Targeted (Callahan & McLane Book 4) (26 page)

“All of the prints from both scenes indicated a male,” added Ava.

Nora held up a foot. “See this boat at the end of my leg? Not all women have tiny cat feet like yours. Any woman with half a brain will try to mislead us if she knows she might leave footprints behind, right? My point is we aren’t just focused on this mentoring organization. I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire. We’re going to get lucky very soon. I can feel it. Now go get that computer equipment.”

Ava went.

32

T
he FBI computer specialist who rode with Ava to Cops 4 Kidz talked nonstop. She’d grabbed one of the techs from the FBI Northwest Regional Computer Forensics Lab near Portland’s convention center. Keith looked as if he should be riding a Harley or directing a construction crew instead of playing with computers. She wondered if he didn’t have anyone to talk to at work. His floor in the lab had been silent except for the nonstop hum of fans and computer equipment in the huge workstations. She’d spotted a bookshelf full of ancient computer hardware she’d seen only in movies from the seventies and eighties, and wished Zander could see it.

She listened to Keith’s banter. Small talk was never high on her priority list and today it was even lower than usual. Luckily he carried 90 percent of the conversation on his own, and the Cops 4 Kidz office building was only a fifteen-minute drive in the early-afternoon traffic.

With a firm shove, she pushed open the door to the familiar waiting room. The receptionist looked up with a stunned look. “Hello again, Agent McLane.” Her forehead wrinkled in confusion and her black cat ears shifted on her head. She’d drawn a cat nose and whiskers on her face to go with her black furry sweater and rhinestone collar. Ava wondered if she had a tail.

A few minutes ago, Ava had called her to see if Scott had contacted his office yet. The receptionist had grown snippy on the phone, and repeated that when she’d heard from her boss she’d let Ava know. Ava hadn’t warned her to expect a momentary visit. She didn’t want the woman hiding any equipment they might need to remove.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were stopping by?” the woman asked.

Ava handed her the warrant. “We have a warrant to remove computer hardware. We’re very concerned that your boss is not returning calls—I’m worried for his safety in light of the recent murders,” she exaggerated. She didn’t need to expand, as her mention of the murders immediately caught the woman’s attention. Her whiskers stretched as her mouth opened in shock, and she automatically accepted the paper.

“Surely you don’t think something has happened to Scott?”

“I don’t know what to think about his silence. I do know we need the information in your databases and you’ve told me you can’t get to it.” She paused and lifted a brow. “Is that still the case?”

The woman had turned her gaze to the warrant, but it jumped back to Ava. “Oh, yes. I can’t get into the files you’ve asked me for.” She looked back at the paper. “I don’t know who I need to call about this. Without Scott here, I guess I should contact one of the board members to see if I can do this.”

Ava smiled sweetly. “There’s no point in asking anyone for permission. That paper allows me to get exactly what’s listed on there. It’s not a request.”

“But I can’t let you take our equipment,” the woman said earnestly. “I need it to get my work done.”

Ava turned to Keith, who’d been listening quietly and standing at her side like a bodyguard. She pointed over the reception counter to a hallway in the rear of the office. “It’s the first door on the right.”

Keith nodded and opened the door between the waiting room and the office business area. The receptionist stood up but stayed quiet as Ava silenced her with a pointed look.

Her tail was black.

“I need you to stay off your computer until we’re done,” Ava told her as she followed Keith to Scott Heuser’s office and stood at the door. She kept one eye on the receptionist as Keith took a seat at the desk.

“Do you want me to take a quick look first?” Keith asked. “Or you can wait until I get it back to the office and hook it up to my equipment.” His fingers flew over the keys.

“If you can get in, let’s look now. We can remove it afterward.”

She glanced back at the receptionist, who’d sat down in her chair and was tapping rapidly on her cell phone. Ava strode back to the woman’s desk and looked over her shoulder. The name at the top of the messaging screen was M
OM
.

“I’d like you to refrain from using your cell phone while we’re here, too,” Ava said.

The receptionist laid her phone on her desk, facedown. “Anything else I can’t do?” she muttered. Her mouth turned down.
Grumpy cat.

“Maybe you should go get a soda from the machine down the hall.”
Or milk.

She stood and reached for her phone.

“Your phone will be safe left on the desk,” Ava stated. The woman marched out of the office without looking back. Her chin was up, but her tail swayed awkwardly behind her, destroying any sense of dignity. Highly amused, Ava checked on Keith.

“What exactly are you looking for again?” Keith asked. “The mentoring program?”

“Yes.” Ava went around the desk to look over his shoulder. Lists and lists of files covered the screen. “How did you get in?”

