Jace’s Jewel

by Dale Mayer

  She felt sick to her stomach again. “So you’re saying that, even though the security breach was probably fixed, it could be vulnerable even now?”

  “What I’m saying is that, even though the security might’ve been fixed, whoever stole that information could have left it accessible in an entirely different location. There is no way to know.”

  “In that case, whoever finds it would be a good hacker themselves.”

  “The technology has changed in the four years since you had the security breach. Your company would have boosted its security and doubled down on the encryption software available at the time. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t newer technology even now.”

  She shook her head. “We need to change the subject. I’m having trouble keeping lunch down.”

  The two men exchanged glances, then looked back at her.

  She glared at them both. “I mean it.”

  And she tackled her lunch again.

  *

  Jace smiled. He liked a woman who wouldn’t take any shit. Then again, he really liked Emily. He also liked that she cared more about the people insured than the company. It wasn’t that he wasn’t a company man, because, when he needed to be, he was. But, when the company was in the wrong, he didn’t like blindly obeying. In this case, he understood the company’s stand, but it wasn’t helpful.

  He didn’t expect to get a warrant without further proof. She was right there. A judge would need a justifiable reason to give them access to the database.

  They finished lunch and drove her back to her office. Since she had put her foot down, the conversation had dwindled to the weather and was not helpful to their investigation.

  Logan pulled up in front of her office. Jace got out, opened the door for her, and then told Logan, “I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He slipped his hand under her elbow and led her to the front door.

  She glanced up at him. “You don’t have to come in. I know you don’t want to spend any more time with me than you have to.”

  He chuckled, the sound surprising him not only at the spontaneity of it but that it happened at all. “The business has nothing to do with you. I want to spend as much time with you as I can.”

  The words came out so instinctively and so smoothly, it was like he had practiced them. But inside he watched his own actions in astonishment. He’d never thought he would have said something like that before.

  She glared at him suspiciously. “You think you can get more information out of me if you do?” She gave him a challenge with that.

  He halted, pulling her to a stop too, and slanted his gaze down at her. “Hell no. I wouldn’t want to spend time with you if you did. If morals and trust don’t matter to you, then you’re not the kind of person I thought you were.”

  “Well, I know you were not happy with me.”

  “It’s not you I’m unhappy with. It’s the company line. What I don’t want to have happen is somebody else die because we can’t unlock the doors quickly enough.” A sad look came to her eyes, and he reached under her chin and lifted her face until she looked at him. “It’s not that big a deal until it’s a big deal.”

  He watched as the understanding whispered across her expression. His thumb gently stroked her chin, sliding up to her bottom lip, and he said in a low voice, “And I do want to spend more time with you.”

  He glanced around and confirmed they were alone. Grinning, he lowered his head and brushed his lips across hers.

  Startled, she stepped back, her gaze widening. Her mouth opened, but no sound came out.

  He chuckled. “I know. That surprised me too.” He turned and walked away. “You stay safe.”

  He walked out the door, hopped into the truck, and said to Logan, “Okay, let’s go.” The truck didn’t move. He turned to glance at Logan. “What’s up?” He saw a silly grin on Logan’s face. Narrowing his gaze, he asked suspiciously, “What?”

  “Before we go, you might want to wipe the cherry-red lipstick off your lips.”

  Jace groaned. “Figures,” he said in disgust.

  He checked the glove box and found several small traveling packs of tissues. He pulled one out and wiped his lips. Sure enough cherry-red lipstick came away onto the white Kleenex. He stared at it and smiled.

  Logan turned on the engine and pulled the truck from the parking spot. “Now the real question is, did you do that to further our business or because you couldn’t help yourself?”

  Jace snorted. “That doesn’t deserve an answer.”

  Logan chuckled. “Wait ’til the guys hear about it.”

  “Or you could not say anything,” Jace snapped. Then he shook his head. “You’re trying to get on my nerves.”

  “I already got the answer, so it’s no biggie.”

  Jace settled in as they headed to the city. “Where are you going now?”

  “We have interviews with the men and women who were at the river rescue when the cousins drowned.”

  “Good. They’re all together?”

  “Yes, they’re all training at their warehouse.”

  Logan took several turns, following the GPS instructions. They ended up outside a large warehouse with kayaks, canoes, and trailers parked to the side and then ATVs, motorbikes, and dirt bikes on the other.

  Jace smiled. “You know? If I wasn’t doing what I am now, I could see myself doing this.”

  “With all that adrenaline you carry, I don’t think being a weekend warrior would be enough.”

  They walked inside to find they were expected.

  “Good afternoon, gentlemen. I’m Troy Allroy. According to Ice, you need to speak with our team members.”

  “With whoever was at the river at the time of the two men’s deaths.”

  Troy’s face settled into somber lines. “Not everyone is here. John is holed up at home, still struggling with what happened. They were very knowledgeable men, some of our best. They were both instructors.”

  “Did you see what happened to them?”

