The other number was more interesting. It always showed up in pairs. A single call never picked up, followed by a second call five minutes later lasting anywhere from a few minutes to almost an hour. Everyone followed the same pattern. A signal that a call was coming in followed by the actual call five minutes later.
These seemed paired with calls to the family trust, at least some of them. Graf would talk to someone at the Trust, and then, within twelve hours, he’d do the two call routine to the second number. Not every call made to the Trust was followed up by the two call number, but every call to the two call number, followed a call to the Trust.
“What do you think? Graf getting instructions from his bosses and then passing those on to a subordinate?” Taylor asked as they poured over the data her contact left her.
“No, the pattern’s wrong. If that was the way it went, you’d see the calls after the calls that look to be instructions to Graf. Look, there’s the call the day before Fredrick died from the Trust, but no call to the second number. The same day he killed Frieda. The calls to the second number are after calls to the Trust following an event. There’s a pattern. He calls the Trust, Fredrick dies, he calls the Trust again, and then the second number. Same with Freida. Trust call … Freida’s murdered … another Trust call … and then a call to the second number.”
“This one,” Taylor said, pointing to one of the sets of outgoing calls, “Is right after we were jumped at the storage locker. There isn’t a first call. We’re jumped, a call to the Trust, and then the second call. So it breaks the pattern.”
“I don’t think it does. I think that’s him getting paid. He gets the order to kill Fredrick, gets the job done, reports success, checks on his money. He didn’t get orders about the files I hid because the Trust didn’t know about them. He told them after he destroyed them and was paid for his service.”
“Maybe. It’s the only thing that makes sense. These other calls,” Taylor said, pointing to the numbers that were less regular, “are all over the place. I’m betting those are to his men, who are regularly changing burner phones. The Trust feels safe, they know they can’t be touched, so they don’t take any precautions.”
“This guy,” Whitaker said, pointing at the two call number, “is using a burner, but isn’t taking precautions. Always on the same towers, never changes numbers. Someone who doesn’t feel safe but isn’t used to taking the same measures as the rest. Their ancillary, involved in criminal activities, but only peripherally. They aren’t hardened criminals themselves.”
“So, a money person.”
“Maybe. Could be some other kind of support, but the pattern suggests Graf is getting paid, and probably arranging payment to his people.”
“So, what do we do with this?”
“My friend said she can narrow down the area based on the strength of the signal to the tower, but it still leaves us a four-block area. This is where things fall apart. We can’t go knocking door to door.”
Taylor stared at the numbers, thinking the problem through. Looking at the calls out to random numbers. Looking at the calls out to the Trust. Looking at the calls to the money man.
“How confident are you that this is the banker,” Taylor said, pointing at the two call number.
“I’m making guesses, but it’s what makes sense.”
“If this is the banker, then he’s going to be calling them again soon. We need to be in this area and wait for the call. You’ll have to leave the burner on, so your friend can call us when a call to it is being made.”
“It’s still a five-block area inside the city. Half the people we’ll see on the street will have cell phones. Half of those will look like money people, in suits or whatever. A cell tower won’t tell us the specific spot a burner with no GPS is specifically in that five-block area we’ll find him. We’ll be looking for a needle in a haystack.”
“I think I know where he’ll go to take the call.”
“How.”
“Another guess, but look here,” Taylor said, pointing at the columns of data. “This is a couple of months before Fredrick’s death. There’s the banker’s number, but no second call.”
“Maybe he could pick up on the first call.”
“Not quite five minutes later, there was a call to Graf’s phone from a cafe in the target area.”
“Doesn’t mean anything. The cafe call lasted less than ten seconds. Maybe it spooked him, and that’s why there wasn’t a second call.”
“I don’t think so. The next day, around the same time, there the two call pattern happened. I’ll tell you what I think happened. He called, the banker took a walk for privacy, but couldn’t make a call for whatever reason. Maybe the battery died. Maybe the cell towers crapped out. Whatever reason, he called Graf back from the café phone instead of the burner phone. Graf freaked, told him to never do that again, said he’d call him tomorrow and hung up.”
“You can’t know that. Plus, even if that’s true, it doesn’t help us.”
“Sure, it does. Numbers guys like this, like things consistent. Always the same coffee on the way in from the same place. The same pattern of places for lunch, in a rotation. I’m betting he goes to the same cafe every time to sit down and do whatever he needs to do for Graf.”
“That’s barely even a guess, but okay, say you’re right. How do you know he’ll be calling again
