by Liz Wolfe
She started the shower and stripped out of the glittery, blue, spandex dress and uncomfortable wonder bra with the gel inserts, tossing them on top of the sandals. The bright blue contact lenses went into a case, and the platinum blond wig landed on the dresser next to the dress. Makeup remover took care of the heavy eyeliner, mascara, and lipstick. As always, it was a relief to wash off the persona. After a hot shower, she gathered up the Carla disguise and stuffed it into a FedEx box.
The Carla persona was an easy one. It only had to fool a few people for a very short time. Carla was almost a caricature in her simplicity. She was exactly what one expected to see. But Cathy Silvers had to be much deeper, much more a real person. The people at The Center would be looking at her closely. If they saw anything that indicated Cathy was just a façade, Shelby would probably be dead before she knew she’d been found out.
CHAPTER THREE
Shelby pulled on a sport bra, tank top, and baggy shorts in deference to the desert heat and checked out of the motel shortly before noon on Sunday. Time to make sure everything was set up for next week.
At the FedEx office, she filled out the form, slipped it into the plastic envelope on the box, and dropped the box in the pick-up slot. Carla was on her way back to Parker Security and Investigation until she was needed again.
If everything went according to plan, The Center for Bio-Psychological Research would be doing a pre-employment background investigation on her soon, and she wanted it all to be squeaky-clean. No sign of the ditzy blonde who had picked up Ted Ryan at Streakers.
She stopped at the market to purchase some groceries and a newspaper, and then she drove to the furnished apartment that had been rented under the name of Cathy Silvers. Stale, hot air poured out when she opened the door. She flipped on the air conditioning and started a pot of coffee. Taking a roll of paper towels and a spray bottle of all-purpose cleaner, she made her way through the place, wiping the desert dust from everything.
Along the way, she checked each room to make sure there were signs that Cathy Silvers wasn’t a brand new person. The kitchen cabinets were stocked with an assortment of canned goods, partial bags of pasta, and half empty spice jars. Bedroom drawers held sensible cotton underwear, socks, and tee shirts, none of them appearing to be new. Bookshelves were filled with obviously used computer manuals, science fantasy and romance novels, and a few popular self-help books. The bathroom cabinet held half-empty bottles of over-the-counter medication, a partial packet of birth control pills with Cathy’s name and old address on the prescription label, and a selection of used makeup.
When the coffee was ready, Shelby poured a cup, settled on the sofa, and punched the speed dial number for Ethan on her cell phone.
“Hey, everything’s set here.”
“Good. I had all the planted information double-checked. Cathy Silvers is a go.” Ethan told her.
“I guess Ben told you what we got from Ted?”
“Yes. Too bad we can’t have Josh hack in remotely.”
“I know, but I’m not surprised they’re using something like thumbprint security. Could be worse, could be retinal scanners. If I can’t talk them into giving me access to their computers, I can still pick up their thumbprints and get in. Besides, being there will give me an opportunity to see things I wouldn’t otherwise. How’s Ted doing? I think we scared the crap out of him.”
“He’s fine. I’ve got him holed up at a resort hotel with unlimited pay-per-view and all the latest computer games. And we got the supply from Mike that you insisted on.”
“I know you don’t like that Ethan, but the poor kid was traumatized. I figured with the right incentives, he’d be less likely to try to bolt.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Ethan sighed and then chuckled. “You know he’s telling everyone that he has a date with you after this is all over?”
“Oh, please.” Ted really was smoking too much pot. “Anything more from Mrs. Watkins?”
“No. She still hasn’t heard from her niece, but she firmly believes Shannon is at The Center or that they know where she is.” Ethan sounded frustrated.
“Let’s hope I can get in there soon.”
“You really think you’ll get them to hire you?”
“I’m pretty sure that after I plant the virus, they’ll at least want me to come in and fix it.”
“I’ve got Josh Dalton on hold if you need him. I can have him there in two hours.”
“I won’t need anyone.” Why did Ethan always think she needed help?
