Wired Justice Page 12

  Freitan gave a brief nod, her full mouth folded into a grouchy line. “Already did. Called and had him cut loose at the twenty-four-hour point. But we will be bringing him in again, and following up on that black SUV you spotted.”

  They drove back to the station in glum silence. Jake spent the time typing with his laptop on his knees, tuning up his case notes and composing a detailed email to Kendall Bix, updating his superior on the situation.

  Once they reached the station, Jake headed straight back to the computer lab looking for Sophie. She was nowhere to be found. Tito, the watch officer, told him she’d taken the dogs to the park. “She said she’d just be an hour or two.”

  Stranded without the Jeep, Jake called Sophie’s cell, but she didn’t pick up. Stymied, he called Bix on Oahu and simultaneously uploaded his email to his boss.

  Bix was all business, as usual. “The parents have some kind of lead. They seem to think it’s legit. Someone contacted them, saying they spotted Julie with another couple outside of Volcanoes Park.”

  “Yeah. That’s probably the unsavory couple who robbed her and dumped her in the jungle. The police are holding them, but they are sticking to their story that they just rolled Julie for her cash and dropped her off in a remote area. We then found her hiking gear and clothing further off the road. It doesn’t look good.” Jake told him about the results of the search in the Travelers’ Rest squatter camp. “Both of them are under arrest for robbery and in jail until they make bail, but we don’t know what else if anything they had to do with her disappearance.”

  “Seems like there are a lot of fish jumping but nothing biting,” Bix said.

  “And I wonder if we’re even fishing the right stream.” Jake continued the metaphor. “Sophie is pulling together some data about missing persons trends on the island. Seems to be quite a problem over here. Not just our girl, but a number of others have gone missing. As I documented in my report, we came across a young man who seems like he might have been part of a secondary layer of criminal activity related to the disappearances. But he’s working with some others we don’t have a clue about. Things are not going well at the moment.”

  “Let me give you this information about the possible lead. You and Sophie can decide what to do,” Bix said.

  Jake took out a pen and jotted down the name and address of the possible witness the Weathersbys had found. At least it was something more to follow up on. He ended the call and tried Sophie’s cell again.

  This time she answered, but her voice was remote and chilly. “I’ll be there in an hour.”

  “What am I supposed to do until then?” Jake snapped. “You have my wheels!”

  “That won’t be a problem soon, as I’ve secured my own rental vehicle and a place to stay in Hilo.”

  “What? That’s not necessary! We are still on the job together.” Jake tried to keep his voice even. Sophie was ditching him!

  “As you are experiencing right now, it is necessary for us to both be mobile. I anticipate that this investigation will continue to take us in different directions.”

  “Come back here so we can talk about this, please,” Jake said with deliberate calm, though his heart rate had spiked.

  “I’ll be back when I’m finished with my business. I’m sure Freitan won’t mind your company.” Sophie ended the call.

  Jake cursed.

  Sophie was shutting him out and locking the door. He didn’t know why, or what to do about it.

  Chapter Twenty-Nine

  Sophie slid the phone back into her pocket, and looked up into Dr. Wilson’s kind, intelligent blue eyes. The psychologist wore a pretty but professional wrap dress and sat in a comfortable wingback armchair in her counseling office in Hilo. Her sandal-shod foot swung back-and-forth in a gentle arc. “That last bit seemed a little unkind to Jake,” she said gently.

  Sophie’s neck heated and she lowered her eyes. “I don’t know why I said that. Freitan has been sexually harassing him. It’s really unprofessional.” She had barely begun to describe the events that had brought her to Hilo when her phone rang with Jake’s call. “Kamani Freitan is a detective we are working with on the case. Anyway, I had to take his call or he would probably have sent the police looking for me.”

  “Seems like you’ve got a very dedicated partner, but you are going to some effort to push him away.”

  “A little more than just a partner, as of last night. Jake and I slept together.” Sophie rubbed the numb-but-tingly skin graft on her cheekbone. “I’ve never understood that American phrase. There was very little sleeping involved.”

