by Tripp Ellis
"Understandable," JD said. “Agent Blake is quite worrisome.”
She gave him a playful sneer.
Agent Ross dug into his pocket and slapped a wad of cash on the table, then stood up.
“This one’s on us,” JD insisted.
Ross hesitated for a moment, then decided not to put up a fight. “Far be it from me to refuse your hospitality.” He grabbed the cash and stuffed it back into his pocket. "Gentlemen, it was a pleasure."
He extended his hand, and we shook.
"Hopefully, we won't cross paths again in a professional situation,” Ross said.
"Fingers crossed," I said.
Ross asked Agent Blake if she wanted to ride back to the office with him.
She hesitated for a moment. "That's probably a good idea. I don't know if I'm safe by myself with these two."
"Oh, you're in good hands, I can assure you," JD said.
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” she said. "She climbed off the barstool and straightened her suit jacket. "Gentlemen, until next time," she said, extending her hand. She had nice hands. Soft and smooth.
The two agents walked away, and JD muttered. "She's gonna look back. She's intrigued."
"You think?"
"I think."
Sure enough, Agent Blake gave one last look over her shoulder at us and wiggled her manicured fingers.
"I see an interagency task force brewing," JD said with a mischievous grin.
My phone buzzed with a call from Paris Delaney.
I ignored it.
I wasn’t in the mood to talk to her. She called a few more times, then texted. [Pick up the phone. It’s important.]
30
I finally picked up the phone when Paris called again. "What is it?"
“I just got a call from a guy claiming to be the bomber. He was using one of those voice manipulators that made him sound like some kind of demon."
"We already have a suspect in custody.”
"I know. But I think you need to pay attention to this. He talked about things that only the bomber would know. And he said there was another device set to detonate."
I paused. "You realize we've gotten thousands of prank phone calls."
"I know. But I think this is different."
"Why?"
"Gut instinct. And I've got pretty good gut instincts."
"What specifics did he give you?"
Paris listed the details of the bomb’s construction. “Does any of that sound like the devices you've been dealing with?"
I cringed. She had described the materials used exactly. “Yes."
"See. Aren’t you glad I called?"
"When is the next device scheduled to go off?"
"He didn't say. Could be tonight, could be tomorrow, could be the day after… Who knows?"
"Did he say anything else?"
"Only that you’ve got the wrong guy in custody and that you’re too stupid to catch him.”
"Good. I like cocky criminals. They get full of themselves, then screw up. I’ll make some phone calls and see what I can find out about the call. Let me know if he contacts you again."
"I will. Are you still mad at me?"
"Slightly less so," I said before hanging up.
I called Isabella, my handler at Cobra Company. The clandestine agency had vast intelligence resources and could track a phone a lot faster than the Sheriff’s Department could. I gave her Paris’s phone number and asked her to find out information about the incoming calls.
Isabella called me back in 15 minutes. "The call came in from a prepaid cellular. The caller was on the corner of Ocean and Pike. That's all I’ve got."
I frowned. "Where's the phone now?"
"Off the grid. Whoever your bomber is they’re playing this pretty well. The phone popped up on the network long enough to make a call, then disappeared.”
"Thanks."
"Anytime."
Isabella kept threatening me with another assignment. But she hadn't asked me to repay the favor yet, and my tab was growing.
I ended the call and dialed the sheriff. “I’ve got bad news."
Daniels groaned. After I apprised him of the situation, he said. “What are the odds that some ass-clown got hold of this information and is punking your little reporter friend?"
"That's certainly a possibility. We know that the department isn’t airtight. I mean, it would be a little ironic if Paris would be getting pranked as a result of a leak in our department."
"I'll make sure that every county office is on high-alert status. But as far as I'm concerned, we’ve got the bomber sitting in a cell right now."
“I hope we’ve got the right guy,” I said.
Daniels could sense my uncertainty. “What does your gut tell you on this one?"
I hesitated for a long moment. "I know the evidence against Lamar is strong, but I think the bomber is still out there."
Daniels thought for a moment. “What if Lamar wasn't working alone?"
"Now that makes sense."
"Maybe he hooks up with a like-minded individual on the Internet and they form some type of sick symbiotic relationship. He’s sitting in the can right now, and his buddy on the outside calls in a bomb threat to make him look innocent."
"That's certainly a possibility."
"Or, hell, maybe it's just a friend of his trying to help him out by calling in a hoax.”
"Does a guy like that have any friends?” I muttered.
Daniels paused. "Call your buddies at the ATF. I’ll have the nerd herd work overtime tracking down all of his known associates and see what we can come up with."
I ended the call and said to JD, “Looks like we're about to resume that interagency task force. But not in the way you had in mind."
31
"Deputy Wild, I didn't expect to hear from you so soon," Agent Blake said when I called.
"I wish I were calling for social reasons."
"This doesn't sound good."
"It's not." I caught her up to speed.
“You think this is for real?”