“Still, just in case.”
“Like last night, Ethan?”
Ethan was so silent she almost wondered if they’d lost their connection.
“Is that why Ben and Rick were waiting in the motel room when I got there with Ted?” Shelby asked.
“Calm down, Shelby. I just thought you could use the backup.”
“You know me better than that, Ethan. Let’s get one thing clear. This is my case. I’m in charge here. You might have had some say in how I handled an op when I worked for the FSA, but you’ve hired me as a private investigator. I call all the shots.”
“Fine. Just be aware that backup is here if you need it.”
“You won’t be sending any other surprises, will you?”
Ethan sighed. “We’ll do this your way.”
Shelby hung up and sipped her coffee as she thought about Ethan. Their relationship ran the gamut from antagonistic to symbiotic, with little in between. As much as he annoyed her at times, she honestly couldn’t imagine being on an op without his support. However, this wasn’t an op. This was a case. Shelby wasn’t going to turn down backup as long as it was in the form of intelligence or equipment, and Ethan knew that she preferred to work alone. They’d argued about that a lot when she worked for the FSA, but now it was her case. And she’d do it her way or no way.
The Center for Bio-Psychological Research was located a few miles southwest of Tucson. A low-slung, modern building that sprawled over half an acre of desert. The entire site was surrounded by an eight-foot stone wall that sported inlaid tiles in the shapes of lizards, coyotes, and cacti. Shelby supposed that was an effort to make it look less like a prison. Several men walked about the grounds dressed in khaki pants and white polo shirts. At first glance, they appeared to be employees. Attendants possibly, or lab personnel. Then she noticed how they watched everything.
Guards. Probably armed, although not obviously.
She stopped at the guard gate and showed her driver’s license to the guard. After parking in a visitor space close to the door, she went inside. The lobby was small and well appointed with a contemporary sofa and matching chairs covered in a southwestern design. The coffee table and end tables held an assortment of current magazines. A small table in one corner held a coffeepot, and next to it stood a water cooler with disposable cups. The opposite corner was given over to child-sized furniture and an assortment of educational toys.
A young woman slid open a glass window and smiled at Shelby. “Can I help you?”
“Hi, I’d like to see someone in personnel.” Shelby glanced at the receptionist’s nametag that identified her as Mandy.
“We don’t have a personnel department. If you’re looking for a job, you can leave your resume with me, and I’ll see that the right person gets it.”
“No, I’m not looking for a job. Well, I am, but not here.” Shelby took a breath, letting it sound shaky. “I mean, I need to speak to someone about Ted Ryan.”
“Ted? Regarding what?”
“He, uh, he was in an accident Saturday night.”
“Oh, so that’s why he isn’t at work today. I hope he’s all right.” Mandy smiled sympathetically.
“Well, uh, no, actually, he, uh, he was killed.” Shelby made her voice a hoarse whisper.
“Oh, my God!” Mandy stood up from her desk. “I had no idea. I’m sure Dr. Carlson and Dr. Thomas don’t know either.”
Shelby sobbed and added a sniffle, wiping her eyes. “I’m
sorry, it’s just still so weird to think …”
“Oh, honey, come on in here.” Mandy opened the door next to the counter on which Shelby was leaning and motioned her in. “You just have a seat here, and I’ll go get one of the doctors.”
Shelby shuffled into the tiny cubicle, nodding and sniffling. Her thighs rubbed together from the padded underwear, and her head itched under the dark brown, curly wig.
Mandy left, and Shelby whipped a diskette out of her pocket, slipped it into the floppy drive, and entered the commands to run the virus program. She cocked her ear to the door, listening for returning footsteps. Nothing yet. She fished a tiny microphone out of her sport bra and affixed it to the underside of Mandy’s desk.
“Hi, I’m here for my appointment.”
Shelby jerked around at the deep male voice. “Oh, sorry. I don’t work here.”
“Is Mandy here? I’m scheduled for an electroencephalogram today.”
