At last she reached the parking lot and whipped in, nearly running over the attendant. She found a parking space, shut off the engine and buried her face in her hands. She pressed her arms against the steering wheel, trying to stop the shaking.
Suddenly someone was pounding on her window.
Chapter 26
CRYSTAL jerked her head up, bile rising in her throat. The shaking intensified. She forced herself to look to her left, through the window.
Bent over and staring at her was the young lot attendant, lightly tapping on the glass with the parking ticket. "You forgot to get a ticket, ma’am. You don't have one, we got to charge you the maximum amount."
Feeling rather foolish, Crystal rolled down the window and took the ticket, muttering a brief apology.
Her shaking began to subside. She looked around. The puce truck was nowhere in sight. Gradually, she composed herself. There are lots of brownish-red trucks in Dallas. She took several deep breaths. Just a coincidence. She got out, her legs rubbery, and checked around in a full circle. Nothing. She locked the car and started across the street to her office.
Why did he follow me off the freeway? she asked herself. And then on down to the West End? Crystal tried to order her frenzied thoughts. He was right behind me at the light. He bumped me. That happens sometimes, a person just gets too close or doesn't realize his truck is rolling a little. He could have pushed me out in front of the cross traffic, but he didn't. I don't even know if it was a man driving, do I?
All the way from the parking lot to the building that housed IRS she continued to lecture herself on her foolishness. Was it even a GMC? In her panic, she hadn’t noticed. Did she even know if it was really puce or not? No. And so what if it was? But she took special care to look at every truck in sight.
By the time Crystal got into the office, she had calmed down. She stopped in the coffee room, got a soda and headed to her office. She would check her messages, and then tell Mark about Randal Kenderson. She decided not to mention her encounter with the puce truck.
#
It was after four when Mark stuck his head in her office. “How’s the testing going?”
“Good, I think. No real problems sticking their ugly heads up yet.”
“Great. Sally wanted to know if she could get a demonstration. What do you think? Ready to show it?”
“Sure. We might turn up some problems, but ... yeah. Tell her to come on in.”
Mark thought it over for a few seconds. “Let’s ask Phil, too.”
“Fine. The more the merrier.”
He looked around. “Let’s do it in my office—more room. How about fifteen minutes?”
#
Precisely fifteen minutes later, Sally, JT, Phil and Pam followed Crystal into Mark’s office.
Sally spoke up. "I brought JT to see the demo. Is that okay?"
"Sure," said Crystal. "I invited Pam to join us."
“It’s your show, Crystal,” Mark said.
“First, let me fill you in on what it’s supposed to do. IPPI stands for Identification from Partial Plate Information, as I’m sure you all know. Right now, if the police have the correct license plate number, obviously they can find who owns the vehicle. But often, a witness gets only part of the number. Or they’re not sure about part of it. With IPPI, you input whatever information you have, it scans the DPS database and finds the most likely matches.”
Pam stuck a finger up. “What’s DPS?”
“That’s the Texas Department of Public Safety. DPS in Austin maintains the records of all registered vehicles. So you can put in partial license plate numbers, you can put in make, model, color of the car, whatever information you have. And you can give probabilities to each.”
Pam looked puzzled. “That may be clear to everybody else, but I need an example.”
“ Okay. An eyewitness could say he thinks the first character was either an 8 or a B. We check both, each with a 50% probability. Or they think the car was a dark color, but not black. We might give black a 10% probability, dark blue 30%, dark brown 30% and dark green 30%.”
JT looked skeptical. “There are an awful lot of dark cars.”
“True. But we also have part of the license plate number.”
Sally said, “So if you had six of the numbers on the license plate, then there would be thirty-seven possible platessince you didn’t know what the seventh number or letter was. Then, the color or make of car would limit it even further. And of course, some of those thirty-seven possibilities might not even be plates that have been issued. Right?”
