Smith Investigation Series Box Set 1 (15 page)

“Is that why you sent him threatening texts, Miss Davis?”

“If I said anything to him, it must’ve been in the heat of the moment. As you figured it out like the genius you are, I hate the guy. And I’ve lost to him twice. But not because he’s better than me. He cheats, that’s why.”

“Now, we’ve talked about that, Lilly. You don’t make that sort of accusations without proof.”

“Would you stop calling me Lilly? My name is MagicX.”

“Has she brought false allegations against Robert Whitechapel before?”

“Yes, but we’ve dealt with them. Every investigation has come up with nothing suspicious. Robert is a good, clean player. He’s just that awesome.” The young manager seemed to be a fan of Robert’s.

“I’m right here. Don’t act like I can’t hear you.”

God, she was pissing me off.

“Sure, back to you. So, what you’re saying is that those texts don’t mean anything. Is that right?”

“Yeah. Are we done?”

“Sure. You can go, but don’t leave town. We might need to talk to you again.”

“I’m going to Thailand after I get my money so, suck on that, loser.”

“No, you’re not,” James reiterated. “We can bring you back no matter where you’re going, young lady.” She made a grimace and turned around to leave. I suspected she wanted the move to look dramatic.

“Is it assault or child abuse is I slap her?” I asked. James chuckled.

“Yeah, she’s not a pleasant person to have around.”

“Satan is not pleasant. She’s murderous.”

We passed the reception desk on our way out and weren’t surprised to find the clerk painting her nails, completely oblivious to the Asian couple patiently waiting at the other end of the marble desk.

“God, what is wrong with this place?”

James didn’t hear my question as he went around the car to the driver’s door.

“I don’t trust her. I think she’s involved somehow,” I said after getting into the car.

“I agree.”

“So, do something. Talk to a judge.”

“It won’t make a difference. We need something to bring to that judge.”

“So, what? We wait until he turns up dead?”

He exhaled loudly. “Look, all I can do is tell Matthews to prioritize anything related to MagicX that comes up in his search.”

“What are you waiting for, then?”

Chapter 3

James and I had decided to go straight to Smith Investigations, reasoning that we had nothing to do at the police station anyway.

“Oh, God, Rob. How can we help?” was how Spike greeted me. She went for a hug but I blocked it with a handshake.

“We were already redundant even before you three came back. We’re not in Kansas anymore on this one,” I reluctantly admitted.

“So, we just wait around?” she wasn’t happy with the situation and I understood. None of us were.

“Matthews knows best what to do. We help him. How was New York?”

“Ugh, boring. We had to sit around for the Prosecution and, as it turns out, they didn’t even need us in the end. Like, what?”

I chuckled. “I’ve heard New York called many names, but boring was never one of them. At least, you didn’t get to enjoy the ordeal of testifying. They rip you apart in there, I’m telling you.”

“Word,” Dylan concurred.

“I see some New York has rubbed on you after all.”

And then, there was silence. None of us wanted to talk cheerfully when we knew nothing of Robert, and I had reached my limit for small talk.

“MagicX you said?” Matthews spoke and I almost kissed him for interrupting the oppressive silence.

“Yes.”

“Right. Well, I think I’ve got something.”

“Yes?” I encouraged him. Were all geeks from the planet of not being helpful?

“So, there’s a convo regarding MagicX and Angel of Defeat’s last tournament. I don’t know if it’s relevant…”

“Sorry, are all tech guys unable to talk straight? Just tell me the damn thing!”

DeMarco suppressed a chuckle just in time, before I could smack it out of him.

“Well, people were talking about how the tournament went. And they made jokes about MagicX’s lack of… proper genitalia.”

“What?”

“It’s a tough world. Girls are not always regarded well, especially if they lose publicly. Twice,” he explained, slightly less ashamed of what he was saying than I would’ve liked him to be. As it happened, I had no time to deal with sexism in the world of videogames, so I let it slip.

“Alright. Moving on.”

