Seconds to Live

by Susan Sleeman

  “The artist just dropped off the sketch from Dupont’s session,” Mack said. “It’s a close match to Taylor’s suspect.”

  “So it looks like Taylor actually did see Phantom.” Sean looked across the room at her. When he shared the news that she’d gotten close to Phantom, he could see it potentially freaking her out. He would try to break it gently to spare her more anguish. “Can you scan and email it to me?”

  “Already did.” Mack pulled in a long breath. “Also, the CCTV footage from the area around the Marshals’ office shows one man accessing the building on the night of the break-in. No clear footage of his face, but his build fits Phantom.”

  “And the night of the hack? We have video of Glover inside the building, but was there any footage from outside?”

  “Cameras caught him approaching the door. He didn’t even bother to hide his face.”

  “He didn’t think he’d get caught.” Sean clenched his teeth at Glover’s audacity. “Anything from the canvass?”

  “Nothing actionable, but we have a few more doors to knock on.”

  Sean could only hope they would produce a lead. “I gotta get back to the forensic update. We’ll talk more when I get back.”

  He hung up and returned to Anna, whose irritation seemed to be gone. She focused on him and continued, “Once I have the DNA samples, I’ll process them and run a CODIS search.” She didn’t need to explain that CODIS was an acronym for the FBI’s Combined DNA Index System, as everyone in law enforcement knew about the database of criminal DNA profiles. “The autopsy is scheduled for late afternoon, so running the samples most likely won’t happen until the morning.”

  She grabbed a printout from the table and handed the papers to Sean. “Enzo’s phone calls and text logs for you. It looks like he arrived at the murder scene because his daughter sent him a text saying she was in trouble and asking him to meet her there.”

  “His daughter?” Taylor looked at Sean. “Odd.”

  “I thought so too,” Anna said. “So I asked the tech to do some digging to see if the text actually came from the daughter.”

  Sean folded the papers and put them in his jacket pocket. “You’re thinking the killer spoofed the text.”

  “Yes,” Anna said.

  Sean let the thought settle in. Sending a text from an unknown source and pretending it came from Enzo’s daughter was well within Phantom’s wheelhouse. “I’ll need the daughter’s contact information so we can interview her.”

  “I’ll email it to you,” Anna said. “And now that you know we’re legit, I can email the rest of our findings as we receive them.” She grinned, and he could swear she really was only sixteen or so. “If you don’t have any more questions, I’ll walk you out.”

  Sean gestured for her to go ahead. In the lobby, his phone rang, and Kiley’s name popped onto the screen. He stepped outside to answer on speaker so Taylor could hear what Kiley had to say. “You’re on speaker, and I have Taylor with me. Tell me you have something.”

  “Maybe. I hope so anyway.” Kiley’s tone mimicked her hopeful words. “I added the location where Enzo was murdered to my algorithm, and it returned a picture of a guy who claims he’s digging a tunnel under a famous hacker’s house. Says the hacker is paying him big bucks to dig it.”

  “Tunnel?” Taylor’s eyes narrowed.

  Sean shrugged. “What’s the connection to the address where Enzo was killed?”

  “Chris Hall, the guy who posted the picture. His uncle owns one of the abandoned warehouses near the crime scene. Hall’s been dumping the dirt from the hacker’s house at this location.”

  Interesting twist. “And you think Phantom’s the hacker?”

  “Hall never comes right out and says that’s who he’s working for, but he hints at it.”

  Hope lit a fire in Sean. “Tell me you know where we can find this Hall guy.”

  “I traced him back to his parents’ place. He lives with them. He’s an unemployed IT professional, which in the Portland market where IT jobs are plentiful probably says a lot about him. And maybe why he’s digging tunnels for money and living with his parents.”

  “Text me the address.” Sean shared an excited look with Taylor. “And we’ll stake out the house until the guy shows his face.”

