Authors: Iris Johansen
“Is this software anything you can trace?”
“Don’t know. A lot of these things are traded freely on Web sites in the hacker community. But I was right about him not trying to cover his tracks. It’s almost like…”
“What?”
Sam shook his head. “It’s almost like he
wants
us to see what he was doing. Every line of programming code is on display here. As a matter of fact…”
He grabbed a napkin from the table dispenser and pulled a pen from his pocket. He quickly started jotting down letters, transcribing them from the screen. “Damn,” he whispered.
“What is it?”
He turned the napkin around to show her. “This isn’t programming code. It’s a message.”
“To whom?”
He tapped the napkin. “You.”
She looked down.
It read:
YOU ARE WASTING TIME, KENDRA. THE ANSWER IS NOT IN LOS ANGELES.
She shivered. “What in the hell…”
“There’s more.” Sam was already writing on another napkin. He turned it around to show her.
WHAT’S A NICE GIRL LIKE YOU DOING AT THIS SEEDY DINER IN THE MIDDLE OF THE NIGHT?
Kendra quickly turned toward the row of windows facing the street. “Could he be watching us?”
“I doubt it.”
“But how do you know?”
“I don’t know. But it’s far more likely that he could have been listening to your side of our phone conversation. He may have been watching you using your built-in webcam. And even though this thing doesn’t have GPS, he could have used the Wi-Fi radio to get a pretty accurate fix on your location when you brought it here. Remember, your laptop was on and under his control until I yanked the battery.”
She felt sick. “The thought of him watching me…”
“I know.” Sam grabbed another napkin and started writing on it. “There’s one more here. I’m not sure what this one means.” He turned the napkin around.
It read:
I TOLD YOU WHERE TO LOOK. THE HOUSEBOAT, KENDRA. YOU’RE WASTING TIME.
She pushed the napkin away.
“This guy knows you, Kendra. He knew you’d have the computer analyzed, so he planned ahead of time to leave these messages for you in the code.”
“Obviously.” She took a moment to stifle the tension that gripped every inch of her body. “Colby is no computer genius. I don’t believe he’s ever even owned one. He had help.”
Sam nodded. “Well, it was definitely someone who knows what he’s doing. That’s where I’d start. Known contacts with fairly sophisticated computer expertise.”
“It could have been someone he corresponded with from prison. He’s had fan letters from all over the world.”
Sam grimaced. “Fan letters?”
“Disgusting, isn’t it? He was a psychopath on death row. Yet he even had marriage proposals.”
“Well, it’s one thing to contemplate marrying a psychopath when he’s about to be put to death. I wonder if any of those women would marry him now?”
“I wouldn’t put it past them. The first order of business is to find out if he was pen pals with any computer experts. His stint on death row put him in contact with a huge network of disturbed loners.”
Sam nodded toward the screen. “It also seems pretty important to him that you visit this houseboat.”
“It was the scene of the crime. He killed a woman there last night.” She looked down at the words on the napkin she had pushed away. “A woman who did her best to make a national joke of me. The police thought it best if I stayed on the sidelines for this one.”
“Well, he really wants you to go there.”
“Which makes me want to run the other way as fast as I can.”
“The hell it does. You’re just dying to get in there.”
She started to deny it, but she stopped herself. Sam was right. Colby had known what he was doing when he dangled that carrot in front of her.
Sam pointed to her hard drive. “I hope there isn’t anything on this you want to keep.”
“Aside from every project I’ve been working on for the past year. Of course not. I back everything up and save it in the cloud.”
“Good girl.” He handed her his pen and slid a napkin over. “Now jot down your cloud storage account info and password.”
“Seriously?”
“Yes. I’m going to scan every single file you own and make sure there aren’t any nasty viruses lurking there. And you can kiss this hard drive good-bye. I’ll give it a good look, sector by sector. And I’ll see what I can do about tracing any malware I find.”
She wrote down the information and handed it to him.
“Now give me your phone.”
She handed him her phone. “You think he might have done the same thing to my phone as my computer?”