“In this chat I recovered, someone said that, if they were MagicX, they would kill the Angel of Defeat, ‘cause the shame is just unbearable.”

Spike gasped at that and I could see her hands starting to shake from the shock.

“Is that it? That doesn’t sound like a valid lead,” I said, for Spike’s benefit. In truth, that stupid suggestion from the internet had stirred as much worry in my mind as it did in hers, but I wouldn’t have let it show.

“Right, but there’s more.”

“Lord, no,” I begged to myself, then gestured for Matthews to go on.

“Someone says that killing him is a bad idea, ‘cause it’s messy, so they suggest kidnapping instead. Like, how much food can a computer geek even need?” He chuckled heartily at that and I shot him a lethal glance. “ cause we’re sitting around all day? Get it? It was a joke.”

“Exactly,” I barked. He got the idea.

“Sorry. So, yeah, more of these people start joking around the idea of eliminating the Angel of Defeat through other means than proper game etiquette, mainly because MagicX seem to be unable to match the Angel of Defeat’s skill.”

“And are you certain that MagicX could’ve seen these messages?”

“Yes. She called them … I can’t say what, but anyway, she was there. Like, a second before they started talking about murder and kidnapping.”

“So, it’s very possible that she actually read the damn thing.”

“Would she be that stupid to take suggestions from a chat room?” Smith asked, trying to remain pessimistic, but I could hear the sparkle of hope in his voice.

“James saw her. She’s stupid enough to think she’s smart.” James nodded, supporting my assessment.

“So, does this mean we can go at her with everything we got? Police and all?” DeMarco sounded eager to kick someone’s ass. How I agreed with him....

Everyone in the room looked at James, who shifted uncomfortably in my chair.

“I’m afraid not. But we can make her a person of interest officially. That’ll give us more to do. I’m sorry.”

“That’s alright. We’ll find a way,” I said, trying not to be upset with James for how the system worked.

“Boss?” Matthews called.

“Yeah?”

“We got Robert’s bank records. His last purchase was at a Starbucks downtown, the day he seemed to have disappeared.”

“Three days ago?” James asked, now leaning over Robert’s desk to read off the screen. “Get the surveillance footage from that shop. I’ll go talk to my boss and we’re going to move forward from here. OK?”

His last question was addressed to me, the concern in his eyes making me uncomfortable. I nodded, the warmth radiating from my stomach being something that I thought I was done with when I enrolled in the Military.

What was that smile about, trying to creep up on my lips? Was there something wrong with me?

* * *

“Have you got the footage?” I asked James right as he walked through the door. I had been waiting for him in the squad room for the last ten minutes, but it felt like hours.

“Yeah. They enhanced it as much as they could.” He sounded like he was warning me not to get disappointed.

“You’ve seen it.”

He didn’t reply, just put the shiny CD in his computer and pressed play.

I had never been so tense watching a surveillance footage before. It felt like I should warn Robert, who was sitting at a table, enjoying his sweet coffee, oblivious to what was about to happen.

Then, he walked out of the coffee shop. I squeezed the back of James’s chair as I watched two guys grab Robert and shove him into a car. And that was it. A minute, at most, but it had left me with adrenaline rushing through my veins and thirsty for revenge.

“Is this all your guys could do?” I asked, somewhat disappointed.

“Yes. There's nothing much on the car, no license plate and too far away for facial recognition. I’m sorry.”

The fact that he looked so sheepish for giving me the news made me both satisfied in my misery and guilty he had to feel this way for something that wasn’t his fault.

“Alright. Let’s try Matthews again. Maybe he found something,” I suggested, apologetically.

He already had his phone to his ear. I gestured to put the call on speaker.

“Yeah, boss.”

“Hi. Anything to report on the MagicX search?”

“Sorry, boss. Want me to try something else?”

“We’ve just received confirmation Robert has been, indeed, kidnapped. Does this information help you?” I said.