“Mr. Harmon.” Mandy smiled as she came into the receptionist’s cubicle, followed by a stern looking woman in a lab coat. Dr. Carlson.
“Hi, Mandy, I think I’m a few minutes late.”
“Chase.” A slight smile cracked Carlson’s face. “Just go on back to the lab. They’ll get you set up.” He nodded and moved away from the counter.
Although he probably wasn’t important to the case, Shelby automatically committed his name and face to memory and watched him from the corner of her eye. He appeared nervous. His fingers twitched, and his eyes glanced around, taking in his surroundings.
“I’m Dr. Carlson. Come with me, please.” Ruth Carlson was a tall woman with short blond hair. More striking than attractive. She wore a lab coat over khaki pants and beige heels and looked a bit younger than she had in the pictures Shelby had studied. Shelby obligingly followed her to a small room that contained a round table and several chairs.
“You say Ted was killed in an accident Saturday night?”
“Uh huh.” Shelby nodded. “He’d been out to a club with some of his guy friends, and I guess it happened on the way home.” She sniffled again, pleased that Dr. Carlson seemed a bit irritated by that. “I just wanted to let you know ’cause I know Ted was totally dedicated to his job.”
“Really?”
“Oh, yeah. Completely. Ted and I met online about two years ago. He was so freaking excited when he got the job here. We used to chat for hours about how he was setting up the network and the security protocols.”
“Security protocols?” Oh, yeah, Dr. Carlson was paying attention now.
“Oh, sure. I’m a network admin, and Ted was kind of new to a lot of that stuff, so I helped him out.”
“Helped him out?” Dr. Carlson’s face was getting more pinched and pale by the minute. She pulled an inhaler from her pocket, placed it between her lips, and breathed in deeply.
“Oh, Ted did all the work. I don’t want to give you the wrong impression. It’s just that I helped him decide what kind of security protocol to set up and stuff.”
“I see.”
“Ted was so dedicated to this place. He kind of felt like you’d taken a chance on him. You know, since he didn’t have a lot of credentials and stuff. But, he was so brilliant.” Shelby nodded. “I told him that all the time.”
“Yes, well, it was certainly considerate of you to—
“Just the other day? He called, and he was so concerned about that new virus going around.” Shelby let a little gasp escape as if she was trying to control impending tears. “That one that gets through firewalls. He was so worried about it.”
“He was?”
“And you know what’s really awful? I just emailed him the virus protection program for it the same night he was killed.”
“As I said, Ms….?
“Silvers, Cathy Silvers.”
“It was very kind of you to come by and let us know what happened.” Dr. Carlson stood and opened the door.
“Yeah, I thought you’d want to know. Thanks for seeing me.” Shelby got up and shook Dr. Carlson’s hand.
Crap. Dr. Carlson wasn’t taking the bait.
“If you have any problems, just let me know. Like I said, I helped him work out how the network was set up, so I could probably troubleshoot any problems for you. And I’ve been a desktop support tech, too, so I know my way around computers.”
“That’s very kind of you, however—”
“Oh, it’s the least I can do. It’d be like honoring Ted’s memory, you know? And I’m in between jobs, so you can just call me, and I’ll be right here. Until you get someone else.” Shelby pulled a slightly crumpled card from her pocket and handed it to Dr. Carlson. “Really. I want to do this for Ted. And, no charge, of course.” Cool it, she told herself. Don’t press too hard.
“Well. Thank you for coming by Ms. Silvers. I’ll be sure to call you if we need your help.” Dr. Carlson gestured to the hallway. “You can get back to the lobby this way.”
“Sure. It was nice meeting you. Someone else who cared about Ted, you know.”
Crap.
Shelby hoisted her backpack over a shoulder and waddled down the hallway. Just as she touched the doorknob, Dr. Carlson called out.
“Ms. Silvers?”
Yes! Shelby turned back to her.
“I was just thinking, that if we were to need you for some computer work, we should go ahead and get some of the preliminaries out of the way.”
