“The audio recording didn’t pan out either,” Cam added. “Due to the way the guy at the house distorted his voice, they were unable to match it to Razo. The experts did use his fill words and speech patterns, and they don’t believe it’s Razo. This is just based on their years of experience and won’t hold up in court.”
Harris pressed her hands flat and leaned forward. “Hopefully, the blood from the sheet or needles will return our attacker’s ID, then.”
Cam nodded. “I’m still working on tracking the hack of your office. But you should know.” Cam paused dramatically, and Addy leaned forward in anticipation of what was coming next. “There’s nothing in your network logs to suggest there was an outside hack.”
Harris gaped at him. “But there has to be, right? The files didn’t just delete themselves.”
“The only option other than an outside hack would be if someone inside your office deleted them.”
“Not possible.” Harris crossed her arms. “None of my staff would do that.”
“If Cam thinks it’s possible,” Mack said, “we need to look at your security system logs to see if anyone was in the office that night.”
“The files were deleted at 2:18 a.m.,” Cam said.
“I’ll get with Fitz and let you know what I find.” Harris’s shoulders drooped.
Addy didn’t know if Harris was disappointed in Cam or if she was beginning to suspect someone they worked with had deleted the files. Addy couldn’t see anyone in their small office doing so. They didn’t have traitors on their staff. No one who would do Razo’s dirty work.
“Anything else?” Harris asked.
“I’m still scouring the dark web for Razo’s gun sales.” Kiley smoothed a hand over her hair. “So far I’ve discovered that he’s set up shop and is selling handguns via shipment. No sign of selling miniguns, but then I would think those would be custom orders.”
“Any way to track him to a physical address?” Harris asked.
“Not really,” Kiley said. “But I created a bogus identity and contacted him to try to set up a local buy for a gun. Since I don’t know his location, I just had to approach it as a shot in the dark—like hey, if you’re near me, can we meet to buy the gun because I need it ASAP. That sort of thing. We’ll see if he goes for it. And I’ll continue to look for other sites he might be running.”
“Good work, Agent Dawson,” Harris said.
Kiley sat up straighter, preening under the compliment.
It was still hard for women in law enforcement, and any encouragement from Harris was welcome.
Harris gave a sharp nod. “We’ll do a video meeting again in the morning unless there’s urgent information to share before then.”
“You mean like you’ve arrested Zamora,” Mack said. “Because right now that’s the most urgent thing we have going and getting him to talk could break this investigation wide open.”
Addy started going through her files for any information and pictures on Zamora, and Mack began researching the guy because he thought Zamora was now the key to their investigation. Find him and they’d find Razo. Problem was, after hours of searching, Mack didn’t come up with much.
Addy sighed and got up to pace the family room floor like a caged animal. Bear followed her, his tail down. The poor guy was as anxious as Addy. She’d asked to take a walk earlier to clear her head so she could be more efficient, and Mack wanted to let her go but wasn’t willing to risk exposure. He didn’t even want her to set foot out on the back deck, but that was the best solution to her need for a change.
He waited for her to pass nearby and stepped in front of her. “How about we go out on the deck? Stick close to the house in the pergola, and I think it should be fine.”
Her face brightened. “Yes, please. The fresh air will clear my head of all those images of Zamora and Razo and the people they murdered.”
He looked at his teammates. “Heading out to the deck for a few minutes. Text me if anything happens.”
They nodded, their focus never leaving their computers.
Addy hooked Bear up to his leash, and they bolted up the stairs.
Mack followed, but at the top he rushed ahead to reach the patio door first. “Stay here. Let me have a look around.”
“Sit,” she said to Bear, a frown on her face.
Mack grabbed the binoculars by the door, slid the door open, and stepped onto the wood structure on tall stilts. He slowly glassed the area, looking for a person hunkered down in the woods. For a glint of a rifle scope or a set of binos pointed their way.
He didn’t see anything, which was what he expected, but hecould never be too careful. He dragged a chair back to the door. With the height of the deck and the ground far below, even the best of snipers wouldn’t have a shot at Addy there. Still, no way Mack would sit down and relax when on guard duty.
