Kingston Kidnappings (What Happens In Vegas Book 3) by Matt Lincoln (great book club books .txt) 📗

this kind of technology to hack phones was a legal gray area, even for the FBI. As long as no one explicitly forbade me from doing so, though, I would continue to do whatever I could to hunt down criminals and save children.

It seemed like Daniel hadn’t done anything to safeguard his phone. He’d probably assumed the fingerprint lock was secure enough, which was fortunate for me because it meant all of his texts were out in the open for me to peruse through. He’d had multiple conversations going on with several of the neighbors regarding the matter of acquiring children for them, but one conversation stuck out to me in particular. Daniel texted this person more often than anyone else, and every text was about a different couple requesting a child. The other person only responded with short, curt texts, and it was clear that they were the ones sending the children over.

The contact was listed only as “supplier.” I opened a tracking program on my computer. If I were to call this number, I’d be able to trace it if I could get whoever was on the other end to stay on the line long enough. Once I had everything set up and ready to begin tracing as soon as the call connected, I went to call the number, but I hesitated as my finger hovered over the green call button. If I spooked them, they might realize we were onto them and run. However, the longer we waited to try to contact them, the higher the likelihood that they would find out that the Weavers were dead and that their friends had been arrested, which could also cause them to run.

In the end, I decided to follow my gut and call them. I waited tensely as the phone rang, poised and ready to begin tracing the call the second someone answered. No one ever did, though, and I felt defeated and empty as the ringing stopped and a generic voicemail message began to play. The fact that no one had answered made me feel nervous. Perhaps whoever’s phone number it was had already heard that the Weavers were dead? It had been a pretty big scandal, after all. News reporters had descended upon the scene just a few minutes after the police had. Poor Junior, Charlie, and Naomi had looked so tired when they got back, so it wouldn’t be surprising if whoever had been supplying the kids already knew the police were investigating.

I stood up and left my office to speak with Wallace. If they did know, then we had even less time to move than we’d previously thought. Wallace’s office was located at the end of the bullpen, just like it had been in our last building. I knocked twice and waited for him to look up and wave me inside before entering.

“Hello, Agent Gardner,” he greeted me. “is everything okay?”

“I don’t think so,” I answered. “I found a few things on Daniel Weaver’s computer and phone. Most of it only confirmed what we’d already suspected, but I did manage to find a telephone number that I believe belongs to the person who was supplying the neighborhood with all the children.”

“Is that right?” he responded, his tone serious.

“Yes,” I replied. “Unfortunately, I think that whoever that is might already know we’re on the case. I attempted to call the number using Daniel’s phone, but no one answered. Now that I’m saying that out loud, I realize it sounds kind of silly to assume that just because they didn’t answer means that they know something, but I just have a feeling that they do.”

“You should trust that feeling then,” Wallace nodded. “We, as human beings, are more perceptive than we often give ourselves credit for. If something in your gut is telling you that, you shouldn’t second guess yourself.”

“Thank you, Director,” I smiled. I was glad that he’d trusted me and hadn’t just brushed off my concerns.

“Unfortunately,” he continued, “that leaves us in a bit of a predicament. From what I’ve heard, the interrogations aren’t yielding a lot of particularly useful information, and if we can’t rely on the one lead we have from the suspect’s computers, we don’t have much else to go on.”

“There might be someone else who would help,” I offered. “A woman named Sandra Baker. She runs a non-profit here in Las Vegas dedicated to stopping child trafficking. A pamphlet for the organization was found in the Weavers’ home, and Daniel had visited the organization’s web page several times before his death. Charlie thinks they might have been studying it as a way to not get caught, but they might have had some kind of run-in with them.”

“It’s a long shot,” Wallace shrugged. “But it’s something. I’ll have Agent Hills and Agent Patel check it out as soon as they’re finished with their interrogations. Thank you, Agent Gardner. Let me know if you find out anything else.”

“Of course, sir,” I nodded before leaving his office.

I used my phone to check the time and saw that it was a little past noon. Charlie, Naomi, and Junior had been conducting interrogations all morning, and I wondered when they would be finished. Junior had said a total of six couples had been arrested, which meant they’d be conducting twelve interrogations in total. At fifteen to twenty minutes each, that would take hours to do, and that wasn’t even including the time it would take to switch the suspects in and out of the interrogation room.

As I was walking back to my office, I saw Miranda sitting along in the bullpen.

“Are you okay?” I asked as I walked up to her. She looked a little sad, which was unusual for Miranda, who could make a joke out of anything.

“I’m fine, Fi,” she whined. “Just bored as heck. Naomi is off with Junior and Charlie doing those interrogations, and I got so bored I actually finished all the paperwork from the Italy mission.” She patted the folder