Chapter Eleven
There was a skeleton crew working at command central when they got there. Penelope gave them both a solemn nod. “Thank you for coming in again. We are a little bit shaken up by this footage and just want to know what we’re dealing with.”
Bree sat down and pulled up the footage. Tanner hated to see the pinched look back in her eyes.
None of them spoke as they watched twenty-four seconds of what looked to be Jean Adams back in that damned water coffin. She wasn’t talking, wasn’t crying, but did seem to be lying there muttering something. With the voice modulator it was impossible to make out her words.
When the footage shut off, they all looked over at Bree.
She shook her head, looking confused. “I need a few minutes to see what I can figure out.”
Tanner squeezed her shoulder.
“Do you mind playing it again, or will that disrupt what you’re doing?” Penelope asked her.
“No, I’ll play it again.” Bree sat down to work as the footage came back up on the screen.
“Okay,” Penelope said. “What can we see? Anything. Different, same.”
“The water is higher,” Tanner said. “By at least a couple of inches from the last footage we received.”
Everybody looked closer.
“He’s right,” Whitaker said. “But the water is still dripping at the same rate. Not gushing down like it was when we found Jean.”
Tanner rubbed his eyes, trying to make sense of this. The footage had to be from earlier in the day, prerecorded. They watched the footage again.
“Did we ever figure out if Jean is someone we should know?” Tanner asked. “Why Elliot was using a voice modulator and not ever showing her face?”
Penelope shook her head. “Nothing so far.”
“You guys,” Bree called out. “I’ve got something.”
As soon as Tanner saw her face—and the worry in those beautiful green eyes—he knew they were in trouble.
“What?”
Bree looked like she wasn’t going to be able to get the words out.
“Just say it,” Penelope told her. “Any information is better than not knowing what’s in front of us at all.”
Bree shook her head. “There’s bad news, and worse news. This footage is definitely not on a loop. It wasn’t something Elliot prerecorded to send out later.”
They all muttered curses.
Bree turned to Penelope. “Did the crime lab dismantle the camera that had been used to record at the crime scene?”
Penelope nodded. “Yes, in order to take it in as evidence it was removed from the wall. But there are plenty of pictures of exactly where it hung.”
“So since there was going to be no more footage being sent, I assume you sent your computer team home.”
Penelope nodded again. “Yes. They’d been working nearly forty-eight hours straight. It seemed pointless to keep them around when they had already done their part.”
“I understand,” Bree said. But she didn’t look happy about it.
“So what exactly is your worse news?” Penelope asked.
Bree typed on her keyboard for a few seconds.
“Nobody was here, but the program I uploaded that recorded all the screens captured everything we need. The program everyone was mad at.”
Tanner could see Penelope was getting frustrated with Bree for not getting to the point quicker. Bree tended to think that everyone wanted all the details like she always wanted the details.
“Just hit us with the bottom line, freckles.”
Bree’s green eyes flew to his. “It’s been nine hours since you rescued Jean Adams. But at the top of each hour since then there’s been another clip that was broadcasted.”
“What the hell does that mean?” Penelope asked.
“It means there’s another victim,” Bree said. “And her water is already past where Jean’s was.”
Whitaker muttered a curse under his breath.
Bree sat back down at the computer. “I’ve got to work. We don’t have a lot of time.”
TANNER MADE SURE Bree had a steaming cup of coffee next to her keyboard, then walked over to Whitaker and Penelope.
“I’ve called everybody back in,” she said. “Hopefully they got enough of a break to be able to look at this with fresh eyes.”
“I don’t understand.” Whitaker scrubbed a hand down his face. “What is this, a copycat? If so, how? How could they have gotten all the details so perfectly in such a short amount of time?”
“They couldn’t,” Tanner said. “This had to have been someone working with Elliot from the beginning.”
Penelope walked over and poured herself a cup of coffee. “We haven’t been looking too deeply into his known associates, but that’s where we’ll start. I interviewed him briefly, but he wasn’t very talkative. He hasn’t lawyered up yet, so I figured I’d let him sweat for a little while.”
“Now might be a good time to see if the sweating worked,” Tanner said.
Penelope nodded. “You guys want to join me?”
Penelope handed Tanner a file as they walked through the main section of the building toward the holding cells.
“A refresher course on Elliot. Twenty-two-year-old engineering student. Straight As through high school and college. No priors. No known affiliation with any groups or people that would raise red flags.”
Tanner nodded. He remembered this much from what Bree had told them before they’d infiltrated the building. He handed the folder back to Penelope. “You’ve talked to him. What’s your take on him? We all know a file is only going to help so much.”
Penelope opened the door and they walked into the observation room. On the other side of the two-way glass sat Elliot Webster.
“Tends to think he’s the smartest person in the room,” Penelope said. “Hell, he probably is most of the time. I’m sure we’re talking Mensa IQ and damned if the kid isn’t afraid to let everybody know it.”
Tanner studied Elliot through the window. The kid definitely didn’t look scared. Bored maybe, but not frightened.
There wasn’t too much impressive about him, at least physically. Blondish-brown hair that looked like it needed a cut. Eyes too close together on a face too pointed and angled. He was probably about five foot nine and 160 pounds.
Basically, quite ignorable.
“And he hasn’t asked for a lawyer?”
Penelope shook her head. “Nope.”
“Definitely a cocky bastard,” Whitaker muttered. “Guy does remember that we caught him right smack in the middle of attempted murder, right?”
“I’ll be honest.” Penelope leaned in closer to stare at him. “I think this is all just part of a game to him, the same as sending the footage. I think he plans to lawyer up, but wants to play us as long as possible.”
