Chapter 15 - THE MAN RAYMOND WANTED
Dawson was handcuffed before he finished speaking.
State police took him into a locked consultation room.
Detective Shaw questioned him with Special Agent Keene while I remained outside.
Evelyn insisted on keeping me away from the interview.
"You are not law enforcement anymore."
"I know."
"You are also potentially a target."
"I know."
"And you have a child in the next room."
"I know."
She looked at me.
"Then stop looking at that door like you plan to kick it open."
I sat down.
Mason leaned against the wall opposite me.
"She would have terrified Delaney."
"She terrifies me."
"Good."
Twenty minutes later, Shaw came out.
Her face looked older.
"Dawson says Ross recruited him two years ago."
"For Raymond?"
"He says he didn't know Raymond's name until tonight."
Mason snorted.
"Convenient."
"Very."
"What did he do for Ross?"
"Database checks. Surveillance. Destroyed two evidence requests."
"Related to me?"
"One was."
I felt no surprise anymore.
"What evidence?"
"An old complaint from someone claiming they saw a man watching your house."
I stared at her.
"When?"
"Three years ago."
"Who complained?"
"Your neighbor. Mrs. Patterson."
The elderly woman who had found Jake bleeding that afternoon.
"She called police?"
"Yes."
"I never heard about it."
"Because Dawson cleared it as unfounded."
Mason's jaw tightened.
"Raymond had eyes on the house for years."
Shaw nodded.
"Dawson claims he thought it was private-investigator work connected to a civil dispute."
"Do you believe him?"
"Not yet."
"What about Ross?"
"Dawson says Ross panicked when the flash drive surfaced."
"Then?"
"They drove to meet Raymond near the river."
"Why?"
"Ross wanted money and a way out."
"What did Raymond do?"
Shaw's mouth tightened.
"Shot him."
"Dawson saw it?"
"Claims he did."
"Why let Dawson live?"
"He didn't."
Mason straightened.
"Explain."
"Dawson says Raymond ordered Scott to kill him too."
"Scott was there?"
"Yes."
"How did Dawson escape?"
"Ran into the river brush after Scott missed."
Mason shook his head.
"Scott doesn't miss at ten feet unless he wants to."
Shaw looked at him.
"You know Scott's shooting ability?"
"Public range records. Competitive pistol league two years."
I looked at Mason.
"You already checked all of them?"
"I had time."
"You were standing next to me."
"I multitask."
Shaw sighed.
"Dawson may have been allowed to escape."
"To do what?"
"Bring a message here," I said.
They both looked at me.
"Raymond knows Dawson will run to police."
Mason nodded slowly.
"And the message is that Michael is the target."
"Which pulls resources toward me."
Shaw's eyes narrowed.
"And away from something else."
We all looked through the glass at Jake.
No.
Too obvious.
Raymond had already threatened him.
"Christine," I said.
Shaw shook her head.
"She's guarded."
"Brian?"
"State custody."
"Storage unit?"
"State police have the drive."
Mason said,
"The original tablet."
Of course.
Raymond still had it.
But if it was face-locked to Christine, he needed her.
Unless there was another way.
"Where is Melissa Crane?"
Shaw immediately understood.
"Unaccounted for."
"Hospital credentials. Respiratory therapist."
"And Dennis Vargo's sister."
Mason pushed away from the wall.
"She may know biometric bypass methods?"
"Not necessarily."
"But she may know Christine well enough to have photos, video, or access to old devices."
Shaw was already calling digital forensics.
I looked at Mason.
"Raymond doesn't need Christine if he can spoof the face lock."
"Depends on the device."
"Then what does he need from me?"
Mason stared at the floor.
"Maybe the tablet has two layers."
That thought hit me instantly.
"Two users."
"Or two authentication factors."
"Christine's face plus something only I know."
Shaw ended her call.
"Digital says possible, depending on how the encryption was configured."
"Christine said Dad records everything."
"Which means he may have designed the tablet to open certain files only with separate keys."
Mason looked at me.
"What did Raymond know about you that nobody else did?"
I thought through fourteen years of old cases.