  Taylor watched Sean talk on his phone, his free hand casually draped over the steering wheel. He’d driven straight to Hall’s house, parked down the street, and promptly called Mack to tell him to interview Enzo’s daughter. Now Sean was talking to the forensic tech who’d processed Dupont’s car. She didn’t have to wonder about the gist of the conversation. Not with his jaw clamped tight and this stakeout seeming all the more important.

  She shifted her focus to Hall’s place. All was quiet at the run-down bungalow. If only Hall would show himself. Not just for the lead, but she suspected that once Sean finished his calls, he would ask her about Jeremy again. She’d avoided his question about her brother one more time, though not successfully. Okay, fine. She’d lied to him. Told him she’d had nothing to do with Jeremy’s death when, in fact, she had. And she wasn’t a liar. But when he’d asked if she had a role in his death, everything in her cried out to protect herself. To deflect the question. Because when Sean heard what she’d done, he would turn his back and walk away exactly like her parents had.

  She couldn’t lose him. Not now. Not when she’d learned what a wonderful man he was, and that he cared about her too. But did that even matter when she couldn’t enter into a relationship before she was ready to share the full truth about Jeremy?

  Years had passed—fifteen to be exact—and still she was no more ready to do that than she was the day she’d told her parents about her actions. She could still see the horror on their faces and never wanted to talk about Jeremy again. Or even think about him. Well, not really. She loved thinking about their life before he ended his, and thinking about her mom and dad in those happier days as well.

  Oh, how she missed them. In the worst way. In that deep, achy place she never wanted to visit, as it always brought tears. She had gone off to college and never returned home. At least not to stay. She’d parked across the street many times over the years to get a glimpse of her mother and father. She’d watched them climb into their car and head out to who knew where. Sometimes she came early in the morning to see her dad leave for work, his trusty thermos under his arm as always. She found an odd comfort there. But it always ended in tears over what might have been if she’d only made a better decision that day.

  What if she did marry someday? Had children? Because of her actions, they would never know their grandparents.

  Tears wet her eyes, and she looked away as Sean was ending his call. He’d shared about his difficult past and deserved to know about Jeremy, but she wasn’t ready to open up and didn’t want him to see her tears and start asking questions.

  He placed his phone in the dash holder. “Lots of clean latents recovered from Dupont’s car, but no AFIS matches. They did find cat hair, but it could’ve come from him or the other passengers Dupont hauled.”

  She nodded at Hall’s house. “We could go knock on the door and see if Hall’s home.”

  “I don’t want to risk sending him to ground if he’s not.” Sean lifted his binoculars to view the house.

  She looked at his strong profile, and the urge to touch him was almost stronger than she could control. She searched for something to say and ignored her feelings. “You should’ve brought Mack on this stakeout instead of me. With his fugitive apprehension experience, he’d be much better at it.”

  “Better at watching a house? Not likely.”

  “What’s the deal with you and Mack?”

  “What deal?” He lowered the binoculars and looked at her.

  “You don’t get along.”

  “I . . .” he started to say, then paused. “Addison.”

  “You blame him for their marriage breaking up?”

  “No. I blame him for our team losing an incredible member,�
�� he said with force.

  She had no idea the breakup had affected him so deeply, but he was way off base. “It’s not Mack’s fault Addison couldn’t continue to work with him. He had no problem working with her.”

  Sean narrowed his eyes and shifted to face her. “Maybe because he’s the one who wanted to split.”

  News to her. “Did they tell you that?”

  “No. Just speculating.”

  “But they said it was mutual.”

  He arched a brow. “Then why did Addison have to leave?”

  Taylor wanted to sigh, but that wouldn’t do Sean any good. “I don’t know, but you’re blaming Mack because of something else between you two. Like maybe because he complained about you to Eisenhower.”

  Sean was silent for a long moment, and she waited for him to disagree.

  He blew out a breath. “Maybe.”

  She was so glad to hear him admit it. “Wouldn’t life be easier if the two of you got along?”

  “Yeah.”

