Counter attack, p.23
Counter Attack, page 23
Once Dylan was at Phame’s site, he searched for a place to leave comments. “It’s not an option.”
“So how do you suggest that we contact Phame?”
The crime scene tech hesitated. “I’ve seen that name in a game forum. Not sure it’s the same Phame we have here, but I can check.”
Alexis crossed her arms. “Do it, and make a copy of the link to the site for me and text it to me.”
A few clicks later, they were in what looked like a chat room. Dylan entered Phame into the search box, and messages started popping up. Alex and Nathan leaned in closer to read them. The overriding theme was the game and cryptocurrency.
“When did Phame post his last message?”
Dylan scrolled through the messages that were not in order. “Two days ago.”
“So, he checks this site regularly,” Alex said. “Can we respond to one of his messages?”
“Yeah—it’s like any other chat room. Except here you don’t have to give your ID, but you do have to check back for any responses.”
“Okay,” Alexis said. “Write this: ‘You’re not as smart as you think you are, and I’m hot on your trail. You’re making mistakes, or I wouldn’t be on this forum leaving you a message. I will say this for you—I’ve met a lot of cowards, but you top the list, hiding behind a silly name like Phame.’ Sign it ‘Alex Stone.’”
51
Once Dylan hit enter, Nathan’s stomach clenched. This was a mistake. He felt it in his bones, but Alexis wasn’t listening to him. She was so determined to catch this killer that she was willing to risk her own life.
And he understood that. If the roles were reversed, Nathan would do the same thing. He wished he could make that happen—get the killer to come after him. But he wasn’t the target. Alexis was. He’d just have to do like he’d promised—watch her back.
“Thanks, Dylan,” Alexis said. “I owe you one.”
“I don’t know. I’m with Nathan—not sure this is a good idea.”
“It’ll do until we come up with a better one.”
He stood. “Do you need me for anything else?”
“No,” they both said at the same time and then laughed.
“Oh, wait,” Alexis said. “Leave me the bootup for Tor—I want to see if Phame responds to the message.”
“Let me copy it to another USB drive.” Dylan sat down again and made a copy of the Tor drive. “You remember how to get in?”
Her eyes narrowed and a thin smile played around her lips. “I do know a little bit about computers.”
Dylan palmed his hands. “No offense intended.”
“None taken, but I’m not as clueless as I look.”
When Dylan closed the door behind him, Nathan turned to her. “What time are you leaving?” He warmed under her questioning look. “I’m following you home,” he said.
“You don’t—”
“Yes, I do. So don’t argue with me.”
“Then how about now?”
“Perfect.” He jingled his keys while he waited for her to slip her computer into a bag, then he opened her door and followed her out.
“Are you going to the field house tonight?” she asked as they walked through Marge’s empty office.
“I don’t know yet.”
“Which means yes, but you don’t want me to go with you.”
“I didn’t say that.”
“You didn’t have to. You’re worried I’ll get hurt.”
Nathan couldn’t very well deny that. He let out an exasperated breath. “Okay. I’m going around ten, and you can tag along if you’d like, but I think it’ll be a waste of your time. Mine too, probably, but I want to check it out just in case.”
“If no one’s there, it’ll be perfectly safe.”
Was anyplace safe for Alexis? He’d never felt this helpless while protecting someone. “If you’re going to the field house with me, we might as well go in one vehicle now.”
“Why?”
“It will make things simpler. We pass right by here on the way to the school, and once we’re done at the field house, I can drop you off and then follow you home. Does that sound okay?”
“I—never mind. It’s fine.”
“Good.” A few minutes later, he pulled out of the jail complex with Alexis silent in the passenger seat. After a couple of blocks of the silence, he said, “I don’t know what you’re mad about, and I’m not sure I even want to know. But someone is trying to kill you, and you just poked our number one suspect with a cattle prod. I’m just trying to keep you alive.”
“Would you have wanted to follow my grandfather home if he was the one who was being threatened?”
He gripped the steering wheel. “Look, I think you’re as capable as any police officer I’ve ever met, more capable than most, but that doesn’t have anything to do with this situation. I can’t change that I was raised to protect women. And you are definitely a woman . . . and not just any woman, but the woman I love.”
Nathan clamped his mouth shut as his breath froze in his chest. Surely he didn’t just say that. If only he had a rewind button. The Stones’ drive was just ahead, and he turned on his blinker, the tick, tick, tick so loud in the dead silence.
He sneaked a peek at her as he slowed. Dazed was the only word he could think of for the way she looked. His phone dinged, breaking the silence. He handed his phone to Alexis.
“Would you please check that for me?” he asked as he turned into the drive and kept to the right.
She tapped the phone. “It’s Kayla. You forgot to sign her reference letter, and she wants to email her application today. Said she was leaving, but if you’re coming back to the jail right away, she’d wait.”
Nathan groaned. He did not want to drive back downtown, but he’d probably blown his shot at dinner. “Tell her I’ll swing—”
“Just have her bring it here and you can sign it.”
“You sure?”
“Yeah. I’ll text her to come, along with our address. That way you won’t have to return to town.”
