Alex looked at Whitney. “Piper is Eryn’s friend. She’s also an FBI agent who specializes in cybercrimes, and she helps us out when we need it. She’s on leave due to an injury and has been working with Eryn a lot lately.”
“That’s great,” Whitney said, turning her focus to the phone. “Did she find something with the Marshals?”
“They’ve obtained a list of all the locations where Percy’s potentially been spotted,” Gage replied.
“But those didn’t pan out, right?” Whitney asked. “At least the news stories say they didn’t.”
“Right,” Gage replied. “So you may think it’s a waste of time for our team to review the sightings, but Eryn has mad computer skills that they don’t have and has often found leads that have been passed over by law enforcement.”
Whitney gave a firm nod as if Gage could see her. “I continue to be impressed with your organization.”
“It’s the team. I’m blessed to have the best people.” Sincerity rang through his tone, and Alex knew his boss really meant it. “So anyway, she’s written an algorithm to see if there’s a pattern in the sightings.”
“And?” Alex urged him faster.
“And she may be on to something. She’s not sure yet. But she’s retrieved as much CCTV footage as she can easily locate to support her theory and is reviewing it. If these files don’t pan out, she said she can look for additional footage from private sources.”
“How long will all of this take?” Whitney asked.
“Eryn figures she’ll have preliminary information by lunchtime.”
“And you’ll update us again then?” Alex asked.
“Absolutely. Talk to you—”
“Wait,” Whitney interrupted. “Does Eryn really think one of the people actually saw Percy? That one of those sightings will actually pan out?”
“She says there’s a potential pattern of movement. So yeah, she does think it’s possible.”
“Then he may not be at the resort, and John Doe was the target.” She looked at Alex. “I could have just been in the wrong place at the wrong time.”
“Don’t be too quick to jump to any conclusions,” Alex warned. “Sure, Eryn has a theory, but we can’t let our guard down here. Nothing is going to change in my protection plan for you.”
She nodded vigorously, her coffee sloshing in her cup. “Right…right…yeah. I hear you.”
“Okay, then,” Gage said. “Anything I can do for you before I disconnect?”
“Just tell Eryn thank you for me,” Whitney said. “Oh, and Piper, too. I owe them both big time.”
“Will do, and keep me updated on the interviews, Alex.”
“You got it.” Alex disconnected and stood. He locked gazes with Whitney. “Promise me you won’t leave the suite or stop being vigilant with your safety.”
She held his gaze. “I promise.”
He reached out to touch her arm to make sure she knew how serious he was. “I mean it. Stay focused.”
“Now you’re scaring me.”
“Sorry. I…it’s…when I think about you and the kids…” Worry crept up in voice and almost choked it off. “I hate having to leave you, and I want to be positive you’re safe while you’re out of my care.”
“Don’t worry about us. We’ll be fine here.” She patted his hand then stepped back.
He clamped a hand on the back of his neck. “Officer Everett or one of the other officers will be right outside the door until I come back. Is there anything you need before I go?”
“No. You’ve thought of everything already.” She smiled at him, that same tender smile of thankfulness and gratitude that went straight to his heart.
He had to force himself not to pull her closer for a hug.
Seriously. Who was this guy who’d taken over his brain? This was so not him.
“If you have an emergency, talk to the officer on duty first, and then call me if you have cell service or use the landline as it’s still functioning,” he managed to say. “If you need something that’s not urgent, text me if you can.”
“We’ll be fine. Just be sure you’re careful, too.” She came close. Nearly toe-to-toe. Smiled up at him again. Rested a hand on his bicep, nearly melting his resolve.
“I wouldn’t want anything to happen to you.” The smile widened, a beautiful sight to behold.
He could hardly resist, but he had to. He gave a quick nod and stepped back. She looked hurt, which honestly surprised him. Was she feeling the same thing? With his recon training, he was usually overly observant, but he couldn’t think straight when she was around.
