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“I live here, man. Remember?” Kalo’s chair creaked again. “I’m playing four online games at once. If you’re looking for Jo, she’s not planning on coming into the office for another week.”
Carter took the time to explain the situation and the involvement of Beth Katz. “I need you to get involved. I figure someone is trying to frame me. First, they make me look like an ass with Kane by letting his name out to the cartel and now someone is making like I’m murdering women.”
“If you imagine that it’s impossible for an outsider to gain information from the FBI files, then you’re wrong.” Kalo’s chair squeaked as he moved from screen to screen. “That’s how I ended up here. The hackers are getting better not by the month or day but by the second. Look what’s happening around the world. Seemingly impenetrable companies are being hacked. Our minds are moving so fast. Kids are phenomenal at their knowledge of technology. It’s as if another part of their brain has just been switched on. Trust me, a ten-year-old could hack the Pentagon now. Sure, my mind is growing too, but trust me, nowhere is safe. When these hackers start getting into satellites and weapons systems, we’re all dead. Trust me, it’s not far away.”
Thinking over the information, Carter nodded slowly. “So someone planning to commit the perfect crime could be setting me up? First by destroying my support and then by murdering women. Who would be doing this to me and why?”
“You’ve upset many people in your time, Ty.” Kalo chuckled. “Put names in a hat and pull out one. You have a better chance of finding him that way.” He sobered. “First up, you know he is impersonating you or looks like you. I’m sure Jenna and Kane already have men of similar appearance on their list. You were in Jenna’s office. What did you see on the whiteboard?”
Carter stared into space visualizing the whiteboard and only seeing the murdered women. He moved his mental image to the right and made out three names. “Three suspects and I was on the top of the list.” He pulled his pie toward him. The ice cream had melted all over the plate and dripped off onto the table. He dropped paper napkins on the mess and picked up a spoon. “You can get into the casefiles. Get me the names of the suspects and then see what you can discover about them.”
“Sure.” Kalo took a deep breath. “When I’m done, I’ll go through a back door and find out what Agent Katz is doing. Chances are she won’t be guarding her files as she’ll be running a routine facial recognition program on the CCTV footage. I’ll try and download copies of the interesting files and look at them. One thing, next time you call my burner, use a burner. Agent Katz could get through my firewalls. She’s darn good.”
Breathing out a sigh of relief, Carter smiled. “Okay, but you didn’t ask me if I was guilty.”
“I didn’t need to.” Kalo tapped away at his keyboard. “I’ll contact Jo the moment she gets home. She told me she’d call me this evening. I’ll let her know what’s happening. She’ll have your back too.” He paused a beat. “Maybe stay away from town for a day or so. Just in case someone else gets murdered. Stay at the cabin and give us time to find some answers and leave your phone on, so they can track you.”
Carter chuckled. “That won’t help. If I was killing women, I’d have the sense to leave it at the cabin. No, I’ll call when I’m at the cabin and make sure the people I speak to in town know me and not a doppelganger, if that’s what’s happening here.”
“I’ve already started to access files.” Kalo chuckled. “Wow! Agent Katz has accessed nanny cams and local security footage. It’s going to take some time to run a facial recognition over all of them. Man, she’s good. Message me your new number and I’ll call as soon as I have something.”
Carter smiled to himself. He’d conduct his own investigation, and just like Jenna, he had a darn good team behind him. Knowing Kalo was back and Jo on her way, it was as if a great weight had been lifted from his shoulders. “Thanks. Talk later.” He disconnected and dug into his pie. Not even runny ice cream could spoil an Aunt Betty’s pie. He’d hang around for a time and might just have a piece of the cherry one next.
THIRTY-SIX
I could not believe it. It was as if the planets aligned or something. There, in full view, I made out Agent Carter chatting with Leona. I’ve been watching Leona since she started working at Aunt Betty’s Café. I try and avoid that eatery as often as possible. You see, the servers there are very friendly with the sheriff’s department. I see them making special deliveries. All the cartons specially sealed to avoid tampering. It makes me laugh. I could easily inject poison through a carton if I really wanted to—but the sheriff and her deputies aren’t my targets. Killing is an artform, but my special skill is making it appear to be someone else.
It was only by chance that I happened to be in the Cattleman’s Hotel bar and noticed Carter. He’s known around town, and with his FBI jacket and Doberman at his side, he’s a hard one to miss. I watched him play pool along with a few of the locals. He was openly chatting about his vacation and his cabin in the woods. He’d planned to go off the grid and joked about dropping into town only for pizza and supplies. He was perfect and making myself resemble him was too easy. We have many characteristics the same. I needed to add some highlights to my hair, which was easy enough—women do it all the time—and then it took a change of clothes, a pair of snakeskin boots, and shades. In my new persona, many people assume I’m him. I tried the disguise a few times, even dining at his favorite restaurant. He’d been there three times since he’d arrived in town and servers in Antlers even called me Agent Carter at one time. I made sure to pay in cash. A credit card would have given the game away.
Now, you may ask me why I picked Leona this time. She’s divorced and I just happened to have run into her—literally outside Aunt Betty’s Café. She was coming out carrying a to-go cup and walked right into me, spilling the coffee. I apologized, mainly because she had tears in her eyes, and I love a vulnerable woman. I asked her to wait and I’d replace the coffee. I purchased one myself and, seeing her distressed, offered to walk to the park opposite with her, saying that sitting in the quiet park was a good way to gather herself. We sat talking for a time. She sure talked up a storm, telling me about her divorce and how her husband cheated on her, and how she needed to work two jobs to keep the house—blah, blah, blah.
