“No. You can’t. She’s serious about the kids not knowing. Not yet. You know how she is. All she’s talked about is how she doesn’t want the cancer to affect you guys. If you show up, it’ll only make things worse.”
She puffed her cheeks and let the air escape. “Yeah, I know how she is. I won’t go, but you have to call me as soon as you get done there. I need to verify whether the caller’s info was accurate.”
“What caller? What info? Amara, what’s going on?”
“I can’t go into all that. Not now. It has to do with a case I’m working. But Mama’s not in any danger from it, okay?”
“I don’t like this.” He grunted. “You in any danger?”
Good question. “No. I’m just trying to figure out if what I’m being told is true. And yes, I’ve reported all this to Lieutenant Segura.”
“Here’s the deal. Tell me what you think you know, and we’ll go from there.”
“Wylie, there’s no need to—”
“You’re talking to an ex-cop. I know better than to go undercover without all the facts.”
She squeezed the phone. “Fine. I was told that Mama’s breast cancer might be in more than one spot, but I don’t know if that’s true.”
“Told by who?”
“Uh-uh. Can’t get into all that. Please, just let me know one way or the other as soon as you can, okay?”
He grumbled something too low for her to hear. “If your info is accurate, I’ll call you. Otherwise, I’m respecting your mother’s wishes. You should do the same.”
“Don’t let her wait too long. She has to tell us.”
Mama’s voice popped up in the background and the call disconnected.
Amara sat back in the seat and stared out the windshield. Too much not knowing.
The cancer.
The treatments.
Her relationship with Starsky.
Why Daddy had to die.
The missing computer drive.
Travis Rutledge’s problem.
Zachary Coleman’s murder.
She pressed the heels of her palms against her temples and watched the landscaping crew down the street reload their gear. 9:26. Twelve minutes start to finish. Efficient. Productive. Focused.
The exact opposite of her life right now.
20
The trip to Liam Walker’s house turned out to be a waste of time. If he was home, he wasn’t answering the door. She ran the tags on an older GMC SUV parked out front with vanity tag RAJKWIT—raj k wit? r a jackwit? raj quit?—and it was registered to Liam. The boy was probably there and dodging her.
With no one left to interview, she headed for the nearest eatery with free Wi-Fi, grabbed a banana and a bottled water, and settled into a corner booth away from other customers. Plenty of research to be done. When she’d completed the report for the LT earlier, a few things niggled at her and she’d scratched notes to follow up on them. She dotted her finger on the list’s first item.
The cash and missing hard drive from Zachary’s house. The crime scene techs hadn’t called or emailed, meaning they hadn’t looked at the items yet. No surprise. It’d only been two days since the search warrant was served. Much like the requisition for a new desk, her evidence would have to work its way to the top of the pile. And calling to ask would risk bumping her down the stack. Better to hold off. Chances were, they wouldn’t find anything to identify a suspect. Even if they found fingerprints other than Zachary’s on the computer, so what? That proved nothing beyond showing someone had been in his room.
Next on her list was contacting Eduardo Sanchez, the security chief at the Cannonball Water Park. She clicked her tongue on the roof of her mouth several times. What to do about Sanchez? He didn’t kill Zachary. That didn’t mean he wasn’t involved in a cover-up to try to limit the park’s liability in the press. An accidental OD sounded a whole lot better than a murder. Put the blame on the kid.
She’d struggled to get a read on him. His background in law enforcement meant he knew how to play the game. He understood what would be important to her investigation, and if he wanted, he could steer her down a plethora of dead ends. Until she could figure out where his priorities lay—getting to the truth or protecting the park—he remained a suspect.
Yesterday he said he’d schedule a network specialist to come inspect their system to see if they’d been hacked. She had no idea how long it took to get something like that organized. Only one way to find out. She picked up her cell and dialed his number.
“Good morning, Detective,” he said. “I thought you might be calling today.”
“I wanted to follow up on our conversation yesterday. See if you’d had a chance to get an expert out there.”
“We have a young lady out here now. She’s from a security firm we’ve never done business with. Felt like that was the way to go. She began diagnosing our system yesterday.”
“That’s fast work.” She unscrewed her water and took a drink.
“If the park has been hacked, we need to know. This is not just about your investigation.”
“I don’t suppose you know how long it will take?”
He chuckled. “She started explaining the process to me in great detail. I nodded a few times, pointed her toward the equipment, and left her to her work. Best I could understand, she’ll be done sometime between now and never. If you’d like, I’d be happy to check with her for an update?”
“No, that’s okay. Interrupting her won’t speed things along. Thanks though.”
“Certainly,” he said. “As soon as I know anything, I’ll be in touch.”
“I appreciate it.” Time to push him. “One thing’s been bothering me. Why weren’t you there when they were working on Coleman? In your position, I’d think something like a death would bring you running.”
“You’re asking for an alibi. An incident like this would normally require my presence. However, at the time this occurred, I was twenty miles away at a job fair recruiting new hires. I’ll email you all the details so you may verify. It was at a hotel so I assume their security cameras can confirm my attendance.”
