“Why would he be bringing your father into this, Eliana?” Victoria asked.
“He sent me another message the other day saying ‘Your real name is not Eliana Pemberton.’ Now, I know how he knows that.”
“Is that true?” Victoria asked.
Ellie nodded.
“What is your real name?”
“Eliana Worthington.” And she told them the story of her divorced parents and her mother’s desire to separate the children and herself from their father’s legacy. Victoria shared a look with Jaxon.
“What is your father’s name?” Jaxon asked.
“Leonard Worthington.”
“Do you know anything about him? Where he lives? What he does for a living? What he looks like?”
She was shaking her head no. “I never knew him. He left when I was very little and my mother kept only one picture of him I found by mistake. She hates him.”
“Do you think she knows where he is?”
“I don’t know,” Ellie said. “You’d have to ask her.”
“Anything else bothering you?” Victoria asked.
Ellie sat quiet for a moment holding her boyfriends hand tightly in hers. Finally she said, “Why?”
Victoria looked at Jaxon again and then turned back to face the kids. “Why did he pick you?”
Ellie nodded.
“We don’t know,” Victoria said. “If we did, we might have a lead that would help us get him. Can you think of any reason someone would want to do this to you? Someone you angered or someone who doesn’t like you?”
“Everybody likes Ellie,” Luke said. “Except her stupid brother, but he’s an asshole. Sorry.”
“Aren’t all brothers jerks?” Victoria asked and Ellie smiled again.
“Yeah.”
“At least when they’re young. They grow up and are a lot better. For the most part,” Victoria said. “What we really came to talk to you two about is the computer program your friend used to decode the cell phone number Smith was using.”
“You guys can’t track him with the software I gave you?” Luke asked.
“He hasn’t turned that cell phone on again,” Jaxon said. “We think he’s ditched it. He called me two days ago from an untraceable cell number and it wasn’t the one you gave us. We’ve been monitoring it 24/7/365 and he hasn’t used it.”
“I don’t have the program my friend used to decode it. He didn’t give me that one.”
“Can we talk to your friend? It’s very important,” Jaxon said.
Luke looked down at the floor, uncomfortably. Then he looked at Ellie. She stared at him with a look that said, ‘Tell them.’
“I don’t want to give you his name without him saying it’s ok,” Luke said. “I promised.”
“Do you understand what’s at stake here, Lucas?” Victoria asked very seriously. “Ellie’s life is at stake. Do you think your friend’s feelings are more important than Ellie’s life?”
Jaxon watched the kid crumble. Victoria had been brutally honest with him. She stayed silent now, letting him work it out.
“His name is Q,” Luke said. “Quentin. I need to call him first if we’re going to see him. His family may not like a bunch of cops just showing up.”
“Do you want to use my phone?” Jaxon said.
He shook his head. “No. I’ll do it from mine. He knows my number.”
“Can you try now? The clock is ticking,” Jaxon said, “and we need to find this guy. Before it’s too late.”
Luke nodded and left the room. He returned a moment later with a cell phone against his ear. Jaxon could hear it ringing. After twenty rings or so, Luke hung up.
“He always answers his phone. Maybe he knows what’s going on. It’s been in the news. He could be hiding,” Luke said.
“Can we go to his house?” Victoria asked.
“His family won’t like it,” Luke said uneasily. “They have big dogs and I know his dad has guns. I don’t think they’re legit.”
“Legit?” Jaxon asked.
“Luke means his parents have both been to jail,” Ellie said. “They sell drugs.”
“We just want to talk. We don’t want to arrest them,” Victoria said. “Can you take us there?”
Luke looked at Ellie and she nodded slightly. “Alright,” he said. “It’s not far.”
They arrived at Q’s house and Jaxon was not impressed. The house was a shack. The last shack they had been to exploded on them and Jaxon looked apprehensively over this beat up 1950’s era block home. A chain link fence encircled the whole front yard and abandoned motorcycles, toys, washers, chests, and coolers littered it making it look deserted.
Luke said, “Where are his dogs?”
“They have dogs?” Jaxon asked.
“Yeah. Mean ones. I’m surprised they’re not here, snarling and frothing at the mouth.”
Jaxon looked at Victoria. She shrugged.
“You kids stay here. If anything happens, get on your cell phones and call 911. Don’t go near the house.”
“What’s wrong?” Ellie asked.
“Probably nothing,” Victoria said. “Just let us check it out.”
The two kids nodded their heads and stood close to each other. “Wait in the car,” Jaxon said. “And lock the doors.”
Jaxon walked to the gate and then stopped. He looked up at the trees and light poles, trying to see if any cameras or something unusual stood out against the trashy and run down neighborhood. He could see nothing that looked out of place. Victoria joined him in the search.
“Do you think he has it rigged?” she said.
“I don’t think he’s had time. I don’t know how he would even know about this kid.”
“He’s been one step ahead of us this whole time.”
He nodded. “We take it slow.”
“Do you want to call back up?”
“No. Do you?”
She grinned and shook her head.
He turned toward the house and whistled. “Here boy! Kujo! Fifi! Here girl!”
She said, “That’s great. Will you just open the gate.”
“Just making sure,” he said. “That book was creepy.”
He reached over and lifted the latch. The gate swung open slowly on rusty hinges. No dogs attacked. They approached the front door and knocked. Nothing. He motioned to the side of the house and she nodded. Weaving through the trash, they stepped over a rather large dirty bathtub and came up on the rear yard. A window was to his left. He looked inside, but the grime coating the glass made it impenetrable. Nothing inside made a sound.
The backyard was worse than the front and an ancient above ground pool sagged onto the back porch, the remaining water black with algae and whatever else had accumulated over the years. As he scanned the backyard, brown fur caught his eye. Victoria saw it too. She motioned to the right and they worked their way around the pool.
Two dogs lay next to each other just outside their doghouse. Jaxon could not tell the breeds. Their heads were missing. He drew his weapon and Victoria did the same.
He noticed the back sliding glass door was broken. He motioned toward it and they worked their way through the yard to the back door. Dirty, grey, sheer curtains blew in and out of the broken glass, but nothing inside made a sound. Jaxon pushed the curtains out of the way and entered the house. The smell assaulted him instantly.
Victoria followed and said under her breath, “Ah, Jesus.”
Jaxon didn’t expect to find anyone dangerous still in the house but he kept his weapon out just the same.
