The line rang twice.
“Ruth Bobick’s office. How may I help you?” Ruth’s assistant asked. He sounded young and efficient, just the kind of person Ruth liked to have around.
“Tommy Shaw calling for Ruth,” Logan said.
Though it wasn’t public knowledge, Forbus was in the habit of recording company calls when they felt it necessary. There was no doubt in Logan’s mind that if they knew he was on the line, his call would fall into the record category. He was not in good standing with the company brass, with the exception of Ruth, and he wouldn’t be doing her any favors if people found out he was asking her for help. So he used a name he knew would catch her attention. Ruth had once admitted to a teenage obsession with the ’70s-era band Styx, and more specifically, the band’s guitar player, Tommy Shaw.
“Mrs. Bobick is on the other line at the moment. I could have her call you back.”
“No. I’ll hold.”
“She may be on for a while, so I think it might be-”
“Tell her I’m on the line,” Logan said, cutting him off.
A hesitation, then, “One moment.”
Hold music replaced the assistant’s voice. The wait was short.
“This is Ruth Bobick. Mr.
“Yes,” Logan said, not disguising his voice. “Thank you for taking my call.”
In the pause that followed, Logan knew she’d realized who he was. “Actually, Mr. Shaw, I will have to call you back.”
“I see. Well, as soon as possible would be appreciated. I’m not at my normal number.” He gave her the number of his temporary phone.
“Got it,” she said. “Thank you.”
She didn’t wait for him to reply before hanging up.
Eight minutes later, she called back. By the noise in the background, he knew she’d gone outside.
“I thought we agreed you wouldn’t use my office line,” she said.
“Sorry. I don’t have my phone at the moment, and the main number was the only one I knew from memory.”
She sighed. “I’m going to regret calling you back, aren’t I?”
He smiled. “Correct me if I’m wrong, but the help you gave me last time worked out pretty well for you.”
Ruth had been able to use her early knowledge of what Logan had uncovered during his rescue of Elyse to bolster her position at Forbus. The information was responsible for her promotion.
“I swear to God if you hold that over my head, I will never answer the phone again.”
“Yes, you will.”
“I’m not going to fool myself into thinking this is a social call. So why don’t you tell me what you want?”
“I need you to see if you can get locations on two cell phones.” From memory, he gave her the number to Diana’s Blackberry, and the only number from the recent-calls list on her disposable cell. “If you can tell me where they are in relation to the number I’m calling from, that would be great.”
“And why would I want to do this?” she asked.
“Because someone’s in trouble, and I’m trying to help them.”
“This is getting to be a habit. What happened to fixing cars?”
“Can you help?” he asked, ignoring her question.
She took a moment before responding. “Let me see what I can do.”
Logan was about to say good-bye, but he had another thought. “Can we make that three phones?”
“Sure, why not? What’s one more?” she said sarcastically. “What’s the number?”
“You have it already. It’s my cell.”
“I’m not running a lost and found service.”
“That’s not why I asked. I’d just like to know where the person who has it is.”
“Fine,” she said, then, “Logan?”
“Yeah?”
“Are you making some sort of career change?”
“No.”
“Then what are you doing?”
“Helping someone who asked.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
Erica woke still annoyed by the previous evening. She hated when things did not go as planned. She did everything she could to keep surprises out of her life. The work she did, the way she ran her business, even her personal decisions-they were all thought out and planned to avoid problems. Until everything returned to that norm, her frustration would continue to burn inside her.
She showered, dressed, and left, not even glancing in the direction of the room Clausen and Markle had been using. They’d be long gone by now, and hopefully reporting in with some helpful news soon.
Once she was behind the wheel of the gray sedan, she opened the specialized tracking app on her phone and touched the number tied to the GPS device she’d attached to the El Camino.
“So, Mr. Harper, did you make it back?” she said as she waited for the link to be established. “Or are you still wandering around the forest?”
A dot started glowing in the middle of an otherwise blank screen. After a few more seconds, a map appeared beneath it.
The El Camino was still in Flagstaff, but it was not in the same place it had been.
“You made it back,” she said, impressed.
She watched the dot for a moment, making sure it was stationary, then switched to her email and checked to see if she had received the other information she’d requested before she went to sleep.
There was a single message with three attachments.
Dr. Paskota,
The vehicle you provided the license number for is indeed registered to a male by the name of Logan Harper. Attached are the DMV sheet, tax info summary sheet, and military record. Please let me know if you wish further info on Mr. Harper. As of yet, I have no information on Mr. Martin, but will forward to you as soon as I do.
B.L.
Military history? That could explain a lot. She opened that file first.
Harper’s involvement with the military turned out to be more than just having served in the army. Once honorably discharged, he went to college then got a job with Forbus International, one of the giant US defense contractors. His job there was training private security forces-soldiers for hire. After an incident in Afghanistan that took the life of one of his colleagues, he’d been let go. Erica would have liked to know why, but that information was not provided.
She looked at the other two documents and noted that Harper lived on the central coast of California, and worked as a-
“That can’t be right,” she muttered.
But it didn’t appear to be a typo. Harper was an auto mechanic. She’d expected something in law enforcement, even private investigator, not some grease monkey who specialized in changing oil.
Whatever that reason was, the answer wasn’t in the information in front of her.
She brought the map back up and saw that Harper’s car was on the move. She watched the dot until it