Returning to town wasn’t the problem. Nathan had been hoping Judith would ask him to dinner again, giving him time with Alexis away from the investigation.
Wait. She’d said our address, not my grandparents’. That had to be a good thing. Maybe she was changing her mind about Pearl Springs. If that was true, maybe she would change her mind about him. His mood lifted as he parked by the back door, surprised when she didn’t immediately open the door.
“Hold on and I’ll get your door.” Nathan didn’t give her a chance to protest and hopped out. He jogged around to the passenger side and opened her door. “Do you mind if I pop in a second and say hi to your grandparents?” He practically ran the words together.
For a second, he thought she was going to roll her eyes. Instead, her mouth twitched. “You wouldn’t be angling for an invite to dinner, would you?”
“Maybe.”
She raised her head, and their gazes locked, kicking his heart into overdrive.
“Would you mind?”
The hollow in her throat deepened as she swallowed and then licked her lips. “Why did you say you loved me?”
“I didn’t mean to say that.”
“So, you don’t love me?”
“No! I do . . .” Nathan searched for words that wouldn’t make everything worse. “I don’t want to scare you away or give you an excuse to run.”
52
Alex shifted her gaze, trying to regain her equilibrium. Nathan’s declaration had not only taken her breath, it had rocked her. She didn’t have to ask why he thought she’d run—he evidently had talked to her grandmother. “If you keep running from love, you’ll end up all alone.” Gram’s words echoed in her heart.
Alex couldn’t help it. At the first sign a relationship was getting serious, she found an excuse to end it, usually with an “It’s not you, it’s me” speech. Which was basically true.
Nathan cupped her chin, turning her to face him again. “You okay? I didn’t mean to upset you.”
“You didn’t.” She shivered, for once thankful for the bulky body armor. “It’s just—” The phone chimed again, releasing the tension in her body. “You better see what that is.”
He seemed as relieved as she was. “Kayla is stopping by here. ETA is five minutes.”
“Tell her to come around to the back and come in. I’d like to introduce her to my grandparents.” Alex led the way into the house through the mudroom and into the kitchen. “Lasagna smells good, and is that garlic bread I smell?”
Her grandmother turned from where she stood at the stove. “It is. Where’s Nathan?”
“Should be right behind me. He had a text to answer first.”
“I’m here,” Nathan said as he entered the kitchen and took a deep breath. “Something smells good.”
“You don’t have to butter me up. I already have a plate set for you.”
Nathan hugged Gram. “Thank you. I get tired of my own cooking.”
Alex gaped at him. “You cook?”
“I’d starve if I didn’t.”
“I figured you were a regular at Pete’s.”
“Uh-uh. I want to live long enough to enjoy my old age,” he said. “But if he ever has something besides hamburgers and country-fried steak and fried okra and everything else fried, I might reconsider.”
Gram cackled. “Ethel’s been trying to get him to do that for the last ten years. I’m worried about you if you seriously think Pete Harrel will ever have a healthy menu.”
“He may. I heard him tell somebody he was going to have stent surgery next week.”
“Doesn’t surprise me—he’s probably responsible for half the heart attacks in the county.” She turned to Alex. “Would you get your grandfather? He’s in his office.”
“Yes, ma’am. Oh, and there’s a young woman stopping by in a few minutes,” she said.
“I’ll set another plate.”
“She may not have time to stay and eat.” Although once Kayla smelled the lasagna, she might make the time.
Smiling, Alex walked down the dimly lit hallway to her grandfather’s office. For a few minutes, she’d been able to put Phame’s website and video out of her mind. But this home had always been her safe haven, probably because her grandparents had always encouraged her, even when Alex feared she’d fail. Gram always said a person learned more from their failures than successes.
She knocked on Gramps’s door. “Dinner is ready.”
He looked up from his desk stacked with papers, books, and what looked like junk. “Good. I’m tired of looking at this mess.”
“What’s going on? Your desk has always been super neat.”
“Getting rid of case history files, notes, that sort of thing.”
She detected sadness in his voice and searched for something to say. “Don’t get rid of too much. I might need some of those case histories.”
“Really?”
“You bet. If I were sheriff, I’d hire you as a consultant as soon as you were feeling up to it.”
“There would be no money in your budget for that,” he said dryly as he stood and slowly walked to the door.
“Then you can volunteer. Did you finish reading over the files on the Chattanooga murders that I printed out for you?”
He sighed. “Afraid not. I start reading and everything blurs. Just not up to much yet.”
“You’ll get there. Where’s your walker?”
“Graduated.”
“Really? Does Gram know?”
“She’s my wife, not my warden.”
Alex linked her arm in his, more to keep him steady than anything else. “It’s your funeral.”
“Hmph. That’s hardly the thing to say to someone who had one foot in the grave and the other on a banana peel a month ago.”
“You know what I mean.”
He sighed. “Yeah. The walker is just inside our bedroom.”
“Good. Hold on a sec and I’ll get it.” She stepped inside the bedroom and rolled the walker out. It was similar to Ms. Mattie’s only the handles were much higher. She handed it off to him. “When did you get this one?”