“Correct. If you knew that the missing character was in a specific position. If you didn’t know which position, you’d have two hundred fifty-three possibilities. And with two missing numbers, it jumps to over sixty-four thousand.”
“Wow,” said Pam.
“So, any other information you can add really helps. Knowing it was a green Ford truck might cut it to only three hundred actually issued plates. And of those, maybe only thirty are registered in the part of the state where the sighting occurred.”
“Then the program uses these probabilities to rank them?” JT asked.
“That's right. The program ranks all possible matches, using the percentages to say which matches are most likely,” Crystal replied.
“In a nutshell, Crystal’s program makes it possible to find a car without a complete license number,” said Mark.
While Crystal was explaining the program, Mark had started IPPI on his computer and typed in the information on the puce truck.
“The case Mark just ran is on a vehicle that entered Nana’s Park yesterday. I’m sure you all know by now that a woman was killed there last week when my grandmother's house burned. The program found three possible matches within the area we selected to search.” She turned to Mark. “You used the thirty mile radius again?”
Mark nodded. “But there were four matches.”
“Right, four. That’s a reasonable number for the police to check. Whereas the thousand it found in the entire state would be rather daunting, if not impossible, to check.”
"And suppose none of those turns out to be the suspect?" asked Phil.
"We change the search criteria. We can search by any distance from any base point. We can search by counties, zip codes, whatever. And it's very easy to change the parameters.”
Crystal thought of the puce truck following her on the freeway. “Mark, show how easy it is to shift the range of the search—to check, say, Dallas County.”
He turned back to the keyboard and typed ‘Restrict to Dallas County.’ In a few seconds, the display listed ten possible matches and displayed their rankings.
“You can see the ranks, addresses, information on vehicles, etc.,” Crystal said. “This search was a little more trouble because the color that the witness gave us was not a pure color. So we had to consider various combinations of red and brown. If it had been pure white, for instance, the list could have been smaller.” She looked up at the ceiling for a moment. “Well, maybe not for white. Still, it’s far and away better than what the DPS has now.”
The group crowded around the monitor to see the information displayed.
“Look at that.” Pam pointed to the first entry on the screen.
“What about it?” asked Phil.
“That’s JT’s address. Isn’t it, JT?”
Everyone turned around to look.
JT was gone.
Chapter 27
MARK spoke first. "Pam, go see if you can find her. And tell her to come see me in my office, please.” He turned to Phil. "Maybe you'd better help look for her also. Might mean nothing," Mark said as Pam and Phil headed for the door. "So, don't spook her. Be casual, but firm. And walk her back with you."
Crystal and Sally started out. “Pam and Phil will find her. Let’s wait for them here.”
Crystal sank into a chair, a thousand thoughts whirling through her mind, none of them slowing down enough to be studied.
Mark
spoke softly. “Crystal, when we find her, do you mind if I handle this, ask her questions and all? You’re so emotionally involved, I think ... well, what do you think?”
She nodded several times. “That’s fine. That’s fine.”
"Why don’t I go check the ladies room?" Sally asked."
"No, I want to talk with you. Pam will check there, I’m sure," Mark said. "You've worked closely with JT for several months. Tell me about her——not what's on her application. I know she's not married; has one—what, five-year-old boy? What about boyfriends?"
"A live-in."
"Know anything about him? What's his name?"
"Not really. Eddie Ray is all I've ever heard her call him. She seems to really like him."
"Let's hope so, if he's living with her,” Crystal said.
"Well, I mean ... I don't know what I mean. I know he drinks a lot, goes to some seedy bars that JT won't go to. He doesn't get abusive drunk, just drinks a lot of beer, from what she says."
"What's he look like?” Crystal was thinking about the guy with the rifle. "He ever come by the office? Did JT ever describe him?”
"Nope. I asked her once and she laughed and said he wasn't very handsome, that's all."
"What kind of car does JT drive?” Mark asked. “Or truck? What about the guy? What's he drive?"