He made a mental note to pay more attention to her. Hah! Just what he needed. He started to roll his eyes then caught himself. “I’ll come up on our morning break to check on you.”
She nodded, clipped and precise.
Right. He’d offended her. He couldn’t stay around to explain because he wasn’t about to tell her that he was interested in her, and if the coffee swimming in his gut told him anything, he was developing strong feelings for her. Even when that was the last thing he wanted with any woman.
Panicking, he wanted to bolt out the door. Instead, he forced himself to take slow even steps until he was in the hallway.
Officer Everett stood right outside. He spun, his hand going to his holster at his belt.
“Relax,” Alex said, but had to admit he was glad this guy was on extreme alert.
Everett let his hand fall. “Can’t be too careful.”
Music to Alex’s ears.
Everett was Alex’s height, had buzzed blond hair and a thick neck. Alex put him in his late twenties and he’d only been an officer for four years. But when Alex had interviewed him that morning, he got a good feel for the guy’s grasp of proper procedures for a protection detail, and Alex was confident he was up to the task at hand.
“I’m off to our interviews,” Alex said. “You’ve got my cell number. Reception’s been spotty for most cell phones, but use it if you have even a hint of any problems.”
“Roger that.”
“I’ll be back in a few hours to give you a break.” Alex stepped off then looked back. “You have Percy Masters’ picture memorized, right?”
He nodded.
Alex eyed him for a minute. “Wouldn’t hurt to look at it a time or two just to keep it fresh.”
Everett held up his phone. “Will do.”
Alex liked the guy’s attitude, and as he headed down to the meeting room he felt a sense of relief that the trio of officers happened to be vacationing at the resort. Some would say that it was coincidence, but Alex wasn’t sure how he felt about that. Like did he just coincidentally happen to be here when Whitney needed protection, or did God place them both here at the same time for a purpose? Alex always had a hard time grasping what to believe because an infinite number of things could change in a flash. He knew God was all-powerful, and Alex wished he could believe God orchestrated everything, but the magnitude of such a task boggled Alex’s mind.
He entered the first-floor meeting room where the interviews would take place. He would have preferred a smaller, less-intimidating space, but this was the best Tomio could do.
Sam was already sitting at the table, her jacket hanging on the chair behind her, the hood crusted in snow. Her cheeks were rosy, her boots dripping with melting snow. She was looking at a paper, likely the interview schedule that Tomio had set up for them. He’d really stepped up, doing whatever Alex asked. When this was all over, Alex needed to do something nice for the manager.
Sam looked up from her phone. “What’s wrong? You’re flushed.”
Flushed? He touched his face. Was it from his crazy reaction to Whitney? If it was, she had to have noticed it, too. Great. He turned around to take his coat off, then flipped a chair around and straddled it. “Must’ve been the trip down here. I was in a hurry. Wouldn’t do to be late.”
“Right.” A skeptical look said she didn’t buy his story, but she waved the printed schedule, and h
e was thankful she was letting it go. “You ready for a full day of interviews?”
“I’d rather be in here than standing watch at the tent. It’s even colder today.”
“Tell me about it. Tomio and I just finished getting the tarp up over the porch. I can now start looking for the slug.”
“How long do you think it will take you to find it?”
“If I’m looking in the right place, it’ll probably take me all day at a minimum. It’s going to be a long, tedious process. Snow has drifted nearly up to the roof, and I’ll have to remove it a small shovelful at a time and sift through the snow for evidence before discarding it.”
He drummed his fingers on the table. “Maybe I should handle the interviews and you should do that.”
“That’s what I was thinking. But I need to warm up so I’ll sit in on the first one. And then I can pop in when I need a break throughout the day.”
“Sounds good.” He pulled out his phone and set it on the table. “I’m going to record the interviews and take a picture of the guests to show Whitney in case she might recognize one of them. You could listen to the interviews later, if you want.”
