“I agree,” Brandi said. “We should tell the police what we know. And I have one more thing to tell them. A Boulder psychic named Dionysia called me. She said she had important information about Sabrina and she wanted to meet with me. I smelled a scam, but she said she wasn’t going to charge me, so I got together with her.” Brandi giggled. “Strange woman,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “Totally fat. A hippo. All puffy and gross like she never goes outside. But she talked about Sabrina like she knew her, even though she said they’d never met. Said she can feel Sabrina’s energy very strongly. She had an image of Sabrina in a white room, focusing her energy on a higher plane beyond daily life. Maybe Sabrina is at some sort of retreat where time has become irrelevant, and maybe that’s why she hasn’t called.”
My skeptical side kicked in. A retreat like that didn’t sound at all like Erik. “You have to be careful with psychics,” I said. “I can’t imagine Erik going on a retreat like that. Did the psychic get a sense of Erik being with Sabrina in the white room?”
“She didn’t say. She did say she got positive loving energy from Sabrina directed especially toward you, Ian.”
Ian sighed dejectedly. Maria whispered something in his ear. He squeezed her hand.
“And one last thing,” Brandi said, firmly. “I filed the papers to be appointed Ian’s guardian and conservator of Sabrina’s property.” She looked pointedly at me. “It’s just temporary until Sabrina gets back.”
Ian looked up sharply. “Did you have to get all legal about it?” he asked. “Couldn’t we just go on the way we have been until she gets back?”
“No.” Brandi said flatly, crossing her arms, eyes steely. “I had to do it. That pushy bitch Gayle Winfield keeps insisting that Sabrina is dead and that her will makes Gayle your guardian and puts her in charge of everything Sabrina owns.”
Ian leaned forward, jutted his chin out and narrowed his eyes. “Oh, no. Not going to happen,” he said shaking his head. “Not me staying with Gayle. No way I can live there with Nicole.”
So Gayle was right that Ian would choose Brandi over her. Gayle had said he would choose Brandi because he would expect Gayle to be too strict about grades and studying. But he said it was about Nicole. I needed to hear more about that, but was too tired to think how to ask.
To my surprise, Maria kept the spotlight on Nicole. “Oh, Nicole Winfield,” she said rolling her eyes. “She is kind of weird. Smart but strange.”
“For sure,” Ian said. “We kind of grew up together, since our moms are best friends. We got along great until last year. Then she totally changed, pretty much overnight. Started hanging out with the weird fringe. Got a bunch of piercings and dyed her hair half-blond, half-black. Became a vegan. She writes this dumb poetry that’s all about how shitty life is. She’s a dork—weirds me out.”
“But it’s more than that,” Brandi said urgently. “Gayle and those Moxie gals are into some deep shit. They basically hate men. That’s no kind of atmosphere for Ian to live in.”
“What kind of deep shit?” I asked. “Does Sabrina know about it? She’s a big part of Moxie. Is she involved?”
“It’s not for me to say, but you should get your friend Gayle and the others to come clean with you. I think they’re going down. You don’t want to be dragged down with them.”
I had no ready response. I was worn out, confused, and ready for the evening to be over.
Fortunately I wasn’t the only one who was tired. Ian was slumped back, yawning, his eyes drooping. “Sorry,” he said sleepily. “I’m still zoned from the trip.”
Brandi stood up. “Right. We should go while I still have the energy to drive home in this storm. Thanks for the dinner and the company.”
After they left, I accepted Elisa’s offer for her and Maria to clean up the dishes, figuring they could use some alone time to work out their issues. I got out sheets and blankets for them to use on my futon couch, and left them to their work. As I headed off to my bedroom to call Pablo before I fell asleep, I could feel my resolve to tell him everything trickling away. I had to find out more about what the Moxie members were up to before I betrayed Bruce by sharing my concerns about them with a cop.
Chapter 20
Thursday morning the snow stopped, the sun came out, and the cleanup began. Elisa, Maria and I re-shoveled my walk and driveway before they took off for their house in the foothills on the newly plowed roads. I pulled on my fleece-lined Sorel boots and walked the six blocks to my office—partly for the exercise and partly just to be out and about.