"No idea on either. I know JT has talked a little about buying a new car, but she hasn’t bought it yet. At least she hasn’t said she has. Mostly, the only thing she talks about other than work is her son, Luis."
Crystal tapped the monitor. “It says the truck is registered to Edward R. Dollar. That’s got to be JT’s Eddie Ray.”
“Right.” Mark drummed a steady rhythm on the desk. "You said her work slowed to a crawl a few weeks ago. Ever find out what caused that?"
Sally lowered her head and thought for a moment. "No. Like I said, she seemed to be working hard, just didn't seem to be accomplishing anything.” She stopped. "Actually, now that I think about it, she did ask me about one of our other databases, the topological one."
"Why? Crystal asked, looking from Mark to Sally. “She hasn't done any work on that, has she?”
“Shouldn’t have,” Mark answered. “That was Phil’s project. JT’s never been assigned to any of Phil’s work.”
"Best I can remember, she wanted to know about compatibility; could info from the folklore and history base link into the topological base.”
Silence again filled the room while questions raced around in Crystal’s mind. Could JT be involved? They didn't have a complete license plate number. Still, the program gave that truck its top ranking. Could it be a coincidence? Crystal believed in algorithms, not coincidences.
“What do we get with a hundred and fifty mile radius of The Park?” Crystal asked.
Mark turned to his computer and typed in the request. The computer took fifteen seconds to find sixty-seven in the area, with the truck at JT's address still holding the top spot. Kenderson’s was fifth.
It could still be wrong, Crystal thought. If we had the rest of the license number, or even one more character, it might eliminate JT's altogether. And IPPI is still in testing. Maybe a glitch in the program? Back to the coincidence thing?
"Mark?"
Pam, Phil and JT stood in his doorway. Mark glanced at Crystal and said softly, “You’re okay with my questioning her?”
Crystal nodded.
“Probably nothing to it anyway.” He raised his voice a little. "JT. Come in. Have a seat."
JT shuffled in, head down, spirit deflated. She selected the chair farthest from Sally. Crystal perched on the edge of her chair.
"If you don't need us," said Phil, "we'll get back to work."
"That's fine. Would you please close the door?"
For a minute, no one spoke. Crystal and Sally looked at Mark. Mark looked at JT. JT looked at her hands, clinched in her lap.
"JT, I wanted to talk with you."
JT looked up at Mark, then glanced quickly at Crystal and Sally.
"I've asked Crystal and Sally to stay. Sally, because she's your direct supervisor. And Crystal, because what I want to talk to you about concerns her. Eula Moore is Crystal’s grandmother."
JT head popped up and she cut her eyes in Crystal’s direction. Just as quickly, her focus returned to the rug.
"As you have probably heard, some strange things have been going on at Eula’s place. Last week, things escalated. Her house was burned and a woman was killed. Then somebody shot at Crystal while she was out there.”
Crystal’s head jerked as her gaze snapped from JT to Mark. How did he find out about that? Has Nana found out?
Sally looked at Crystal with a mixture of shock and disbelief.
Mark kept his attention on JT. “Yesterday, we got a picture of a truck entering Eula’s property. It matched the description Crystal's grandmother had given us of the truck that tried to run her off the road. When we ran it through the IPPI program…well, you saw the results. The top possibility is registered at your address to an Edward R. Dollar. We didn't get the complete license plate number. But it is a strange coincidence.” Mark paused.
The tension in the office was oppressive. JT's breathing quickened as she chewed her lower lip and studied the rug. Crystal could feel her own heart beating.
"JT, I'm not accusing you of anything. But Crystal's grandmother was almost killed, and a friend of hers was. And Crystal came within a few inches of being killed. Can you shed any light at all on this? Please."
The tears started. JT looked at Crystal's hands, but her gaze never ventured higher. "I didn't know.” Now, she was sobbing. "I didn't know it was your grandmother's place. I didn't know anybody would get hurt."
