by Sara Gauldin
“Well, I’m curious, but let’s try not to get shot today. We kept things peaceful yesterday, but this morning hasn’t been a brilliant start.”
I nodded, trying to suppress a smirk. “For the record, I wasn’t involved this time.”
“All right, you’re right about that one.” Genevieve nodded.
***
The cemetery was bleak in the cold, gray morning light. The fog was settling in. I shivered as I looked across the expanse of tombstones in neat rows that went on as far as I could see. There were so many dead and so many families missing someone. I shivered and tried to block out the chill.
“Which way?” Genevieve asked.
I pointed out the turn that would take us closest to my family’s little section of the cemetery. As we drove toward the graves, I looked out over the terrain I had hiked so many times before. I couldn’t help wondering if there would be more flowers on my mother’s grave. “Stop.”
“What’s wrong?” Genevieve asked.
“Turn at the next road, the right up ahead. There is someone at her grave.” I squinted to make out the person’s features through the fog that had settled. It wasn’t my father; this person was a woman with medium-length dark hair.
“Do you recognize her?” Genevieve turned at the place I mentioned, but I could see her looking back in the review mirror.
“I don’t think so, but I can’t tell from here.”
“Well, after what you said about your dad and the daisies, I think we should find out what’s going on with his lady.”
We pulled in behind a sepulcher and both of us got out. I checked my weapon despite myself. The woman could have been a friend of my mother’s, but I couldn’t help feeling like we were going into an unsteady situation.
“Let’s split up,” Genevieve spoke so I could barely hear her
I nodded. We went around the crypt in opposite directions; neither of us drew our weapon, that wasn’t the goal here. I lost sight of Genevieve as I worked my way toward my mother’s grave, using headstones and the occasional tree as cover. I watched for any signs of movement, trying to place the woman or Genevieve, but both of them had melted into the gray haze of the cemetery. I reached the gravesite first but found myself alone. I kneeled, looking at the fresh flowers placed on my mother’s grave, this time a pink-tinted lily.
“Hello?” I asked.
There was no answer. Where had the woman gone? Where was Genevieve? A wave of panic hit me. Had I brought Genevieve into danger? We shouldn’t have split up. I set out after her, working my way back through the graves along the way I expected her to come from. The farther I went without seeing anybody, the more I expected something horrible.
“Shh…” Genevieve grabbed me from behind an oversized gravestone.
“What...”
She held her finger up to her mouth to silence me and then pointed down the pathway up ahead to the place where it met the driveway. I could barely make out the woman as she climbed in into what appeared to be a large, black SUV. I took out my phone and zoomed in as far as it would go. With the fog, it still wasn’t a clear picture, but I snapped as many photos as I could as the vehicle pulled away from us. The woman, whoever she was, wasn’t alone. I could see the silhouette of someone wearing a ball cap in the passenger seat as they turned onto the street.
***
“Should I follow her?” Genevieve asked. She furrowed her brow as she tried to process what just happened.
“No, not this time. She hasn’t committed a crime. I just want to know who she is, and why she was here with flowers.”
Genevieve turned the car, so we could go back out of the cemetery entrance on the far side where we came in to begin with. “Well, maybe she was a friend of your mother’s. But it is a little strange, especially after what you told me about your dad’s reaction to the flowers.”
It hit me all at once. “Wait. I need to see the flowers.”
“Why?” Genevieve asked.
“Because that was what my dad reacted to. Those flowers have to mean something.”
“You want to steal flowers from your own mother’s grave?” Genevieve was trying not to laugh. It was a serious statement, but somehow having to say it was ridiculous enough to be funny.
“Maybe not steal. I want to see the flowers up close. I want to see if there’s anything there that could give me an idea about who this woman was.”
Genevieve turned the car around.
I focused on the flowers until I was close enough to read my mother’s name engraved on her tombstone. I choked down the emotion as I took out my phone to photograph the bouquet of pink lilies before I put on gloves and picked them up for a closer look.
“Anything noteworthy?” Genevieve asked. She looked out over the cemetery, on alert after watching the woman run from us like one of our suspects.
“They just look like regular flowers from a florist.” I held the arrangement up to inspect it. There was nothing in the wrapper that I could see by peeping past the cellophane.
“What do you want to do with them?”
“I want to send them in to be processed at the lab, but they are all backed up and who knows how long it would take to get anything back, since it doesn’t pertain to an actual case.”
“You’re right.” Genevieve glanced at the watch. “We need to go. Kirk should be at the airport by now.”
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to make us late.”
Genevieve pulled her keys out of her pocket. “Don’t worry too much. I’d want to know more if the shoe was on the other foot.”
I managed a weak smile. It was kind of Genevieve to put up with my impulse to come here. After taking a deep breath, I set the flowers back on the grave. Mom deserved that, to be remembered. I stopped, staring at the flowers.
“Avery?” Genevieve prompted.
