It felt surreal to be in this room, with these people, and her here with him. They stole glances at each other and for a moment, Jaxon felt the world tilt. Almost as if time had doubled back on itself, the old and the new merging. It lasted only a second, and then the real world came back, just as it always did. Victoria’s cell rang, and it was Holt.
She took the call in a quiet corner and Jaxon kept looking her way. He didn’t know what he expected, but whatever he was feeling, it left a bitter taste in his mouth. She laughed loudly at something Holt said, and Jaxon actually felt a pang of jealousy. Looking inward, which was something he hadn’t done in years, it had been too painful, he chuckled to himself and realized he would have to fight for this woman if he wanted to have her back. Holt was now the enemy, in a sense, and that felt weird. She ended the call and came over to his desk. He must have had a funny look on his face.
“Ok?” she asked.
“Yeah-you?”
She nodded. “He was checking in. I hadn’t called him since this morning. He was updating me on the hacker’s computers we sent to Quantico.”
“Anything?”
She shook her head. “The geeks are working on it, but the kid was good. They don’t want to lose any of the data and are taking it slow.”
He nodded, not expecting anything new from them.
“Something’s bothering you?” she asked, sitting on the corner of his desk, the bruise on her forehead a little more prominent. The makeup she applied at his place had been rushed and she hadn’t been able to fix herself up as good as before. He grinned knowing he had something to do with that. She saw him staring at her head and said, “What?”
“Nothing.” He turned away. “I have this tingling going on in the back of my mind and I’m trying to figure it out.”
“Spidy-senses kicking in?”
“Yeah. Right.”
“Let’s talk it through and see if it brings something to the surface.”
“An FBI tactic?”
“Yes. It works. Just try it, alright?”
He sat back in his chair and spread his arms wide. “Go for it.”
She grabbed the chair from the desk next to them and pulled it up close to him. “What did we learn today?”
“That I still got it?” He grinned.
“Will you stop it!” she whispered. “Seriously-come on.”
“Alright, alright.” He sighed. “We now have four more dead bodies.”
“Right. The Hacker and his family. Quentin Jenson. What did we see there?”
“Lots of flies.”
“Are you going to even try?”
“Well, there were. Let’s see-more animal decapitations with the heads missing and the boy’s head which is also missing.”
“But the adults he left intact.”
“He did, didn’t he? I wonder why?”
“He made it a point to keep the dogs’ heads and some of the kids’ as souvenirs, just like he’s done in the past. With a few exceptions.”
Jaxon saw it right away. “Michael.”
“Right. Why was Michael different?”
“I don’t know.”
“Did Michael mean something different to him? I can’t make myself think like him. Michael keeps getting in the way. We’re too close to this.”
“I keep hearing his voice in my head, his real voice. He said Michael was nothing to him. I don’t believe him.”
“I don’t either.” She paused. “He also knew we had spent time with Luke and Ellie. He must have some way to see what they’re up too. We need to check Luke’s court and see if we can find any cameras.” She stopped. “Shit, he may know she’s there.”
“Even if he does, we’ve got guys crawling all over the house and neighborhood. His father owns a gun, too, and said he wasn’t afraid to use it.”
“I hope he won’t have to.”
He nodded. “Ok,” he said, “What else? He knows quite a bit about technology, yet he let himself be tracked by a bunch of kids.”
“He’s got to be arrogant,” she said. “We know he likes to taunt us, so he underestimated these kids. He’ll probably keep thinking he’s smarter than them and that may be a mistake. How did he know about the Hacker? That’s what’s bothering me.”
“Right-no cameras or web-cams in the Jenson area. Do you think he’s got a bug, or tap, on the Harrison’s phone? We never thought to check that.”
“I wouldn’t put it past him. Let’s follow up on that.”
He made some notes.
“Let’s keep working backwards,” she said. “Before the Hacker’s house, we were at the Harrison house talking to the kids.”
“We discussed the Hacker and talked them into giving him up. Ellie had also received a message from Smith saying he knew her father.”
“Leonard Worthington, and her real name is Eliana Worthington. Or at least it used to be.” He was typing into the computer and watched as information came up on one Leonard David Worthington. The last known address was Ellie’s.
“Nothing on him since he lived there?” Victoria said. “I’m calling Holt and see if we have anything in the database.”
She called him and while she was giving him the info, he scanned the rest of the file. Driver’s License records were clean. No citations or DUI’s. No arrests, either, but an old domestic disturbance call showed up. It was Ellie’s address way back in 1997.
“He’ll get back as soon as he has the info,” Victoria said hanging up. She leaned in close as Jaxon continued to scan the report. They both saw it at the same time. “You were the responding officer,” she said. “You made this report.” She looked at him stunned.
“I don’t remember,” he said. “I wouldn’t normally respond to a call like this. I must have been in the area and the patrol officers tied up somewhere else.” He thought for a second, then said, “No wonder she’s been such a bitch to me. She probably remembers me from that call. Damn! Why can’t I remember?”
“Is this what your Spidey-senses were tingling about?”
“Has to be.” He looked at the computer and scrolled down the screen. The report listed Madison Worthington as the caller. She had dialed 911 complaining that her husband was drunk and ‘out of his head’ breaking things and screaming at her. Apparently Jaxon had been able to convince the man to behave by ‘informing him of his parental duties and the consequences of neglecting those duties.’
“What did you tell him?” Victoria asked.
“I don’t know.” He thought about it but came up with nothing.
“Did you threaten to have Social Services take his son away?”
“Sounds like something I would do.”
“Yes, it does.” She gave him a look and stood up. “Come on.”
“Where are we going?”
“To see Madison Worthington-or Pemberton. Whatever her name is. Maybe she knows where he is.”
They pulled up to the house to find the older brother messing with what looked like a model airplane. The engine was running and he was revving it up and down while he held onto it with one hand. White smoke was streaming from the exhaust. It sounded like a bunch of angry bees or even a miniature chain saw.
Jaxon and Victoria walked up and he shut the engine off, looking irritated.
“Patrick, right?” Jaxon said.
The kid nodded.
“Is your mother here?”
“Yeah. She’s inside.”
“Pretty cool toy,” Jaxon said leaning down and looking at it. “Is it hard to fly?”
“I don’t know. I haven’t tried it yet. I just got it.”
“I’ll bet it was expensive.”
“I don’t know. It was a gift.”
“Does it burn that alcohol fuel?”
“Yeah.” Patrick reached down a grabbed a gallon jug of greenish fluid. It had some kind of pump attached to it. “This is what it uses.”
“Be careful breathing those fumes,” Jaxon said. “They contain a chemical that might knock you out. It’s called Diethyl Ether.”
The kid looked at him like he was crazy.
“Have fun,” Jaxon said as he turned and walked up to the door.
When they were out of earshot Victoria said, “What was that all about?”
“Just passing on some knowledge I learned,” he said, grinning.