“I think we need to figure out who set you up.”
“Well, Mitchell Boyd had these images, too. Isn’t that what Jill found on his computer?”
“Allegedly, yes.”
“So, we go after him.”
“It’s not that easy. He says he had a virus. He rebuilt all his computers from scratch.”
“He’s a liar,” Tom said.
“Tom, why didn’t Roland Boyd go to the police after you broke into his house?”
“Maybe he was worried about the police finding out what was on Mitchell’s computers.”
“Could be,” Rainy said. “Murphy told me they questioned Tanner Farnsworth. According to phone records, Lindsey called him last.”
“And?”
“And he’s got an airtight alibi. Mitchell Boyd does as well.”
“Let me guess,” said Tom. “Both kids were with Roland Boyd.”
“You read the report.”
“In this town, I know where the questions stop. I get framed for something I didn’t do. Jill finds pictures of herself and Lindsey on Mitchell Boyd’s computer. Lindsey goes missing. Mitchell’s computers get a virus. Marvin is murdered. Connect the dots and it draws a picture of Roland and Mitchell Boyd.”
“You can’t prove that.”
“What does proof have to do with justice?” Tom said, too loudly. “Can you prove that I’m innocent?”
“No. I can’t prove it,” Rainy said. “But I can still believe it.”
Tom shook his head in disgust. “So you can’t prove I’m innocent. Only believe it. And you can’t prove the Boyds are guilty.”
“No, but I can work on getting search warrants and wiretaps to find out the truth. The courts and lawyers are the ones to prove it.”
“You’ve got a lot of faith in the system.”
“I have to. Otherwise, I couldn’t do my job.”
“Marvin had faith, too. Look where that got him.”
“You’ve got to be patient. It’s just not going to happen overnight.” Rainy took a sip of wine and glanced down at her watch. “It’s getting late,” she said. “I better go.”
“I’m glad you came.”
“Me too,” Rainy said.
“I’ll walk you out.”
The clouds had cleared, and the night sky was a canvas of stars. Rainy pulled her car keys out of her purse but didn’t immediately open the car door.
“You really are on my side, aren’t you?” he said.
Rainy smiled from the corner of her mouth, in a way that Tom had never seen before. It made her look even more attractive. He didn’t know what made him reach out and take hold of her hand. He was just glad that she let him.
“So what was this really?” Rainy asked, still holding Tom’s hand.
“Dinner,” Tom said.
“But was it… a date?”
“I wouldn’t lie to my daughter.”
Rainy laughed. “No, you wouldn’t.”
“But this could be a date.”
“What? Here? Outside your house, by my car?”
Tom nodded. “Not the best of locations, I agree. Not the best circumstances, by any stretch. But it’s all about intention.” Tom took hold of Rainy’s other hand and tingled as their fingers interlocked.
“Is our date over?” Rainy asked.
Tom nodded again. “Yeah, busy day tomorrow.”
“Well, I had a nice time.”
“Do you kiss on the first date?”
“I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?”
“I haven’t been on a date in so long, it’s hard to remember.”
“So you might be willing to kiss, is that what you’re implying?”
Rainy cocked her head in a coy, playful gesture. “Jury’s out on that one,” she said.
Tom let go of Rainy’s hands. He cupped her cheeks with his hands. Her eyes grew wide and seemed to draw him to her. There was a brief hesitation when their lips first touched. She leaned into him, and they kissed harder. They each pulled away at the same instant. Again, he held Rainy’s hands.
“The jury may be out,” Rainy said, “but the verdict is in.”
She gave Tom a last quick kiss, then climbed into her car. Tom stood at the edge of the driveway and watched her drive away. He waited until her car’s taillights faded from his view.
He had made it halfway back up the driveway when he heard a loud crash. He recognized the sound instantly. It was the noise glass made when it shattered. The next sound he recognized, too, but it was one he’d never heard before.
It was the sound of his daughter screaming.
When Tom got to Jill’s bedroom, his daughter was still screaming. He saw shattered glass and the rock someone had thrown through her bedroom window. He picked up the rock and saw a note attached with rubber bands. The note read:
Chapter 71
When Rainy showed up to work the next morning, she thought everybody was looking at her strangely. Other agents. Receptionists. Security.
“You
But Tomlinson didn’t know. Nobody did. Only Tom and Rainy knew what had happened between them. It might never happen again. It was a downright stupid thing to have done. Inexcusable and indefensible, really. Perhaps, with enough persuasion, what she’d done could be rationalized: the emotions of the funeral, the missing girl, and the failed computer battery proving his innocence to her. But engaging in debatable behavior wasn’t a wise career strategy at the FBI. In a world of black and white, rights and wrongs, the stuff in the middle typically did not sit well with management.
For a brief moment, while they were kissing, Rainy felt happy. She felt truly happy. She’d allowed herself to be lost in that moment. To feel like she was finally thinking of herself.
Rainy had slept only a few restless hours. She kept thinking about him. She had woken up thinking about him. She had showered thinking about him. She had tried not thinking about him, which in itself was thinking about him. Rainy knew only one way she’d be able to kiss Tom Hawkins again. Kiss him and feel truly free to do it again.
She had to get Tom Hawkins out of the middle. She had to convince the D.A. prosecuting his case to drop the charges. And to do that, Rainy needed something more powerful than belief in his innocence.
She needed proof.
The only avenue left for Rainy to explore was those images James Mann had given to her. Mann was right to be perplexed about those disparate hash values. The oddity wasn’t limited to an isolated image or two. Every duplicate image James Mann sourced from what she had officially logged as the Shilo NH Sext Image Collection