We’d had two feet of snow, so school and just about everything else was closed. People celebrating their time away from the usual routine created a winter-resort atmosphere . Besides the usual digging out of cars and shoveling of walks, Boulderites were enjoying themselves with sleds, kids, and dogs. Cross-country skiers and snowshoers passed me in the street. Some kids were building a six-foot-high snow fort in the pocket park on Pearl Street. Restaurant owners greeted passersby as they swept the snow off awnings with brooms. Cheerful voices and laughter hung in the air.
But I wasn’t so cheerful. So far all reports were that the Denver airport was still closed. Plows had managed to clear one runway this morning, but deicing areas and other stretches of the tarmac were still buried in snow. An estimated 4,700 travelers had camped out at the airport Wednesday night, according to a solemn news report.
Pablo called several times with increasing frustration about not being able to get the airline on the phone or to get on its website. For sure he wouldn’t be getting home today. And the even worse news was that a new storm was heading our way, expected to drop another foot or more of snow on us tomorrow.
Since all my clients had cancelled, I had a good window to get some work done. I planned to use my time at my office to catch up on paperwork. As I walked along, I saw one of the kids building the snow fort taunting another one: “Liar, liar, pants on fire!” I stopped and stared at them, realizing that this morning could be a good time to meet with Gayle and get to the truth about Moxie. She wouldn’t be showing real estate today and she could get downtown from her house on Balsam without too much trouble.
As soon as I got to my office, I called her and left her a message she couldn’t ignore. “Gayle, I spent some time with Brandi last night, and I’m troubled by what she had to say about Moxie. I’m rethinking my level of involvement. I don’t think I can help you any more until I know more about what Moxie is up to. We need to talk.”
Sure enough, she called back in fifteen minutes. “Why were you hanging out with Brandi and what kind of trouble is she stirring up now?” she barked.
I filled her in briefly on my evening, leaving out the stuff Ian had said about not wanting to live with her and Nicole. “Look. I need you to come clean and tell me what’s going on with Moxie. I’m at my office. Can you come down for a talk?”
She sighed. “I’ll have to shovel out my driveway, but I’ll get there as soon as I can.”
While I waited, I reviewed what various Moxie members had told me about the group’s problems. In the beginning Gayle said Moxie had turned into a nightmare. She also said she’s afraid that what Moxie set in motion killed Sabrina. I’d been taking that to mean that Sabrina’s distress about Moxie’s issues had led her to arrange the retreat that she didn’t come back from. But what if there was more? Maybe Gayle actually suspected one or more of the Moxie women of pushing Sabrina over a cliff. But why would they?
There was the secret Moxie mission some of them have alluded to. Could that somehow have led one or more of them to kill her? What did I know about that secret? Hana told me the Moxie members were taking action to right the wrongs women suffer at the hands of men. She wants to make things better for all women. Lark told me Moxie had turned sour and gone off on a crusade to get revenge against exes who had mistreated them. She said they started by setting up websites that revealed bad things those guys had done in the past, but went beyond that to some risky and wrong way of punishing ot
her men who mistreat women.
If what they were doing was indeed wrong and possibly illegal, would Sabrina have threatened to expose them? At the group meeting, Paige brought up how Sabrina begged the group to return to the Moxie spirit. Lark agreed, saying that Sabrina might have gone off to see if the group could do that on its own. But what if Sabrina had been more forceful, given them an ultimatum? What if that was part of her thirty-day plan?
Chapter 21
Gayle breezed in, snowy and energetic, cheeks red from the cold. “I called Diana and Hana right after I talked to you.” Gayle spoke rapidly as she pulled off her boots, hat, and jacket. “I told them I’m going to tell you everything, and if they want to be here for it, they should show up.”
No sooner had the words left her mouth than Hana and Diana burst in, trailing snow all around my waiting room. “Gayle, you have no right,” Diana said, grabbing her shoulders.
