He was pretty sure she was putting it into a text message. “Tell her we’re federal agents who were told she disappeared and there is concern she’s in trouble. Make sure you tell her we don’t suspect her of doing anything illegal. And tell her whatever it is, we can and will help her.”
Elly tapped away with her thumbs. Then she set the phone on the table. “Okay, it’s sent. It usually takes a day to hear back. She doesn’t have a phone on twenty-four-seven, only has it on a few times a day to check for messages.”
Burke found that odd. “Is she safe where she’s at?” Burke asked.
Elly nodded. “Yeah.”
“Have you actually talked to her and heard her voice since Frisco picked her up outside of her dorm in October?”
Elly looked surprised that he knew that. She nodded.
“Are you part of the group too?” he asked in a quieter voice.
“What group?” Elly asked.
“The group that believes a civil war is coming. The group that believes being prepared is smart.” His voice was still quiet.
Elly shrugged. “I think it’s smart to be prepared,” she said in a whisper. “And it doesn’t hurt anything to be prepared, but I’m not like many of them.”
“What about Zoe?”
Elly looked more nervous with that question. “I think she bought into more than I do.” She shrugged again. “And if they’re right, what does it matter?”
Burke flashed her a grin. “True. A lot of people think it’s better to be safe than sorry. As long as there’s nothing going on that’s illegal.”
“There isn’t,” Elly insisted.
“Okay, please let me know when you hear from Zoe. And if I’m wrong and her parents aren’t the reason she left school and dropped off the face of the planet, please tell her they just want to talk to her to make sure she’s okay. They have some money for her to live on, too, and we have a finder’s fee for whoever gets her in touch with us. Her mom feels bad about how their last few phone calls went. She’s their daughter, and they say they loveher and just want to be sure she’s okay. Even if she doesn’t want to talk to her parents, I want to talk to her.”
Elly nodded.
They went back into the front room. “We’re good,” Burke said. “Cut him loose and let’s go.”
Wilson removed the tape from Forsander’s mouth. He immediately began to scream and swear at Wilson.
Wilson pulled on his arm. “I’ll help you up and then cut your hands loose.”
“I’ll have you fired!” Forsander yelled.
“How about you calm the fuck down?” Wilson said. “If you take a swing at me, we will arrest you for assaulting a law enforcement officer. You brought all this on yourself. All you had to do was cooperate like your sister.”
Forsander gave his sister a death stare and shook his head at her.
“It’s Zoe’s choice if she talks to them,” Elly said to her brother.
Wilson cut his zip ties. The two men exited without incident. Once in the car, Burke advised Wilson he’d successfully pair her phone. Through comms, Wilson had heard his conversation with Elly. Now they would have to wait. But it was the best lead they had on her so far.
Papa
Burke sent Elly Forsander’s phone number to Smith with the Digital Team. They would start with the number she texted while Burke sat with her. Then they would go through her phone call and text history and chase down any phone numbers she’d called or messaged with since October that could be the number to reach Zoe, in case she used multiple burn phones. Smith would cross-reference those numbers with calls and texts made by Oliveira and Zoe’s roommate to help isolate possible numbers and locations of use.
The Digital Team was also diving into Oliveira’s phone’s location since October. The team still believed that Zoe was out of the immediate area. If they were really a couple, it was a fair assumption that Oliveira would have visited her on multiple occasions since her disappearance, even if he hadn’t taken her to wherever she was the night she disappeared.
Smith would overlay the locations of Oliveira, and Roderick and Elly Forsander’s phones as well, in hopes of helping to pinpoint a location they’d all been since October. The burner phone Roderick Forsander received the call from Oliveira on was the suspicious part of this equation. Why was he using a burner when he had a regular cell phone in his name? Answer, only those trying to hide something did that.
Nothing further came from the surveillance of Oliveira or the two salon owners all day. No suspicious movements and no out-of-the-area trips. So, they pulled the physical surveillance on them that evening. They’d still monitor their phones through the night. The Digital Team would periodically check the location on each of the phones they had paired that evening, too, just to be sure no one traveled out of the area.
The team ate dinner, sat at a back corner table at a microbrewery, and quietly discussed the case. Rogers still insisted that something was off about the two salon owners, even though there was nothing suspicious about them. Observation of Oliveira yielded no second vehicle. Smith still had not recovered video of Zoe getting picked up outside of the dorm the night she disappeared in October. Of course, they had no firm date, so Smith was going through several weeks of video. October seventh was the last date Zoe’s mother spoke to her and believed she was in her dorm.