“Don’t know,” I said. “Our computer forensics guys are looking over the items we seized from Lamar’s house. They’re searching his emails, social media messages, phone communications, everything. He may have an accomplice.”
“Any idea about potential targets?” Payton asked.
“Not at the moment.”
“What about the caller?”
I told her the details Isabella had given me about the call to Paris.
“You got that information fast.”
“I have… sources.”
“Sources that can track a phone without a warrant?”
“I can neither confirm nor deny that.”
“Interesting, Deputy Wild,” she said with more than a hint of curiosity. “And here I thought you were just a County Deputy.”
“I’m just a guy trying to make a difference.”
“I hope you can, Deputy. I hope you can.” She paused. “Keep me posted.”
“Will do.”
I ended the call, then dialed Margery Bailey and asked about Lamar’s friends.
“I’m not inclined to speak with you, Deputy.”
“I know this is a difficult situation, and you probably don’t want to see your son go back to prison, but there are lives at stake. We believe he may be working with an accomplice.”
She hesitated for a long moment. “I’m sorry, Deputy. I don’t believe my son had anything to do with this. We’ve had numerous conversations about what happened in the past, and he’s remorseful for his actions. He is a changed man. Really!”
She hung up before I could press the issue further.
There was nothing we could do at the moment.
JD settled the tab, and we headed to Tide Pool. He checked the charts along the way, and a frown tugged his face. “We’re down to #11. Maybe we peaked?”
“#3 on the daily streaming charts is nothing to scoff at.”
"We need
to follow this video up ASAP before things have a chance to cool off,” he said. “You know how the Internet is. Next week we'll be old news."
"What song do you want to do next?"
"Iron Heart. And you're directing. No sense in changing a winning team."
"Not a problem," I said.
"This time, we're not leaving the equipment in the van."
Music pumped, and bikini-clad beauties frolicked in the heated indoor pool as we stepped into Tide Pool. JD made a beeline for the patio, and we ambled to the bar at the tiki hut. Harper greeted us with a smile. "What will it be, gentlemen? The usual?"
JD nodded.
Harper grabbed a bottle of top-shelf whiskey, spun it in her palm, poured two smooth glasses of whiskey, and set them on the counter. JD handed her a wad of cash and told her to keep the change. She smiled and stuffed the tip into a glass jar that was already full.
"I really like the song," Harper said. "And I think the video is cute."
JD smiled.
"You need to come to one of our shows.”
"I want to, but I'm always working the weekends. No time for a social life," she said.
"That's too bad."
"One of these days, when the stars are aligned, I will come to see your show. I guess I better do that soon before you guys blow up and get too big to play the bars around here."
"I can assure you of one thing, we will never forget our roots, no matter how big this thing gets."
Harper smiled. "Good to know."
Two giggling beauties approached with fruity drinks dangling from their delicate hands. They flashed bashful smiles and batted their long lashes.
"Are you Thrash?" the brunette asked.
Jack smiled. "Indeed, I am."
Their eyes lit up with glee.
"I'm Ivory, and this is Kimber."
"It's nice to meet you," JD said.
"We are, like, superfans. We've seen the last couple shows, and your music is, like, totally on repeat."
Ivory had creamy skin, blue eyes, and her raven black hair hung to her mid-back.
Kimber was a sandy blonde with wavy hair, perfect teeth, and light brown eyes. She asked me, "Are you in the band?"
"No."
"Oh," she said disappointedly. Then she turned her attention back to JD, giving me the cold shoulder.
I had to chuckle.
JD put a hand on my shoulder and said in a tone of reverence, “This is our video director."
"Oh," the two girls said, then returned their attention to JD.
It was clear he didn't need a wingman on this one. I excused myself and stepped inside and found the restroom. The line wasn't too bad for the men's room, but the women's line was around the corner.
When I emerged from the restroom, I headed back out to the patio. A small crowd had gathered around JD. He held court, regaling his beautiful entourage with tales of rock 'n' roll excess. He certainly was enjoying his moment in the spotlight. A grin never left his face.
I stood at a distance, watching from across the patio with amusement.
"He looks like he's having a good time," a sultry voice said behind me. From the moment I heard the sound in my ear, I knew who it was. I turned to see Sloan, JD's ex-girlfriend.
32
JD was too preoccupied to notice his ex-girlfriend.
"Funny seeing you here," I said to Sloan.
"I come here from time to time, though not much lately. I know it's one of JD’s favorite hangouts, and I don't want to encroach on his space. But it looks like he's doing okay."
"He is."
"That's good."
"Are you here by yourself?"
“Eden is supposed to meet me, but she's running late, as usual."
"Is she still seeing that guy?"
Sloan rolled her eyes. "On-again, off-again. They love each other, they hate each other. They break up, they get back together. The girl needs to have her head examined if you ask me."
"And you tried to set me up with her?"
"She's a little crazy, and from what I can tell, you like a little crazy."
I scowled at her playfully. "The key word being little."
"We're all crazy, Tyson. You just gotta pick the right level. Enough to keep it interesting."
