Jo shrugged. “It’s an unusual name, but you act like that’s supposed to mean something to me. Is it?”
With her reaction, he got the answer he needed. “I guess not.”
“How did she learn his name?”
“Allison is...” How did he express his admiration without giving Jo the wrong idea. “She’s good at her job. I’m ... I mean, CGIS is fortunate to have her. She could be working for anyone.”
“You mean like the CIA?”
“Yeah. Like them.” And she chose to work with Cole.
Jo was watching him as if trying to read his expression. “So get to it. How did she learn his name?”
“Well, in a nutshell, once I sent her Advanced Technologies, she started running a search in the background. She uses some serious algorithms.”
“She didn’t tell us that before,” Jo said.
“She didn’t know. She’d learned about Advanced Technologies but not your father.”
“Okay, so how did she find him?”
“In addition to the footage Nick shared with me, Allison gained access to CCTV footage near the building. The day you went to see him, he left the building with someone. He had lunch with that same man—Jim Jordan—a couple of blocks away. Jim Jordan is a major player at Advanced Technologies—a COO, chief operating officer. He usually works out of their California office and was in town that day.”
“I don’t get it. How did she learn Ransom’s name?”
“She used a bit of, let’s say, social engineering to learn who Jim Jordan was meeting for lunch.”
“And she knows that Ransom’s not just another alias how?” Jo asked.
“She was able to confirm that’s his real name. Workingfrom a theory that he could be an engineer, she created an algorithm to search college records from top schools and found him. He has a degree in mechanical engineering from MIT, which confirms what we suspected. She was able to find additional supporting documents as well.”
“Then she probably also found what he did after graduation,” Jo said. “Where he worked.”
“You would think, but she ran into the proverbial brick wall. She hasn’t found his work history yet. Not everything is available digitally from thirty years ago, but she assured me she’s using all the available tools. She’ll keep looking for him. Learning his past could help us learn what’s going on now.”
Jo released a heavy sigh. “Okay. What next?”
“I want you to be safe. We need to know what he’s running from. What brought him to Hidden Bay. What he’s involved in that led him to go into hiding, change his name, and then leave when he thought he’d brought danger to you.”
Jo stared at the fire. He had a feeling she had something more to say.
“I wonder if Mrs. Monroe would know,” she said.
“Why do you say that?”
“She has a reputation among those who know her for helping people. He came here for a reason, and now we both believe that he was hiding in Hidden Bay. Makes me wonder if he was here due to Mrs. Monroe’s influence.”
He was tracking with her. “Does she knowwhatpeople are hiding from? Did she know what brought you here?”
“I don’t know. But it’s something to explore. Maybe we should just go and ask her. But I think she’s secretive about it all, which makes sense. I doubt we’ll learn anything.”
“That’s an idea.” He texted Remi, who worked for Evelyn Monroe and had more access to her. “I’ll ask Remi and see what we can learn, if anything.”
“Is that it?” Jo asked. “Nothing about what danger he could be in and, by proximity, I could be in?”
“Nothing yet. Allison’s digging. This is a start, though.”
They sat in silence and listened to the approaching storm. This home was more solid than Hawk’s house in Forestview or even the cabins at Cedar Trails. Even so, it shuddered and creaked. But then again, it was on top of a cliff, with a veranda stretching out over the ledge, so it took the brunt of the storm.