If they were working. “Thank you.”
“May I ask you a question, Detective?”
“Sure.”
“When you resolve your investigation and are confident I am not involved, would it be possible for us to have dinner together?”
A wave of heat swept from her chest to her face. Flattered, but suspicious. Was that her new reality? Question every motive, no matter how innocent it might be? “I, um, let’s hold off on that, okay?”
“Of course. I should not have asked. I placed you in an uncomfortable situation, and I apologize. However, please know that when you do close your case, I will ask again. I hope you will not be offended.”
“That would be, um, that would be fine. Have a good day, Mr. Sanchez.”
She stared at the table and took several heavy breaths. What just happened? Why did she feel like she’d cheated on Starsky? Their relationship was casual. Would he be hurt if she went out with someone else?
She downed several gulps of the water. Not now. No time for a personal life anyway. The investigation and Mama’s health were priority. Keep the focus on what had to be done. Everything else could wait.
But for how long? There’d always be another case. Always something else that took priority over her personal life. She thumped herself under her chin. Sounding too much like Mama.
She opened her new laptop, verified the security software was operating, and logged onto the Wi-Fi. Sanchez had moved quickly. Made sense from a precautionary standpoint. He’d want to know if the company was vulnerable. The man was doing everything he should, which still wasn’t enough to scratch him off her suspects list.
Next up was researching the games Haley had mentioned. She searched for MMORPG and reviewed the first page of results. The Wikipedia link seemed like a good place to start. She’d never been into video games beyond a few time-killing apps she had on her phone.
Gaming consoles had been around when she was growing up, but the family could never afford them. Her ex-husband had spent more time playing games than he had with her. Looking back, that was probably best for both of them.
She reviewed the Wikipedia article and clicked several of the internal links for more information. Massively multiplayer online role-playing games were exactly what they sounded like. A bunch of people, thousands or in some cases millions, logged on to the game and became a character of their choosing. That character was free to roam the huge make-believe world alone, but most opted to join other players in a team or clan or tribe or whatever that particular game called them.
Haley had said that’s how the four friends met each other. There must be a search feature that allowed you to find people who lived nearby. And you’d have to be able to chat with them to establish any kind of real-world relationship. Was it possible that the teens used the games as a way to communicate and remain anonymous? If so, how could she find out what was being said?
The companies that ran the games would be serious about protecting their players’ privacy. Assuming any records of chats were kept, it would take a subpoena to see them. A subpoena and lots of time. And there was no way to be sure which game they were playing at any given minute. Haley said they played several.
Amara peeled the banana and ate half, then set the rest aside. The fruit still had a tinge of green, spoiling the sweetness. She took a long draw of the water and swished it around her mouth before swallowing. What if she started to play too? Found them in the game and befriended them? She could pretend to be anyone and . . .
And when would she have time to do that? It would take forever to learn how to play and they would be suspicious of anyone who approached. Especially someone new.
The CSI tech who’d taken Zachary Coleman’s computer equipment said she played online games. Barb Something. Should’ve written down her name. She might be able to answer questions about how the games work and the possibility of gaining any useful information.
She dialed the crime lab and asked for Barb. After being on hold for nearly three minutes, the music stopped.
“Barb Freemont.”
Freemont. She jotted it down. “Hi. This is Detective Alvarez. I met you at the Coleman house a couple of days ago?”
“Sure. But it’s way too early for us to have any information on the items we took.”
“That’s not why I’m calling. I know you’re busy, but I wonder if you’d have time to answer a few questions for me. About online games? You mentioned you played them?”
“I do when I have time.” A crinkling sound came through the phone, followed by a loud crunch and her muffled voice. “Sorry. Eating some chips. First break I’ve had in hours.”
Amara grimaced. The chewing noise grated her bones. “No problem. If now’s not a good time, I can call later.”
“No, it’s fine.” Another crunch. “What do you need to know?”
“This is all part of my investigation, so it stays between us. I have three suspects in the murder, each of them friends with the victim and in their late teens. Two boys and a girl. They said they met online while playing games, and I’m wondering if there’s some connection between that and the boy’s death.”
“Interesting,” Barb said. “In what way?”
“Not sure. Maybe they use the games to communicate anonymously? That would keep their phones clean. What about their computers?”
“Depends, but unless they saved the chat logs, I’d guess you wouldn’t find anything on them either.”
“So no help there,” Amara said. “I assume their discussions wouldn’t be visible to other players?”
“Right. You control who you talk to. You can request to friend someone, and if they accept, you can communicate. Otherwise, you’re blocked by default.” Crunch. “Anything else? I need to get back to work.”
“One more question. How hard is it to find a specific person in a game?”
“How hard is it? Impossible unless you know their character’s name. Even then, you can’t be sure who you’re dealing with. That’s the whole idea. You become someone else and live a fantasy life. Doesn’t matter if you’re a fourteen-year-old girl in Ukraine or a seventy-year-old man in Samoa. You can be who you want to be. It’s about escaping reality for a little while.”
