by Toby Neal
Jake dropped his booted feet to the ground, puzzling over her words as Sophie rolled up the internet cable and stowed it. “How would I be hurt by anything to do with that cyber vigilante?”
Sophie folded her lips together tightly. “I think I misused a figure of speech. I meant that . . . you should not be responsible for any more knowledge, in case you are questioned.”
“Ah-ha. So, you do know something.”
Sophie stowed the laptop in her backpack and slung it on. “Let’s go.” She headed for the door.
Jake picked up their discarded lunch. She had only eaten half her sandwich and chips. He was going to make her finish the rest.
They reached the Jeep. Jake beeped it open to the happy greeting barks of the dogs, and set the lunch bag inside on the dash.
Sophie opened her door and her face lit up. “Jake! Tank is still here!”
“I couldn’t do it.” Jake’s ears were hot with embarrassment. “I took him to the Humane Society and started filling out the paperwork, but one look at those cages . . . I just couldn’t do it.”
Sophie ran around the front of the Jeep and embraced him. She wrapped her arms around him, pulled his head down, and kissed him.
Surprise had him standing stiffly, but Jake recovered quickly, kissing her back, squashing her against the side of the Jeep as pent-up hunger took over. She was making a little humming noise in her throat as she wound around him, not put off by his clumsy enthusiasm. Their mouths fused, their hands roamed, and his brain shut down as one of her legs came up, wrapping around his hip. God, she tasted good . . .
“So that’s how it is, eh?” Freitan’s voice, heavy with amusement, came from behind Jake. “Can’t say I blame you, but the parking lot of Hilo Police Department might not be the most private venue for what you got goin’ on.”
Jake buried his face in Sophie’s neck, breathing heavily, imagining that devil-woman dancing a jig in hell. “Dammit.” Maybe Freitan would just go away.
Sophie shoved at his chest, cursing in Chinese or Thai or something. He let go, keeping his back turned to Freitan so she couldn’t mock the action he had going on at the front of his pants. Sophie went around and opened the Jeep’s door as Jake kept his back to the detectives, simmering with temper and frustration.
“Sorry for the cock block.” Freitan laughed harshly.
“Kamani, leave them alone.” Wong’s voice, coming to the rescue. Jake heard the sound of their vehicle beep open. The two bickered.
Jake shoved his hands through his hair, calming himself, tugging his shirt down, setting himself to rights physically and mentally as their car pulled away.
“Tank, you beautiful boy. I’m so glad you’re still here.” Sophie was already inside the Jeep talking to the dogs. Jake turned around when he was sure he was decent, and it was just in time to see her feed the other half of her sandwich to the dogs.
“I brought that so you could eat it. Not them,” Jake scolded. He had himself back under control, but all he could think about was getting his hands on her again.
“I’m sorry about kissing you. We appeared very unprofessional.” Sophie wouldn’t look at him as she turned in her seat to face forward, and buckled in. “We should hurry. We’ll be late.”
“I’m just sorry Freitan interrupted us.” Jake fired up the Jeep. “Though we could have picked a better place to make out.” His lips felt sore in a good way when he smiled at her. “We still can.”
“I think that was quite enough of that,” Sophie said primly. She worked her phone with her thumbs. “I am confirming our meet with the informant.”
Jake glanced into the back seat. Tank thrust his big square head forward to touch his shoulder. “Thanks, buddy. You got her to give me a kiss.” The big dog woofed in reply.
Forty minutes later, they pulled up in a nondescript community park with a weather-beaten jungle gym, cinderblock bathrooms, and a patchy soccer field ringed by palms. Jake took his weapon out of his pack. “Think we should be strapped for this.”
“Yes.” Sophie had also taken out her Glock. Jake checked his weapon, watching out of the corner of his eye as she expelled the clip, checked the number of rounds, and rammed it back in, stowing it in a side pocket of her nylon cargo pants. They got out of the Jeep. “We’re half an hour early. Let’s let the dogs run loose since no one’s around,” Sophie said.