“It’s a private server.” Keith glanced around the small office. “It’s got to be close by. It has a wireless connection and Scott set it up to connect automatically with this computer. I didn’t even need to enter a password.” He shook his head. “It’s pretty lazy on Scott’s part and not secure at all. I bet the receptionist’s computer isn’t set up that way. If you tried to log in from hers, it’ll probably ask you for a password. The files are organized by type and date. He really should have someone build him a database so that he—”

“Can you search by names?”

“Not from this point. That’s why I’d started to say he should have his information placed in a database so it’s easy to search. Right now I need to be in the specific file to search for a name. What year do you want to look at?”

She wrote down the names of the four murdered men and handed them to Keith. “Start with last year and give me the name of every child they were paired with.”

“How many years do you want me to go back?”

Captain Schefte volunteered for almost twenty years.
She remembered the smile on Scott Heuser’s face as he made that statement two days ago in this very office.

“Twenty years,” she said.

“This server only has seven years of data.”

“Are you sure? Is it stored in a different way?”

Keith made a dozen clicks. “I don’t see anything older than seven years. Even his payroll and accounting files only go back until then. I suspect they weren’t computerized until then.”

“So there should be paper records somewhere.”

“Somewhere.”

“I’ll ask the receptionist. Maybe she knows where they’re stored.”

“Be nice,” Keith suggested.

“Can you search for those names while I grab her?”

“Sheesh. I’ll need a spreadsheet.” Keith clicked on the Excel application and created a blank chart. “Beats pencil and paper every time.”

“Uh . . . should you be using that?”

Keith looked over his shoulder at her. “Really? You’re worried about me using his Excel program to make a tiny chart when we’re authorized to take all the hardware?”

It wouldn’t be the end of the world if Keith built a little spreadsheet. “Add Micah Zuch to your spreadsheet. I want to know who’s worked with him.”

They were onto something. She could feel it.

33

H
er arms loaded with two file folder boxes, Ava shouldered open the door to the task force room. She felt a pull in her left side where her gunshot wound had been stitched back together. It wasn’t painful; it was simply uncomfortable enough to remind her that she was human. Behind her, Keith carried two more boxes. The receptionist had led them to a small storage room where they’d found the dusty boxes. By the fresh fingerprints in the thick dust, Ava could tell they’d been recently disturbed, and she asked the receptionist about it.

“Scott went through them before your visit the other day,” she’d said, looking down her cat nose at Ava. “It took him an hour to dig up the information you asked for. I assume all that work didn’t help you in your investigation?”

“It helped. Now we need more,” Ava had replied. The warrant had been worded loosely enough that Ava was comfortable removing the hard copies of the records. Keith located the private server and removed that along with two computer towers.

Now they had to search through the paper files and see whom their victims had mentored. Keith’s electronic search of the last seven years had found three children’s names associated with Denny Schefte, two with Louis Samuelson, and two with Lucien Fujioka.

None of them were the same.

Ava had stared at Keith’s mini-spreadsheet, a sinking feeling in her stomach, and wondered if they were on a wild goose chase. She’d hoped there would be a common name among the men. “We need to dig through the older records,” she’d stated.

At the police department, Zander and Nora stared as she dropped her boxes on the conference table. Keith set his down gently next to hers.

“What did you find?” Nora asked, skeptically eyeing the big boxes.

Ava gave her a quick rundown. “Are there any spare eyes to help us go through this?” She glanced at Keith, who was inching backward toward the door. “Where are you going?”

“I need to get back to the computer lab.”

“I still need your help,” she said, planning to use him to sift through the paperwork.

He grimaced. “I’m better with a screen and keyboard.”

“Give me two hours. Please.” She gestured at the nearly empty room. “We need help.”

Zander pulled the lid off a box and lifted out an old accounting notebook. He flipped through it. “Shit. This is going to take forever.”

“Where’s Mason?” Ava asked. “We could use him on this.”

“I sent him away,” said Nora. “I had to answer to the assistant chief about why a witness was hanging around our investigation. I managed to explain away his appearance at the Fujioka murder, but I’m not about to get called in again. He needs to not be seen with us.”

“He didn’t say anything to me,” Ava said as disappointment flowed through her. She wasn’t surprised that someone had questioned his role, but she missed having him around to share ideas with.

“I assume he has his own caseload to work on,” answered Nora. “Sorry about that,” she added in a sincere voice.

“You let it slide by for a long time,” said Ava. “More than you should have.”

“I told him the two of you will have a roommate if I lose my job over it.”

Ava grinned at Nora’s matter-of-fact tone. “Find anything?” she asked Zander.

“They appear to be organized by program. There’s the mentoring program, fund-raising events, school programs, and community outreach.” He set aside a small stack. “This is all mentoring from 2005 to 2010. The older years must be in one of the other boxes.”

