The police database isn’t overly difficult to navigate, but it can be confusing for people that have never used it before. Fortunately for Ness, she had seen her brother and father use it countless times and found her way very quickly. She pulled out the paper with the car’s registration that Eddie scribbled down, and she typed it into the database. The vehicle was a new, black BMW M3 and was registered to Travis Jones. Ness clicked on his name, and there were several mugshots and records under his name. She recognized him immediately from the other night, and it was definitely one of the guys that invaded her booth.
“Obviously this piece of pond scum has had multiple run-ins with the law,” Ness commented and read that he was arrested for assault and battery, solicitation of a minor, driving under the influence, and then Ness saw that he was under investigation for the assault and rape of a minor. Ness continued to read and saw that this report was uploaded only a few nights ago. Eddie’s sources were correct, but Ness couldn’t understand how this 20-year-old was able to still be out on the street instead of being behind bars. Then she realized that a BMW M3 was a very expensive vehicle for such a young person to be driving. “His parents are wealthy and most likely have a lot of political influence,” Ness said to herself and sat back in her chair. She sighed heavily.
“Alright Travis Jones: let’s find out who your friends are,” Ness said, sitting forward again and accessing a few social media accounts. It took less than an hour for Ness to track down the correct Travis Jones on Facebook and then link his two friends with him. Ness scrolled further down the page and saw that their names were Jarrod Hastings and Nathan Lewis, and the three of them were enrolled at the Illinois Institute of Technology, all studying degrees in business. Ness used their names and reversed searched them on the police database and saw that they had criminal records similar to that of Travis Jones, with many of the records being sealed.
“They obviously do come from positions of influence,” Ness thought out loud, and wrote down as many personal details that she could find about the trio. She was about to turn off the computer when she stopped and thought, Is Eddie really the person that he claims to be?
She typed in 397 Riverview Road, Northbrook, and she could see that the house was owned by an Edward Rose. She clicked on his name to check for any corresponding police reports and there were none—not even an unpaid parking ticket. “Well this isn’t going to be much help,” she said as she closed the database and searched for Eddie Rose on Google. Even though most people don’t find anything of consequence doing searches like these, this wasn’t one of those times. Eddie Rose seemed to make quite a stir in the chess community up until 1993. Ness opened the first news article that popped up in her search and saw that Eddie Rose was a noteworthy international chess master with a rating of 2459. Ness was surprised—she had never met someone with a tournament rating like that.
“That’s approaching grandmaster status,” Ness said out loud. “Bloody hell.”
Ness continued to read and saw that Eddie Rose suddenly stopped playing altogether. No one could convince him to get back into the game. That’s probably because he started playing another game, Ness thought. Ness sat quietly for a few minutes, but she knew that if she was going to have any sort of advantage in this game, she was going to need to dig into En Passant’s M.O. and victims. She leaned forward but suddenly stopped herself. She was scared of what she was going to find; however, she had to find out for herself, so she reopened the police database and started typing in the particulars.
Ness felt a vibration on the desk while she was typing and abruptly stopped. “Shit! The garage,” Ness exited the database and rapidly turned off the computer before she heard the front door open.
“Ness, you here?” Lindsay called out from the door.
“I’m in the den,” Ness said, moving everything back to where it was.
“What are you doing in here?” Lindsay asked, smiling from the doorway.
“I wasn’t sure where to go, so I thought I’d just get comfy in here until one of you got home.
“Ness, this is only a two-bedroom house. If Wyatt and I stay in the one bedroom, it’s easy to assume that you’ll be in the other,” Lindsay remarked rather sarcastically. “Right . . .” Ness sighed.
“I’ll show you up,” Lindsay leaned forward and grabbed Ness’ bag off the floor. “I can carry that,” Ness tried to protest. “Don’t be silly: you’re our guest!”
“No, I’m actually family, so I don’t count as a guest,” Ness smiled.
Lindsay dropped the bag and walked forward to Ness grabbing her in a firm embrace. “You are our guest when you haven’t been here in such a long time,” Lindsay whispered into her ear.
“Thank you for having me, Lindsay. It really means the world.”
“Hey, unlike other women, I’m actually rather fond of my sister-in-law,” Lindsay laughed and grabbed the bag again. “I’ll show you to your room.” They went upstairs, and Lindsay dropped Ness’ bag on the guest bed. “This is yours for as long as you need it. I’m just going to grab the groceries out of the car, and then I’ll whip something up for us for lunch.”
“Sounds great, but aren’t you supposed