Aliases.
Safe houses.
Operational dates.
Informant names.
Then one answer came back.
The date I resigned had unlocked the flash drive.
Raymond understood symbolic passwords.
He knew people reused emotional landmarks because they remembered them.
"Luis."
Mason's face changed.
"Ortega?"
"The informant Delaney sold."
"What about him?"
"The day he died."
"Password?"
"Maybe."
"Raymond could know the date."
"Then it wouldn't require me."
"Unless it requires something you said to Luis."
My stomach turned.
There had been one phrase.
A stupid promise whispered on a motel floor while Luis bled through my hands.
I had never put it in a report.
Never told Delaney.
Never told Mason.
I told Luis I would get his daughter out.
I did.
Her name was Sofia.
She entered witness protection with her mother two days later.
Raymond might know she existed.
He would not know the phrase.
Unless Delaney had been listening.
"Michael?"
Mason was watching me.
"There is something."
"What?"
"Not here."
Shaw frowned.
"If it matters to the threat assessment-"
"It matters."
I looked at Jake.
"But not where my son can hear."
We stepped into an empty room.
I told them about Luis.
The motel.
The promise.
The words.
"I told him, 'Sofia gets out. I swear.'"
Mason looked at me.
"You never told me that."
"There was no reason."
"Did Sofia get out?"
"Yes."
"Where is she now?"
"I don't know."
"You didn't keep track?"
"I wasn't allowed to."
"Good."
Shaw wrote the phrase down.
"Could that be an encryption key?"
"Maybe."
"Then Raymond may want you to say it."
My stomach tightened.
"Which means the call wasn't only provocation."
"He may be recording your voice."
Mason looked toward the hallway.
"Voice authentication."
"Can that be spoofed from a phone call?"
"Modern systems can be weak or strong."
"Raymond's paranoid," I said.
"He would use strong."
Mason nodded.
"Then he may need a specific phrase in your real voice."
I remembered Raymond's call.
He had tried to make me talk about the past.
About who I used to be.
He had not gotten the phrase.
Yet.
"He'll call again."
Shaw nodded.
"When he does, don't improvise."
I almost smiled.
"You too?"
"Especially me."
We returned to Jake's room.
He was sleeping again.
The officer outside the door changed shifts.
State police replaced hospital security at the stairwell.
For forty minutes, nothing happened.
Then Evelyn's phone rang.
She answered.
Her face changed.
"What do you mean continued?"
She listened.
"No, the hearing was Monday."
Another pause.
"Who filed it?"
She looked at me.
"I'll call you back."
She hung up.
"What?"
"Someone filed an emergency motion in family court."
"Christine?"
"No."
"Then who?"
"Raymond."
I stared at her.
"On what standing?"
"Grandparent petition."
"He assaulted Jake."
"I know."
"There is video."
"I know."
"Then why would any judge entertain it?"
"Because he attached documents claiming you are under federal investigation for homicide, weapons trafficking, and witness intimidation."
Mason laughed once.
There was no humor in it.
"Fabricated?"
Evelyn looked at him.
"They appear to have federal seals."
"Appear?"
"I have not authenticated them."
"Which judge?" Shaw asked.
"Judge Mercer."
Shaw went still.
"What?"
"Bluebird."
She grabbed her phone.
The flash drive contained payments to judges.
Maybe Judge Mercer was one of them.
Evelyn pulled up the emergency order.
Her face drained.
"No."
"What?"
She turned the screen toward me.
An order had already been signed.
Temporary protective custody was awarded not to Raymond.
Not to Christine.
To county child services.
On its face, that sounded safer.
Until I read the next line.
TRANSFER AUTHORIZED IMMEDIATELY.
A county social worker was supposedly on the way to remove Jake from the hospital.
Shaw swore.
"No one takes him."
The elevator dinged.
Every head turned.
A woman stepped out wearing a county badge and carrying a court order.
Behind her were two uniformed officers.
Local police.
The woman looked directly at Jake's room.
"I'm here to take custody of Jacob Hale."
I stood between her and the door.
May you like
"No."
