The dangerous off-limits bridge over the Pulsap River near the coast. She chewed on her lip.
“What is it?” he asked.
Before she could reply, his cell rang. He glanced at the screen. “It’s Allison.” Then answered. “Allison?”
“Glad I caught you,” Allison said.
“How are you feeling?”
“I’m young and healthy, and this cold feels barely there. I’m on the mend. Don’t worry about me. I called because I’ve got the information on Advanced Technologies.”
“Good. Let me put you on speaker.” He set the cell on the table. “Jo’s here too. Go ahead.”
“Oh, hello, Jo. Nice to meet you. I’ll get right to it then. AT—Advanced Technologies—is involved in researching and developing products for the air, sea, and space sectors. They’re headquartered in Seattle but have additional facilities in Nevada, California, and Texas. Oh, and they’re looking for manufacturing and test engineers, software engineers, in case you were interested. I wonder if Mr. Dodge visited for an interview. He’s a mechanic as far as you know, right? Maybe he’s got some engineering experience in his background. Just a thought.”
And a big stretch, unless there was more to Raymond Dodge. Cole had asked Allison to look into Jo’s father inadditionto Advanced Technologies. Maybe she had information on him but was holding back to learn what Jo might say.
Jo gave him a look. She’d asked him to focus on her mother’s investigation. If he was going to protect her, he needed to look into her father too.
“Interesting.” Cole held Jo’s gaze, willing her to just hold on. “Does that mean anything to you, Jo?”
She shrugged, looking confused. “I have no idea. Maybe he has a friend there and was meeting him for lunch.”
“Right after leaving you a note that sounded like he was gone for good,” Cole said, “and warning you about danger.”
Jo’s mouth flatlined at the news. Obviously confusing to her as well.
Cole should wrap it up quickly. “Okay, thank you, Allison. Anything else?”
“Well, yes, there is. I’m not sure this isn’t for your ears only.”
“I’m sorry.” Cole sent Jo an apologetic look.
“It’s okay. I’ll just get us that coffee I made.” She moved to the kitchen three steps away.
He snatched up the cell and took it off speaker, then put some space between them, standing at the door. He peekedout into the stormy night. Though partially illuminated by the porch light, the trees were barely visible as they swayed in the wind.
“What is it?” he asked.
“It’s about Jo’s father.” Allison hesitated and sighed. “You wanted me to run backgrounds on him, and I dug deep. I don’t believe that Raymond Dodge is his real name. I’ve looked into his background. I’ve been working for you, doing this specifically, and sometimes for the intelligence communities at large. I know the signs. If the government or some agency had done this, he would have at least a fake background, which I could spot, but not even that exists. He wasn’t planning on anyone digging. He probably made sure he never gave them a reason to look, even avoiding social media and hiding with his alias. So in that way, he was smart about it.”
“Until Jo.”
Cole couldn’t say that Raymond Dodge possibly using an alias surprised him, but would it surprise Jo? “Do you know what his real name is?”
“No. If you have a photo you could share, that would help.”
“You mean you were working without an image?”
“You were kind of preoccupied. Given that Jo has been in hiding, she too has avoided taking pictures or being in pictures, and so no chance of me finding his image on her social media because she doesn’t have a social media account and never did, as far as I can find. If you send me an image, I’ll run it through all the relevant software, though we still might come up empty-handed. So what’s the plan? Are you going to tell her?”
He slumped against the wall. Jo so did not need to hear this—that is, if she didn’t already know. “I’ll handle it and let her know.”
This could be a blow to her, depending on how much she knew. Her reaction would tell him a lot, and whether she withheld the truth from him, but he believed she would be surprised.
“And that’s a wrap,” Allison said. “I’ll keep you updated as I learn information.”
Cole ended the call and dropped his hand to his side as he gripped the cell and continued to stare out the window.