“I’ve no idea, but I’m going to find out.” He plugged her phone into his computer and did a check. “No, it’s clear.” He handed the phone back to her. “But I may ask you to let me check it occasionally just to be sure nothing has changed.”
“Anytime. And with extreme gratitude.” She tucked the phone back in her pocket. “Thanks, Sam. I knew you were the right man for the job.”
“The
only
man. In the meantime, it would be a good idea to find the computer geek who helped him with this. Check mail and call logs at the prison, visitor information, whatever.”
“Got it. I know he managed to obtain a cell phone in prison, so that may be the place to start.”
“Good. And there’s something even more important.”
“Yes?”
He was gazing at her soberly. “Watch your back. This isn’t just a hacker you’re dealing with here. For this guy, hacking is just a means to an end. He wants nothing more than to get in your head. It’s personal for him. I guess what I’m saying is … Don’t be afraid to grab every lifeline you can.”
* * *
IT WAS ONLY A COUPLE HOURS BEFORE
dawn when Kendra pulled into her parking place at the condo.
She didn’t move for a moment. She could feel exhaustion dragging at every limb. She had first experienced a rush of adrenaline, then pure shock. It had been hard to comprehend the scope of Colby’s invasion into her space.
She’d felt violated.
Well, she had to comprehend it. She had known he was clever, even brilliant. She had to meet that dark, malignant brilliance and survive it. She glanced down at the place where she’d set her computer when she’d brought it to Sam.
Crazy. She felt as if the computer were still there, listening.
Good Lord, that
was
crazy. She was actually nervous, paranoid, feeling as if that machine might actually attack her.
Get a grip. That was the response Colby wanted from her.
She swung open the driver’s door and got out of her car.
Five minutes later, she was unlocking the door of her condo. Another five minutes, and she was crawling into her bed and turning off the lamp.
Pleasant dreams. I can’t tell you how much I enjoy them.
She went rigid. It was the first time she had even thought of those last words Colby had written. She had been too occupied with the shock of his main message.
And she’d been right to ignore them. It had just been another ploy to terrify her and make her remember a time when he was dominant, and she was weak.
Blood.
That knife shining in the moonlight.
That feeling of helpless terror.
He couldn’t know, he was guessing.
But he knew her well enough to guess that she would never forget that night, that any panicky event would make it storm back to her.
He’d probably even realized that she would not be able to assess that last sentence until she was here alone, in her room.
Block it. She needed to rest, to plan, to sleep, so that she would be able to deal with the next few days. It was only a few hours before Beth would be pounding on her door.
Sleep.
She closed her eyes determinedly.
Pleasant dreams …
I don’t hear you, Colby.
* * *
“YOU LOOK LIKE HELL.” BETH GAZED AT HER
appraisingly. “And it took forever for you to answer my buzzer downstairs. You okay?”
“I will be after I have a shower. I had a late night.” She stepped aside and let Beth into the condo. “Twenty minutes. Get yourself coffee and orange juice.”
“Those call logs paid off?”
“You might say that they did. But not in the way you might think.” She turned and headed for the bathroom. “I’ll tell you over coffee.”
She held her face under the warm spray, letting it wash away all the cobwebs.
Not cobwebs. Blood.
Pleasant dreams.
Don’t think of it. It may have been an uneasy sleep born of terror and nightmares but she’d take it. She couldn’t control her subconscious while she was sleeping, so she’d use it to fuel her determination while awake. Just don’t let the thought of Colby get in the way while she was wide-awake and searching for him.
Instead, think of what she was going to say to Beth and how she was to handle her response.
Lord, she was tired of trying to handle everything around her. As for what she was going to say, there was no question. The truth and nothing but the truth. Beth was no child and had suffered years of oppression. If she wanted to help, Kendra would never keep her in the dark.
Kendra knew the dangers of that darkness.