Ava removed the lid of another box and sifted through the ledgers as Nora and Keith did the same with the remaining boxes.

“Did you talk to Regina Zuch again?” Ava asked.

Nora and Zander exchanged a look as smiles crossed their faces. Ava’s curiosity was piqued. “What happened?”

“Regina didn’t want to come back to the department, so we surprised her with a visit to her home.”

“And?”

“We met her current boyfriend.” Nora grinned. “They were still in pajamas.” She wrinkled her nose. “The house smelled like sex and cigarettes.”

“Oh, Lord.” Ava’s stomach did a mild spin; she knew that odor. It’d hung around her sister.

“Regina sent him home once she realized we weren’t leaving. I guess having her son locked up gave her a bit of freedom that she doesn’t usually get.”

“Did she even ask about Micah?” Ava quickly scanned a notebook and set it in the “nope” pile.

“She did when I first called,” said Zander. “At first she wanted to know when he was being released, and I thought she was concerned for him, but I think she was trying to figure out when to kick out her guest.”

“That’s horrible.”

“I agree,” said Nora. “Although it has to be hard with your adult son living in your house. He should be on his own.”

“I don’t see Regina encouraging that,” said Ava. “In our first interview, she seemed desperate to keep him close to her. She let him do whatever he pleased to keep him happy. I think she likes having him around.”

“I think she uses him as a substitute for a man in her life,” said Zander in a serious tone. “There’s something really unhealthy there. The way she talked about him gave me the creeps. She tries to keep him dependent on her, and she wants him to need her even though he’s a grown-up. I don’t think she knows how to have a healthy relationship with a man her own age. She treated the guy that was there like a piece of dirt. I hate to say it, but it was like he was there to scratch an itch for her and once he’d done his role she wanted him gone.”

Dread filled Ava’s chest. “You don’t think she’s . . . um . . . being inappropriate with her son, do you?” The thought made her ill.

“I don’t think so,” said Nora. “I’ll wager she brings in an occasional man for that part.”

None of them speculated out loud about whether she’d snared any cops in her web.

“Did you ask her about other women with kids in the program?” Ava asked.

“We did,” Nora said. “We focused on Vance Weldon since she’d had a relationship with him. She claimed she wasn’t aware of any other women he’d been involved with.”

“Vance’s wife said she didn’t know about other women, either,” said Ava. “I think she tried to look the other way when she suspected something was going on.”

Ava had learned the hard way how to find out if her ex was cheating. Asking directly had triggered lies. She’d resorted to following him. It hadn’t felt good, but it’d gotten results, and she’d taken immediate action.
What would I do if I ever suspected Mason was cheating?

If I asked, he’d tell me.

It’d be a sign that something had gone seriously off track.

“Regina gave us the name of two women who ‘rubbed her the wrong way’ at events.” Nora made air quotes with her fingers. “She couldn’t explain what she meant by that term, but Regina seems very narcissistic. I suspect these are women who steal her thunder when they’re in a room together.”

“Let’s see if their kids’ names are associated with our murdered cops.” Ava suspected Nora was right. “Did you get anything else from her? Did she have any new thoughts on why Micah confessed?”

“I told her we believed he was protecting someone,” said Zander. “She seemed surprised and claimed she had no idea who that person could be. I believed her. If she’s a liar, she’s a really good one.”

“Here’s some mentoring records from the late 1990s.” Keith held up a small stack of notebooks. “Do you want me to start reading them?”

“Yes.” Ava wrote the four men’s names and those of Micah Zuch and Jesse Parish at the top of an empty whiteboard, and added the children’s names Keith had found in the office computer. “The director said Vance Weldon didn’t participate in this part of the program, but keep an eye out for his name in case he was wrong. Jesse Parish should turn up under Lucien Fujioka’s name at some point, but I want to know who else mentored him and may have dealt with his crazy mom.”

“Read slowly,” Nora instructed. “Don’t skim. You’ll miss something.”

“When you find the cops’ names, list the child’s name and parent and year assigned underneath it,” Ava added. “I’ll keep digging through the boxes for the rest of the years.”

Zander and Nora each grabbed a few ledgers and took a seat. Ava quickly sorted out the rest of the notebooks and the room grew quiet. An hour ticked by as they read, and each of them occasionally added a new name to the whiteboard. Ava made herself read every line.

Mason Callahan.

She smiled at the sight of his name in a record from fifteen years ago. He was proud of the work he’d done for the organization. “Did Mason know we pulled the computer records when you talked to him this morning, Nora?”

“No. I saw him before that.”

