Otter Under Fire (26 page)

“The merry men are digging through the gun club’s files to see if they can find out any information.”

“That’s good,” Otter said as she set the vase down on the kitchen table. “Do you want to know what else we found out?”

“There’s more?”

“Of course, there is. There is always more. We figured out how to get into the laptop that showed up on my porch.”

“Do tell,”

“Apparently the nephew designed the software for it and it needs an alpha-numeric code then a voice command. It then shows you a portion of the information. When you complete that part, you put in the password and it takes you to the next section.”

“Where you have to find out the code and the voice command,” Joel said, “Sounds like our boy wanted you to figure this all out in order, by some kind of priority list.”

“That was my take too.”

“So what was in the first section?”

“All kinds of financial documents for his adopted nephew. He sold or implemented some of the software that Jeremy created and made a nice pile of money for him. He then invested it so that Jeremy would have money to go to school or whatever he wanted to do.”

“Wow, that’s a big chunk of news.”

“I gave Jeremy the information and he took it home. He seemed shell shocked.”

“Can I get a copy?”

“I’m afraid to back track and screw with the system. I don’t know what the closing passwords are—Jeremy did them and I need to find out what’s in the next section.”

“Then I’ll go and talk to Jeremy and get the information from him.”

“Thank you, and there’s something else.”

“More? Wow, you’ve been very busy today.”

“You have no idea, but anyway Jeremy told me he developed some facial recognition software and Clark used it on his shooting pal. That’s how he found Marvin Jones and decided to meet him.”

“Hold on,” Joel pulled out his phone. “Joel, check to see if Marvin Jones still has his Facebook account open. We need to see if our target is on there.”

“You didn’t check before?”

“The Michigan police looked on his account to see if he talked about suicide or any problems he was having. I don’t think they thought to look if he was corresponding with his killer.”

“You told me that Marvin was friends with the killer in high school,” Otter said.

“Yeah, but we got that from interviewing the people that were in their graduating class. They were best friends, and some people thought they were dating.”

“Have you found out the killer’s secret?”

“Otter, we don’t know if she has one. That’s just a theory.”

“I’ll bet I know what it is.”

“Oh, do you now, and what do you think it is?”

“She’s transgender. She can go from male to female quite easily it seems. If she’s going as Jameson, she’s male. Since you said she’s an actress, she probably knows how to change her looks and the way she moves to fit either role.”

Joel was on his phone again. “Troy, look back into her birth records, see if she was born male or female. Yes, you heard me right. Just look and let me know as soon as you find out.”

“You believe me,”

“You could be right.”

“Oh and Ron Defray is missing. I don’t want to forget that.”

“Yeah, I heard about that too.” Joel said. “If it was Charlotte, then she’s getting desperate and will run again soon.”

“You know it’s interesting, and I didn’t think about this until just now, but Ron Defray had some long blond hairs on the front of his uniform shirt a few weeks ago. I commented on it to Gonzo because Defray’s wife is a brunette with short hair.”

“Wow, I’m surprised he didn’t take them off his shirt.”

“He’s colorblind, and he probably didn’t see them. He has a light shirt with stripes on it, which blond hair probably wouldn’t show up.”

“So do you think he’s our killer?”

“I don’t know, but whoever stole from our company and was dressed like him—wasn’t him. Someone was impersonating him. Unfortunately we have a few stocky guys that run in the 5’10” to 5’11” range.”

“Can you get me a list?” Joel asked as his phone rang. “Yeah, ok, well Otter suggested it. That’s interesting, isn’t it? What about the sister? That’s extremely rare isn’t it? OK, I’m on my way in.” He turned off his phone and tucked it in his pocket.

“You were wrong, she’s not transgender.”

“Well darn.”

“She and her sister were both born complete hermaphrodites.”

“So she and her sister both had sexual organs of a male and a female.” Otter said.

“Yes,”

“I believe the correct term is ‘intersex’ now, not hermaphrodite.”

“Well, they were born in an age that wasn’t as politically correct. That was the label they were given.”

“But she and her sister both identified as female and were raised that way.”

“As far as we know,”

“But she can also be a male when she wants to be. It sounds to me like she fooled a lot of people.”

“She was exceptionally good as an actor. She would probably enjoy fooling people.”

“So you don’t know what she looks like as a man?”

“No, we don’t. And if we did, she could change it.”

“I knew her sister would be in on it,” Otter said, “She has to have someone she can trust. There’s really nobody else.”

“That’s true. So are you safe here? How good is your security?”

“Better than most,” Otter took him to the hall closet. Inside the door was the security monitor.

“Just like James Bond,” Joel chuckled.

The monitor flashed through the different screens monitoring the property.

“Uh-oh,” Otter said.

“What?”

“Someone tried to come over the back fence,” Otter said as she looked at the screen. She got her television remote, flipped it open on the back, and tapped a few keys. The picture went searching in reverse.

