Wired Justice

by Toby Neal

  “You’d have to be dead not to find Jake physically attractive,” Dr. Wilson said. “I met him on Oahu when I was doing some consulting for Security Solutions. I may be twice your age, but I’m not dead.”

  Sophie nodded. “I believe Jake’s attractiveness is biological in nature. Evolution favors powerful males with survival skills. Women are drawn to those who will be able to sire strong progeny and protect them during vulnerable pregnancy and the extended period of child rearing for humans.” She blew out a breath and sighed. “But Jake is also funny, and generous. He is loyal, and focused when he has a goal. He is a creative problem-solver, much smarter than he at first appears. All of these are attractive traits.”

  “You’re talking about him as if he were a research project,” Dr. Wilson said. “As if you need to justify any involvement with him. And if all these things are true, why don’t you want anything more than “partners with benefits?” She made air quotes.

  “Because I don’t want to be in a relationship right now!” Sophie burst out. “I don’t trust myself. I make bad decisions about men.”

  Dr. Wilson sat back, frowning. “Tell me more about this.”

  “First Assan, who I agreed to marry even though I didn’t love him. I was attracted to him, yes. He was older, and sophisticated. He was good to me in the beginning. After Assan and his tortures, I didn’t date anyone at all for five years until I slowly began to have feelings for Alika as I got to know him through coaching me at Fight Club. Then, it seemed like something was happening with us, and Assan destroyed it. Destroyed him. We broke up. And then . . . Connor fascinated me.” Sophie looked up into Dr. Wilson’s bright blue eyes. “You have to keep what I’m going to tell you in the utmost confidence. It’s an open investigation, and I know things that I don’t want to have subpoenaed.”

  “You signed the confidentiality paperwork yourself. You are as protected as I can make this. I won’t take any notes on this topic. In fact, if you would like to see my notes after the session, you are welcome to.”

  “I trust you, Dr. Wilson. And that’s what I’m going to tell you: my first lover after Assan was a cyber vigilante mastermind who calls himself the Ghost.”

  “That’s quite an opening line, Sophie!” Dr. Wilson smiled. “Where have you been all my life! I should pay you to talk to me, because of how interesting all this is!”

  “I’m glad I could provide amusement. I myself have found the situation less entertaining.” Sophie told Dr. Wilson the series of events that had led to her involvement with the Ghost.

  “That’s quite a tale, and I can see why it would put a damper on your belief in your own judgment. But on the other hand, Connor seems to have genuine feelings for you. You two were caught in a moral dilemma that separated you. He seems to have been quite a remarkable man, as are Jake and Alika. If anything, your problem is that you have too many great choices.”

  “I have to agree. And this is why I don’t want to be in a relationship with anyone right now. I just don’t think I know what or who is good for me in the long run. But in the short term, I like having sex with Jake. It makes me feel better.”

  Dr. Wilson muffled a snort of laughter behind her hand. She dabbed her eyes with a tissue and composed herself. “Don’t blame you a bit for that. Good sex is definitely an activity that can help battle depression. I just worry that it will lead to . . . hurt feelings. On either end.”

  “Oh, I already know Jake has other women. On our last job he was sleeping with Antigua, the estate manager.” Sophie remembered the breathless feeling she’d had when Antigua told her the two were physically involved. “I didn’t like hearing it, but mostly I think because he didn’t tell me; Antigua did. And I was with Connor then. Now . . . I have to trust that Jake is okay with our arrangement and will not be too possessive. He says it is okay.” She sighed. “And I still have feelings for Alika. He came back into my life on my last job.” She described the series of events on Kaua’i. “We kissed. But never agreed upon anything further. I got the feeling, though, that he still cares for me. Always has, even though we broke up.”

  “One of the things you said was that you didn’t think you would have gotten involved with the Ghost if your relationship with Alika had worked out. What if that changed? Why don’t you tell me more about Alika and how he was and is different than Jake?”

  “Alika is different because first he was my coach and my friend. I was always attracted to him; anyone would be. He is a beautiful man inside and out. But for the longest time, I didn’t know he thought anything of me beyond friendship and our coaching relationship. Alika is restful. He makes me feel safe. He is sexy and attractive, but in a different way than Jake or Connor. Each man has his own unique presence that seems to bring out something different in me.”

  “You seem to think you should decide right away who to be with. Maybe you are still recovering from Assan . . . and are still too damaged by what happened with him to really know.”

  “I don’t think so.” The more Sophie thought about it, the more certain she became. “I have been out from under Assan for five years. Yes, he attacked me and the men I was dating, but ultimately, I beat him. This is different. It’s about who I am becoming, and who is right for me, not just now but in the future. Only I have no idea what that future will be, and I’m still trying to discover who I am, away from Assan and his shadow.”

  “So trust that the men in your life are big boys. They will choose their own responses to your honesty about what’s going on for you.”

  “But it is very stressful not knowing. I don’t want to break anyone’s heart. Mine was broken when Alika was beaten, and again when I thought Connor was dead.” Sophie spat the word out in remembered pain. “Connor let me think he was dead! How could he do that?”