  “But?”

  “No buts. I agree.” He tightened his fingers around the binoculars. “I’ve tried to change, but I just don’t seem to have the power to alter my opinion of him.” He gave her a long look. “So where will you move Dustee and Dianne when this is over?”

  She didn’t want to let him get away with changing the subject, but if he didn’t want to work on his animosity toward Mack, she couldn’t force him to. And he hadn’t pressed her to talk about Jeremy, so she would return the favor and move on. “I’m not sure where I’ll put them. They’re so different from each other that they’ll want different places. But ultimately, it’s my decision, and I’ll try to find somewhere that’s a good fit for both of them.”

  He watched her for a while, his lips parted, as if he felt compelled to speak but didn’t want to or didn’t know what to say next.

  What happened to the easy conversation they’d always managed online? If it had been this tense, this uneasy, they would never have become friends. But then maybe they’d never needed to work through any deep personal issues. Sure, they discussed faith and that could get complicated, but they had the same beliefs so those conversations didn’t cause disagreements.

  “You know,” he finally continued, “being a WITSEC deputy is the wrong job for you, don’t you?”

  Shocked, her mouth dropped open. “Why?”

  “You’re afraid if you fail one of your witnesses, they’ll die just like Jeremy.”

  “Ah,” she said, trying to remain calm when her heart had started racing. “I wondered how long it would take for you to bring that up again.”

  “And you’re trying to distract me from it already.” He cast her a sympathetic look. “All I want to do is to help you move past it.”

  She understood his motives were pure. That he wasn’t being pushy here. That he had her best interests at heart, but she still couldn’t tell him and risk losing him. “I know.”

  He tilted his head and studied her. “You ever think about how you don’t want to let anyone else help, but you have to be there at your witnesses’ beck and call twenty-four seven?”

  Did she refuse help from others? She’d never noticed, but she did know she gave her everything to the job. “It’s what the job requires.”

  “Maybe, but to the degree you take it?”

  She really did appreciate how he looked out for her best interests, even though he was way off base here. “Put yourself in a witness’s situation,” she felt compelled to explain. “They’ve had to give up everything they know. Family. Friends. Jobs they like. They can’t work in their chosen fields anymore. Even anything related to them. Some have kids who resent being moved, who rebel. How can I not give them my all?”

  “I get it. They need you. But most of them are in that situation because of a choice they made. A choice to break the law, and they got lucky in that they aren’t in prison because they testified against an even bigger criminal.”

  “You’re right, but it doesn’t make them any less deserving of grace and my help,” she said, maybe trying to justify her actions when he was correct on her real motives. “To make their life in hiding easier.”

  He looked at her for a long moment. “We all live in hiding to some degree. You should know that. You’re hiding from your parents.”

  “And you’re hiding from what?” she snapped, letting her emotions get the best of her. “A father who you thought didn’t want you as a kid, and now that you know that your mom lied, you don’t know how to be with him?”

  Sean jerked back.

  His horrified expression tore at her heart. “Sean, I’m sorry. That was awful. Unforgivable. I don’t like that you’re right about me. I am hiding, but I don’t want to admit it, and I took it out on you.”

  “It’s okay.” He clasped her hand between his strong fingers. “We both need to face the fact that people in hiding want someone to care enough to look for them, and we’re no exception. Even if we don’t like it.”

  Was he right? Did she want him to keep digging to reveal her issues? For her parents to come looking for her? To admit they were wrong?

  Sure she did, but it wouldn’t change anything.

  She took her hand back and peered across the street. Time ticked by in silence. A heavy silence that felt overpowering. She was about to crack the window for some much-needed fresh air when the front door of the bungalow opened and a short, wide man lumbered down the steps.

  “That’s him,” Taylor said, stowing her angst and reaching for the door handle.

  CHAPTER 23

  SEAN AND TAYLOR FOLLOWED HALL to the end of the block, where he plopped down on a bus stop bench inside a small enclosure. Perfect. Sean was thankful the guy couldn’t run from them like suspects often chose to do. Not that a man of his size could come close to outrunning either of them.

