That’s what I told Matt Sinderling, I thought, and look where it got me. But I didn’t say it, only nodded my thanks.
Adam leaned in and I told him everything.Told him about the hockey game and Officer Glen Bates being a jerk (“no big surprise there,” he’d muttered) and Matt Sinderling’s request.He raised his eyebrows when I described Kris and again when I said I took the job, but said nothing.I related my trip to Fillmore, but when I got to Katie, I stumbled a bit.
“Was she okay with you calling her?” he asked.
“I think so,” I answered, my voice a little thick.I swallowed and went on, “I mean, she showed up.She helped me.”
Adam was watching me carefully.“But…?”
I shrugged.“There’s still some…hurt there.”
He nodded.“You know, you could have asked me for that information.The stuff on your complainant and the runaway.I use the database all the time.”
“I know,” I said.“I guess I just…”
“You wanted to see her.”
I nodded.
“Okay.Go on.”
I told him about the FI report in Katie’s file, how I contacted Tiffany and got Rolo’s name.Once I was past Katie’s part, it tumbled out in a rush, unedited.Adam listened, nodding sometimes, wincing when I mentioned Leon’s punting drill and waited for me to finish.
“You’re lucky you didn’t freeze to death or lose a finger or something,” he told me when I was done.“That security guy did you a solid.”
“Yes, he did.”
We were quiet again for a bit and Cassie re-filled my cup.Adam watched her go, then looked back at me.“How do you rate re-fills in an espresso bar?”
“Dude, it’s Americano.It’s basically drip coffee.It costs like, three cents.”
He shook his head.“You go ahead and believe that.”He pointed to his own cup.“See that?Two-thirds empty and likely to stay that way, unless I want to part with another two-fifty.”
I didn’t answer but smirked and blew on my coffee instead.
Adam watched me a moment, then leaned in.“Okay, I’ll say it.I’m glad you’re doing something.You’ve been spinning your wheels ever since-”
He stopped.I don’t know if he was going to say ever since I quit the job or ever since I got off the tranks and the booze, but either way, he was right. It had been a long time.
“Well, for a lot of years,” he finished.“It’s good to see you with a purpose.But, Jesus, Stef…couldn’t you have just gone back to school or something?This is some dangerous stuff you’re involved in here.You could’ve been killed out there at The Hole.”
“You think I can’t handle it?”
“That’s not it, and you know it.”
“Then what?”
“You shouldn’t have to handle it, that’s what.”He drummed his fingers on the table.
I knew he only believed part of what he was saying.And I think he knew that I needed this.That it was worth the stretch for me.Besides, I was involved now.I’d bled a little on this one.I was seeing it through.
“Like my grandmother used to say,” I said. “In for a penny, in for a pound.”
Adam heaved a sigh, looking over my shoulder at the selection of pastries listed on the wall.Then he said, “All right. What can I do?What’s not illegal, but just a little bit funny?”
It was my turn to lean in.I pulled out Kris’s photo and slid it across the table to him.
He picked it up.“This is her?The runaway?”
I nodded.
Adam gave a low whistle.“Trouble,” he muttered.“This one has trouble written all over her.”
“She’s sixteen,” I said, bristling a little.
“I know.You told me. That’s the problem.”
I couldn’t argue with that, so I pressed on.“Look, Rolo said that she was hooked up with a guy who makes sex movies here in River City.I want to find that guy.”
Adam shook his head.“That’s a crock.Unless he’s making hand-helds in a basement somewhere, there’s no professional porn filmmakers here in town.Plenty of sellers, but no filmmakers.”
“Rolo said he made them for the Internet.”
The word hung in the air.Adam looked at me and paled.“Oh, no.”
I didn’t respond, just looked at him.
“Hell, no,” he said, his voice pleading.
“Hell, yeah,” I said.“That’s what I need.I need to know about porn sites originating in River City and then I need to know which one is featuring Kris.And where to find the guy who runs the site.”
Adam plopped backward in his chair, his mouth hanging open.“That’s impossible.”
“Impossible?”
Adam sighed.“Well…very, very difficult.”
“But possible.”
Adam shook his head.“Not with my equipment.”
“Your stuff’s not good enough?”
“The hardware, sure.I can search faster than ninety-nine percent of the public.It’s software that’s the problem.And access.”
“Access?”
Adam sighed again.“Look, you’re asking me to run an Internet-wide search for ISPs that originate in River City.Then you want me to find one specific site out of those thousands of sites, maybe tens of thousands.And then you want to know who the owner of the site is and I’m sure you’ll want to know how to find that guy, too, right?”
I nodded.
He shook his head.“Even just looking for public information, that search is prohibitively broad, man.On top of that, a lot of sites and owner information is routed through other sites half a world away.And encrypted, too.Encryption is a bear.”
“Couldn’t you narrow the search?Look for only pornography sites?”
Adam considered.“Yeah, I could, but I’d run the risk of filtering out the very site you’re looking for.”
“She’ll be using a stage name,” I said.“I’m sure of it.”
“What name?”
“Star.”
He shrugged.“Okay, that helps a little, but we’re still talking about a huge project here.”
“Needle in a haystack?” I asked, a little sourly.
“A needle in a stack of needles,” Adam said, just as sourly.“A stack the size of Montana.”
It was my turn to sigh.
Adam stared at me for a long while, although it felt more like he was staring through me.He did that sometimes, when he was deep in thought and I was part of the thing he was thinking about.It wasn’t particularly subtle.
After a minute, he broke his gaze and scratched beneath his nose.“Okay,” he said.“Here’s the thing.I might have access to stronger searchware.”
“You might?”
“Yeah.Might.”
“What kind of access?”
He looked over his shoulder and around the Rocket.A pair of old women had wandered in and were at the counter, but other than that the place was empty.He motioned me to lean in and I did.
“The thing is, with this Homeland Security push since Nine-Eleven, the feds are partnering up with local law enforcement on some things.One of those things is computer technology.We got some money last year to upgrade all my systems. When we did that, the feds wired in the capability for me to tap into their network.”He looked around again, as if he expected FBI stormtroopers to charge our table.
“What for?”
“Homeland security.Terrorist stuff.”
“You can just use their network whenever you want?”Maybe this would be easy after all.
He shook his head.“No.No way.I have to call in and get a special password every time.And they don’t just give it to me.I have to give them a reason.Tell them what I’m investigating.”
“If you had their software, could you do this search?”
“It’s still my search software that links up with theirs.But it’s their access that’s the key.”He shrugged.“And I’d probably need to use their decrypter, too.”
“But could you find-”
“Yeah,” he said.“Probably.”
I leaned back.“Will you?”
Adam sat for a while again, staring at me and through me at the same time.
I waited.
When he sighed, I knew the answer was yes.
“I’ll tell them I got a tip that a local site was showing child pornography.That’s what it technically is, if she’s sixteen,” he said.“They’ll want a case number, but I can stall on that.I’ll tell them that I wanted to see if there was any merit to the tip before bringing in an investigator.I’ve done it before with a tip on a marijuana grow.”