“Yeah. Good. I’ll do that tonight. Maybe I’ll come up with questions you miss.”
Alex continued to be impressed with Sam’s willingness to go with the flow. “I hate to keep you up late, when it’s probably a long shot, but I’m not going to ignore any possibility.”
She waved him off. “We have to step up here and make sure nothing goes south.”
“True that. Have you talked to Nate today?”
She shook her head. “I did send a picture of John Doe to Eryn last night to have Piper run it through facial recognition. I have to say it’s pretty sweet that Eryn has a fed for a friend. One who’s willing to help us out anyway.”
Alex nodded as having an insider who had access to top-of-the-line forensic and electronic tools was indeed invaluable. “Bummer that her foot hasn’t healed, and she’s still on medical leave.”
“You know…” Sam tilted her head and studied him. “I’ve heard about everyone’s injury that took them out of their past jobs, but not yours. Is it some super-secret thing that others are under penalty of death from repeating?”
“Nah, nothing like that. I just don’t talk about it.” And don’t want to mention it now. “It’s so minor I honestly feel kind of like an imposter. I mean Gage almost lost the use of his arm. Jackson his knee. Shoot, Riley even lost a kidney.”
“And Coop’s back is a nightmare at times.”
“Yeah, plus Trey’s bum leg and your shoulder.”
“Okay, we ran down everyone’s issues, and yet…” She raised an eyebrow. “Yours is still a mystery.”
He slowly reached up to his right ear and pulled out a hearing aid. “I’ve lost a substantial portion of my hearing in this ear. Bomb.”
Her eyes narrowed. “That’s not minor.”
“Yeah, it really is.” He settled the small hearing aid back in place. “I hardly notice it. But take Riley. If he takes a bad hit, he could be in a life-or-death situation.”
“True, but then any one of us could find ourselves in a life-threatening situation. Prior injury or not. It’s all just part of the job, and we deal.”
She was right, and yet… “I’m thinking Piper doesn’t quite feel that way yet.”
“You think she’s going to be sidelined by the FBI?”
“Odds are good.”
“They’ll probably give her a desk or analyst’s job.”
He snorted. “You’ve met her, right? Like that’s something she’ll agree to do.”
“Yeah, I kinda got that feeling from her. She loves the cyber part of her job, but she wants some action thrown in, too. I totally get that and loved that I got to do both at times as a criminalist. And on the team, it’s a perfect balance. Maybe Gage will have a place for her if her foot doesn’t heal.”
“Maybe.” Alex considered the idea. “Eryn and Trey are talking about having more kids after they get married. Maybe she’ll quit working or switch to part-time and something will open up for Piper.”
“Well, all we can do now is pray for Piper.”
Alex nodded and thought about asking Sam to pray for him, too, as he clearly needed help in figuring out his life, but then he’d have to tell her why, and he so wasn’t going to do that.
Better to get back to the investigation. “Let me know when you hear from her on the facial recognition, okay?”
“Of course.” Sam sat back and crossed her legs. “So what’s your gut feel? About Percy being here?”
“It varies depending on the moment, but we have to assume he is. And in that vein, I want to move Whitney and the kids to a different location tonight.”
“You think Percy knows where she’s staying?” Sam frowned.
“I can’t honestly say, but if we keep changing things up, he’ll have a harder time figuring it out, right?”
She blinked a few times. “Or there’ll be a greater chance he’ll see you move her.”
“We can mitigate that.”
Sam cocked her head. “What did you have in mind?”
“I don’t know. I’ll have to check in with Tomio and see what he might suggest.”
She gave a firm nod. “If that’s what you want to do, I can see the value in it.”
“I honestly do.”
She got to her feet. “Then let’s open the door and start the interviews. The sooner we get started today the sooner we can move them and keep Percy off track.”
13
This was the worst job for Alex, sitting in a windowless room asking questions. He was a take-action guy, not a sit-around guy, and only two hours into the interviews he was already antsy.