“Good idea. They’ve been very patient in the car.” Jake opened his door. Tank barreled out, running over to investigate the row of trash cans by the bathrooms, while Ginger galloped off to fetch a stick. Jake tried not to be too obvious as he watched Sophie do some yoga stretches, but the shape of her butt was too distracting. He turned to grab Ginger’s stick and threw it for the energetic Lab. She hurtled after it, soon joined by Tank. The dogs tussled playfully, and eventually, Tank got the stick and brought it to Jake.
“He seems to know his master.” Sophie came to stand beside him.
“I can’t keep him. I travel too much. But I can work on finding a real home for him.”
“My father might be able to watch him while you do,” Sophie said. “He’s in Honolulu for a month or so.”
“That would be great.” Jake threw the stick again, feeling his belly tighten with regret. He really did wish he could keep the dog. Jake whistled for the dogs. Both of them came, thundering at him like charging horses. He ushered them into the back of the Jeep and filled the water bowl from Sophie’s backpack from a jug he’d picked up at a convenience store.
Sophie stiffened. “We have incoming.” A large black truck was headed their way, coming down the feeder road.
“What did you tell the informant about us?”
“Me and my boyfriend are looking for your missing cousin, Julie Weathersby,” Sophie said. “We’re rich.”
“Rich boyfriend. I like the sound of that,” Jake drawled. Sophie kept her gaze studiously on the vehicle as it approached and parked beside them.
Chapter Nineteen
Sophie assessed the Honda Ridgeline extended cab, noting the extra chrome and silver paint designs on the side and memorizing the license plate. The informant seated inside was young, a Caucasian of average height and doughy build, with pale skin that didn’t look like it had seen much of the Hawaii sun. He wore a billed hat emblazoned with Xbox, and he didn’t get out of his truck.
She approached, going with their usual routine of her out in front and Jake as backup. The dogs barked loudly in the Jeep, lending to a feeling of authenticity that they were a resident couple.
“Hello. Are you Sandy?” the young man asked.
Sophie had given him her false identity name of Sandy Mason, and she nodded. “Yes. I’m Sandy, and this is my boyfriend, Jack.”
The informant’s gaze darted nervously around the park, coming back to rest on Jake’s superior biceps with a look of apprehension. “I go by Cypher.”
Sophie suppressed a smile at the moniker. “Well, as I told you in my text, Jack’s cousin, Julie Weathersby, is missing. She was camping around the island, and supposed to meet up with us in Hilo at the end of her trip. That was over a week ago. Her parents are worried. I saw your poster at the store and thought we’d reach out since the police don’t seem to have any leads.”
“Sandy’s got it right.” It wasn’t strictly necessary for Jake to wrap a possessive arm around Sophie’s waist, but she let it stay there for the moment as he went on. “Julie is super responsible. She wouldn’t just run off.” He took out his phone, and scrolled to her photo. “Here is what she looks like. In case you have seen her, or even the missing person report that was filed.”
Cypher took the phone, looked at the photo, and nodded. “Yeah. I added her to the database, and speculated she disappeared from this part of the island based on her last known location, which was in Volcanoes National Park.”
“What database?” Sophie’s attention was pricked, but she softened her voice as Cypher quickly handed the phone back in response to her tone. “Can we sit down in your tr
uck and get comfortable so we can talk privately?”
He nodded reluctantly and got out to open the driver’s side seat of his extended cab for her. Jake got into the passenger side, and they all settled themselves.
Cypher took out a laptop, and Sophie’s interest piqued further. “I think there might be a kidnapper at work,” the young man said. “Only he doesn’t give back the victims.”
Sophie’s brows drew together. “What makes you think so?”
“Many of the people that disappear have assets. They aren’t rich, necessarily, but a lot of the victims actually have some means.” Cypher’s eyes flicked over Jake. “For instance, I’m guessing you and your cousin aren’t poor.”