For a bit, the only sound in the room was JT's crying. Finally, Mark offered her some water. She nodded, and Sally left to get it.
Emotion so saturated the air, Crystal felt she was suffocating, and wished she had asked Sally to bring her some water also. When Sally returned, JT had fished some tissues from her purse and was drying her eyes and blowing her nose. She drank most of the water without stopping.
Crystal, Mark and Sally sat in silence, giving JT time to compose herself. She knew something about the mysterious happenings at The Park and it appeared she would tell them. They did not want to do anything to destroy that willingness.
Finally, her head still bowed, JT began talking. "It was a little over three weeks ago. We had started testing on the folklore project. I ran across a story, a legend, I guess, about a small band of men bringing a wagonload of gold up through East Texas. They had camped on a low hill overlooking a small lake. The next morning, one of their scouts came racing in. He had sighted a band of Indians coming their way.”
JT pressed a tissue to her eyes, then went on with her story. "They didn’t have enough men to stand and fight and the wagon was loaded with a ton of gold, so there was no way they could pull the wagon and outrun the Indians. The leader ordered his men to push the wagon off the cliff and into the lake. Then, they made a run for it.” JT stopped, blew her nose, then continued. “But the Indians caught them and killed everybody, except a small boy. The Indians took him with them. It was years before he escaped and by then, he had no idea where the gold had been hidden, only that it was in a lake in East Texas."
She stopped, drank the rest of the water and dabbed at her nose. She closed her eyes and said nothing.
Crystal shifted back off the edge of her chair, wondering how this related to her grandmother and wishing JT would get on with the story. After a while, Mark said, almost in a whisper, "What happened next?"
JT took a sharp intake of breath and let it out through her lips. "I didn't believe it, of course. But I told Eddie Ray.” She glanced at Mark. "That's my boyfriend, Eddie Ray Dollar; he lives with me and my son, Luis. I just thought it was a fun thing to talk about. But Eddie Ray's eyes got big as silver dollars. He’s really sweet, and really loves Luis. But he's not much for working. He started asking me all sorts o
f questions about it.
"I told him to forget it. He got mad and left and didn't come back for a couple of days. When he did, he started pressuring me to find out more about it. He threatened to leave for good if I wouldn't do this for him. If I lov--." She stopped, and Crystal thought JT blushed a little. "If I wanted him to stay, I'd do it for him."
She looked up at Mark. "Luis thinks Eddie Ray's the greatest, follows him everywhere. I just ... .”
After a moment, JT continued. "By then, we’d loaded most of the data. So I searched and searched and found several other references to a lost wagonload of gold. They were different, but some parts were similar and Eddie Ray got all excited and said it proved it was true. I told him in all these years it had probably been found. So he kept after me to look for anything about it being found. I couldn't find even a hint about a wagonload of gold being found, or even a bunch of gold. That convinced Eddie Ray the gold was there, waiting for him.”
Once more, she looked up, her expression pleading for understanding. “Dr. O’Malley, I tried to discourage himtold him East Texas is thousands of square milesbut he said it was in a lake with a cliff beside it. And since I always told him IRS could find anything, why couldn't I find that lake for him. Why wouldn’t I do that for him? Then he threatened to leave again, this time in front of Luis.”
She paused and swiped at her nose, her tears starting again. “Luis went all to pieces, crying and begging me not to let Eddie Ray leave. So I promised I'd try to find the lake. I knew it was silly and the few descriptions of the lake weren't enough to find it. But I tried."
"That's when you asked me about the topological database," said Sally.
JT nodded. "I took every bit of information from all the stories about the gold. I got an idea of what part of Texas they were in. And then I used the topological base to check every lake that fit the details. I found one in the right part of Texas that fit the information I had, better than all the others."
A Ton of Gold (Crystal Moore Suspense Book 1) Page 12