Amara scratched her forehead. Escaping reality sounded great, but it was a one-sided agreement. Reality never left. Never went away. Never stopped. You could do your best to forget it for a while, but it would always be there waiting when you returned. “So who are you, Barb?”
“Calina Iceguard, level seventy-two elven frost mage on Planetary Orcs.”
“Is that, uh, is that good?”
She laughed. “Calina can handle herself. She’s got some friends she runs around with and they watch each other’s backs.”
“The three of them said they met online. I’m assuming there’s a way to search for players who live nearby?”
“No can do. That kind of thing hasn’t been possible for a bunch of years. Too many issues with privacy.”
“Understood. I appreciate it.”
“No sweat.” Crunch. “Let me know if you need any more help. I could talk gaming all day.”
“Will do.” Her cell beeped and she glanced at the display. Wylie. He said he’d only phone if the anonymous caller’s information was accurate. “Thanks again, Barb. Got to run.”
Her hands shook as she pressed the button to switch to Wylie.
“Hi,” Amara said. Her throat tightened as she tried to speak. “You’ve got news?”
“Walked out to get the car,” he said. “I’ve only got a second.”
The weight of his voice spoke the words he couldn’t say. Tears flooded her eyes. “The cancer’s spread, hasn’t it?”
21
The restaurant’s din faded to the background as Amara reread Mama’s text. A special dinner at her home tomorrow night. A chance to get everyone together after her PET scan that morning. Possibly, she’d have an update on her diagnosis.
Amara’s chest ached with the pressure of knowing the truth. She longed to call her mother. To stop by and hug her for hours. But that wasn’t Mama’s way. Her health concerns paled in comparison to her desire that her kids’ lives not be affected.
It’d only been a few years since she’d spent a night in the hospital with pneumonia, a fact her children discovered after spotting an insurance statement on her kitchen counter months later. When confronted, her mother said it was nothing serious and no point in troubling anyone. Nothing serious. Right. As if going to the hospital was part of her normal routine.
She danced her fingers on the laptop’s keyboard, trying to think of what to type to distract herself from chasing the what-ifs of Mama’s disease. Something work-related that would move the Coleman case forward. It could be hours or days before she heard from Sanchez with the results of their network inspection. No point in talking to Haley or Matias again until she had more to pressure them with, and Liam was hiding from her.
A sudden urge to squeeze the half-eaten banana into oblivion overwhelmed her as her heart pounded in her ears. Instead, she stood and carried it to the trash can, then wandered the restaurant, always keeping her computer in sight. What she wanted to do was run until she dropped to the ground. Release the anxiety and frustration in beads of sweat. Let her body rule her mind, if only for a moment.
She returned to her laptop and opened a blank document. Her thoughts were too scattered. Narrow them down to a workable process. Focus only on the next step.
4 friends. 2 had $$$. Prob other 2 also. How? Online. Illegal. What?
Online games. Relevant? (Barb)
Why kill @ water park? Cameras not working. Premeditated. To prove no place safe? To who? Other friends?
Who is anon caller & are they the killer?
Is killer one of the 3 or someone else? Sanchez (verify job fair alibi)? Unknown 4th person?
She reviewed her note
s so far and highlighted “cameras not working,” then underlined and bolded “online” and “illegal.” If the security expert who was digging into the Cannonball’s network found anything—a possibility that seemed increasingly likely—did that mean one of the teens had hacked into the water park’s system? If they had that kind of skill, breaking into her home network would have been simple. And if they were good enough, they could’ve gotten into the doctor’s system to see Mama’s medical records.
But how would they even know to look? She frowned and shook her head. She’d entered Mama’s appointment in her calendar, which synced between her phone and her personal computer. The caller could’ve easily seen that, and when he broke into the doctor’s system, he’d have known Mama already had the tests done.
But why tip his hand? If he hadn’t called, she wouldn’t know she’d been hacked. What did he have to gain by alerting her to his activities? Surely more than proving a point. Was that supposed to derail the investigation? Not going to happen.
She touched the laptop display. Stay focused. If this was all about hacking, then what would they want from the Cannonball? Credit card numbers of guests? Employees’ social security numbers? Industrial spying? Whatever they were after seemed to boil down to a single commodity. Secret information. And there were plenty of people who paid for secrets. Paid well, based on the pile of cash at Zachary Coleman’s house.
But Sanchez was right. If you’re after information, why bother with the security cameras? What could you possibly gain? Nothing to do except wait for the report from the network expert. Would she be able to tell what the hackers did, or only that the system had been breached?
On cue, a notification popped up in the lower right corner of her screen to indicate a new email. She clicked over and opened the message. Nothing about the Cannonball’s network, but Sanchez had sent over the information on the job fair, complete with links to the hotel’s website and an article in the Express-News. A black-and-white photo accompanied the paper’s story, and Sanchez was clearly visible sitting at a table with a line of applicants in front of him.
Network of Deceit Page 11