“I’m bringing them,” I said, as I scooped up the flowers and headed for the car. “Mom wouldn’t mind. She always liked pink roses the best.”
“If you feel you need to, then bring them.” Genevieve turned to hike back to the car.
“You don’t think it’s weird?” I asked.
“To be honest, I think it’s weird that that woman left flowers and then ran for it like we caught her robbing a bank.”
“Something is going on here. And I’m afraid it has something to do with my family. Between Dad showing up and the flowers on Mom’s grave…”
Genevieve unlocked the car and climbed in. “Not to mention the fact that there has already been an attempt on your life, and I’m not convinced it had anything to do with the case.”
“So, you don’t think I’m being paranoid?”
“I think if you don’t process that bouquet for evidence, then I will.”
I smiled despite myself; it was nice to have somebody validate the pattern I didn’t want to see was real.
Chapter 21
The airport was quiet and mostly empty as we waited for Kirk Nelson. A few people in business suits passed by. I kept my distance from them.
“You don’t like airports, do you?” Genevieve looked at me like I had lost it.
“I had an unpleasant experience once.” I didn’t want to mention the first time my therapist had tried to kill me in an airport, but it was there, at the forefront of my mind like an uninvited visitor.
“You are just full of memories today.” Genevieve took out her phone to answer a text message.
“I guess so,” I admitted.
Genevieve smiled and waved instead of pressing for details. I turned to see a thinner, more fit Kirk Nelson coming toward us pulling a suitcase and carrying a laptop bag.
“Hi, Kirk,” I greeted my former team member.
“Hey, Avery, it’s good to see you again. I like the hair.”
I touched my hair without meaning to. “Yeah, this is my natural color, the blond…”
Kirk laughed. “The blond was a disguise. You’re not the only one who can play that game, or had you noticed?” He held
his arms out like he won a prize.
I took the bait. “You have been putting in some work at the gym. I’m impressed, I thought you were logging your hours behind a desk.”
“Well, you aren't the only one who can disguise themselves.” He smirked.
My jaw dropped. I swallowed hard and forced myself to close my mouth, so I wouldn’t look like an idiot. “You’re telling me that… it wasn't real.”
“Nope, I tried to get Genevieve to change her appearance, but she wasn’t up for it.”
“I missed so much during that case.” I wondered what else I never knew.
“You had enough on your plate, with trying to solve the case and keep yourself alive. I can't fault you for not noticing. Besides, technology for silicone is amazing.”
“I’ll take your word on it.” I laughed at Kirk’s confession.
How had I never put that together? I knew Genevieve had been working undercover during the Smithville case, but I never saw through Kirk’s disguise or his advanced tech skills in a local PD.
***
Back at the police department, we helped Kirk get settled in the cubicle they cleaned out for his use. He set the computer they provided to the side in favor of using his own equipment.
“What do you have for me?” he asked.
“We have a couple of leads.” Genevieve took the only seat across the desk from Kirk, leaving me to lurk at the end of his desk.
I found the P.I. report in my bag and handed it over. “Our first victim was being investigated by a P.I. Here’s the report, but I can’t quite figure out what all this IP data means. Her ex-husband acted like it was a smoking gun, but I must have missed something.”
Kirk flipped through the file. “I’d have to do a little tracking to know for sure but…”
“What is it Kirk, what was she up to?” Genevieve asked.
“Unless I miss the mark, she was covering her trail. All the IPs are from different locations.” He typed something into his laptop. “Yep, this is a trail, but it won’t lead to your friend. She was trying to lure attention away from her.”
“You mean she was some kind of hacker?” Genevieve asked.
“Maybe. I would need to do some digging to know for sure. If she was, then she wasn’t very good at it.”
I looked at the random numbers and tried to see what Kirk was seeing. “Why do you say she wasn’t all that great at it?”
“Well, the real pros don’t leave this much of a trail for one. They hide the IPs they are using by bouncing the source all over the place. This is an obvious trail, not what I would expect to see from someone hacking.”
“Then why would she be using these addresses?” I envisioned the digital signatures being ties to physical locations, the kind of trail I could follow in person.
“I will do some digging, but my guess is she was using the addresses to expand her internet presence.”
“So, you’re saying she had a bad social media habit?” My hope of finding a physical place in all that data crumbled.
“No, I’m saying that I’d be willing to bet she was using multiple accounts and maybe even different identities online. But I won’t know for sure until I have some time to do some digging.”
I blushed when I realized I was keeping him from finding out what I wanted to know. “Oh, well, can I get you anything?”
“A cup of coffee would be great, I caught the red-eye to get here, and now it’s catching up with me.”
“No problem.” I headed to the break room, hoping the coffee was fit for human consumption. I hadn’t made it there before my phone was ringing in my pocket. I glanced at the screen. Jesse, hmm.
I stepped into the break room and answered the call. “Hello?”
“Hey, do you have a minute?” Something in Jesse’s tone sounded stressed.