"What about you? Have you found somebody new?"
She scoffed. "No. I'm focusing on myself and my career at the moment. I think that's the honest thing to do. I'm just not in the headspace for a serious relationship right now. I told JD that. You know, I'm constantly on the road with the tour. I'm doing better than I ever have in the rankings. I just can't allow myself to have any distractions.”
“Sometimes, the right partner isn't a distraction. It's an asset."
She laughed. "You’re one to talk about relationships."
I raised my hands innocently.
Her eyes noticed my empty glass. "You need another drink? I’m buying.”
"Sure."
She looked across the patio to the tiki hut. I could tell she had no intention of ordering a drink from the bar next to JD. She motioned for me to follow her inside.
We weaved through the crowd to the main bar. Sloan ordered a round. The bartender filled the glasses, and Sloan paid the tab. She handed me a glass of whiskey and she lifted her drink. “What shall we toast to?”
“To no more pipe bombs.”
Sloan cringed. “Amen.”
It was wishful thinking.
We clinked glasses and sipped the fine whiskey.
“Are you making any headway?”
I shrugged.
Sloan’s phone buzzed with a text. She looked at the screen, then typed something back. "Eden's here."
Sloan's eyes surveyed the area near the entrance. She locked onto the gorgeous, leggy blonde and waved her over.
Eden made her way through the crowd and greeted me with a hug. Her subtle perfume filled my nostrils.
"Long time, no see," Eden said.
"I know, it's been a while,” I replied.
“How have you been?"
"I can't complain. You?"
She shrugged. "Good, I guess."
"So, are you on again, or off again at the moment?” Sloan asked.
Eden's face crinkled with conflict. "We are complicated at the moment. This is driving me crazy. I just spent an hour on the phone with him, arguing about nothing. I told him I had plans with my friend, and I'm not breaking those plans. So, he's all mad that I won’t hang out with him tonight."
"If you want to go see him, you can," Sloan said.
"I am not going to ditch my friend at the last minute just because he couldn't find anything better to do."
Eden looked me dead in the eye. "I need a man's perspective."
"Oh no, I'm not getting involved in this drama."
Eden shifted on one hip, tilted her head, and huffed. "It's not drama, it's just a simple question. We've been together, we’ve been broken up, and now we're doing the friends with benefits thing. So, he wants to run around and do whatever he wants, but he wants me to be available whenever he calls. And he constantly wants to know what I'm doing and with whom. He even wanted to look through my phone, and I told him no way. He doesn't have phone privileges."
"First of all, nobody gets phone privileges,” I said. “If you don't trust your partner, and you feel like you need to look through their phone and check their messages, that's an indicator that something might be wrong with the relationship.” I took a breath. “I think you both need to have an honest discussion about what you want, what your expectations are, and what level of commitment you need. Otherwise, you're just wasting each other’s time."
She pondered it for a moment. "That's good advice, Tyson."
I shrugged. “What do I know?”
“You know more than you give yourself credit for," Sloan said.
"I had a client ask me to follow his wife around. He thought she was cheating, and he wanted confirmation. I told him that if you feel so strongly about it that you
need to hire me to confirm your suspicions, then you already have your answer. Listen to your gut. It won't lie to you. But we often try to lie to ourselves."
"Amen to that," Sloan said, lifting her glass again.
We toasted, and Sloan's sultry eyes stared into mine. Usually, I'd like being on the other end of that type of gaze. But this was JD's ex-girlfriend. A woman he had fallen head over heels for. A look like that from her made me uncomfortable.
"Well, I guess I should be getting back to my friend,” I said. “Thanks for the drink. You ladies enjoy your evening.” I said to Eden, “I hope things work out for you.”
I strolled to the patio and found JD amid a sea of groupies.
Paris texted me. [I feel like I need a spanking for being so naughty earlier. I might even need to be handcuffed and interrogated thoroughly.]
It was a tempting offer.
33
“The nerds were able to bypass the security features on Lamar’s laptop quickly,” Daniels said when he called in the morning. “Lamar’s phone is giving them problems. That will take some doing. But they were able to access his email and some of his social media platforms. There were several email and social media communications between Lamar and a guy named Dustin Walsh,” Daniels said.
I wiped the sleep from my eyes and stifled a yawn. “Anything interesting?"
"It's mostly the two of them sharing porn, Internet memes, and talking politics."
"What's the tone of the political conversations?"
"A lot of angst, fear, and concern."
"Any mention of the recent bombings?"
"They discussed it in a few chats, speculating about what type of device was used, how it was constructed, and who may be responsible. Lamar said, ‘I can't say that I'm surprised. And I can't say that I'm sad about it either. Honestly, I can't believe somebody hasn't done this sooner.’"
"That doesn't sound like a confession."
“Go talk to Dustin. See what you can get out of him. He works at Surf & Sand Quick Mart on Ocean across from Taffy Beach.”
“I’ll talk to him,” I said before hanging up.