  “Why did he do that?”

  “He said it was so that we could get a fresh start without each other, since the Ghost’s mission was separating us. He said letting me think he was dead seemed kinder than breaking up because of his ideals. And then he found he missed me too much, and he wanted me to forgive him. I cannot.” Sophie’s lips felt numb as rage at the betrayal coursed through her body. “I will never trust him again. And yet . . . I reached out to him because of this case.”

  “Oh really?” Dr. Wilson got up and went to the small fridge in the corner of the room. She removed two water bottles and handed one to Sophie. “Go on.”

  Sophie told Dr. Wilson about the discovery of the body dump in Kalapana. “The detectives confirmed that the family I found was in Witness Protection. They were cut out of the case, but there is a leak in that organization that’s leading to the assassination of witnesses. Connor loves that kind of case, and can do more to fix it than anyone else. He just texted me that he was working on it. Wanted me to call him to get information for the detectives.”

  “So he is using the situation with you reaching out to him to gain personal contact with you. I want to challenge you that some part of you knew it when you contacted him. Knew that, and wanted that involvement.”

  “Perhaps.” Sophie didn’t want to go there. “More occurred today. Ginger found the body of our client.”

  “No wonder you haven’t had time to research your mother! Good Lord, woman.” Dr. Wilson took a dramatic swig from her water bottle. “I’m exhausted just hearing all of this. How did that come about?”

  Sophie told her. “Ginger found the bones of another victim, too. The investigators are treating the stream as if it might be another dump site.”

  Dr. Wilson frowned at the clock. “I’m sorry, Sophie, I could talk with you all day and it wouldn’t be enough—but I have another client coming. Can we meet again tomorrow? I would like to keep our momentum. I’m sure I can bill some of this to Security Solutions as post-trauma counseling, if that’s a concern. I do contract work for them on occasion.”

  “That would be fine.” They set a time for the next day.

  “I can hardly wait for the next installment of As Sophie�
��s World Turns. Please, try to find out more about your mother and her organization before our next meeting. Don’t let all of this other stuff distract you, and believe me, it may feel more compelling to you, more immediate. But the situation with your mother really requires some deeper exploration, and I encourage you not to shy away from that. When did she say she needed an answer?”

  “She said she would wait to hear from me. She gave me a phone number.” That number seemed to be burned in glowing digits into Sophie’s memory. “You are right. I wish to avoid everything to do with my mother.”

  “But I will help you. Together, we can navigate this. And your love life, too.”

  Sophie hugged the psychologist spontaneously as they headed for the door. “Thank you. I feel less alone.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Evening was casting long shadows over the dense jungle area of the crime scene as Jake pulled up in the Jeep. Sophie had told him she would take a rideshare back to the Banyan Tree Motel and pick up her rental to re-join him after her appointment with Dr. Wilson, so he decided to go back out to see if any further discoveries had been made, and just insert himself back into the investigation.

  Detective Wong detached himself from a cluster of law enforcement personnel and met Jake near the Jeep. “We found two more bodies. Much more decomposed than your client. The chief has ordered a full survey of the ditch and the surrounding areas to find any further remains.”

  “Aw, man. I hope that stream wasn’t feeding into some drinking water reservoir,” Jake said. “But it looks like we might be able to cross a few more names off the missing persons list Sophie has put together.”

  “That’s if we can identify them.” Wong gestured toward a large plastic tub. “This one is so far gone it came apart when the ME tried to move it.”

  Jake held his breath against the smell as he looked in. Bones gleamed amid a sludgy mass that seemed to be liquefying before Jake’s eyes. “Nasty. Definitely going to need to use dental records to check who it is.”

  “That’s what we’re counting on.”

  Freitan strode up. “Well, we seem to have hit a body dump motherlode. We’re going to search until we run out of light, and then pick it up again tomorrow. If you want to come to a team meeting to strategize, we are meeting back at the station in about an hour.”

  “I know Sophie will want to be there too. What can I do to help?”

  “Put up crime scene tape. We’re cordoning off the entire creek, and that goes on for quite a way along the road.”

  Jake didn’t resent the lowly task, but he was glad he had put on his usual worn black ripstop combat pants and waterproof hiking boots as he tromped through the long grass and heavy bushes, unrolling a large spool of tape with another officer.

  “I hope someone called the water department,” he remarked to the uniform working with him, a sturdy young man whose nametag read RAMIREZ. “This stream is heavily contaminated.”

  “Even the governor of Hawaii has been alerted by our station chief,” Ramirez said. “The situation with missing persons on the Big Island has been declared a state of emergency.”

  Interesting that Ramirez was the one to tell him such important news, not the detectives working the case with him. Jake wondered if it was just an oversight, or if Freitan and Wong were intentionally cutting him and Sophie out of the loop. That would be a mistake, with Sophie’s connections to the FBI and her access to the DAVID program’s sophisticated analytical capabilities.

  “Has the local news gotten ahold of this yet?” Jake asked.

  “Hope not. We don’t need this kind of publicity,” Ramirez said. “Spooks the tourists.”