“Sure, is everything all right?” I pictured everything that could go wrong with Jesse, Amelia, and Milly in an instant, all while trying not to react to the surge of possibilities.
“Calm down, it’s not an emergency.”
“I’m calm,” I lied.
“Okay, you remember how you said it was all right if I looked into Gina?” Jesse paused. I didn’t respond, so he kept going. “I did some digging and there’s a problem.”
“A problem?”
“Well, Gina Meadors works for Mount Valley Realty. In fact, she is one of the founders of the company. But when I reached out to them, I met a very different Gina.”
“What do you mean?”
“I arranged a video conference, posing as a potential buyer for your cabin. It was this morning. Well, I recorded it so you could see for yourself. Gina was on the conference call, but it wasn’t the same woman you’ve been following.”
“Who was it?” I asked dumbly.
“Well, I assume it was the real Gina. She was plump, brunette, and middle-aged. She seemed like a nice lady.”
“Wow, how did I miss that?”
“I think it would be easy. You didn’t want to come at Gina directly when you were checking her out.”
I let out the breath I didn’t realize I had been holding. “No, I never went into the office; she always met me at whatever property I wanted to tour.”
“Right, and when you followed her, she went to the office.”
“She did,” I admitted. “I thought nothing of it. That part backed up her story.”
“Right, so I figured she must have a legitimate reason to go to the office, otherwise it would be strange, her turning up there so often.”
“Did you find out why?” I asked.
“Not yet, but I think we can assume that whoever the woman is that you’ve been working with, she isn’t Gina Meadors.”
“Then we need to know who she is,” I stammered.
“No, you want to know who she is. I think you need to cut ties with her. Avery, this person is deceiving you for a reason. List your place with another agency if that’s what you want to do, but I have a feeling that Gina, or whoever she is, is bad news.”
“I… I’ll think about how to handle this. Thank you, for everything,” I mumbled. Jesse had bumped his head if he thought I was just going to walk away and not find out why this woman was deceiving me. If she was the last of the George family’s paid thugs, then I needed to know that, but if there was something else going on, I wouldn’t be safe until I found out what.
***
I turned on my laptop. I hadn’t heard from Gina, or whoever she was in a while. After asking her to list the cabin, I was sure things would move quickly. Listings in the mountain town of Allenspark were few and far between; most people hung onto the property in the area for the long term.
Sure enough, an email from “Gina” was at the top of the list. I opened it and found several documents about the sale of my cabin.
Gina’s emailed documents were missing the last file she listed on the enclosures. Unfortunately, that was the document that put the actual sale into motion.
I went back through my email to make sure there was nothing else about the cabin that I missed. I couldn’t help wondering if the real Gina was handling the sales all along, or if the imposter was putting in the work. The situation felt dicier than ever now that it was clear Gina wasn’t who she said she was. I scrolled through a few junk emails and then noticed something I had missed before. There was a response to my posted resume. I had forwarded the faked mail account to my actual email, so I wouldn’t miss any response, but it looked like I had let it slip by, anyway. I took a deep breath and opened the message.
Having found your resume on jobfinder.com, I feel that you may be the ideal candidate for the position our company, Vibeworks Technology, has available. We are an up-and-coming technology company that is focused on leading the digital future.
With that end in mind, we are interested in your wealth of technological experience. Please respond to this message to arrange an interview at your earliest convenience.
Regards,
J. Jansworth
Wow, Jansworth in person, and I bet that he was the same guy who Vance said Dana was reaching out to. There was no time to waste. If we could put the killer behind bars sooner rather than later, then we needed to act on it.
I hit reply on the message careful to reply from the faked account and not my own.
Dear Mr. Jansworth,
I would be glad to meet with you. I will be in town today and if possible, I would love to meet while I’m here. Please understand that I live in Colorado and am looking to move to the area. I will be apartment hunting in the downtown area today. If you are available, please call me at the number below and we can work out the details.
After sending the message, I found the setting to turn on email notifications. If Jansworth responded while I was downtown, I wanted to know right away. I headed out of the confiscated office space I was using for my email and went to find some coffee for Kirk.
“Hey, perfect timing.” Genevieve brightened up when I walked up to Kirk’s cubicle. “I was just coming to find you. I have to run out on a matter that has to do with another case. I should be back in a couple of hours. Can you keep things moving here?”
I set the coffee cups on the desk. “Absolutely. I have a few angles I can work on. You take care of your other case.”
“Great, hopefully, this won’t take long.” Genevieve took out her keys and rushed past me.
“Well, I guess it’s good I left my rental car here,” I said to Kirk.
“Are you heading out?” he asked.
“Yeah, I want to head downtown and check for surveillance cameras near a building the first victim was spotted coming and going from. While I’m downtown, I want to check into this Justin Jansworth person who Dana was accused of collaborating with.”
“Hey, before you go, can you give me an address on the place where you found this setup?” Kirk pointed to the picture I took of the equipment in Holly’s front closet.