority.
“Who do you think is doing this?” Phyllis asked as tears streamed down her face. My heart bled for her. Phyllis had chosen career over marriage at an early age and as far as I knew, Will had been the first man she’d given her heart to despite the fact that she was well into her sixties before love had finally found her.
“I don’t know,” I answered. “Initially, The Sleuthing Game theme led me to believe someone I may have helped Salinger arrest could be behind it. The fact that whoever’s pulling the strings wanted files related to national security makes me wonder if I was wrong. I’m beginning to think whoever has Zak is a big-time criminal, not some small-town killer.”
“You said Zak was kidnapped from the motel where Will’s been staying. Do you know why they were meeting?” Phyllis asked.
I glanced at her. I could see she was fighting to stay focused on the specifics of what was going on. Like me, I imagined she felt it was easier to engage the analytical side of her brain for now. “I don’t know all the details, but it seems Zak and Will must have been working on some sort of a secret project together. Zak never shared the details, but I’m pretty sure Zak was approached with the project and he brought Will in to help him with the mathematical calculations. That’s really all I know.”
“But why did they meet today?” Phyllis continued. “It’s Sunday and a day off for both men. They would have been at work at the Academy tomorrow. What was so important that it couldn’t have waited a few hours?”
My brows furrowed. “Good question. I don’t know why Zak went over to Will’s motel room today.” I turned and looked directly at Phyllis, who was sitting in the backseat. “Do you think the fact that they were working on a Sunday is important?”
Phyllis was a tall woman with strong features, but in that moment she looked small and fragile. She shrugged. “It seems important to me, although I don’t have all the pieces. I do wonder how whoever is doing this knew they were at the motel.”
“Maybe the killer arranged for the meeting to occur in the first place,” Levi suggested.
“I guess that’s possible,” I answered. “Alex and Scooter wanted to go into town today, and I’d been fighting a headache all day, so I decided to lay down while Catherine was napping. When I got up I found a note from Zak saying he went to meet Will but would be home for dinner. The next thing I knew, Levi was at my door, telling me that Salinger had called and asked him to bring me to the motel. Salinger said there’d been an incident, although I didn’t know how bad things were until I arrived. Still, I knew Salinger wouldn’t call me without an important reason, so I asked Alex to keep an eye on Catherine and left right away, which is why I didn’t have my purse or my key to the Academy.”
“And this man told you that he would kill Zak if you didn’t do exactly what he said?” Phyllis asked.
“That’s what he said. At this point that’s what I have to believe.”
Phyllis wiped a tear from her cheek, but another quickly replaced it. “I wonder why he didn’t take Will as well?” Phyllis’s voice caught in her throat. “Why did he have to kill him?”
“I wish I had the answers you need, but all I have now are questions.”
“I wonder if he suffered,” Phyllis said in a soft voice.
“Salinger said he hadn’t,” I answered.
“I pray he’s at peace.”
I smiled gently at Phyllis and then called Salinger to give him an update on the situation. He was still at my house, but he assured me that plainclothes deputies were on the way to keep an eye on it and the people within.
When we arrived at the bar I insisted on going in alone. I still wasn’t sure if the man with the deep voice knew I had friends helping me or would care if he did. I figured it was best not to announce it if I didn’t need to. After entering the bar I paused and looked around. The place was packed. The only instruction was to go to the bar. I had no idea what I was supposed to do once I got there.
An old woman who’d been sitting at the bar got up and approached me. She handed me a large envelope and told me that a man had come in and asked her to hold it until a woman came in looking for it. I asked her how she knew I was that woman and she said the man had shown her a photo of me holding a baby.
My heart sank. Apparently, this madman knew about Catherine. The urge to grab her and flee the country was strong, but I needed to help Zak. I tried to get a description of the man, but all the woman could remember was that he was tall with dark hair. I thanked her and headed out to the car.
“So, what do we have now?” Levi asked after I slid into the passenger seat.
I opened the envelope. Inside was a note, a thumb drive, and another burner phone. The note instructed me to access the drive and decrypt the message. I had until six a.m. the next morning to be ready with the answer. “Six a.m.?” I screeched. “What about Zak? Am I supposed to just wait around for this guy to play
his silly game?”
“I’m not sure what else we can do,” Levi said.
God, I was never going to be able to hold it together if this game went on and on. I needed to end it. I needed to have Zak with me now!
“I’m not going to be any help at decrypting a code delivered via a thumb drive, but I do want to help,” Phyllis offered. “Please let me know what I can do.”
“I don’t think there’s anything right now, but I do appreciate the offer,” I answered.
Phyllis glanced down at her hands and then up at me. “I suppose I’ll plan to be at the Academy tomorrow morning. It seems important that someone be there to explain about Mr. Danner. It should be me. But please don’t hesitate to call if there’s anything at all I can do. I want to help. I need to help. I’m sure once I speak to the staff, Ethan and the others will want to help as well.”
“Thanks,” I said. “I’ll call you tomorrow no matter what. I’m going to have Levi drop me at home and then he can run you back to your car.”
By the time I got home I was exhausted, but there was no way I was going to be able to sleep a wink until Zak was back with me. Catherine, and Levi and Ellie’s son, Eli, had long since been put down for the night. Scooter was asleep on the sofa in front of the TV, but Ellie and Alex were both up and waiting for us to return. I could see they had been crying and I wanted to be able to assure them that things would be okay, but I wasn’t sure about anything.
“Levi ran Phyllis back to her car, which she left at the Academy, but he’ll be here after that,” I informed them. “I’m going to look in on Catherine, and after that I have a thumb drive to download and decode.”
“Oh good. Something I can do to help.” Alex held out her hand. I hesitated just a minute, then handed her the drive. She could run circles around me when it came to anything technology-related and I really wanted to get this game over with as quickly as possible.
