AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Detective Schwope,” she answered briefly before focusing on the call. “Yes, she was released a few minutes ago. No, she won’t be staying with me. If you need to get in touch with her, call me first. I’ll let her know.” She shifted the cell phone to her other ear. “Has anyone gone to Billings to check out the baby daddy?” She paused. “Not there? Did they go in to see if there was any evidence of a baby being there? They did?” Her lips thinned. “Nothing… Did they lift prints?” She nodded. “Good. Hopefully, it will help us identify this guy. I have a feeling Larry Sutton is an alias. Not his real name. Thanks. I’ll get online and see if I can find a match with the prints and using facial recognition.” She paused again. “I’ll keep you informed. Thank you.”
“They got fingerprints from the ex-boyfriend’s apartment?” Cliff asked.
“They did. That will only help if he’s in a military or criminal database.” She glanced at Cliff. “You say your guy Swede can tap into almost any information found on the internet?”
“I’m not sure what databases he can access, but he finds a way, from what I hear.” Cliff glanced over at Jenna. “Why?”
“While we’re interviewing Waters, see if he can tap into the NGI-IPS, Next Generation Identification-Interstate Photo System to find a match on the photo you sent.” Jenna stared straight ahead. “I might be able to get access, but it could take time, and we could be talking to suspects while a computer is searching for the match.”
Cliff’s lip turned up on one corner. “Are you asking him to break the rules and potentially hack into this system?”
Jenna lifted her chin and refused to meet his gaze. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.”
Cliff chuckled. “Gotcha.” As he steered with one hand, he called Swede with the other and relayed the request without saying it was from Jenna.
“Already on it,” Swede replied. “Takes time, though, for the application to go through potentially thirty million photos. I’ll let you know what, if anything, I find.”
“Thanks, Swede.”
“Anything to bring that kid home,” Swede said and ended the call.
Cliff turned into a parking lot of an office building with a sign advertising a number of different businesses, including one David Waters, Certified Financial Planner.
He parked and met Jenna at the front of the truck. Together, they entered the building and rode the elevator up to the floor where Waters’ office was located.
A secretary looked up as they entered through a glass door and smiled. “May I help you?”
“Is Mr. Waters in?” Jenna asked.
The secretary’s eyebrows rose. “Do you have an appointment?”
Jenna flipped out her badge. “FBI Special Agent Jenkins. I’d like to speak with Mr. Waters, please.”
The woman studied the badge, her eyes narrowing. Finally, she said. “Let me see if he’s available.”
She touched a button on her desk phone and lifted the receiver, pressing it to her ear. “Mr. Waters, there’s an FBI Agent here who’d like to speak with you.” She nodded. “Yes, sir.” After she placed the receiver on its cradle, she smiled up at Jenna and waved a hand toward the door behind her. “Mr. Waters will see you.”
Jenna strode past the secretary’s desk. As she reached for the door handle, the door swung inward. A tall, slim man in a tailored, charcoal-gray suit stood just inside.
He backed up a step and said, “Please, come in.”
Once Jenna and Cliff were through the door, Mr. Waters closed it behind them. He faced Jenna and Cliff and held out his hand. “I’m David Waters.”
Jenna took the hand and gave it a brief shake. “Special Agent Jenkins.” She tipped her head toward Cliff. “And this is Cliff Cranston.”
After they all shook hands, Waters waved them further into the spacious office, indicating a seating area by the window with a sofa and two chairs grouped around a low coffee table. “Please, have a seat.”
Jenna perched on the edge of the sofa.
Cliff sat beside her.
Mr. Waters landed on one of the chairs. “Are you here because of the missing baby?”
Jenna nodded. “We are.”
Waters shook his head. “I talked with a detective last night and told him I don’t have the baby. I didn’t even know the young lady had gone into labor until the detective showed up at my home.”
“Can you tell us where you were at approximately nine-thirty yesterday evening?” Jenna asked.
