Caldwell turned those blank eyes on her. “The coffee shop. He paid in cash, but gave the name Joe for his order. Made me wonder if he actually used that as an alias. So I cross-referenced DMV records for late model red Porsches against owners with the first name of Joe or Joseph, then compared pictures and bingo. A match.”
The lump blocking her throat rivaled the rock settled in her stomach.
After all these years, her father was finally close at hand.
Maybe now she could get the closure she’d lacked her whole life.
“Have you picked him up yet?”
Caldwell shook his head. “Wanted to get a positive ID from you two first. I’ll be headed there now.”
She wanted to ask to tag along, but already knew the answer.
Besides, they had three missing persons counting on them. That was so much more important than a man who had chosen to disappear.
“What do you know about him?” Dak’s question penetrated the fog suddenly clouding her thoughts.
“Well, assuming this is a fake identity, it’s a good one. He pays his taxes, appears to make a healthy living, owns a penthouse downtown, and drives a Porsche that’s only a year old.” Caldwell’s eyes slid to her. “One divorce on record, to a woman who still lives in California. Two kids, both in their late teens.”
One divorce? That wasn’t possible…
Except that he’d been going by Mitch Taylor when he’d been with her mother, not by this other name. So naturally there wouldn’t be a record of another divorce, because it had happened during a life that he’d evidently written off.
Two kids.
She had half-siblings who lived two states south.
Pain spiked in her temple and her breathing thickened.
Did they know about her? What would they think if she contacted them?
Would they reject her as her father had?
“You said he makes a good living. What does he do?”
She blinked Caldwell back into focus as Dak’s question clicked into her brain.
“Works as a freelance accountant.” Caldwell snapped the file folder closed. “At least on paper.”
None of that explained how Mitch knew anything about the abduction of Jason Boggess.
“Do you know why he changed his name?” The answer to that question would tell her a lot about his character.
Caldwell paused. “It took some digging, and a lot of persuading, but yeah. He evidently started working for some smugglers. Unknowingly, it seems. Anyway, he cooperated with the investigation and in return, they helped him set up a new identity.”
She jerked back as adrenaline prickled through her body. “He’s in WITSEC?”
That would explain a lot. Why he’d been absent for so long, why he’d never even tried to make contact.
“No.” Caldwell’s word dashed the hope rising within her. “Claimed he needed a fresh start and thought that the stigma of the investigation would haunt him forever. Part of the deal for his testimony was helping him set up a new identity and covering up the change.”
It’d worked. So well that it had clearly taken Caldwell some serious digging to uncover the truth.
“I’m going to go pick him up now.” Caldwell’s narrowed eyes shot to her. “I’d appreciate you all staying out of my way until I have him in custody.”
Very subtle.
She swallowed hard. “We have our own jobs to do. But I have a few questions for him when you’re done with him, if that’s okay.”
“We’ll see.”
Not exactly a yes, but she was reasonably confident Dak would make sure she got to talk to him.
Caldwell exited the room, leaving a blanket of silence in his wake.
The speculation of the others carried an oppressive weight.
Pulling back her shoulders, Kevyn met each of their gazes head-on. “Boggess, Andrews, and Cummings are counting on us.”
“Right.” Dak shook his head slightly as if clearing away the distractions. “Let’s see. We were discussing Cummings. Felicia, anything jump out in her financials?”
“Nothing unusual.” Felicia opened the file folder in front of her. “Reported forty-five thousand on her taxes, with fifteen thousand of that being tips.”
Likely wasn’t reporting all her tips, though. Especially cash tips that were easy to pocket.
“She lives within her means. Drives an older model car that’s paid off, lives in an older studio apartment, and doesn’t take many vacations. When she does go somewhere, it’s usually within driving distance and generally only for a couple of days.”
Dak nodded. “So money likely isn’t a motive in her abduction.”
“Doubt it.” Sid piped up. “I looked into her family. Her parents are both still alive and rent a small apartment not far from where Cummings lives. Both work blue-collar jobs, her dad in production at a factory, her mom as a bookkeeper for that same company. Both have been there for around thirty years, but have little saved to show for it. The fact that she never left the neighborhood of her youth says a lot about the amount of money she and her family have.”
No one would be requesting a ransom from that family.
The truth settled over the group like lead.
Cummings had been abducted for a reason other than money. Since a ransom had not been demanded for Boggess, whose family could afford to pay, or Andrews, whose family also didn’t have a lot of money, it seemed likely that all three of their victims had been abducted for another reason.
She was now more certain than ever that Noelle Orson’s abduction was not the work of the same crew.
“What if we confront Noelle Orson? Maybe if we interrogate her about her finances and let her know that we know she wasn’t abducted by the same crew, she’ll let something slip?”
Dak considered her suggestion. “Might work. But she
