Chapter 35

After believing that Kane and Jenna had become part of his surrogate family, a heavy weight landed on Carter’s shoulders. He couldn’t stand around and wait for his friends to make a case against him and he had to admit right now the evidence was compelling. He clicked his fingers and Zorro, always loyal and his constant companion, walked beside him. Zorro wore his FBI coat, because in truth, an FBI agent was never really off duty. He needed to walk and think. Soon he found himself at Aunt Betty’s Café. He needed a familiar sanctuary to think and walked inside. He smiled at Susie, the manager, and ordered a slice of apple pie and coffee. “How’s your day been?”

“Busy as usual.” Susie smiled at him. “The FBI has been all around town of late. I was informed my CCTV footage would be confiscated. Do you know what’s going on?”

An uneasy feeling crept across Carter and he shrugged. “I’m on vacation, so out of the loop right now.” He leaned closer. “What do you figure is going on?”

“I know for a fact two of the women working at the market went missing. The manager came by earlier and told me. He said a man who looks just like you came by his store and talked to both women.”

Scratching his cheek, Carter stared at her. “It could have been me. I did go into the market and buy a new lock. I spoke to the server but I’m guessing she spoke to many people over the same day. Why do you believe they’re targeting someone who looks like me?”

“I’m not sure but I did see a guy who looks like you.” Susie leaned closer. “The chef needed a couple of extra pans and I dropped by the general store to see what they had available. I almost stopped the guy to chat, then when he turned around it wasn’t you. He had black eyes, not green like yours, and wasn’t as tall.”

Interested, Carter nodded. “Was he talking to anyone?”

“Yeah, he was real chatty with Dakota, like they knew each other.” Susie rolled her eyes. “I’m waiting in line to pay for the pans and he’s talking up a storm like he has all the time in the world.”

Nodding, Carter blew out a breath. Susie had been up and personal with a potential killer. She could identify the man everyone believed was him. “What day was this?”

“That would be Thursday last.” Susie looked at him. “Do you figure he could be involved with Dakota going missing?”

Not wanting to alarm Susie, Carter shrugged nonchalantly. “Like I said, I’m out of the loop right now. Keep the information to yourself but tell Jenna if she asks you. If he’s involved and knows you can identify him, you might put yourself in danger.”

“My lips are sealed.” Susie smiled. “I’ll have Leona bring out your meal. It won’t be long.”

Carter returned her smile. “Leona? I don’t believe we’ve met.”

“She started a couple of weeks back.” Susie leaned in again conspiratorially. “Married six months and her husband had an affair. They moved here for his job and he’s hightailed it back to Texas, left her the house, so she’s working two jobs to pay for it.” She pointed at him. “You be nice to her. She’s fragile.”

Holding up both hands and backing away, Carter chuckled. “I’m always nice.” He headed for a seat near the window and sat down to watch the people walking along Main.

A young woman arrived a short time later with a tray carrying a pot of coffee, the fixings, and a very large slice of pie with ice cream on the side. Susie always spoiled him and he appreciated her. He looked up at the young woman, her face flushed from running around. He put her age at around twenty, and her heart-shaped face held exquisite eyes of the darkest violet-blue he’d ever seen. “You must be Leona.” He smiled at her. “Agent Ty Carter, nice to meet you. How are you settling into life in Black Rock Falls?”

“Not so good.” Leona pushed a strand of hair behind one ear and poured his coffee. “I’ll be happier when I can sell my house and move closer to town. I don’t need a big old house. The apartments in town, the ones they’re building in the old industrial buildings on Maple, are more my style.”

Carter smiled at her. “I’m sure it will sell. The real estate is in demand in this town.”

“Oh, do you live in town?” Leona smiled at him. “I haven’t seen you come by.”

Shaking his head. “Right now I have a cabin in the woods, but I live out at Snakeskin Gully. I’m on vacation right now.” He leaned back in his chair. “I’m in town often, so I’ll be around. Maybe we can have a drink sometime?”

“I’d like that.” Leona blushed prettily. “It will need to be when I sell my house. Right now, I’m working all hours. So I’ll take a raincheck if that’s okay?”

Nodding, Carter smiled at her. “Sure. I’ll be dropping by again real soon.”

He watched her go, wondering if Agent Katz was monitoring his every move via the CCTV cameras around town. Being a social animal, changing his usual character and friendliness toward women just to please a murder investigation was never going to happen. He hadn’t done anything wrong and refused to play their game. The problem was, restricted to his cabin he couldn’t investigate anything. He needed help. Going to Jenna or Kane and giving them the information Susie had divulged only made him look guilty, as if he needed to point the blame elsewhere. Reluctantly, he pulled out his phone and called Kalo’s burner. The FBI computer whiz kid was his chance to get out of this mess—if he could reach him. To his surprise, Bobby picked up after a few rings. “Bobby, it’s Carter. Are you back from vacation?”

“Yeah, we came back last night.”The squeak Kalo’s office chair made when he moved from one computer to another came through the earpiece.

Grinning at his good fortune, Carter added the fixings to his coffee. “You’re in the office?”

“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.