Gayle shook herself free, brushing off the snow Diana had dripped onto her arms. “I have every right,” she snapped. “This is about Sabrina. We’ve wasted way too much time already.” She pushed past Diana toward the counseling room.
Hana stepped in front of Gayle, impeding her path. “This is not about Sabrina and you know it,” she said. “Think about what you’re doing.”
I elbowed past them all and stood in the doorway to the counseling room. “Enough,” I said. “If we’re going to have this conversation, you need to take off your snowy boots and jackets, come into this room, and sit down. If not, you can all leave, and it will be up to you to find Sabrina on your own.”
They stopped squabbling long enough to get their stuff off and get seated in the counseling room—Hana and Diana on the couch and Gayle in the armchair catty-cornered from them. I turned on my electric teakettle, then sat in the wingchair across from the couch. They started right up again.
“You may be right that what’s going on in Moxie has nothing to do with Sabrina’s disappearance,” Gayle said, glaring at Hana. “But we don’t know that. One of those men may have made the connection and taken her.”
“One of what men?” I asked.
They ignored me. “Gayle, that makes no sense,” Hana said. “If someone took her to get back at us, they would have sent us a message. Otherwise what’s the point?” She leaned forward, staring at Gayle.
“Let’s start at the beginning,” I said firmly. “Gayle, you said you’re going to tell me everything. What is everything?”
Gayle took a deep breath and straightened in her chair. “Hana and Diana have a website that makes men suffer,” she said.
Hana sat still, stonyfaced. Diana clenched and unclenched her fists. “Only some men, she said, scowling, “and those men have brought suffering on themselves.”
Gayle lifted her palms to stop Diana. “Be quiet until I finish,” she said. “Then you can make your case.”
Diana pushed back. “You don’t get it.” Her expression hardened, as she dropped her voice down low. “We don’t want you to finish. This is Moxie’s confidential business. Why would you expect us to sit here quietly and let you talk about it?”
The teakettle whistled, jolting me out of the intense conversation. “The water’s ready. I’m going to get myself some tea. Please help yourselves if you’d like some,” I said, standing up and moving to the counter at the back of the room. I got mugs and boxes of tea bags out of the cabinet.
To my surprise, they all stopped talking, walked back to the counter, and quietly fixed themselves mugs of tea. Gayle’s phone rang while she was pouring boiling water into her cup. She put down the kettle to pull her phone out of her pocket, but I stopped her before she could answer it. “If you can, let the call go, Gayle,” I said. “We need to get on with this talk.”
She glanced down at the phone, but let it go to voicemail. “Sorry,” she said. “I keep it on pretty much all the time to be responsive to my customers.” Her preoccupied look as she finished making her tea suggested the call had been one she hated to miss. Too bad. I’d been waiting long enough for some straight talk about Moxie.
After everyone was settled back in their seats, I put my cards on the table. “Look,” I said. “Gayle is going to tell me what’s going on. She invited you both here as a courtesy to hear what she says. If you don’t want to hear it, you can leave. But if you stay, you need to let her talk.”
Hana and Diana sat rigidly, but silently, on the couch. Hana stared down at her hands, while Diana looked off out the window across the room.
I turned to Gayle. “Can you give a brief summary, so we can go on from there?”
Gayle shifted in her chair leaning toward me, away from them. “Right,” she said. “Hana and Diana’s website is set up to punish abusive men. Here’s how it works. Women report men on the site and provide details of the abuse. Diana checks out the story through a confidential network of investigators. If the story is true, Hana teaches the woman how to infect the abusive man’s computer with a malicious software program called Zeus. Once Zeus is installed on the man’s PC, it collects credit card information, online banking account passwords, and other financial documents and sends them to Hana’s server.” She stopped, leaned back, and looked over at them, as if waiting for a response.
Hana stared down at the low coffee table between us. Diana squirmed in her seat, looking like she’d rather be anywhere but here. But neither of them said anything. No denials.
I let the silence hang for a minute. Forced myself to breathe in and out before speaking. Their retribution website was way more complicated and sophisticated than I was expecting. I was shocked. Of course I knew Hana was a computer programmer, but it was hard for me to believe she could or would get people’s information this way. I needed to hear more. “How does Zeus work?” I asked. “Just give me the simple overview.”