  Troy shook his head. “I had gone to the parking lot. We were trying to get the big trucks as close to the edge of the river to utilize the winches. The line on that truck is much longer than on the others.”

  “Did you take any pictures of the accident scene?”

  “While it was all happening, no. There was no time.”

  “You know anybody who would have video or images from that afternoon?”

  Troy frowned. “Maybe some of the crew did.”

  “That’s one of the reasons we want to speak with everybody.”

  Jace asked, “How many TxSAR volunteers do you have in this area?”

  “We try to keep twenty trained volunteers so we’re fully staffed.”

  “But several have quit recently,” Jace said.

  “We had several drop out last year. We’re always looking for more. I’m not sure you can ever have too many volunteers. We don’t pay them, yet we need them.”

  “Twenty doesn’t sound like anywhere near enough.”

  Troy nodded. “After we lost the two men in the river, a lot of our new trainees walked away. It’s all nice and glamorous until your life’s on the line. The reality was a little bit too much for some of them. We get a rush of people wanting to help—around thirty to thirty-five—but, by the end of the training session, it boils down to about ten. And, of those ten, we will be lucky to have five happy to stay when reality sinks in, if you know what I mean.”

  “Yes, we know exactly what you mean.” The military was like that too. Just because recruits were in the military and had been trained didn’t mean they had that gift. Or that presence of mind to handle what was thrown at them.

  Troy got down to business then. “I set aside one of the rooms for you. Amber and Amy are ready first for you to interview.”

  Jace and Logan nodded, and Troy led them to a nearby room.

  Sitting down at the table with a notepad in hand, Jace brought out his phone. “I want to record the conversations, if that’s okay with
you,” he said when the two women sat down. He glanced over at Amy. She was a tall, strapping woman in her mid-thirties.

  Amber was stockier. She had shoulders like a linebacker. But she wasn’t fat. She was one of those heavily muscled women; her tone was direct, her voice gentle. “I knew both Ronnie and Howard for years. I worked alongside them. I was trained under them. When we lost both in one event like that, it was a huge load on all of us,” she said.

  “Did you see what happened to them?”

  She shook her head. “No, I didn’t. But it was chaos. They were working the vehicle drowning the fastest, a truck with one man trapped inside. Bill, Peter, and Frank had the van in the river, trying to get a mother and several children out of it, and I was with another vehicle, trying to get a baby strapped in the back seat, and the water was rising. I only heard after the fact what happened.”

  “I agree with Amber,” Amy said, then she frowned. “Also a lot of spectators were on the banks, watching. They wanted to help, but so often nobody knows what to do.”

  Jace and Logan asked several more questions and then thanked the two women.

  Amy said, “The only reason you would be doing this is if you suspect either foul play or negligence. I can tell you this, they weren’t negligent. They were highly skilled and knew what they were about.” She turned and walked out, pausing outside the door. Amber waited for her.

  The two exchanged a look.

  “And I ask kindly that you don’t say anything to slur these two men’s names.”

  “That’s not what we’re here for,” Jace said.

  The door opened, and a man walked in. Twenty-eight-year-old Peter Cole sat down. He looked like a young Viking. The minute they started asking questions, his voice turned husky, his eyes brightened with tears.

  “I still miss them,” he said. “Every day. They were mentors for the younger ones here. They had such a great camaraderie. They were cousins but could’ve been brothers. They were in fact best friends.”

  The next question was important, as it could set off a storm among everybody here. “Did they have any fights or any enemies within this group?”

  Peter stared at him in shock. “No, absolutely not.”

  “Who went to help Ronnie when he first went under?”

  “I didn’t see who was there first. I only saw when Howard went after him. No,” he quickly corrected himself, “I didn’t see him then. I briefly saw him trying to help Ronnie.”

  “Did you see Howard go under?”

  Peter shook his head. “A group tried to haul the two of them back to the riverbank again. But I know they were struggling. The water was questionable at that point. Debris was coming down the river, logs separating the rescuers, and I think they got caught in the debris and went under.”

  “Interesting.” Jace jotted down a few notes. Debris hadn’t come up yet in the other interviews. “Did you see the debris?”

  Peter shook his head. “No, I think Troy might’ve said something to me about it. When I did see it, there were trees and people all over the place.”

  Jace nodded. “Good enough. What about the other rescuers?”

  “There was so much chaos, nobody saw when Ronnie went under, and nobody saw Howard go under as he tried to help his cousin. Several mentioned debris, but nobody can say what it was or if it hit them. We were all busy doing our own thing.”

  Jace understood. But it wasn’t helpful. After the interviews, all the volunteers reassembled into the room together, and he asked, “Do any of you know if bystanders took any videos?”

  Peter nodded. “I do. Several of the local reporters were there, taking videos.”

  Jace and Logan gathered the rest of the information, thanked the crew, and headed back out again. “Wonder if we can get a tape from the media?” Jace asked as he hopped into the truck.

  “Let’s make the call now. It’s only three o’clock. We might get in today to see them.”