“We get by.” Jake frowned. “But my aunt and uncle would have said something if they had gotten a ransom demand.”
“The interesting thing about these demands is that they seem to be unfulfilled.” Cypher was studying his laptop. “The families pay the modest ransoms, but the missing are never returned. I’m tracking the concerns, and I’ve taken it on myself to warn people.”
A tingle of alertness lifted the hairs on Sophie’s arms. There was a shine of perspiration above Cypher’s lip. The young man was nervous, hiding something.
She didn’t dare look at Jake. A secondary predator role of taking money from family members might fit his profile perfectly.
Cypher was setting them up. He was checking them out as a target of extortion money, and he’d decided they weren’t good candidates. Now he was warning them away.
Sophie reached over and clutched Jake’s arm in mock distress. “This is just so much to take in. I think we should really go to the police with this news.”
“Hush, darling.” Jake patted her hand. His voice was warm with supportive comfort. He was reveling in his role, and she dared not glance at him and see the humorous glint in his eyes or she’d lose her composure. “It’s not up to us to solve this, honey. We will take everything we learn back to the cops, of course, but now we have this nice young man helping us, too.”
Cypher smiled. His teeth were not brushed very often. “Yeah, quite a disturbing situation might be going on here.”
Sophie blinked her eyes, as if confused, leaning forward from the back seat. “How do you know all this?”
“I thought you would never ask.” Cypher scrolled to a website and expanded the view for them to see. “This is a missing persons posting on the Big Island bulletin board website where parents and families weigh in on the investigations.”
Sophie recognized the site as one of the ones that DAVID had cross-checked with police records. She was eager to see how his data analysis stacked up to the preliminary findings DAVID had compiled. But would he share?
She took out her own phone to pull it up, but couldn’t get any reception. She frowned at Cypher. “How are you getting any Internet out here?”
“I use a sat phone. Only way to deal with the spotty reception. Got a hotspot set up. But you can look at my laptop for now,” he said magnanimously. Sophie leaned over the young man’s shoulder to look through the rows of posts.
There were many more pictures of each missing victim than the ones she recognized from the police department database. Heartbreaking personal stories, rants about the lack of response from the police department, and a series of highlighted letters, complaining that they had been contacted for ransom, and, once paid, had never heard from the extortionist again.
“So, what’s your skin in this game?’ Jake said. “What do you get out of it?”
“I’m just a concerned citizen living in a dangerous community. Trying to help by warning victims’ families.”
“Then I’m sure you won’t mind coming down to the station in Hilo with us, and making a statement to that effect,” Sophie said, as Jake reached over and plucked the truck’s keys out of the ignition. “Being the good citizen that you are.” Sophie pointed her Glock at Cypher’s ribs. “We’re taking you in. Let’s go.”
“Sure you got him handled, babe?” Jake bounced his brows as Cypher groaned, closing his laptop.
“This young man will be driving straight to Hilo PD to make his statement. I’m sure he won’t give me a minute of trouble, babe.”
Jake’s teeth flashed in a grin as he got out of the truck, slamming the door. “I’m right behind you in the Jeep, Cypher, so don’t give my girlfriend any crap.”
Cypher banged his head on the steering wheel as Jake got into the Jeep, preparing to follow them. “I knew I shouldn’t have let you guys get in the truck.”
Sophie kept the gun on Cypher, dug into his ribs, for the forty-minute drive back to Hilo. Freitan and Wong were not back from wherever they’d gone, but the intake officer checked their permits to carry and their IDs, and they settled Cypher in the waiting area.
The minute Sophie’s gun was stowed, the young man made a run for the glass doors. Jake seemed to enjoy wrestling Cypher back inside and making him sit.
Freitan and Wong returned. “What did you chase out of the bushes?” Freitan asked.
“This young man knows all about shaking down the families of missing persons,” Jake said.
The two detectives took charge of the witness, after a brief conference with Jake and Sophie. “You should go to his residence. Search for evidence related to the victims,” Sophie urged.