“You really have to tell me about your gadgets someday,” Joel murmured as they watched the screen.

The screen stopped and began to play. They saw a head coming in sight like someone was climbing a ladder on the other side. The picture was in color, but the focus wasn’t very good so they could see a general shape, but no details.

“I’m not liking this; I’m not liking this at all.” Joel said.

“Let’s see if we can see who it is,” Otter said, watching the screen intently.

The head led to shoulders and hands rested on the top of the wall. The stocky figure with long blond hair appeared to be gazing around the yard.

“That’s got to be her, and she knows where you live,” Joel said. “Wait a minute, why is she brushing her arms off like that? Now she’s shaking them and brushing them off again. What’s happening?”

“She encountered my security system.”

“Your security system?”

“Well, part of it.” Otter continued to gaze at the screen. “There she goes, back down the ladder. I guess she didn’t like that.”

“What was it she didn’t like?”

Otter paused for a minute and then flashed a mischievous smile at him. “She thought she saw wolf spiders the size of kittens crawling up her arms. She felt them too; she felt their little hairy feet as they crawled around inside her clothes.”

“That’s giving me the creeps and I’m not seeing or feeling them. You want to tell me how your system does that?”

“Nope, it’s proprietary.”

“What if the spiders didn’t stop her?”

“Well, there are other surprises waiting that aren’t so pleasant.”

“I’ll just bet. Who are you Otter, why do you need such crazy security? Who are you really?”

“I’m a private citizen who wants to stay that way. I also have an uncle who loves to invent unconventional things. Who are you really?”

“Touché,” Joel said.

“
En guarde
,” Otter said with a grin.

“Before we get too carried away with the jousting, I just want you to know that I still want to see you after this is all over. I also know you are totally unsure about me. To be honest, I would be too if I were you.”

“Let me lay out a scenario for you,” Otter said.

“Please do,” he said gallantly.

“Three young men figure out a number system and they win several lotteries that give them millions. They are only 19 years old at the time. They call themselves the Apollo Institute of Phoenix.”

“It was the high school we went to.”

“And they took this money and bought huge tracts of land up by Black Canyon City and they put the rest into CD’s and some other investments and two of them joined the service. One of them goes to Quantico for some kind of training.”

“Troy isn’t the military type.”

“You told me it was two hundred acres. The lands are well over five hundred.”

“It’s a work in progress,” Joel said with a smile. “We wanted to have lots of land for expansion.”

“You were sneaky too, nobody caught on to what you were doing.”

“People will start thinking that there is some big company coming like Disneyland and start buying up all the land thinking they’re making an investment. Walt Disney did the same thing, we learned from him.”

“Some years later they start building the Community Center and the lottery funds are in a trust that takes care of it. The military and retired military that are invited to join don’t pay any kinds of fees.”

“And instead of worrying that Charlotte is trying to come over your back fence, you’re thinking about this?”

“There are more dangerous people in the world than hot blooded killers.”

“Just so we know you’re not worried or anything,” Joel murmured to himself.

“Oh, I’m plenty worried, but I’ll take steps.” Otter assured him.

“That concerns me more than it should.”

“I’ll be OK.”

“Now let me tell you a story,” Joel said sitting in an easy chair and putting his feet up. Spooky immediately jumped into his lap.

“Sure, why not?” Otter said as she sat in another chair next to him.

“Supply chain logistics in the military is a complicated thing as I am sure you can imagine.” Joel scratched Spooky under the chin.

“I bet it is.”

“But once in a while an extra piece of equipment would show up before it was ordered—Like an extra gun, an extra Humvee, an extra helicopter. It always seemed to come from some guy in Phoenix who repaired equipment and sent it back.

“At first he got in trouble for it, but oddly enough that extra piece of equipment would show up just in time to save someone’s life or sometimes the lives of a whole platoon. Soldiers that were saved started calling him the Magician.”

“He sounds very talented.”

“He does, doesn’t he? I had never heard of him until the night I needed him a few years ago. My best friend had been kidnapped by insurgents. It was such top security that the news organizations ever heard about it. I tapped all my sources and I found out where they were being kept.”

“They?”

“He wasn’t alone. Then I did the craziest thing I’ve ever done and I got to a place that just happened to have an extra helicopter and there just happened to be a guy there who could fly it that was just as insane as I was and who was willing to go. I got a crew together and we went to find out if the captives were there.

“I won’t bore you with the details of how we found out and how we did our recon and everything that went into it. The long and the short of it is they were there and we got them all. Killed the house full of captors and got the captives away.”

“Highly unusual for the military,”

“Hell, yes it is. If I had been caught before I led that raid, I would have been court marshaled.”

“Did you do that often?”

“Absolutely not, it was a wild couple of days. Looking back I still can’t believe that night took place.”

“Ok, so what happened next?”