  Dr. Wilson laughed. “Well, you’ve gotten yourself into quite a pickle now, haven’t you?”

  “Hopefully not a pickle. Pickles are rather sour.”

  “Just a phrase.” Dr. Wilson shook her head, smiling. “Why don’t you begin at the beginning and tell me why you needed this emergency session so much. I was surprised to hear from you, but I’m glad I could rearrange a few things and get you in.”

  Sophie sighed. “I was planning to talk to you in any case. That was part of the reason I came here to the Big Island. I’ve had a series of very intense experiences and changes in my life in the last year, and after the latest one, I came here to Hawaii hoping for a little vacation; some time to sort things out, figure out what I was doing next, make sure I was . . . mentally and emotionally healthy after the things that had happened. I had planned to call you and begin counseling as part of that. Instead, I seem to have uncovered another terrible crime.” She described the discovery of the body dump, and Jake contacting her about the Julie Weathersby case. “And for the rest of it, I really need your assurance that I have complete confidentiality.”

  “You do. In fact, since we haven’t worked together formally before, I’d like you to sign some things to that effect.” Dr. Wilson got up and fetched an intake packet from a nearby file cabinet. She put it on a clipboard and handed it to Sophie with a pen. “You fill those out and I’ll take the dogs some biscuits.”

  Sophie had left the dogs in the waiting area. She filled out the paperwork as Dr. Wilson took Ginger and Tank dog treats from a jar on top of her bookshelf. Sophie’s mind buzzed as she filled out the papers on autopilot, then paused to really read the confidentiality disclosures.

  She was planning to tell Dr. Wilson about the Ghost.

  Everything!

  She had to have some objective place to unburden herself. Dr. Kinoshita, the psychologist she worked with at Security Solutions, while an excellent therapist, shouldn’t be put in an ethical dilemma by finding out that the company’s CEO was a multi-identity cyber vigilante.

  Dr. Wilson returned and Sophie handed back the papers.

  “Thank you. Now you are officially my client, I am bound by confidentiality except as it pertains to any plans you have to hurt yourself or another.”

  Sophie shook her head. “No current plans. Though if you’d talked to me a month ago, the situation might have been different.”

  “Perhaps we should begin there, then.”

  It took a half hour for Sophie to bring Dr. Wilson up to current events. “As if all of that weren’t enough, yesterday I was contacted via text message to meet someone at the park who had information about my mother. I sent Jake to work with the detectives, and I went to the park.” She blew out a breath. “The person who found me there was my mother, herself.”

  Dr. Wilson blinked. “Forgive me. I thought, from your history and things Lei has said, your mother was disabled with depression. Hospitalized, in fact.”

  “Yes. That has been the fiction that she had created. I have no idea what her real life is like, or where she even lives.” Sophie’s gaze darted around the spare, comfortable room with its leather couch and armchair, desk, bookshelf, sand garden on the coffee table, and a few paintings. “My mother, by her admission today, does suffer from depression. But not nearly to the degree I’ve been led to believe. She is actually in espionage, and a member of an elite group of . . . royal
guardians, I guess you could call it. The Yām Khûmkạn.”

  Dr. Wilson sat back in surprise and made a note on her tablet. “No wonder you asked for an emergency session. When was the last time you saw her?”

  “Nine years ago.” Sophie swallowed—her throat was so dry. “Do you have anything to drink?”

  Dr. Wilson got up and went behind her desk to a small fridge. She fetched a bottle of water and gave it to Sophie. “What did she want? There must have been a reason she reached out to you.”

  “Yes. She wants me to join the organization she works for.” Sophie unscrewed the bottle’s lid and drank thirstily. When she put the water down, Dr. Wilson was still gazing at her steadily. “I told her I needed time to think about it.”

  “I would say. Tell me about the encounter.”