“He’s lawyered up already, so it’s going to be a process.” Freitan had a vein in her neck that pulsed when she was annoyed. “His weird scam of warning people might not be enough to get a search warrant on his home.”
Sophie frowned. “Perhaps . . . his address fell somewhere and we saw it and took matters into our own hands.”
“Unscrupulous private investigators that we are,” Jake filled in.
“That would never happen around here,” Freitan swiveled her monitor so they could read Cypher’s address. She stood, and walked off toward the interview room where Wong already waited with the witness.
“Cypher” was named Paul Chernobiac, and he lived at 1140 Ocean View Terrace.
Sophie plugged the address into the GPS on her phone, grateful to have a signal. “Let’s go.” They hurried out of the building.
The day was waning. Sunset was upon them, a glorious molten red that reminded Sophie of the lava flows. She glanced at Jake as they got into the Jeep. “I hope we have time to make it out there before dark.”
Chapter Twenty
Jake resigned himself to doing the long drive again. According to the GPS, Ocean View Terrace was located well off the beaten track on the other side of Volcanoes Park. They needed to try to hit this house while Paul Chernobiac, a.k.a. “Cypher,” was being interviewed. Jake was glad Sophie had downloaded and saved the map with the location as they drove an hour back in the direction they had come.
The sunset was a spectacular streaking of reds, yellows, and purples over the sky from the ocean to the west. Sophie sat quietly, her gaze out the window, her hands folded in her lap. The dogs snored peacefully in the back.
How could he move things forward between them? Chicks loved hashing over that shit. “Should we talk about what’s been happening?”
“With the case?”
“No. With us. You and me.”
Sophie glanced at him. “No.”
Her answer hurt, but he tried to sound humorous. “You’re the only woman I’ve ever met who never wants to talk about a relationship and where it’s going.”
She leaned even further away. “I’m not like other women.”
“You can say that again.” Jake winced. He was mucking it up. Stop talking now!
Sophie scrunched her nose. “Why would I say that again?”
“I never realized how many expressions and idioms there were in the English language until I began explaining them to you all the time.”
Sophie’s cell phone rang. She took it out of her pocket. Her mouth made a little O. “It’s Alika.”
Jealousy felt like a punch to the solar plexus, but Sophie had told him that je
alousy was a turn-off after her homicidal bastard ex-husband. Jake smiled with difficulty. “Tell your helicopter buddy hi from me.”
Sophie rolled her eyes, and Jake laughed. That they could even kind of joke about it felt good.
She answered the phone. Jake could hear their conversation. “Sophie. How’s it going on the Big Island?” Alika had a nice phone voice. “I miss you.”
Jake never sounded good on the phone—too abrupt and too loud.
Damn the man and his slick manners, sweet chopper and those armband tribal tats . . . maybe Jake should get some. Barbed wire around his biceps, or some shit. But Sophie wouldn’t be impressed with that. It would have to have meaning. And other than his Special Forces unit, he had never cared about symbols enough to put them on his body.
“Well, actually I haven’t been able to do much of what I planned,” Sophie said. “I found a body dump on my second day hiking, and then was drawn into an investigation right after that.”
“You’re kidding!”
“Unfortunately, no. I am not.”
When was it that he had come to love even her pedantic speech patterns?
“Alika, Jake and I are working a case for Security Solutions. Searching for a missing young woman, and we’re driving to do a recon of something related to the case. I should go.”
A pause. Then, “Jake is with you?” Alika didn’t sound happy.
Jake leaned over and spoke into the phone. “Howzit hanging, Alika? I’m working with Sophie twenty-four seven. We’re even sharing a motel room. Catch you later, pal.”
Sophie scowled at him and lifted the phone tight to her ear. She turned away to face the window. “I’ll call when I can speak privately, Alika,” Sophie said softly. She murmured something he couldn’t catch, and ended the call. She slid her phone back into her pocket and turned to him. “Don’t be obnoxious, Jake.”