“Oh, hi, Rob. Sure. I can look into how she’s connected with the perps. I assume we’re still thinking she’s behind everything?”

“You’re correct.”

“Right. I can tell you know that she probably contacted them on the darknet, so there won’t be much there. But I’ll do what I can.”

“What’s the darknet? Maybe you could get a warrant for their records or something.”

James looked to the floor, embarrassed, while Matthews schooled me.

“LOL, you can’t get records from the darknet. It’s the anonymous side of the internet, Rob. It’s, like, the best part of it, you can’t find anything there. Guns, whores, fake money, weed.”

“Like the silky road?” I was starting to remember something.

“The Silk Road. Yeah, kind of. That was one marketplace on the darknet.”

“And why is this available to people? It sounds like criminal heaven.” I seemed to be still too dumb for this sort of discussion.

“Maybe because you can’t just erase it, without it there’s no clearnet either. That’s the part with Google. And maybe because it’s a matter of freedom? That’s where activists meet up, or where people that are persecuted in their countries have a voice.”

“Alright, alright. I didn’t mean to offend you. So, can you do something with this darknet thing?”

“I’ll try but, like I said, it’s all anonymous.”

“You find a way, Matthews. This is Robert we’re talking about. Thank you.”

Even James looked shocked at my polite request. But I wasn’t being nice, I was feeling desperate and powerless. This was not my world and it confirmed the fact that leaving the business would be the best decision. I knew nothing about technology, my time was up in the industry. I was one of the dinosaurs, investigations were requiring more than I could give.

“Are you alright?” James asked, coming to my side. I nodded.

“I hope Robert is OK. I know he’s resilient, but I’m not sure if he can take any sort of pain. He looks so frail, you know?”

“Let’s not assume he’s being tortured. We’ll find him, Rob. Do you trust me?”

“I want to trust you on this, but that would be unfair. You have no way of promising me that and I don’t want this to destroy … whatever we’re trying to have.”

“Alright, then. How about dinner? You haven’t eaten anything today.”

Chapter 4

I had asked James to come over, hoping that sex would’ve helped me sleep. It didn’t. I kept turning from side to side, trying to understand how he could sleep so soundly. I figured it must be a skill needed on the job.

When I checked the time and saw it was past 2 a.m., I decided sleep was a lost cause for me and got up. Maybe some coffee would help.

I was pouring myself a cup when I heard James’ phone ring. I run back into the bedroom and got there as he was picking up.

“Matthews,” he said for my benefit. “What do you have?”

I was chewing my nails waiting to find out what they were talking about. The good thing about geeks was that they had the ability to go without sleep for days. And they were willing to pull all-nighters like no one else.

“Right, thanks.”

“What did he say?”

“He couldn’t find anything on MagicX per se. All he has is a transaction she made on a site. She bought $10 000 worth of bitcoins. He thinks it could be payment for the kidnappers.”

“Nothing else?”

He shook his head.

“That’s not even circumstantial. We have nothing on her.”

“I’m sorry, babe. We’ll try again tomorrow, maybe there’s something else on that footage.”

“What about traffic cams?”

“Like I said yesterday, there are no traffic cams in that area.”

“But, I can’t just sit around, doing nothing.”

“I know, babe. I know. Is that coffee I smell?”

“Yes. Do you want a cup? Maybe it’ll help with brainstorming.”

“Sure.”

He kissed me on the cheek when he passed me into the hallway. “Don’t worry, we’ll do everything possible. I can promise you this.”

I followed him into the kitchen and sat on the one barstool I had. He leaned against the counter and sipped his coffee. If the circumstances were different, I would’ve enjoyed seeing him shirtless, in the middle of the night, drinking coffee in my kitchen, but I was in no mood to reward myself tonight.

“What if we go and look at the footage again?” I suggested, keeping my eyes somewhere beside James.

“What, now?”

“Uhuh.”

“It’s, like, not even three o’clock.”

“Is the station closed?”

“Of course not.”

“Then, of course we can go now.”

