Clay shakes his head. “Teddy doesn’t ask me for money, and I’ve never offered it.”
“Is it possible Braedon has given Teddy money? I hate to even mention it, but he’s a sweet kid, and he adores Teddy. If Teddy asked—”
“No,” says Clay. “Braedon has a savings account, but I have access to it. The only thing he’s withdrawn money for is to buy a fishing rod and reel and some tackle.” Clay shifts positions on the couch to face Judd. “So he can impress his grandfather up north.”
“So,” says Zoey. “Teddy has a secret source of cash. Someone’s been paying him under the table to do something we don’t know about.”
“It looks that way,” says Deb. “I have no idea who that person is, but I’m pretty sure I know their phone number. There’s a text chain in here… The contact is just a phone number, no name or anything.”
“Probably a burner,” says Clay.
“And each text just contains a date and time,” says Deb. “Theresponse is either a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. Sometimes initiated by Teddy. Sometimes initiated by whoever the number belongs to.”
“When is the most recent text?” says Zoey.
“Saturday,” says Deb.
“A day after Teddy disappeared,” says Judd.
Mei takes Judd’s hand in hers and gives it a squeeze.
“Yes,” says Deb. “It’s from the same number. Teddy’s last text is at oneAMon Friday. It just reads2:30. And the response came two minutes later: a thumbs-up. Teddy must have left the house shortly after.”
“If we knew their meetup location,” says Clay, “we could send a time and date and show up to find out who it is. But we have no idea where they’ve been meeting. Zoey, can you start the process of getting records for that phone number? Maybe location stamps for the texts? Find out what other apps the person is running that may reveal personal information?”
Zoey looks hard at Clay with her mouth half open.
“What?” says Clay. “You think it’s a bad idea?”
“No…” says Zoey. “I think it’s a good idea. I’m just wondering how you thought of it.”
“It’s a phone,” says Clay. “Isn’t it common sense?”
“Yeah…” says Zoey. She eyes Clay with suspicion and doubt. “Sure…” she says. But her expression does not change.
Judd takes this in, and Mei watches Judd. Deb is too preoccupied with Teddy’s phone to pick up on anything else.
“Anyway,” adds Zoey. “If that phone number does belong to a burner, it was probably paid for with cash. We can subpoena the company for locations and additional informationon that phone, but the process takes time. And we don’t have time.”
“What we do have,” says Judd, “is a time stamp for Teddy’s last text and a time for whenever Teddy and whoever were supposed to meet. Teddy left his phone and wallet and car here, so either he walked to the meetup place, got picked up in a vehicle, or had a bike stashed on the property that we didn’t know about. The dogs tracking Teddy down to the creek doesn’t mean much. That could have been from a day or two before he disappeared. The time difference between the text and the meetup is ninety minutes. If Teddy walked, we can figure out the radius of where he could get to on foot in that amount of time. Same if he biked. If he was picked up in a car, that could get him almost to the Twin Cities. Or to Wisconsin or well into Iowa.”
Zoey takes out her cell phone. Clay asks what she’s doing, but Zoey doesn’t respond. She thumb-types, waits, and thumb-types some more. After about ten seconds, she says, “My map program says it takes one hour and fifteen minutes to walk to Miller’s Bluff. Think that could be the meetup place?”
“If it is,” says Clay, “we could use a Stingray device to emulate Teddy’s phone to set another meeting.”
Zoey stares at Clay.
“What?” says Clay. “You thinkthat’sa bad idea?”
Zoey says nothing.
“What? We used IMSI devices all the time when I was in the army. That technology goes back to the early nineties.”
Zoey keeps her eyes on Clay. Dubious eyes. Dubious with a hint of playfulness. She smiles and shakes her head.
“We don’t need to emulate Teddy’s phone,” says Judd. “We have it right here. And speaking of phones, Clay and I need to replace ours.” He looks at his watch. “Let’s head up to Rochester now so we’re all back in communication with each other. And thanks, Deb. Thanks for getting inside Teddy’s phone and sharing what you’ve found.”
Deb shrugs. “I wish I could do more. I feel frozen. Like I have to stay here in case… for when Teddy comes home. Thanks to all of you for being out there looking for him.”
