More Than It Seems

by David Archer

  "It’s not anything big," Denny said. “Fairly simple, I think.”

  "Oh, well, okay then. What can I do for you?"

  "I need everything you can find on Kenny Givens, the one who was found safe and sound. He’d probably be around thirty or so by now, and about six years ago, he lived on Grand Junction Avenue in Boulder. He was known to be a computer hacker, but that’s all I have on him. Do me a favor and see if you can track him down, would you, love?”

  “Sure,” Indie said. “I take it you think he has something to do with the case?”

  “I’m honestly not sure,” Denny said. “I just have the feeling there’s a reason to find out whatever happened to Mr. Givens.”

  * * *

  “Mommy, look,” Kenzie said. Indie turned to see what she was doing and broke into a smile. Kenzie was standing next to the playpen, where little Bo was up on his feet and smiling in her direction.

  “There’s my big boy,” he said. “He’ll be walking any day now.”

  “He just did,” Kenzie said. “He walked across the playpen, that’s what I was trying to show you.”

  “Oh, really? Oh, I wish I’d seen that.” She smiled at her children for another moment, then turned back to the computer on the table in front of her.

  Denny’s request for her to look up the elusive Kenny Givens wasn’t going well. She had programmed Herman, her personal AI assistant, to search for any reference to the young man, but so far, she hadn’t found anything that looked like it might connect to the right person. The only thing that came up on the search was an old reference to a Kenneth Givens who had once lived in Boulder, in an apartment building. His name turned up on a search of utility records, showing that he had once had an electric bill in his name in that building, and she also found an Internet bill. Both of them had outstanding balances, indicating that he had never paid them when he had left.

  Unfortunately, there was no other Kenneth Givens that she had come across who could possibly be the same one. They were either much older, much younger, or had a long history of residence in some other location.

  Biting her bottom lip, she decided to try another tack. She put Herman to work hacking into Givens’ old Internet account, and wasn’t surprised when it took him only a moment to do so. Within a couple of minutes after that, she had his email addresses and a lot of other information. Some of it had to do with his forays into the dark web.

  Kenny Givens had gone by the hacker name of BitStryker, and she was able to find numerous references to that name in various hacker forums. BitStryker was known far and wide to the hacking community as a whiz at breaking through some of the highest levels of Internet security.

  Putting Herman to work once again, she set him to searching through all of the hacker forums she knew of, looking for any recent activity under that name. There were thousands of such websites, so she wasn’t expecting results quickly. She pushed herself back from the table and headed toward the kitchen, thinking that it was about time she started preparing dinner.

  Sam and his Windlass team were in Boulder, and it was doubtful he was going to make it home that night. They were looking for a killer, but Indie wasn’t terribly worried. Sam was very good at what he did, and he had an incredible team working with him. After a few previous adventures that had nearly gotten him killed, his team had become extremely protective of him. She knew they wouldn’t let anything happen to him, if there was any possible way for them to avoid it.

  Since it was only her and the two kids, she decided to keep dinner simple. She had a pizza in the freezer that would feed her and Kenzie, and plenty of baby food on hand for Bo. Dinner was going to be easy, so she wasn’t disturbed when her phone suddenly rang.

  She glanced at the caller ID and smiled. It was her mother calling.

  “Hey, Mom,” she said as she answered. “Would you feel like joining me and the kids for pizza tonight?”

  Kim hesitated for just a second, and Indie’s brows knitted together. “That sounds good,” Kim said after a moment. “That wasn’t what I was calling about, though. Indie, I’m afraid—I’m afraid it’s Beauregard.”

  Indie closed her eyes for a moment. “Beauregard,” she said flatly. “He’s been kind of quiet lately. What’s up with him now?”

  Once again, Kim hesitated. “Indie, he says the case Sam is working on is going to turn his whole world upside down. He says he can’t explain it any better than that, only that Sam is going to learn something that is going to upset his entire world.”

  Indie’s heart skipped a beat. “But he’s going to be okay?”