“Alright. Put some pants on, you’re not coming with me like that.”

“Very funny.”

In less than ten minutes, we were on the road. And in even less than that, we were at the station.

“OK, so, what are we looking for?” James asked as we sat at his desk.

“We’ll know it when we see it.” I didn’t want to be a smartass, but I really didn’t know what to tell him. I was grasping at straws and anything, even the littlest of clues, would’ve helped us along.

So we watched. And then, we watched again. After two trips for coffee, I decided we we’re doing something wrong.

“Maybe if we take sections and look at them magnified?”

“Every frame?”

“No, a few seconds or so of footage.”

“Fine, let’s do that,” he conceded and stood up.

“We just got a refill. Where are you going?”

“To the forensics lab. Didn’t you wanted to look at this magnified?”

Right. They never did anything here without involving all departments.

I followed him to the elevators, then down some stairs and through a door that said “Forensics” on in, in red letters. I didn’t find it too fancy.

“Right this way, my lady.”

“Shut up.”

“Hello, detective. Working nights again?” said a man with funny eyeglasses from behind a table covered in various electronic bits.

“Good God, no. But I do need a favor. For old time’s sake.”

“Anything. Tell me.”

“Could you help us magnify some footage? It’s less than two minutes long.”

“How do you mean?”

I proceeded to explain what I had in mind, and he got to work as I spoke. In no time, we could navigate between magnified sections and I almost yelped with joy.

“Alright. Can I use this screen?” James asked, pulling his sleeves up. Men always looked hotter when they did that.

“Sure, be my guest. I’m happy to help.”

“Thank you,” I said, then turned my attention to my screen.

I kept staring at every inch of the footage, certain that something would come up. And indeed it did.

“What is this? One of the perps threw something on the sidewalk before getting into the car.”

James hurried to my side, along with our helpful friend.

“Let me isolate that for you.”

I waited patiently, fingers crossed, but I already had an idea of what the object could be.

“Is it his phone?” I asked.

The technician squinted at the screen for a good while, before agreeing with me.

“How did you know?” he asked me.

“Robert, the guy being kidnapped, installed a sort of panic button on our phones. He must’ve tried to press the button and alert the team but the kidnappers saw him. We need to find that phone.”

“I’ll talk with a search team in the morning.”

“What about the graveyard shift team?”

“Right. I’ll get right on it.”

“What team were you talking about? Who are you, people?” the forensic technician asked.

“She’s a PI and the guy you just saw is her firm’s tech guy. And a white hat hacker.”

“Sweet.”

He looked like he wanted to talk some more so we hurried out the door. We had work to do.

* * *

I had been freezing all early morning. Waiting around, with nothing to do, for the search team to find Robert’s phone has not been fun. But everything ended well when someone actually found the damn thing. It had been in the sewage for the last four days but data recovery was not what concerned me.

I had suggested we should check for fingerprints and James had ordered it a priority, but there was every possibility there were none. Even if it hadn’t rained in the past week, chances were the phone was clean. Or too dirty to lift any print.

“Want another coffee?” James asked me with a grimace.

“No, thank you. Make it a tea for me.”

“Detective Bellagio?” an older officer called for James.

“Yes?”

“There was a call from Trace for you, but you weren’t at your desk.”

“Shit. Did they say anything?”

“They sent you a fingerprint. They knew you wanted it ASAP.”

“Thank you.”

I was already at James’ desk. He logged in before he sat down, eager to get things moving.

“What are we doing now?” I asked.

“Now, I search for a match in our databases. You’re getting some sleep.”

“I don’t need sleep.”

“That’s what a hallucinating sleep deprived person would say. You haven’t slept in 48 hours, Rob. I’m taking you home, end of discussion.”

I rolled my eyes. “What if there’s a match?” I argued.

“Then, I get notified. Besides, I’m not the only cop in this station and these searches take time. So, come on, we’re going home. Stopping for breakfast first.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“Yes, you are.”