An older couple, Herb and Martha Norman, crossed the room and sat down across from him. She had curly gray hair, he was bald, both faces were lined with wrinkles and plenty of laugh lines, but neither of them were laughing now.
Martha clasped her hands primly on the table. “I don’t see how we can be of any help to you. We don’t know anyone here.”
Alex had heard this from each interviewee he’d talked to, and he offered a practiced smile. “You never know what you might have seen that could be of help.”
Herb frowned. “We’re law-abiding citizens, not some hoodlums bent on killing each other.”
“I fully understand that, Mr. Norman.” Alex took out his phone to move things forward. “I have a picture of the poor man who was murdered. Would you mind looking at it to see if you happened to notice him here?”
“A dead person?” Martha clutched her chest.
“I’m sorry, yes, he’s deceased.”
“I’ll look at it, Martha. You don’t have to.” Herb reached for the phone, grimaced, but then took a good long look. “He doesn’t look familiar at all.”
Martha shook her head. “You would’ve only noticed him if he ran you down—with your head in the clouds all the time.” She held out her hand. “Give it to me.”
Herb tsked and passed her the phone. She glanced quickly at the screen then looked away and kept sneaking quick peeks as if it wouldn’t be as bad if she didn’t actually stare at it.
“No.” She shook her head hard, her curls bouncing. “No, I’ve never seen him.”
Herb patted his wife’s hand. “And if my Martha says she hasn’t, she hasn’t. She knows her mind for sure.”
Alex took his phone back and looked at the room roster. They were staying in the room right next to McCray. Some pointed questions were in order here.
“Have you seen anything out of the ordinary happening near your room?” he asked.
“No,” Herb said. “Should we have? Are we in some kind of danger?”
“No, no. I’m only asking to see if you noticed anything odd since you’ve been here.”
Martha looked at him. “There was that one thing.”
Herb rolled his eyes. “Don’t bother him with that.”
“Go ahead,” A
lex said and smiled at her. “Bother me with anything you want to share.”
Martha sat up a little taller. “Well, this man in the room next to us. I came out to get ice. He was heading to the ice machine, too. He was real nice, and we talked for a few minutes. His name is Frisco McCray. He seemed sad to be at the resort alone. Said he’d recently ended a long marriage, and he had to get away, but it wasn’t fun being alone.”
“And of course, being the busybody you are, you commiserated with him and pried more.” Her husband gave her a fond smile.
“Oh, you.” She laughed. “We did talk a bit more, but he really didn’t have much else to say.”
“So what was it that concerned you?”
“We got our ice, and then we went back toward our rooms. He opened his door and a man spoke to him from inside his room.” She frowned. “I thought that was odd when Frisco said he was alone.”
Yeah, it is. But McCray said he had a maintenance man in his room. “Did you hear what the man had to say?”
“Yeah, he said, ‘I’m out of here.’ And then, Frisco said rather sternly, ‘We aren’t finished yet’.”
Could this have been John Doe? “Did you see this other man?”
“No. Frisco pushed him into the room and quickly closed the door before I could get a look.”
“And let me tell you,” Herb said. “If it was earthly possible, my Martha would have accomplished it.”
She swatted a hand at him, and they grinned at each other, a wash of love following their teasing.
“When was this?” Alex asked.
“Sunday night. About eight. I know because I was getting ready for my show to come on TV when I saw that Herb let the ice run low.”
“Is there anything else that you noticed about this Frisco guy?”
“No. That’s it.”
Herb’s bushy gray eyebrows furrowed, and he leaned forward. “Something about him we need to know, seeing we’re next-door neighbors?”
Alex held up a placating hand. “Please don’t read anything into my questions. Like I said, it’s often the things that don’t seem significant that are, and I like to be as detailed as possible so I don’t have to call you back down here and waste your time.”
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