Tanner nodded. “We can use his own conceit against him. He hasn’t asked for a lawyer because he’s sure we won’t be able to trip him up with our questions. And that may end up being true, but I say we work his own plan against him for as long as possible.”
Whitaker looked at Penelope. “Do you mind if Tanner and I try to talk to him? He’s met you, but doesn’t know who we are at all.”
“Be my guest. I’ll watch from out here and see if I catch anything from him.”
Tanner and Whitaker walked into the room. Elliot straightened up slightly in his chair. “Finally,” he muttered.
“We understand you’re denying your right to counsel,” Whitaker said as he sat down across from Elliot. Tanner remained standing, leaning against the wall.
Elliot raised one eyebrow. “Yeah, that’s right. I think I’m doing just fine without one.”
Definitely a cocky bastard.
“That’s your choice, of course,” Whitaker confirmed. “As long as you know you can request one at any time.”
Elliot tilted his head to the side. “Plus, you only have a few more hours before you’re required to charge me, or let me go.”
Cocky bastard who knew the law.
Whitaker nodded. “That’s right. And you will be charged, seeing as how we caught you in the act of attempted murder.”
Tanner’s eyes narrowed. That’s what Elliot was waiting on before calling a lawyer—an official charge. But why wait if he knew it was coming?
Tanner decided to see if he could find out what made Elliot tick. He pressed up from against the wall. “We got your videos.”
Elliot straightened slightly, for the first time not looking completely bored. “Never doubted you would. Is that how you found me?”
Bingo. That was why he hadn’t called his lawyer. He knew once he did he wouldn’t get his answers. He wanted to know how he’d gotten caught.
“Yep. Was able to trace them right to you with no problem.”
Elliot’s eyes narrowed. “I know that’s not true.”
Tanner raised a brow. “Because you’re too smart for us to trace them?”
“In this case, yes. Smarter than you guys, at least.”
Whitaker leaned back in his chair and glanced over at Tanner. “I don’t know about that. I’m a pretty smart guy. Or at least my mom always says so.”
Tanner grinned at him, glad that Whitaker had caught on so quickly. “Me too, you know. I wasn’t surprised when we were able to track Elliot here to the warehouse so quickly.”
The kid crossed his arms over his chest. “There is no way you two were able to track me.”
Time to see what Elliot was willing to spill. “Maybe we didn’t have to track you. Maybe your partner gave you up. Told us who you were and where you’d be.”
A smooth smile fell onto Elliot’s face. “Is that right?”
Tanner kept his face neutral. “You sure that’s not what happened? Do you trust him so much that you’re sure he won’t betray you even to save his own skin?”
The kid’s smile got bigger. “Something like that.”
Whitaker looked over at Tanner, eyes narrowed just a little bit. He was thinking the same thing Tanner was. Elliot was way too relaxed in his answers about a partner to be truly concerned that someone might have betrayed him.
Nobody involved with a crime like this would be that secure a partner hadn’t flipped on them in order to save their own skin.
Tanner wasn’t sure how it was possible with this new footage showing up, but it didn’t look like Elliot was working with anyone.
He just continued to sit there, smug, strumming his fingers on the metal table.
Whitaker didn’t get flustered. “Okay, you caught us. Not a partner. Maybe you just got sloppy with your encoding. All the VPNs and routers in the world can’t hide a mistake if we’ve got someone just as good as you.”
If possible, Elliot just got more superior in his seat. “Yep, I guess that must be how you did it.”
Tanner decided to give Elliot a little bit of what he wanted. See if that got a reaction. “Fractal pattern.”
When it came down to it, the kid didn’t have much of a poker face after all. He sat bone straight in his chair at Tanner’s words, realizing for the first time that maybe they did have someone just as good as him. “What?”
“You were using a fractal pattern in your transmission, right? Still think we’re stupid now, Elliot?”
He was shaking his head. “How did you—”
A knock on the door stopped Tanner from saying anything further. Penelope stuck her head in. “Tanner, can I talk to you for a moment?”
Elliot was still trying to wrap his head around the fact that they’d figured out his precious code. Whitaker gave him a nod and Tanner walked into the observation room.
“What is it? We’re just starting to make headway on—” He stopped when he saw Bree standing there.
“I think I’ve figured it out,” she said. “Can I ask Elliot a couple of questions about codes?”
Tanner looked over at Penelope. “Your call.”
Penelope gave a slow nod. “Two minutes. Keep it short and remember all of this is being recorded.”
Bree nodded and they walked back into the room together. Elliot had regained a little bit of his composure.
“What?” he sneered. “Are you bringing in the pretty good cop to be the yin to your bad cop’s yang?”
“No, Elliot,” Tanner said smoothly. “You were right before when you said you were smarter than Whitaker and me. I’ve brought in the person you’re not smarter than.
The one who figured out your little code.
Figured out which computer was yours at your house and got the info she needed before the fire could burn the place to the ground.
Figured out how to get you locked up in here now. ”
Elliot’s eyes narrowed on Bree. He was close to her age so didn’t make the mistake of discounting her out of hand just because she was young. “Is that so, sexy? Are you smarter than me?”
Bree crossed over to the table before Tanner could stop her. “Matrix grid pattern torus.”
Tanner had no idea what she was talking about—it sounded more like she was trying to cast out demons than ask Elliot a question.
But evidently the casting out worked. Every bit of color drained from Elliot’s face. He turned to Whitaker.
“I’d like to call my lawyer now.”