* * *
BETH GAVE A LOW WHISTLE. “DEAR GOD,
Kendra, that sounds very, very weird. And downright scary.” She had listened quietly while Kendra had related the events after Beth had left her last night. She lifted her cup to her lips. “And fascinating. I’d love to meet your Sam Zackoff. I remember you told me he helped you and Eve get me out of that hospital, but I’ve never had a chance to thank him. And I never dreamed computers could be so interesting. Of course, I was in that hospital during the years when all those high-tech high jinks were being developed.”
“I could wish these particular high jinks were a little less fascinating,” Kendra said dryly. “It was a distinctly uneasy experience.”
“I can see how it would be.” Beth reached across the table and grasped Kendra’s hand. “Sorry. The concept just interested me. It must have been terrible for you. I can imagine how it would be to see a message from a monster seemingly appear out of nowhere in front of you.” She added gently, “But now you know that you were right, that Colby is still alive. I know that doesn’t bring you satisfaction, but it should bring you vindication.”
“Hollow victory.”
“It’s a step forward. I’m trying to be optimistic.” She finished her coffee. “Now, let’s go and see what’s on that houseboat.”
Kendra’s brows rose. “I believe I mentioned that I might have a little trouble getting permission.”
“You’ll get around it.”
“I’m going to go see Griffin at the FBI and see if I can get him to use his clout to get me inside.”
“See, I told you that you’d get around it.”
“And I’m not sure that I should take you along on an errand Colby is sending me on.”
“Why not?” Beth met her gaze. “Are you afraid Colby will connect me with you? Too late. If he’s spying on you through that computer, he probably knows who and what I am to you. Right?”
She nodded. “I’m afraid that’s true. But I can keep you under the radar.”
Beth shook her head. “It would only show Colby I’m important to you if you try to hide me.”
“So much for skating around the edges. I’m sorry, Beth.”
“I’m not. I’m beginning to dislike this Colby intensely.” Her lips thinned. “That computer nonsense was really creepy.”
“I would say the murders were a good deal more intimidating.”
“Yes, but you’re far more accustomed to violence and mayhem than I am. But he was trying to scare and manipulate you with that computer message. I don’t like manipulation. I was manipulated most of my adult life while I was penned up in that hospital. I
hate
for anyone to try to do that to you.”
Kendra could see how that would strike Beth. She would always remember those years and fight against their happening again. Even the karate lessons and physical training in self-defense were part of that battle for control of her life. “I’m with you. But that doesn’t mean I’ve changed my mind about trying to keep you as much out of this as possible.”
“I didn’t think it would. It’s your nature. I just wanted you to realize that it was useless to go overboard in that direction by hiding me in the cellar.”
Her lips twitched. “I have no cellar.”
She waved her hand. “See, total waste of time. So now that we’ve established that, do you have something for me to do that would prove useful?”
“You can check on the executive who is paying for the houseboat where Sheila Hunter was living.” She gave her the name. “And find out whatever you can from the people where she works.”
“Got it. Anything else?”
“The computer geek who might have been tapped by Colby while he was in prison. He’s important. You can help me locate him.”
“And may I go with you to the houseboat?”
She hesitated.
Beth shook her head. “No cellar, Kendra,” she reminded softly.
She sighed. “Okay.”
“Great.” Beth got to her feet. “So let’s see how we can go about manipulating that bastard, Colby.”
Kendra pushed back her chair. “Slow down. First, I have to see about manipulating Special Agent Griffin,” she said dryly. “And that’s not going to be easy.”
“NO,” GRIFFIN SAID FLATLY. “I’M
not going to interfere with local law enforcement. We have enough trouble maintaining harmonious relations.”
Kendra tried to hold on to her temper. She’d been trying to persuade him for the last ten minutes and gotten nowhere. “I’ve shown you that computer message from Colby. He killed Sheila Hunter, and he’s going to kill again.”
“And I’m sure that you’ll show that to the detective in charge, and he’ll add it to the evidence. It’s their case, not ours.” He shrugged. “And there’s no proof that message was from Colby. Copycat.”
“It’s not a copycat. He repeated the same words in that message he used to me when he was in prison.”
“Really? I’m sure there could be an explanation for that similarity. San Diego PD just has to find it.”