Ava pressed her lips together, wondering what he’d think of the way they were digging through the company’s history. He’d approve. He’d asked a few times if she’d heard back from the director. She spotted Denny’s name a few pages after Mason’s and checked the board to see if that child had been listed under any of the other cops yet.

Dammit.
She went to the board and wrote
Scott Nickle
under Denny’s name. He now had six names listed.

Are we going down a dead end?

She glanced around the room, wondering who else was thinking the same thing, questioning if they were wasting precious time reading through old logs.

Zander finished his stack and grabbed one of Ava’s books, determination on his face.

If Zander hasn’t given up on this lead, then it’s still a good one.

“Got a shared name,” Zander announced. “Finally.” He went to the board and pointed at
Scott Nickle
. “Samuelson mentored him the year after Denny.” He added the name and year under Louis Samuelson’s name.

Elation filled Ava.
Now we’re getting somewhere.

“I’ll see what I can find on Scott Nickle and his parents,” said Zander. “These two records are nearly fifteen years old. Keep looking.” Zander moved to one of the computer stations in the room.

Ava noticed Keith looked enviously at Zander at the computer but turned his attention back to the written record in front of him. She did the same, hoping to find Scott Nickle’s name linked with Lucien Fujioka. Or anyone else. The fact that today was Halloween and their killer seemed preoccupied with horror movies weighed heavily on her mind.
Will we have another murder tonight?

How could their killer let the popular, horror-filled holiday pass by?

I wish Halloween were another week away.

As she moved on to the records of another year, Ava spotted Mason’s name again. She continued reading down the page and froze, the letters jumbling together. Her gaze went back up to Mason’s name and checked the name of the child. She looked at the board, not seeing that child listed anywhere. She grabbed the ledger she’d just set aside and flipped pages until she found her first sighting of Mason’s name and read the name of the child from that year.

Scott Nickle.

“Has anyone heard from Mason since he left this morning?” She fought to keep a quaver out of her voice.

Zander looked sharply at her over his computer screen. “What’s wrong?”

She swallowed, a sense of unease settling in her bones. “Mason mentored Scott Nickle the year before Denny.” She leaned over and dug in her bag for her cell phone.

“Who?” Keith asked.

“Her fiancé,” Nora supplied. She spun in her seat to face Zander in the back of the room. “Zander, have you found anything on Scott Nickle?”

Ava listened to the ringing of Mason’s phone.
Pick up, pick up, pick up.

I’m jumping to conclusions.

He’s fine.

Voice mail. She left a message for him to call her and then searched her contacts for Ray’s number.

He answered immediately. “Lusco.”

“It’s Ava. Have you heard from Mason today?”

“Not lately. I’ve been trying to stay off his back, knowing he was helping you guys.”

“Nora told him to keep away from the case this morning. He didn’t tell you?”

“No.” Ray’s tone grew concerned. “What’s wrong?”

“I haven’t heard from him all day. Do you know where he might be?”

“I don’t. I’ve barely talked to him since Denny’s funeral.”

“Ava,” said Nora. “Mason told me he was going over to Cops 4 Kidz this morning.”

She stared at the detective. “Why didn’t you say that earlier?”

“I forgot until right now. He was very vague, saying he hadn’t received his minutes from the last meeting and was going to go pick them up in person.”

“What’s going on?” Ray said forcibly in her ear.

Ava turned her attention back to her call. “I don’t know. His name has come up in some research we’re doing on the mask cases and now I’m concerned because I can’t reach him.”

“Shit,” said Ray. “Let me ask around a bit.” He ended their call.

Ava set down her phone. “Zander?”

He looked up from his computer and shook his head. “I’m still looking. It’s like Scott Nickle doesn’t exist. I’ve estimated his current age, based on fifteen-year-old records, to be anywhere between twenty and thirty-five, but I can’t find anyone with that name and in the right age range that lives in Oregon or Washington.”

“Add Idaho and California,” suggested Ava. “Everyone look and see if you can find a parent name somewhere. Maybe there’re mentions in the other ledgers that aren’t about the mentoring program?”

Nora picked up a notebook, flipped through it, and gave a small moan. “This is going to take forever.”

“Nothing when I add the two states,” stated Zander.

“Try females in the age range of forty and sixty-five with that last name,” said Ava. “Let’s see if we can find his mother. Start with just Oregon and the Vancouver area.” She held her breath and watched Zander’s expression.

“Shit. I get seventeen names just in our state. I’ll look at it by county.” He glared at the screen.

Mason, where are you?
She dialed again. Voice mail. She punched in a text. C
ALL ME
.

Keith moved to look over Zander’s shoulder. “I’ll see what I can find on the three names in Washington County. You take the four from Multnomah. Then we can look at Clackamas and Clark County.” He sat at the computer terminal next to Zander and tapped on the keys.