Chapter 49
"Ivy Rourke was not a source or subject in any active investigation," Special Agent Murphy said when I called.
"You wouldn’t tell me if she was, would you?"
"Now, Deputy, you know full well that our agency prides itself on cooperation and transparency with local law enforcement.”
It was total BS. They would absolutely withhold information if it was related to national security, pertained to an ongoing investigation, or if there was a need to protect sources or methods. Plus, I hadn't exactly made friends at the Bureau.
I called Ivy's friend, Casey. She answered after a few rings, "Hello?"
"Casey, this is Deputy Wild.”
"What do you want?" she snapped in a defensive tone.
"I'm told the FBI visited Ivy at school. Did she talk to you about that?"
Casey was silent for a moment. "I don't think I should talk about this on the phone."
That piqued my curiosity. "What's going on?”
After a long pause, she asked, "Do you have Memo?”
It was a secure, encrypted messaging app. Even Isabella had a hard time hacking apps like that. The encryption was end-to-end. Not even the company that ran the servers could access messages between users.
“Yeah.”
"Call me on Memo," she said.
I ended the call, launched the app, and dialed her number. Casey answered after a few rings. This was about as secure as you could get for a commercial application.
"Want to tell me what's going on with the cloak and dagger stuff?"
"Can I trust you?" Casey asked. "You're not with them, are you?"
"With whom?"
"Last week, the FBI came to the school to talk to Ivy. But they weren’t the FBI. They were lying.”
"How do you know?"
"They were trying to scare Ivy. They were security from Valterion Capital. At least that's what Ivy told me."
"Why would security personnel from Valterion Capital pretend to be FBI?”
"Think about it." Casey sounded frazzled. "Mom said they stopped by the house earlier today. Thank God I wasn't there. Said they wanted to ask me questions about Ivy.”
"Where are you now?”
“I'm staying at a friend's house. I'm not going back home. Not after what happened. I'm starting to think they killed Ivy.”
"Why?"
"You promise you're not one of them? How do I know you're really a cop? I mean, you guys certainly don't look like cops. You could be anybody. You could be with the company or some corrupt shadow government agency."
"I think you know we’re cops. But call the sheriff's department and ask for Denise. She’ll vouch for us.”
Casey paused for a moment. "Okay. If you check out, I'll call you back. If not, you'll never see me again.”
She ended the call. Something certainly had her spooked.
I gave JD a look and updated him on the situation, then texted Denise and told her to expect Casey’s call.
Denise texted back: [You’re not going to believe this. Jacob Sweet turned himself in. I guess he saw the news about Wesley’s confession and felt like a total shithead. Confessed to everything.]
I replied: [One less thing I have to worry about.]
Casey called back a few minutes later on the encrypted app. I put it on speakerphone so Jack could hear. "What I’m about to tell you is totally top secret, okay?”
"Casey, we’re trying to help solve your friend’s murder," I said.
After a pause, she said, "You need to talk to Ethan."
"Who's Ethan?”
"A friend of ours. He had a hopeless crush on Ivy. It took a lot to get it out of him, but he just told me they hacked Valterion. That's why they came to visit her at school. That's why they offered her a job."
"A job?" I said with a wrinkled brow.
"They were going to pay her a shit-ton of money. Of course, the job came with a non-disclosure agreement. They wanted to shut her up. She told them to screw off. So, they killed her. It all makes sense now."
"Why? What did Ivy find during the hack?"
"I don't understand it all. Something about the weather. Ethan can explain it better than I can. But you don't think this is natural, do you? The floods, droughts, and cold weather in the Keys. Never in my life has it been this cold here. Never.”
"Where's Ethan?”
"Scared shitless, hiding out. They’ve been by his house, too.”
"Where is he hiding?”
Casey paused. "I don't want to say. I'm not gonna rat him out. Let me call him and see if he's willing to talk to you.”
She ended the call, and we waited for a reply.