  Logan made the phone call while Jace went over his notes. It still bothered him that nobody saw the two men go under. He didn’t know what he was expecting. But it would’ve been nice if somebody had seen that moment when both men got into trouble.

  Logan hung up the phone. “They’re expecting us. Two reporters were down there. Both have videos of the nightmare. The media outlet didn’t want to air them because the two men were both respected members of the community. They were afraid it would be considered in bad taste.”

  Excited they finally had something tangible to look at, they drove to the news station. Inside they met Henry.

  He led them into his office and said, “I was down there with Andrew. We both had video cameras, but they’ve been uploaded to our servers, so I’ll put them up and see if they’re of any help to you.”

  He punched some keys on his computer and then pointed to a large screen behind them.

  Jace and Logan walked closer as the video started to play. “The water level was massive.” Jace whistled. “It’s a wonder anybody survived this.”

  “I have to admit, I thought of that myself when I was standing on the bank, safe and sound,” Henry said. “It was pretty scary at the time.”

  Several rescuers were in the water. All wore the proper safety harnesses, and many of the team were on shore, letting the lines out as needed. “The teams are supposed to work in pairs with a spotter keeping an eye on what’s happening to one in the river.” As Jace and Logan went through the film, they could see several rescuers they’d spoken to.

  Henry said, “These are the two men who died. Both were rescuing a man trapped inside that truck. The angle and flow of the water made that the most difficult rescue. On the side you can see some of the team helping the woman and kids from the van.”

  As they watched, a team member helped a woman out of the van with a child in her arms, who was passed to another rescuer, followed by another child and another child. Jace’s eyes wandered to one of the children. He forced himself to keep watch on the two men. Several other people still hung around on the riverbank.

  Then one man went down, followed by another. It was confusing to tell the volunteers apart with the water threatening to push them underwater, but also because each TxSAR member wore helmets. With the choppy water, it was hard to confirm if they were in trouble. And that was strictly from watching the video feed. He couldn’t imagine what the situation was like from the shore in the ugly weather. There didn’t appear to be anybody else around them. “Can you stop that and play it back slowly?”

  Obligingly Henry restarted the video a few frames back. This time they all watched carefully. Although people were milling about, trying to help both in and out of the water, nobody seemed to be near the cousins.

  “Can we see the other film now please?” Logan asked.

  They waited a few minutes for the feeds to change; then the second video came up. This was similar but from a slightly different angle. It didn’t show much more though. It did reveal several others close by the cousins. Jace watched as the helmets bobbed and shifted. “I see a third man there.”

  Henry stepped forward and studied it. “There is a third man, I think,” he said in surprise. “I never saw him before.”

  “And yet we have all the TxSAR men fully accounted for.”

  Logan tapped the screen, gently circling where all the other rescuers were working. “I’m counting the four we spoke to today, plus Frank and Bill who weren’t at the center. But there’s an extra. Troy was in the parking lot.” He turned to look at Henry and said, “Did you see Troy in the parking lot?”

  Henry frowned. “I think so. It’s John you’re missing. He was there that day too.”

  Chapter 8

  By two o’clock, Emily was ready to leave her office again. With the head office’s decision and the news from Jace and Logan, she was feeling hemmed in. Not to mention the cases stacked up high on both sides of her desk. She needed a distraction, but she also needed to move forward. Considering she had to contact Lyle’s wife, who was the s
ame woman she’d caught in bed with her fiancé, she’d do a lot to push that phone call off. As she sat staring, the phone rang. It was the receptionist. “I have a Sicily Ranger Cowichan on the phone. She needs to talk to the insurance agent on her husband’s life insurance policy. I looked it up in the records, and that’s you.”

  “I’m not the agent on record, but it’s been deferred to me as it’s connected to several other cases,” Emily said. “Put her through.”

  When Sicily came on the line, Emily introduced herself formally, then said, “What can I help you with?”

  “My husband had an insurance policy, and he was killed in a hit-and-run a few days ago. What is happening? And why I haven’t gotten the money?”

  Emily listened intently, looking for clues in Sicily’s voice. And although there was a slight hitch to her tone when saying her husband had been in a hit-and-run a few days ago, no grief or anything resembling sorrow was in her voice. “We are aware of the policy, and our investigation is in progress,” Emily said. “What can you tell me about your husband’s death?”

  Sicily was hesitant at first but gained strength when she answered, “The police have all the details. Basically we were having a barbecue at our house with several friends, and an ex-boyfriend—who we have a restraining order against—came to the party and started a fight. After he left, my husband laughed and went inside to calm down so he could return to the party and we could change the atmosphere from being upsetting.” She paused for a moment, then continued. “He didn’t come back out, and I think it was about an hour later, I went looking for him. There was no sign of him in the house. When I told the guests to spread out and look for him, we found him out on the street, where he’d been run over.”

  At this point, her voice dropped, and the hitch became more pronounced. “We called the police and the ambulance, but there was no saving him.”