Suddenly Dr. Carlson’s voice sounded a lot friendlier. “Sure, do you want a copy of my resume?” Shelby hastily opened her backpack and pulled out a resume, walking back to Dr. Carlson. Suddenly, this didn’t feel right. Dr. Carlson’s face had suspicion written all over it.
“Oh.” Dr. Carlson glanced at the resume in Shelby’s hand. “Well, yes, of course.” She took the resume without looking at it. “But we also have a standard procedure that involves talking to our staff psychiatrist and taking a lie detector test. Is that a problem?”
The bitter taste of fear slid across Shelby’s tongue. She swallowed hard and forced a smile.
“No, not at all.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Shelby summoned a geeky grin. “Just want to make sure you’re not hiring a psycho, huh?”
“Something like that.” Dr. Carlson smiled tightly. “If you have time, I can have Dr. McRae interview you now. He’ll also be administering the polygraph.”
“Sure, now is good.”
Like hell it was. She could evade a lie detector test, but usually liked to have a little time to prepare herself. Shelby followed her down the hall.
Dr. Carlson knocked on a door and turned back to Shelby when she heard an answer. “Just wait here a moment.”
Shelby knew Dr. Carlson didn’t have any intention of hiring her. Something had raised a question in the doctor’s mind, and she wanted the psychiatrist to check her out. OK. No problem. Just stay in character. Not like it was the first time this had ever happened. This was not a problem.
Shelby took a breath and closed her eyes, letting her thoughts evaporate. Cathy Silvers had nothing to hide.
Unfortunately, she couldn’t hear their voices through the door to confirm that opinion. She took another breath and let her muscles relax. The door opened.
“Ms. Silvers, come in. This is Dr. Harrison McRae. His interview will only take a few minutes.” Dr. Carlson left abruptly, and Shelby turned to the psychiatrist.
Good thing she’d taken a minute to concentrate on being in the character of Cathy Silvers. Otherwise, she just might have made a fool of herself. Dr. McRae was gorgeous. Delicious. Delectable. And totally, completely off-limits.
His short, dark brown hair stood on end as if he’d just run his hands through it. The rimless glasses perched on the bridge of his straight nose did nothing to hide startling green eyes. Firm lips, set in a square chin smiled politely at her. He appeared to be in his mid-thirties, tall and tanned, with an athletic build. Her idea of a total hunk.
“Ms. Silvers. Please come in.”
&nb
sp; Crap. An Australian accent. She loved an Australian accent.
Shelby wasn’t arrogant enough to think that she was invincible. She had triggers, emotions, and preferences just like anyone else. She was aware of them and had trained herself to ignore them or circumvent them. Find a way to go beyond them. She reminded herself of that fact about three times in the next ten seconds or so.
“Do you mind if I use the restroom first? I had one of those extra large coffees on the way here.”
“Certainly. You can use mine.” Dr. McRae gestured to a door on the far side of the room.
“Thanks,” she mumbled, dropping her backpack on a chair and walking across the polished tile floor to the restroom. She closed the door behind her and leaned against it for a moment, taking a couple of deep breaths and letting them out slowly, forcing herself to relax.
Shelby quickly constructed Cathy Silvers’ entire life in her mind, making sure to add incidents that might be on a lie detector test. She concentrated for a moment on the story of how Cathy came to Tucson, her relationship with Ted, and why she had come to The Center today. She worked on the images and details until she could feel them and smell them and taste them. Shelby took another breath and let it out slowly, then tore off a length of tissue, dropped it into the bowl, and flushed the toilet. She turned the water on and washed her hands.
The tissue flushing and hand washing probably wasn’t necessary, but her rule was to never leave anything to chance if she didn’t have to. Looking in the mirror as she dried her hands on a paper towel, she saw Cathy Silvers. A slightly plump, plain-faced woman in her late twenties. No makeup and her dark brown, curly hair a bit unruly. Loose cotton shirt over baggy jeans and well-worn sneakers.
When Shelby came out of the restroom, Dr. McRae looked up and quirked an eyebrow. “Ready, then?” he asked.