“We get back and the brass in charge of the equipment is pissed. We get off the copter with our rescued prisoners and people went speechless. Not only did we rescue my friend, but a handful of special ops guys that the president would have sold the Lincoln Memorial to get back.”

“Now that is interesting,”

“It was. I got my hand slapped officially. But I became part of the brotherhood of the Magician’s chosen few so I would hear whispers and I tracked the man back to his lair here in Phoenix.”

“Did you meet him?”

“Oh yes, he’s a Master Sargent in a local outfit. I talked to him for a bit. His name is Juan O’Grady.”

“I know Juan.”

“Yeah, I know. I asked him how he knew to send the extras and he said he didn’t know—he would just get a strange feeling and then move heaven and earth to see that the extra thing was on its way to where it needed to be.”

“OK,” Otter said cautiously, “What happened then?”

“Well, I know the military pretty well. Nothing moves that fast, so I asked him how he could get his repair parts done so quickly. He told me it was otter magic.”

“Yeah, I’m familiar with that term.”

“He says he calls Otter magic and she makes it happen for him. No matter how suddenly or how quickly he needs a repair part she usually gets it to him in time to get it shipped out when he feels he has to.”

“I just do my job and I charge him an expedite fee. I also told him not to tell anyone about Otter magic.”

“Don’t worry, your secret is safe with me.” He urged Spooky off his lap and got up from his chair. “I need to go. We have a lot of work to do tonight.”

“Goodnight then,” Otter said walking him to the door.

“Thank you for helping me to save someone I cared about—even if you were only doing your job.”

“How come you didn’t come here to look me up?”

“Who says I didn’t?”

“This was a few years ago?”

“I didn’t want to trouble you, but I did look you up. Juan said you didn’t want to be bothered.”

She was sure that wouldn’t have stopped him but she said goodbye and shut the door. So he knew about her even before Clark’s death. That was something to think about.

“Mackenzie, a word if you have a minute,” Mitch called to her early the next morning.

“Sure Mitch,” Otter said, turning back and walking toward him. “How is your wife? Michael said she was sick.”

“It’s just—what you say—a touch of the stomach flu bug. She was very ill for a day, but she seems to be better today.”

“I’m glad to hear it.”

“Me too,” he smiled, “She can be very difficult when she doesn’t feel well.”

“I have to say that I’m no piece of cake when I’m sick either.”

“I just wanted to tell you that I talked to Michael about Ron Defray. This is my entire fault. He asked me if he could have a week off and I told him it was fine if he did so. I forgot to tell anyone, we were all so excited about the ball.”

“Oh, I’m so relieved,” Otter said. “We were worried when he didn’t come to work. You know he’s never missed a day, much less not come in without telling someone.”

Michael had absolutely forbidden Greg, Annie and herself to mention a word about the theft to anyone. He had repeated the word “anyone” several times for emphasis. She also knew that if Ron Defray had planned to take some time off, he would have sent everyone an e-mail, explaining in detail what he planned to do on his time while he was gone.

“I thought you should know,” Mitch said. I didn’t realize how worried everyone would be. I thought nobody liked him.”

“Well, he has his moments,” Otter said. “Actually I’m glad you stopped me, I needed to talk to you about this lathe that’s coming in tomorrow…”

She and Mitch absorbed themselves in technical talk, but in the back of her mind, Otter knew what she had seen at the ball. Ron Defray’s vape pen had been in Mitch’s breast pocket. That was one of Defray’s prized possessions. The only way Mitch would have gotten it would have been by force or if Defray had been unconscious.

After a few phone calls, Otter found herself in a secure office that was the headquarters for The Apollo Institute of Phoenix. It was a reception area, a couple of offices and a nice sized conference room. They asked her to bring Michael and Greg, if they were willing.

When they arrived, she found Susan and Tempest already there. They were sitting at the conference table with Troy, Graham and Detective Addison munching on small sandwiches from a platter in the middle of the table. Joel was on the phone in one of the side office.

Otter put the laptop in the middle of the table and put the stuffed dragon on a chair. She made introductions all around and helped herself to a soda from a cooler next to the conference table. Joel came in shortly after and took his place next to the whiteboard at the front of the room.

“OK everyone, I thought it was time we pool our resources and see what we have. Everyone here has been working on this from different angles and I think it’s time we put it all together.

“Now what we know is that Charlotte disappeared with her sister back in 1983, right after Charlotte graduated from high school. She appeared briefly when it was suspected that she murdered a young man in Detroit and disappeared again.”

“Was she dating him?” Otter asked.

Joel looked at her for a minute. “No, but they were friends.”

“He found her out.” Otter said with a nod.

“We discovered that Charlotte was actually born with organs of both sexes and was labeled as a hermaphrodite. Otter thinks she killed the people who knew that. The high school boyfriend probably found out accidentally—you can imagine how. I believe that her parents had lost their usefulness once she turned eighteen.”