  Sean stopped in front of Hall, blocking his escape. “You Chris Hall?”

  He arched an eyebrow. “Who wants to know?”

  Sean didn’t want a prolonged dance, so he pulled out his credentials. “Special Agent Sean Nichols, and this is Deputy Taylor Mills.”

  Hall focused on Taylor, offering her a shy smile.

  “Your name came up in our investigation,” Sean said.

  “Me?” His smile disappeared, and he reluctantly dragged his gaze from Taylor. “Where?”

  Sean had the guy’s attention now and wouldn’t waste any more time. “You posted on the internet that you were digging a tunnel for a notorious hacker.”

  “Far as I know, digging’s not against the law.” He raised his pudgy face and poked out his chin. “And it’s not a crime to post in forums online.”

  “But hacking is.”

  “I’m not a hacker.” He shot to his feet so fast that he wobbled and had to grab a corner post of the shelter to steady himself.

  “Maybe not.” Taylor raised her shoulders and firmed her stance. “But you’re associating with a wanted criminal. As such, we could take you in for questioning. You need to answer our questions if you don’t want that to happen.”

  His eyes widened, then narrowed in a quick flash. “What do you want to know?”

  “Start by giving us the address for the house where you’re digging the tunnel,” Taylor said.

  “I don’t know it.” He sounded confident, but a tremor rattled his hand that had come to rest on his belly.

  “Oh, come on,” Sean said, wishing suspects would simply cooperate. “How do you get to the house to dig then?”

  Hall glared at Sean. “He rents a car, picks me up on a street corner, and blindfolds me. He drives around for about an hour. Makes like a ton of turns to keep me from figuring out our location. Best I can say from using his wireless network for my cell is that the house is somewhere in Washington.”

  “You really believe that?” Sean eyed the guy.

  Hall’s forehead creased. “Sure, why not?”

  If Hall couldn’t figure this out, Sean was beginning to see why the man continued to be un
employed in the IT field. “If he works so hard to hide his house location, he’s smart enough to spoof his router.”

  “Well duh.” Hall slapped a palm against his forehead. “I should have thought of that. But honestly, I don’t care where his house is. It’s just cool hanging out with him.”

  Sean got out his phone and opened Taylor’s sketch of Phantom. “Do you recognize this man?”

  Hall glanced at the photo, then looked down and stabbed a toe at the concrete, acting as if watching his foot was more important than answering. Sean waited a few beats to give the guy a chance to respond, but when he lifted his head, his lips were compressed into a hard line of silence.

  Sean jiggled the phone. “Refusing to tell us what you know about this man gives us cause to arrest you for accessory to murder.”

  “What?” Hall shot a look around as if searching for an escape route. “I didn’t kill anyone. Or help kill anyone.”

  “If you don’t assist us in locating this hacker,” Taylor said, her tone quiet but powerful, “and the crime he’s involved in results in murder—which is the direction it’s heading—you’ll be charged as an accessory.”

  “Fine.” He crossed his arms and stared at her. “That’s him.”

  Taylor fired a look right back in his direction. “Then we want you to help us find him.”

  Hall clenched his hands together, his mouth closed, and he didn’t look like he intended to say another word. Just when Sean thought he’d have to haul out handcuffs, Hall sighed and said, “Tomorrow. I dig tomorrow.”

  Sean glanced at Taylor, and he caught a flash of excitement in her eyes. He felt the same way and wanted to pump his fist in the air to celebrate over finally having something to go on, but he wouldn’t let Hall see his enthusiasm or the guy could use it against them.

  Sean nodded at Hall. “You’ll come with us now and hand over your phone for some modifications.”

  Hall’s face blanched. “If you think you can put a GPS tracker on it, you’re wrong. He does a sweep before we go anywhere. He’ll kill me if he finds it.”