Page 54 of Allie's Shelter
“Technically—”
“Don’t just hand it off, Dale,” he said, knowing his friend would happily send the data to the FDA. “Not without taking a hard look at the evidence she’s offering first. Roberts wants to escape with his money. He could have left immediately, but he’s still here and he has a serious hard on for this data.”
“And you sent her out in public hoping he’ll come after her.”
“Well, yeah.” Ross wasn’t sure he could deal with another lecture about using Allie as bait. Even though Dale would see the situation more objectively than Eva. “It’s Haleswood. No one will let her get hurt.”
“Then why do you need to talk to my prisoner at all?”
“If I’m right, your prisoner can confirm who leaked Ms. Williams’s location.” And if he got lucky, she might give Dale a lead on whoever Roberts needed to pay off. The man had plenty in the offshore account and yet he wasn’t leaving the states, was in fact grabbing more money at every turn. Maybe it was pride, but all the background data had Ross thinking there was someone Roberts needed to settle with before he could retire to a secluded beach with his nest egg.
“Come on,” he urged. “Give me the five minutes you promised. There’s nothing to lose.”
Dale sighed as he got to his feet. “This will be interesting.”
Ross followed his friend down an interior hallway to the area designed for interrogation. Pairs of doors opened to what Ross knew to be soundproofed rooms connected by shatterproof, one-way glass. Of each pair of doors, one led to a cramped room with state-of-the-art recording equipment where agents and techs could keep an eye on the interrogation on the other side of the glass.
Ross was surprised when Dale led him into an observation room that overlooked an empty interrogation room. “Where is she?”
“The car’s probably stuck in traffic,” Dale replied, already pulling out his phone. “Or there’s a paperwork glitch.” While he waited for an answer on the other end of the line, he cued up the previous interrogation record for Ross’ viewing.
He watched and listened, not gaining much that would help Allie when suddenly Dale swore. He signaled Ross to stay quiet while he switched his phone to speaker mode.
“I’m signing in now,” he said, setting the phone aside while his fingers worked the keyboard.
“File is sent, sir,” came the voice on the other end.
Ross looked over Dale’s shoulder, waiting for whatever had his friend so agitated.
“And the sign in log,” Dale snapped.
“Scanning it now, sir.”
“Got it,” Dale said when two new emails arrived. He disconnected the call and turned to Ross. “My prisoner is dead.”
“What?” Ross wasn’t even sure he’d said the word aloud. “What the hell happened?”
Dale pointed at the screen.
Ross watched the silent video feed play out, studying the lanky man in a business suit who visited the girl’s cell. It looked like they shared a brief conversation, split a candy bar, and then the guy left. The video jumped forward a few minutes later, showing the girl on her bunk. A few more minutes and FBI detail arrived, only to discover she was dead.
Based on the suit, Ross would bet the stranger had signed in posing as her lawyer. The killer was obviously familiar with the lockup because he managed to prevent any of the cameras capturing a clear shot of his face during the trip to and from the cell.
Damn.
The running time and date on the video feed showed the deadly visit went down just over an hour before the FBI’s arrival. How did they know?
Ross considered Roberts’s long reach and fast moves as he sorted through the most likely explanations. Roberts had been resourceful hiring the gang bangers and finding someone to be the body when he faked his death, but this definitely ratcheted things up another notch.
Dale was back on the phone shouting at the guard on duty down in the lockup, so Ross clicked on the screen shot of the sign in log, looking for names. There was nothing so obvious as the real name of someone on Cochran’s staff, but that was the conclusion Ross couldn’t avoid. No one else had access to those uniforms, knew Allie would be hiding out with him, or knew how to walk in and out of a jail unquestioned.
He couldn’t risk Dale’s reputation or clearance by forwarding the email out of the FBI system, but he made a quick note of the names on the log that were closest to the time of the visit. Replaying the video one more time, he looked for any clue to the man’s identity.
“Ask him what kind of candy bar that is.” Dale looked at him like he’d lost his mind. “Do it!”
Dale relayed the question and answer for Ross. “Clark bar.”
The same brand Eva had found in the woods after the sniper attempt. “I’m outta here.” His instincts were blazing with theories and his gut agreed. Allie was in danger. From Roberts and whoever wanted to control the money and the stolen data. He had to get back to her immediately. “Good luck, man,” he said on his way out the door.