“They delivered Fancy Dancy yesterday. At least I don’t have to bend over to push it.”
“Fancy Dancy?”
“Got to call it something.”
She laughed, contentment settling on her again. She’d been really worried about him, but anyone who could grumble like this and name his walker was going to be okay. Voices reached them as they neared the kitchen. Kayla had arrived.
Gramps turned to Alex. “Who’s that?”
“A friend I want you to meet. She’s the one who saved my life the night I was shot.”
“Good. I want to thank her, then I have some questions for your rescuer.”
She cocked her head. “I don’t understand. Why?”
He smiled patiently. “From what I understand, this Kayla being there was a coincidence, and you know how I feel about that. There’s—”
“No such thing as a coincidence,” Alex finished for him. “But this time there is—her tire light came on. Come meet her and you’ll see.”
She pushed the kitchen door open and then stood to the side and let her grandfather roll his fancy walker in first.
“There you are,” Gram said. “Carson, this is Kayla.”
He rolled close enough to extend his hand. “I want to thank you for what you did.”
A blush rose in Kayla’s face as she took his hand. “I didn’t do much.”
“But you did. Most people would have run the other way. Where did you learn martial arts?”
A shadow briefly crossed Kayla’s eyes, disappearing as her face brightened. “I’ve been involved in it forever, it seems. I was taking Taekwondo lessons by the time I was four. It’s almost second nature to me.”
“Enough talk,” Gram said. “Kayla’s staying for dinner. So let’s eat.”
It didn’t surprise Alex that Kayla accepted Gram’s invitation to join them. Most people who dropped by around dinnertime ate with them. Nathan sat in the chair beside Alex, and Gram had Kayla sit to Gramps’s right.
“Nathan tells me you’re working for him now,” Gramps said.
“Yes, and he’s written me a letter of recommendation to get into a select criminal justice program. That’s why I stopped by—he forgot to sign it. All I have to do now is scan it into my computer and send in the application.”
Gram tilted her head toward the girl. “So you want to be a police officer?”
“I think so. This class should help me decide.” She picked up the tall iced-tea glass and took a sip.
Alex forked a bite of lasagna. “Which school did you decide on?”
“Chatt State.”
“And she’ll have the same professor I had for that class,” Nathan said. “He’s really good.”
Gramps leaned forward. “Where’d you grow up?”
Alex almost missed the slight stiffening of Kayla’s shoulders.
“Chattanooga.”
“Really.” He frowned. “I thought I detected a stronger Southern accent than most people who grow up around here.”
She scratched her nose with the back of her hand, then shrugged. “Maybe it’s because my mom grew up around Atlanta. How about you? Have you always lived in Pearl Springs?”
“We surely have,” Gram said. “And Carson, I want you to stop grilling this girl.” She turned to Kayla with an apologetic shake of her head. “He’s so used to interrogating people, he slips into that mode when he shouldn’t.”
What was going on with her grandfather? If Gram hadn’t stepped in, Alex would have.
“No problem.” Kayla took a bite of the lasagna. “This is so good. Do you have a recipe?”
“I’m afraid it’s all up here.” Gram tapped her temple. “A little bit of this and a little bit of that.”
“Figures. Maybe I could come watch you the next time you make it.”
“I’d love that.”
Gramps cleared his throat. “At the risk of receiving my wife’s ire, may I ask why you relocated to Pearl Springs?”
53
I can answer that one,” Alex said. “Nathan offered her a job.”
When her grandfather shifted his gaze to Nathan, he shrugged. “I needed a part-time dispatcher when Jimmy Arnold left.”
“Well, good. I’m glad it worked out. One more question and I’m done.” He waved his fork between Alex and Kayla. “How did you two meet?”
She’d have to explain later to Kayla that her grandfather wasn’t singling her out—he’d been this way ever since Alex could remember, even when she was a teenager. Especially when she was a teenager. “We met when I was on an undercover job. She was a waitress at the Lemon Tree.”
“I quit right after that,” Kayla said. “And decided to go back to college.”
“Wise decision,” Gramps said.
They all fell silent as they finished the salad and lasagna and then Gramps looked around. “Any more of that lemon cake left?”
Gram stood. “You can have one tiny piece.”
“But—”
“No buts. Your doctor said your triglycerides were high and you had to cut back on your carbs.”
“So that’s why my portion of lasagna was so small,” he grumbled.
“Yes. Now do you want a small piece of cake or not?” When he nodded, she turned to the others. “Anyone else?”
Kayla and Nathan took a piece, but Alex held up her hand. “I’m good. I just remembered I want to go over a file at my office. And then Nathan and I have a couple of things to check on. I won’t be home until probably around eleven.”
“It’s cold out. Want to take a thermos of hot cocoa with you?” Gram asked.
She must really look tired for Gram to make cocoa—it was her “it will fix everything” remedy. Alex shook her head. “I may make some when we get back.”
“I need to be going too,” Kayla said. “But I want to help with the dishes.”
Gramps waved her off. “I’ll help with the dishes. You run along.”
Alex stared at her grandfather. He had never willingly helped with the dishes before.
Alex followed Nathan out the back door to his pickup.