  “As far as I know,” Kim said. “Beauregard says he didn’t see Sam being in any physical danger, but that this case is going to change things for him forever.”

  Indie let out a sigh. “Well, that’s a good thing, at least,” she said. “Should I tell Sam?”

  “I don’t think so. The way Beauregard is talking, I think he just wanted me to let you know. Maybe you’re going to have to pick up the pieces or something.”

  Indie rolled her eyes. “Gee, thanks, Beauregard.”

  SEVEN

  Denny checked the caller ID when his phone rang and answered quickly when he saw Indie's number. He left the speaker off; after all, if Indie had something that Eric needed to know, he could turn it on after he confirmed it was not a private call that he didn't want Eric to overhear.

  "Indie," he said, ignoring Eric for a moment. “What’s up?”

  "I did what you asked," she said without preamble. "I dug up everything I could on Kenny Givens. He’s thirty years old, now, but he was abducted and missing for over a month when he was just shy of his sixth birthday. As far as I can tell, they never found out who had taken him. His parents were super protective after that, naturally, so he rebelled pretty heavily as he got older. From what I can tell, he’s been something of an outlaw since he left home at seventeen, but the last traces I can find of him are when he lived there in Boulder six years ago."

  Denny frowned, considering in silence. "Where did he live, Indie?" He was careful not to mention anything that might tip off Eric to the conversation’s subject matter.

  There was a pause, one that made Denny wonder if she was reluctant to answer.

  "Well… Strangely enough, he lived less than two blocks from Pastor Jensen’s house. There were only about six houses between them."

  "And his kidnapper was never caught or anything?"

  "No—at least, not officially. Here’s the odd part: Kenny Givens was taken only a couple of months after Steve’s little boy. It’s the only case where two abductions that might be related to Jensen seem to overlap. Do you think it has any bearing on the case you guys are working on?"

  "Thank you, luv," Denny said. “I’m not sure if it’s relevant at the moment, but it may be important in other ways.”

  He could hear the smile in her voice. “No problem,” she said. “But, let me know, will you? I’m curious about him, now, myself.”

  “Sure will, luv,” Denny said, and then he ended the call.

  Eric looked over at him. "Something wrong?" he asked. "What did Indie have to say?"

  "No new developments,” Denny said, trying to sound disappointed. "Maybe the others have found something."

  Eric nodded, still looking doubtful. "Maybe, but I don't hold out much hope. This is a pretty old case, and I’m not finding much information that might lead to the killer."

  "Don’t sell Sam short," Denny said. “He’s cracked a few cold cases in his day, I understand.”

  Eric only looked at him, and then shrugged. “We can only hope,” he said.

  * * *

  It was just over an hour later when everyone gathered back at their makeshift conference room at the station, varying degrees of disappointment spread out upon them. Summer and Sam were already sitting at the table with a number of old files laid out between them when Denny and Eric arrived. Jade, Darren, Walter and Steve were all close behind them.

  "What're those?" Jade asked,
slipping into a seat beside Summer.

  "Old case files on the missing kids Indie told us about," Summer said. "Unfortunately, there's an unsurprising lack of any valuable information. Apparently, the detectives didn't take doing the paperwork on their cases very seriously."

  Eric frowned, disapproval on his face as he joined the others and picked up an unread file, quickly flipping through the contents before setting it down with a disgusted look. "It’s not even in order," he said. "What did they do, just scribble down notes as they thought of things and stuff them in a folder?"

  Summer shook her head. "I don't know, but these aren't much help. The detectives who handled the investigations are either dead or retired, and some of them say they can’t remember anything about them at all. They're as lost about all this as we are."

  Denny took a seat on the other side of the table, reluctantly picking up a file to look through. Predictably, Eric got through them faster than anybody, but he didn’t find anything that he thought was helpful.

  Sam's phone went off a few minutes later, and he excused himself to answer it, leaving them to their task. However, he came back after only a handful of seconds, the phone still in hand, apparently still on the call.