Dressed in my work clothes, I probably didn’t smell so good and all she needed was a sympathetic ear. It was a long hour of wasted time because the moment I offered to meet her for coffee again sometime, she looked at me as if I were last night’s leftovers and shook her head. I mean, really? One long hour of listening to her moaning and she couldn’t give me the same in return. When I watched her toss her coffee into the trash, blow her nose, and walk away without so much as a “thank you,” the need to remove another heartless woman from existence became an obsession. From then on, Leona became my priority. I needed to know everything about her. Where she worked, where she lived, her schedule, and when I could get to her. It sure is easy when people stick to a schedule. I can spend all the time in the world, making sure when the time comes I can just walk into their house and… well, you’ll find out soon enough.
I just need a little more time to make sure Agent Carter is a suspect without an alibi. The CCTV footage the media has been requested was collected and uploaded to a server. That was their first mistake but a big break for me. Ah, I see I have your attention now. Don’t worry, give me time and everything will become clear. I’ve waited and watched Agent Carter because they say everything comes to people who wait, and the stars aligned when I walked past Aunt Betty’s Café and there, right before my eyes, was Leona in her new job. Agent Carter was chatting with her and she was smiling. Her fate is sealed. Remember that I’m not responsible for what happens next. It’s her fault she’s going to die.
THIRTY-SEVEN
After being brought up to speed on the interviews conducted by Rowley and Rio, Jenna looked from one to the other. “Do you believe that either could be suspects?”
“They both have the same characteristics and, like Carter, made contact with the victims before their deaths, although Strauss says he doesn’t know anyone by the name of Jennifer.” Rio leaned back in his chair. “If he were our only suspect, we’d haul him in for further questioning and even consider having him charged on suspicion of murder. The problem is, we have three men, all moving around town at the same time and the victims all worked in places where they were in contact with any number of members of the public in one day.”
Nodding, Jenna twirled a pen around in her fingers. She looked at Rowley. “What do you think, Jake?”
“I don’t believe Carter would murder women, for a start.” Rowley turned his hat around in his hands, fingering the brim. “The other two, maybe, and the woodcarver, Chase Holden, has been to their homes. He knows the victims. He didn’t appear to be nervous at all when we spoke to him. I’ve been talking to people for a time now as a deputy and anyone you stop to speak to is always wary.” He shrugged. “Both Holden and Strauss didn’t have a care in the world, as if deputies dropped by every day to ask them about missing women.” He indicated to the door with his chin. “Carter, on the other hand, was visibly shocked and I could see by his expression that doubting him was cutting deep. Whoever murdered those women doesn’t have feelings and that’s all I have to say.”
“Allowing a killer to lure you into a false sense of security is a big mistake.” Kane moved his gaze from one deputy to another. “I’m not saying that Carter is guilty of murder, but he is capable of taking lives and not letting it worry him.” He lifted one shoulder. “SEALs are trained to kill. Never forget that part of his makeup. He could take out a battalion and not break a sweat. Some can’t take the killing and have mental breakdowns and the suicide rate in troops returning from tour of duty is skyrocketing.” He drew a deep breath. “We know Carter suffered from PTSD due to an incident he won’t discuss. What if something triggered him?” He raised both eyebrows. “Let’s look at the facts: Is he capable of making the changes to the stun gun? Yes, he is.” He looked back at Jenna. “That is one thing you need to be checking. Do our other suspects have the knowledge. Is it available on the internet?”
Making notes, Jenna lifted her eyes back to Kane. “Do you honestly believe Ty is our killer?”
“Nope, but we can’t go easy on him just because he’s our friend.” Kane shrugged. “Trust me, if the boot were on the other foot, he’d be doing the same. It’s better we make sure he’s innocent rather than leave any room for doubt. Just don’t ever underestimate a SEAL. He has far more knowledge and capabilities than any of you are giving him credit for. Plus the fact he knows how to react. That’s part of his training too, and working with Jo, he could fool anyone.”
Troubled, Jenna looked at her deputies. “Okay, Rio, go and see what you can find about changing the amps on a stun gun, and Rowley, take another look at the suspects Strauss and Holden. Don’t go poking around Carter’s files or you’ll stir up a wasp’s nest.”
She stood and refilled her coffee cup and one for Kane and then sat down at her desk and stared at him. “That was harsh. Carter looked stunned when you shook his hand and threatened him. What’s gotten into you, Dave?”
“That wasn’t a threat. It was a promise and he knows it. You don’t want him flying back to Snakeskin Gully and out of our jurisdiction, do you? As he’s suspect, that would show incompetence on our part.” Kane pulled his coffee cup toward him, took a sip, and swallowed. “He screwed up on the sting operation and put lives in danger. He didn’t follow up with the prison to make sure they ran Mateo’s fingerprints when they took him into custody because it’s as obvious as the nose on my face that Mateo escaped in the bedlam that followed the raid. Someone took his place and likely the switch was planned ahead of time, just in case something went wrong. I wouldn’t be surprised if the same switch was made by Eduardo Souza. The cartel is well organized and makes contingency plans.”
Jenna rubbed her temples, wondering where this conversation was going. “There’s nothing he can do about it now. Mateo’s dead.”