  “She was . . . smaller than I remembered. But she had not aged since I saw her last. She was disguised as an old woman, and had the proper body language and clothing for that, but her face…” Pim Wat was exceptionally beautiful, with wide-set, large brown eyes, high cheekbones, and a full mouth—many of the same features Sophie looked at every morning in her mirror. “She was very cold in her demeanor. Unrepentant about her deception. The only time she showed any regret at all for her treatment of me was when she told me she had traded me in marriage to Assan. For things he could do for the Thai government and our family.” Sophie covered her trembling mouth with her hand and firmed her voice. “Pim Wat said she had not known what he was. She couldn’t help me once he took me to Hong Kong. He had too much of the power the Yām Khûmkạn needed.”

  “I wonder that she had the nerve to even approach you.” Dr. Wilson’s voice vibrated with outrage. “Let alone ask you for any favors.”

  “She acknowledged that. And appealed to my patriotism. Said that our family and our country was under attack from cyber terrorists, and that my skills were needed. Implied I would be petty to allow our ‘personal differences’ to keep me from doing the right thing.” Sophie tried to still the trembling of her body, but tension shimmered through her like electricity. “I told her I would not give her an answer right away, but that I would look into it. And she got up and left.”

  “That’s all? No attempt to reconcile? To apologize for her neglect and . . . for using you as a bargaining chip to a monster?” Dr. Wilson’s eyes were wide with shock and rage on Sophie’s behalf.

  “She implied regret, and said that everything she did was for a higher purpose. Her attitude reminded me of Connor, but Connor has been more emotional about it. And still he used me, lied to me, and chose his mission over me.” Sophie felt the betrayals of those closest to her sucking at her emotionally, dragging her toward that familiar dark pit.

  “Connor? Who is that? Tell me about him.”

  Sophie glanced at the wall clock. “I don’t know if I can, today. I have to go pick up Jake and get my rental car before the business closes. Can we meet tomorrow? I must make a decision. This is . . .” she pressed her hands against her belly. “This is eating at me, as Americans say. My depression has been better with medication and all the activity I’ve been doing, but this is a . . . setback. I just want to get to my hotel room and lie down.” She longed for quiet and darkness in which to nurse her pain.

  “Of course, it’s a setback, a blow. You must always have hoped for something more with your mother. I’m sorry. Some people are simply not capable of it.” Dr. Wilson stood up. “I am livid on your behalf. Come here. You need a therapeutic hug.”

  “If I must.” Sophie stood and walked around the coffee table to embrace the petite psychologist. She felt stiff and wooden. She was a robot body with a heart somewhere deep inside, still beating for some unknown reason. But as Dr. Wilson held her, the warmth of the psychologist’s firm, gentle touch seemed to penetrate, melting the disconnect surrounding her.

  Sophie sagged, and an inadvertent sob erupted from somewhere deep inside.

  “It’s okay. You must grieve for these things,” Dr. Wilson whispered. “Let out the pain so it doesn’t cripple you.”

  “If I start to cry, I’ll never stop.” Sophie wrenched herself upright and stepped back. “Let’s meet tomorrow, please. I will work around your schedule.”

  Chapter Thirty

  Jake was waiting outside the Hilo Police Department for Sophie when she finally drove up in the Jeep. He’d thought long and hard about what to say, and decided to play it cool. Pretend he wasn’t pissed off and freaked out and worried as hell she was going to take off and disappear, like she’d done so many times before. Being clingy, needy, or jealous was lame and never worked with women. Jake had options. He had to remember that and act like it. Play a little hard to get.

  All of Jake’s mental scheming evaporated the minute he got done greeting the dogs, turned around in his seat, and got a good look at Sophie’s face.

  Her vibrant golden skin tone was ashen; her big brown eyes shadowed and dark, her mouth pinched. That mask she hid behind was in place, but it couldn’t hide the pain radiating off her in waves.

  “What happened?” He reached for Sophie’s hand and peeled it off the steering wheel. Her fingers were icy, and he pressed her hand against his chest to warm it, sandwiching it beneath his. “Something happened. Tell me.”

  Sophie shook her head. “We need to get to the rental place before five.” She yanked her hand away and gripped the steering wheel, eyes forward. “I am getting my own car and I have a reservation for a room downtown. I will take Tank to my place if you don’t want to deal with him.”

  Jake recoiled, absorbing the rejection. She was hurting. He had to make it stop. “I won’t leave you like this.”

