Chapter 29
Chapter Twenty-Nine
“Iknow who you are.”
Kenna turned away and found the seat in the corner, which was, of course, as uncomfortable as it looked. She settled on the chair and looked at Wallace as if that didn’t bother her one bit. “Good for you.”
She’d spent years trying to live an anonymous life. Doing her thing as under the radar as she could. People like Wallace Lofton didn’t seem to care that she would rather live a quiet life.
A few weeks ago, she’d found a Bible verse that even said she should aspire to exactly that—a humble, quiet life. But no. People like him. Like the president. They didn’t leave her alone long enough to actually figure out what she wanted. Instead, it was about what they thought she should be.
She gave him her most disdainful expression.
“You’ve spent weeks recounting everything I’ve done for the past few years.
Of course you think you know who I am. But the fact is, we just met a few minutes ago, and I can honestly say that you know nothing about me except a bunch of facts. Or what you read in a report.”
“Yeah?” Wallace Lofton dug up some bravado from somewhere. “Don’t think I read about Maizie in a report. And I can tell you this, she isn’t some Canadian homeless girl like everyone thinks.”
Whether or not Kenna would’ve believed the story that Zeyla, Ramon, and Maizie had come up with as a cover for her background didn’t matter.
“Fine. You know everything,” Kenna said. “Tell us all of it.”
Wallace blew out a breath. His left eye had a shadowed appearance that would probably be a dark bruise by tomorrow. “I don’t even know where to start.”
Jax asked, “Do you know where Ellayna is?”
Wallace shook his head. “I didn’t even know they were missing until you told me. I had no idea.”
“Then start at the beginning,” he suggested.
The cop at the door said, “How about you start with what happened to you? I need a statement, and I need to know whether to expect someone to show up here and try to kill you.”
Kenna watched his body language and his mannerisms, as Jax was also likely doing. It wasn’t a foolproof way to tell if someone was lying or being truthful, but a trained observer could get pretty close.
Wallace said, “I thought I was getting mugged.”
“Did you see the guy?” The cop had a notebook out now, a pencil in one hand.
“It was a woman.”
Kenna’s mind immediately went to the Dominatus assets she’d faced, most of whom had been women. Was that who had targeted him? He had to be a threat to something they were doing, or at cross-purposes in some other fashion, for them to think he was a chess piece worth taking off the board.
“Okay,” the cop said. “Did you see her face? Did she say anything?”
Wallace shook his head. “I know who it was. She jumped me outside my office. Kicked and punched me.” He swallowed, probably not pleased to have to admit he’d been overpowered by a female.
Most men had greater upper body strength. But training could overcome the imbalance between opponents that existed in genetics. And catching him by surprise?
“She knew what she was doing, Wallace. She’s a trained asset. She might as well be a full-blown CIA agent.” Kenna figured that might make him feel better.
“And I was the chump on the receiving end.” Wallace shot her a look. “Is that it? The guy who didn’t know any better?”
Jax said, “We’ve all been there. Did she say anything to you?”
He shook his head. “She knocked me down, made me stay down. Then she tied me up and had me stand up. She shoved me into the trunk at gunpoint.”
“And you have no idea why?” the cop asked.
Wallace didn’t answer right away.
Kenna said, “Wallace, why did she target you? It was a warning. What was the message you were supposed to receive loud and clear?”
“She tried to kill me. I think the message is that she wanted me dead.”
Kenna shook her head. “If she wanted you dead, she’d have actually killed you. This was a warning.” Maybe, this time, he would accept it.
What was it Jax had just said? We’ve all been there.
“Who is she?” Jax shifted his weight from one foot to the other, towering over the end of the bed.
“Her name is Sylvia Caughton. She’s an investigative reporter.”
When he paused for a few seconds, Kenna said, “Okay, so tell us how you know her. How is she connected to your life, or your podcasting?”
“That was all her idea.” Wallace sniffed. “She didn’t like that I wanted out. You’re right. It was a warning.” And given his expression, he didn’t like that one bit.
Whether he didn’t like that she was right or that it really had been a warning, Kenna didn’t know.
Wallace continued, “I wanted out, like I said. The podcast…it wasn’t right having that girl on. I mean, it was interesting and all. But a child?” He shook his head. “It didn’t feel right.”
“Did you talk to her mother at any point?” Kenna asked.
Wallace looked remorseful. “No.”
“If it didn’t feel right,” Kenna said. “Then you shouldn’t have done it. That’s the bottom line.”
“They were going to kill me.”
“Didn’t sound like you were under duress on the recording.” She shrugged. “Sounded like you were enjoying yourself.”
“They told me to make it look good, okay?”
“And you collect evidence from murder scenes, so it’s like a hobby for you. Guess you were excited.” Kenna sat back in the chair, irritation bubbling up in her. This guy had taken her life and made it entertainment. “Now a family is in danger because of it.”
Jax asked, “When did you first meet this Sylvia Caughton?”
