Rae explained, and Lucas said, “So you read them.”
She did, and wrote each letter or number on a legal pad as they scanned the belt photos: there were twenty-four symbols: “c3cejd24lstpv319qubdo6g9.”
“That’s nothing but a key to something,” Bob said.
—
LUCAS FOUGHTthrough the FBI bureaucracy to get on the line with Roger Smith, the FBI computer tech. “Do you have Jim Ritter’s laptop handy?”
“It’s in a lockup, but I can get it in a minute or two.”
“I got some numbers for you,” Lucas said.
“Hang on.”
—
LUCAS HUNG ON,and Bob said to Rae, “If this works, I’m probably going to have to kiss Lucas’s ass. You might not want to be here for that.”
“No time for it anyway,” Lucas said. “If this works, we need to get down to Quantico and check this stuff out.”
Rae: “Why? We’ll just have him email it to us.”
Lucas rubbed his face, and sighed. “Shit. You know, deep in my heart, I don’t understand that we don’t always have to go places to get things anymore,” Lucas said. “I was about to drive an hour over to the Medical Examiner’s Office to look at Ritter’s belt. The investigator sent me the iPhone photos in seven minutes. Kind of scizzes me out, the way it comes out of the sky now.”
—
SMITH CAME BACKto the phone, said, “We’re up and running. What’s your best guess?”
Lucas read the string of numbers and letters to him, and the tech typed them in, and said, “Nothing.”
“Maybe it’s backward, or whatever,” Lucas said.
“Or maybe I mistyped something. I’m going to read them back to you,” the tech said.
He did, and, toward the end of the string, said, “ddo6g9.”
Lucas said, “Wait. Wait. Toward the end of the string, it should be bdo, not ddo...”
The tech said, “Wait one...” and then, “Shazam! We’re in.”
“I could come down and look at it, but if you could send the stuff, it’d be a hell of a lot quicker.”
“I can send it. What’s that chick’s name, the one working with you?” Smith asked.
“You mean Rae?” Lucas looked at Rae.
“Yeah, the pretty one... the basketball player.”
“Rae.” To Rae, quietly: “He kinda likes your looks.”
“Well, naturally,” she said.
Smith: “Gimme her email and yours. I’m going to send her a string like the one you sent me... a different one, of course... and I’ll send all the texts and emails in one long file toyouremail. We’ll keep them separate so nobody can see both at the same time. You’ll need to enter the code to read them. It’s a onetime code, nobody else will be able to use it after you do. Not even you. Of course, if you open the files on your computer and save them in plain text, and somebody takes the computer away from you, they’ve got it.”
“I’ll open it on my iPad. I got Touch ID,” Lucas said.
“Didn’t this Ritter guy lose his fingers?” Smith asked.