  "Denny," he said, motioning for Denny to come out into the hallway. Denny put down the file he had been reading and followed him through the door, sure that he knew what it was about.

  "All right," Sam said to the cell in his hand, which was on speakerphone, once Denny had closed the door behind him. "Indie, tell Denny what you told me." He looked over at the former commando with an expression that was unreadable.

  "Well, Denny asked me to research Kenny Givens, so I did," Sam's expression didn't change, nor did he say anything, but Denny knew he was going to have to explain once Indie finished speaking. "Thing is, he kind of hung up on me before I could finish, and I couldn't get a hold of him again, so I called you.”

  “Yeah,” Sam said. “And what was it you didn’t get to tell him?”

  "Well, I looked through everything I could find for ideas on whether it was Jensen who had kidnapped him, but that meant researching Kenny’s family. His mother passed away about four years ago, but his father is still around. Lou Givens is a mechanic, and still lives in the same house Kenny mostly grew up in after he was recovered. The only thing that was strange is that the family had moved into that house from the one they lived in previously just days before Kenny was found, and the strangest part is that it was Lou Givens who found his son. According to his statement, he was driving along the street in his old neighborhood, and spotted Kenny sitting on the front steps of their old house."

  “They moved while Kenny was still missing?” Sam asked, and Denny’s eyes said he was thinking the same question.

  “Yes,” Indie said. “About three weeks after Kenny was abducted, Lou and his wife suddenly moved across town. The cops actually thought that was a little strange, too, but they didn’t find anything that seemed in any way incriminating, so they left it alone.”

  "Could Givens be the killer?" Sam asked, finally looking away from Denny to focus on the phone.

  "From what I could see, it’s possible. Their original home was only a couple streets over from Jensen’s. If Jensen was the one who took Kenny, Mr. Givens might have figured it out somehow and taken revenge."

  "Thank you, babe," Sam said.

  Before he could end the call, Indie said, “Hey, hold on.”

  “There’s more?” Sam asked.

  “Yeah. When I talked to Denny earlier, I told him I couldn’t find Kenny, but I did find out he’s still in the area. He uses a PayPal account for money, and Herman was able to get into it. Kenny used his debit card three days ago at an ATM in Boulder, and it looks like he uses the same one all the time. It’s at the Cornerstone Mountain Bank on Chestnut Street.”

  Sam nodded. “Okay. Is that it?”

  “That’s all I’ve got so far, but I’ll keep Herman checking on him.”

  “Sounds good, babe. Let us know if you find anything else.”

  Sam cut off the call, then looked at Denny. "So," he said, "what got you so interested in this Kenny Givens, and why did you feel the need to ask Indie to try to track him down? Is there something you haven’t told me?"

  "Not really, mate," Denny said, "but that doesn’t mean everyone’s sharing everything."

  Sam raised an eyebrow and just looked at him. "Who?" he asked after a moment when Denny wasn’t forthcoming.

  Denny licked his lips, thinking of how to keep his promise to Eric not to say anything. "I overheard it," he said at last. "Thought I'd just ask her to take a look, see what she could find. I suppose it paid off; we've got us a new lead, right?"

  Sam stared at him for another second before he spoke. "Yes," he admitted, "I suppose we do. We should talk to Lou Givens. He might be able to tell us more about what was happening around that time, if nothing else. You and I will go, and the others can keep working on those files."

  Denny nodded, but then he thought about Eric. Should he be told that Kenny Givens might still be around? He decided against it, mostly because he was afraid Eric would want to come along to meet Kenny’s dad.

  "When do you want to go?" he asked, pushing all the troubling thoughts away. "And what do we tell the others?"

  "We'll leave when we can get away without arousing too much of their suspicion and curiosity," Sam decided, looking doubtful of his own plan. "Not too long, though; it’s getting late, and I don't want to have to wait until tomorrow. There’s at least a chance Givens might provide a real lead for the case."

  "Sounds good,” Denny said. “Might be good to look in a different direction, anyway."