“A few months ago. We met on an app, started talking, and went on a date. She told me she’s part of this secret society, if you can believe it.” Wallace shook his head. “They paid off my debts. All of them.”
“Student loans?” Jax asked.
“That, and my townhouse and the online betting stuff. Football, basketball, and whatever. You know?”
Jax acted like he did know. “And you were so grateful you agreed to…what? Interview Ellayna Feathers against your better judgment?”
“The whole podcast was their idea.” He shrugged. “I’m a crime buff, but I’ve never done anything like that before. They set it all up. I just had to record the episodes, and they made sure it got a lot of downloads.”
Kenna said, “And you never once wondered why they were using you as a pawn?”
“I knew that’s what was happening.” He sniffed again. “It got the Ukrainians off my back. They were about to kill me if I didn’t come up with the fifteen thousand I owed them.”
Definitely a pawn.
They’d found a guy stuck between a rock and a hard place, owing dangerous people money he didn’t have. In came a beautiful woman with a proposition that got him out of his mess, no big deal—he didn’t have to do that much. Just talk about something he loved, true crimes.
Kenna could imagine the entire conversation. Sat across the table from a trained asset who used her looks and her powers of persuasion, Wallace had fallen for it all. Never once realizing that he was getting into a worse situation than he was previously in. At least, not until it was too late.
Kenna needed him on the defensive so he would say more than he intended, so she pressed him. “And you didn’t ask too many questions because it was a pretty sweet gig. Right? She was gorgeous and interested in you. She persuaded you that you’d been thinking about doing a podcast for a while.”
Wallace glanced to the side. “After I interviewed Ellayna, I didn’t want to do it anymore.”
“But the episodes were released anyway,” Jax said. “You didn’t stop it from going live.”
“I didn’t put those together. They did.” Wallace looked down at the blanket over his lap. “I came into the office one morning, and someone had been in there.”
“Did you report a break-in to the police?” the officer asked.
Wallace said, “No, but I knew it was her. The episodes had been loaded onto the portal that publishes them, and I couldn’t delete them. I couldn’t even access it because they changed the password. They locked me out of it completely, and then yesterday, she jumps me.”
After a few seconds of quiet, the officer said, “You mentioned a secret society?” He didn’t seem to believe it was a real thing.
Too bad he was wrong. That part, at least, had been the truth. Which made it interesting that the asset had chosen to share it with him. Using the secret as part of her persuasion.
Wallace said, “That’s what she told me. At first, I thought she was crazy, right?
But she had powerful people behind her, because I knew my computer had been hacked.
They obviously know how to spoof a person’s voice since they added the intro and the outro to my podcast interview with Ellayna.
There was a whole spiel in there that I never said. ”
“Like software that mimics your voice?” Jax asked.
Both of them had seen Dominatus computer software that could make it look like someone was on a video call, or some other kind of media, when they weren’t.
As long as there was someone to say the words, the program superimposed an avatar of the person over the top.
They’d fooled plenty of people that way.
Wallace shrugged. “They were watching me. I found bugs in my house, and there were weird deposits and withdrawals in my bank account. Stuff like that. When I told her I wanted out, she said the job had to be finished. But I wasn’t going to do more.”
“Do you know why they wanted the podcast to happen?” Since it was about her, Kenna figured she was at least partly connected to the reason why this had been their plan. Even if it was only a distraction.
Wallace said, “They wanted your attention. They wanted the story out.”
Maybe. Was that the truth, or simply what Wallace believed?
“They wanted me distracted,” Kenna countered. “That’s why they had you interview Ellayna. It was about throwing me off my game and making it harder for me to realize what was really going on.”
Problem with that was she still didn’t exactly know what was really going on.
At least, not more than the fact that a family had been kidnapped. “She didn’t say anything about Ellayna, Crystal, and Abe being taken and kept somewhere?”
“Of course not! I’d tell you.” Wallace flushed. “They’re really missing?”
Jax said, “Abe’s father, Crystal’s ex, was shot in his home. People are dying, and you’re in the middle of this.” After a moment’s pause, he asked, “Did you kill Marcus Neerwood?”
“What? Of course not!”
It seemed to Kenna like the conversation was going around in circles.
“If anyone did, it’s Sylvia. She’s the one who tried to kill me. Of course she killed that guy. She’s the one that’s crazy, not me.”
Of course he blamed the woman at the middle of all this. She couldn’t really fault him for that, but it would wind up getting him in serious trouble. She should probably recommend that he get a good lawyer.
Kenna stood. “I hope that’s true, because if anything happens to them? We already told you that you’ll be tried for the same crimes. That’s what happens when you’re an accessory to anything. Kidnapping. Multiple counts of murder.”
He stared at her. “I didn’t do anything to them!”
“Shame that’s not how the justice system sees your responsibility for what happened. And too bad for what might happen to you if you don’t tell us where to find Sylvia Caughton.”