Hana looked up, her face impassive. “Zeus is a data-stealing Trojan horse,” she said, her tone and lack of affect fitting a lecturer addressing a Computer 101 class. “Once Zeus is on the man’s computer, it installs modules that make his computer part of a botnet—a network of compromised computers under our control. Just think of it like an alien takeover. We turn the infected computers into zombies—called bots—that do whatever we want them to do. And what we want them to do is give us the man’s financial information like account numbers and passwords.” She stopped.
But clearly that wasn’t the whole story. “What do you do with the financial information you get?” I asked.
Diana glared at Gayle, then at me. “We even the score,” she said challengingly. “We use the stolen passwords to transfer money from the men’s accounts into phony accounts, and we use the credit card information to make electronic withdrawals from their accounts. We send the abused women the money they deserve and need to live their lives and take care of their children. The rest of the money goes to charity.”
I was stunned that these women were so far over the line. So Lark was right. They are making themselves the judges. And what they are doing is risky and illegal. No wonder Sabrina was upset. “This sounds like identity theft,” I said quietly. “I can’t believe no one has reported it. Why haven’t the police shut your site down?”
Hana rolled her eyes. “You may have heard that identity theft is almost impossible to catch,” she said. “And we know how to cover our tracks. The website is secret, passed along by women only to other women they know well. No one will stumble on it, and even if they did, all they’d see is an innocuous women’s discussion forum. The real underlying site is protected by an elaborate system of passwords and logins.”
“So this is what Sabrina wanted you to stop doing?” I asked. “Why didn’t she report you to the police?”
Diana faced me, nostrils flaring. “Because it was Moxie, not just the two of us,” she said in a carefully controlled tone. “We all signed on to this. It erupted out of mutual frustration and resentment. Individually we had once felt impotent, but together we became powerful. We couldn’t just talk. It wasn’t suffici
ent. We knew we were right to be angry. We wanted to stand up and help other women. We wanted to act, we had to act. We acted.” She sat back, arms crossed.
Hana nodded and leaned forward eagerly. “After we give the abused women the money the men owe them, we give all the rest anonymously to shelters for abused women and to groups working for women’s rights in societies where women are seriously repressed,” she said. “So we truly are helping all women.”
Apparently Diana and Hana don’t have doubts. The end justifies the means for them. But how could the others go along? From the way they’d been talking, I had the feeling they had second thoughts about Moxie’s activities. I looked at Gayle. “Maybe I’m missing something,” I said carefully. “But to me it doesn’t sound like all of Moxie did sign on to this. From what I’ve heard, Sabrina and Lark and Paige and you, Gayle, weren’t in total agreement with what was going on.”
Gayle grimaced. “No, Diana’s right,” she said, reluctantly. “We did sign on. It wasn’t just Hana and Diana who wanted to help women who were suffering. We all had our reasons. Horrible exes, abused women we’ve known.”
“Even Sabrina?” I asked.
“Definitely,” Gayle said. “Sabrina’s ex was an addict who couldn’t hold a job. When Ian was a baby, Sabrina was working full-time as a hospital nurse, and he spent all the money he could get on drugs. She couldn’t even leave Ian with him, so she had to pay for daycare. He kept telling her how much he needed her, how he would change if she stayed with him, but he never did. She finally left him. He disappeared into some druggie world, never paid any child support, never saw Ian again.”
Gayle took a deep breath. “Then there’s me,” she said. “My ex had a child with another woman while he and I were still married. And he was convicted of tax evasion, which messed up our financial situation forever. I didn’t hang on as long as Sabrina did. I had no trouble leaving Frank when I found out what he’d done. Never wanted to give him a second chance. Never looked back. Got a divorce and moved on with my life. But I had to take money from my brother to get a new start, and I hated Frank for putting me in that position. And I’ve hated him even more for how he’s treated Nicole.”
Lynn Osterkamp - Cleo Sims 03 - Too Many Secrets Page 12