  "I agree," Sam said, scooping up his phone and starting for the door. "And I want to close this case as soon as possible. I don't like all the secrets that are turning up around it."

  Without looking back at Denny, he went back to the conference room, leaving the former commando staring at the closed door in silence.

  * * *

  "Where are you going?" Steve asked half an hour later, looking up from his file as Sam and Denny rose from their chairs and started toward the door.

  "Possible lead on the case," Sam answered without looking at him. “We’re going to check it out.”

  "What kind of lead?" Eric asked, reading the last line in the file in his hands before looking up at Sam and Denny. "Where did it come from?"

  Steve leaned back in his chair. "Why weren't we told about it?"

  Sam paused on his way out the door, briefly glancing at Eric before addressing Steve. "Because it might be nothing. No point interrupting the work of reading the old files if this turns out to be a wild goose chase. If anything comes of it, we'll let you know."

  He followed Denny out of the room and through the station to the front doors.

  “I think they don’t trust us, Sam,” Denny said jokingly, but Sam shot him a hard look.

  “Distrust is nothing to make fun of,” he said, “not in a team that’s supposed to work together the way we do.” He shook his head. “But there’s a lot of it starting to show up around this case. I notice you didn’t trust me enough to tell me who you overheard talking about Kenny Givens.”

  Denny scowled. “Not a matter of trust, Sam,” he said. “I promised not to say, that’s all it was. Is it really that important?”

  Sam stopped in the parking lot and looked at him. “I don’t know, Denny. Is it? Maybe you should think that one through and let me know what you think.” He turned and stalked off toward the car and Denny tucked his head down as he followed.

  Neither of them said any more until they were in the car and pulling out of the parking lot, and then Denny looked over at Sam.

  “It was Eric,” he said. “Remember how he guessed about where to find the key to the trapdoor? He told me he used to know a guy named Kenny Givens who lived in Boulder, and Kenny used to write stories about kidnappers and pedophiles and such. One of those stories is what gave him the idea to
look for the key where he found it.”

  Sam kept his eyes on the road in front of him. “That’s an awful lot to chalk up to coincidence,” he said. “I can see why you wanted to check Kenny out.” He glanced at Denny and then cut his eyes back to the front. “But why didn’t you tell me this before? Better yet, why didn’t Eric tell me?”

  Denny shrugged. “Eric’s worried he might be losing his mind,” he said, “like maybe he just imagined Kenny. That didn’t sound right to me, and as you say, bit of a wild coincidence, there, so I asked Indie to see what she could find. I haven’t told Eric anything yet.”

  Sam sucked on his bottom lip for a second, then nodded. “That might be best, for right now. I’m not sure what it means, but it strikes me as pretty odd that two members of this team have some possible connection to the case. Let’s hope Givens can help us figure it all out.”

  “Too right, mate,” Denny said. “Too right, there. And I get what you mean, Sam, it’s a stretch to think about Steve being connected, but Eric? The kid just knew somebody online. Is that really a connection, d’you think?”

  Sam glanced at him once more, then focused on the road again. “It’s close enough to make me wonder what’s going on. Kenny Givens wrote stories that almost seem to be about Jensen; that makes me wonder how he knew those details to put into his stories, unless he was the boy who was there the longest. The fact that Eric read them is probably nothing but an extraordinary coincidence, but I’d almost have to call that eerie.” He shook his head again. “Something about this case is eating at me, and I don’t think I’ll be able to sleep if we don’t find the answer.”

  They drove on in silence for a few minutes and arrived at Givens’ address. Sam parked the SUV in the driveway, right behind an aging Cadillac, and the two of them got out and walked up to the front door. Sam rang the doorbell, and a large man in his mid-fifties answered it a moment later.

  Sam and Denny both held up their IDs. “Mr. Givens?” Sam asked. “I’m Sam Prichard, and this is Denny Cortlandt. We’re with Windlass Security, currently assisting Boulder PD in an old investigation, and we’d like to talk to you for a few minutes, if that’s okay.”