  “Maybe they need to be spooked.” A measure of greater caution might have saved Julie Weathersby’s life. Jake dreaded phoning the parents; but he needed to get it done before the meeting. “Hey, mind carrying on without me? Got an important phone call to make, and I need to get somewhere with a strong signal.”

  The corner of the side road that turned off toward the crime scene and the main highway was the closest place Jake could pick up a good enough signal. He called Bix first to update him on the situation, which took a while. “Sophie and I will be going to a team meeting at the Hilo PD Station. The detectives working the case want me to get the parents over here without alerting them so they can be told the news formally and be interviewed. What’s your take?”

  “Damn shame. Poor girl. That said, let’s do a conference call. I want to be sure we cover all our bases. In my experience, parents of murdered children are angry and looking for a scapegoat. I don’t want it to be us.”

  “Don’t much see how that could apply when Julie was killed a week ago, and we did the family and Hilo PD a service by finding her body,” Jake said. “But all right. I’ll reach out and add them to this call.”

  He punched in the Weathersbys and added them to the call. He was relieved when Julie’s father picked up; he’d dreaded speaking to Mrs. Weathersby, with her soft wet blue eyes that reminded him so much of his mom.

  “Aloha, Mr. Weathersby. This is Jake Dunn from Security Solutions. There have been some new developments in your daughter’s case. I’m on the line with Kendall Bix, and we’ve been asked by the Hilo detectives to see if you and your wife can come to the Big Island and meet with them.”

  “Not a problem, Dunn, because we are already in Hilo,” Weathersby said. Jake could picture the man’s ruddy face to match his hearty tone. “We are working with the FindUsNow PR folks to get the word out about Julie, and they recommended we come to the Big Island to share with the local news and such here.”

  “Perhaps you might have let us know that, Mr. Weathersby,” Bix said testily.

  “And regardless, please wait to hear from Detectives Wong and Freitan,” Jake interjected. “Don’t speak to any news reporters, please.”

  “Why not? We are trying to alert the public so that if anyone has seen her they’d let us know . . .”

  “Please, Mr. Weathersby. There are elements in play that you may not be aware of. We need your cooperation on this,” Bix said forcefully. “You are paying us for our advice as it pertains to your daughter’s case. Please take it.”

  “Mallory from FindUsNow says differently,” Mr. Weathersby said. “He says the more of a stink we raise in the media, the more attention our daughter will get.”

  “Can I get a number for Mallory at FindUsNow?” Bix asked. “I think we should all get on the same page.”

  Weathersby provided the number and reluctantly agreed to cease his efforts to get the media involved.

  Jake shook his head as Weathersby disconnected, leaving him on the line with Bix. “I hope you can get that PR firm to rein it in. This case is about to go nuts when all those bodies hit the news, and if the media gets its hands on it and a leak is traced to us in any way . . .”

  “You don’t have to tell me,” Bix said. “Two steps ahead of you. Now get to that meeting with Hilo PD.”

  “Roger that, boss.” Jake ended the call. He put the Jeep in gear, following Wong and Freitan’s taillights as they headed back to the station for the meeting.

  Chapter Thirty-Seven

  Sophie entered the conference room at the Hilo Police Department, carrying a tray of sushi from Foodland. She had learned from her time in Hawaii never to arrive at a social situation without bringing food. After she got the call from Jake to meet at the station, she’d speculated that the detectives would be hungry and tired from their labors of the afternoon.

  She was right. The law enforcement team descended upon her offering like a flock of sparrows on a rice field. The group consisted of Freitan, Wong, Captain Bruce Ohale, and several other unknown staffers. Coffee was passed around in a metal carafe, and Sophie filled a Styrofoam cup with some of the inky brew, needing to get her energy up a bit after the session with Dr. Wilson.

  Jake arrived, vibrating with his usual energy as he greeted the room. “Our supervisor and I spoke with the Weathersbys. Turns out they are alrea
dy on the island, staying at a hotel in Hilo on the recommendation of a PR firm, FindUsNow.com. Have any of you heard of it?”

  “Nasty bunch of vultures, preying on families’ hopes,” Freitan said. “I am not a fan.”

  “Bix has a meeting scheduled for tomorrow with Mallory of FindUsNow. Hopefully, we can all get on the same page. It would not be good for the news to find out about all these bodies,” Jake said.

  “Perhaps you want to control the message the public gets.” Sophie made eye contact with the station chief, a burly middle-aged Hawaiian man with a bristly buzz cut and very tiny wire-rimmed readers balanced on his wide brown nose. “Hold a press conference and make an announcement.”

  “Not until we have some leads,” Captain Ohale growled. “Everybody keep your lips zipped.”

  Sophie cleared her throat. “Have you considered calling in the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit? They might be a good resource if we are dealing with a serial.”

  “Hell no.” Freitan snorted. “We’ve got it right now, thanks very much.”

  “About a bigger item.” Ohale leaned forward, resting the tips of meaty fingers together. “Someone tipped off the governor about our missing persons list, and the situation has been dubbed a statewide emergency. You wouldn’t know anything about that, would you, Ms. Ang?”