  “I don’t need or want your help.”

  Ow. That hurt. He forced his mouth to close on arguments, his arms to stay down, not grabbing her and dragging her against him and causing an accident. He was a cave man, but at least he knew it.

  Jake sucked a few breaths and then turned to the dogs in the back seat. “Hear that, guys? She’s taking off and trying to take you with her. Well, I’m not going to let her do it, ya hear? We’re sticking together. We’ve got work to do.”

  Ginger woofed and Tank pricked his ears.

  Calmer, Jake turned to face forward. “Something happened. I respect that you want some space, but I have no intention of letting you blow me off. So, I’ll just follow you to wherever you’re staying and get a room there too.”

  A long beat passed by. Sophie gave a tiny nod. “Tank would like to stay with Ginger and we are still working together, so that would be acceptable.”

  He felt like he’d won a major battle, but schooled himself not to show it.

  At the car rental place, she went into the office and got keys. She came back to the Jeep with them in her hand. “I’ll take Ginger and my backpack and go now.” She was still trying to leave him.

  “Not necessary. Just tell me where your room is and I’ll bring the dogs and your things.” Keep the high ground and make no concessions—he’d learned that in Special Forces.

  They locked eyes. His chest hurt at how dead her gaze was. Sophie was deep in her depression, barely functioning, trying to get to somewhere to hole up. “It’s the Banyan Tree Motel downtown,” she finally said.

  “I’ll be right behind you.”

  Sophie walked off and located a small blue Ford Focus. She unlocked it and got in. He followed her in the Jeep through the busy streets of Hilo to a side road near the harbor. The motel was three stories of cinderblock painted the green of a hospital hallway, deep in the shade of a massive banyan. They parked and went into the small office without speaking.

  “Checking in,” Sophie said, and presented a credit card.

  Jake pushed her hand aside and handed the clerk the Security Solutions business credit card.

  “Both rooms on this card, please. Adjacent if you have it,” Jake said. “Is this place dog-friendly?” He held up a hundred-dollar bill.

  “It is now.” The clerk grinned. He assigned Jake the ro
om next to Sophie’s, ran the card and pocketed the cash.

  By the time Jake got his stuff moved in and the dogs installed in his room, Sophie had drawn the drapes on her side. He didn’t see any light around the door, and it was locked.

  She didn’t answer when he knocked.

  She hadn’t even taken her backpack inside the room.

  This was bad.

  Jake called for a pizza delivery and took the dogs out for a run before bed. Back at the motel, he couldn’t shake his worry when she didn’t answer the door for the pizza, either.

  Only one person he knew had successfully dealt with Sophie when she was like this: Marcella.

  “Hey Jake. What’s up?” The beautiful Italian FBI agent always sounded so cheerful. Why couldn’t he have fallen for a woman like her? Marcella was awesome, and what you saw was what you got. But Sophie? There was no end to the depths and layers of Sophie.

  “I need your help. Sophie and I are on the Big Island on a job, and something happened to her today. She won’t talk to me. Tried to ditch me. She’s holed up in a motel room with the drapes pulled, and won’t answer the door. She’s not eating. I’m looking for advice.” He rubbed his face in frustration.

  “Oh, damn. Sounds like she is in one of her depression cycles. Usually there’s a trigger of some kind. Did anything unusual happen?”

  “Yeah. We slept together last night, for one thing.” Jake stumbled to a halt, flushing hot and cold with embarrassment.

  “Oh-ho. I kinda saw that coming.”

  “It was really good. I mean, it was mutual, you know? Sophie was into it. But this morning, she began pulling away. I was expecting that, it’s her style, so I wasn’t happy but I wasn’t really surprised either.”

  “Did you guys have a fight or something, afterward?”

  “No. She was withdrawn but I didn’t push; I expected she needed space and the case we’re on took us in different directions during the day. I went on a house search and Sophie worked at the police station and then went to the park with the dogs. When she came to pick me up . . . I could tell something serious had happened. Maybe someone called her, did something to her. I don’t know, but she’s in a bad place.”