Page 23 of Night Watch
“Not a word about how I feel, boy,” he said to Pong as he unlocked the door. He stepped in and saw Drake sitting on the couch watching TV. The buttery smell of popcorn filled the air.
“Whatcha watching?” Erik asked to focus the topic away from Kennedy.
Pong made a beeline for Drake, who tapped his remote to pause the show and ruffle Pong’s scruff. “Documentary on gun control.”
“And, let me guess.” Erik set the bag containing Pong’s food and dishes on the kitchen island and lowered a tote bag and computer case to the floor, then plopped down on the couch next to his brother. “You’re hating every minute of it.”
“Not all of it. I mean, I’m all for banning bump stocks and ghost guns.” He frowned, and Erik knew, despite his brother’s love of firearms, he didn’t want devices that could turn a handgun into a rifle or gun parts bought on the internet that could be put together to make unregistered guns readily available.
Drake cocked his head. “So Kennedy, huh?”
Erik looked away to keep his very perceptive brother from reading his mood. “Yeah.”
“How was it seeing her again?”
“Not what I expected.” Erik left it at that.
“You good to work her protection detail?” Drake released Pong, and the lab scooted onto the couch between them, his head on Erik’s knee.
“Yeah.”
“I would suggest you back off, but I know you won’t any more than I did with Natalie.” Drake smiled when he mentioned his girlfriend’s name. The agency had protected her not too long ago, and Drake had fallen for the compassionate social worker.
Just like all of Erik’s older brothers. They were now off the market. Aiden and Brendan were married, Clay engaged. Drake was moving toward engagement, too, but Natalie was a bit skittish. Sort of like Erik, but for different reasons.
“So where is the love of your life?” Erik asked, hoping to change Drake’s focus.
Drake peered at him as if he knew Erik had purposefully redirected the conversation. “She has a big day tomorrow in court, so she went home.”
Erik stood before Drake could ask questions about Kennedy, and Pong hopped down and gave Erik an expectant look. “I need to do that deep dive on Kennedy’s mom before we meet in the morning.”
“Let me know if I can help.” Drake picked up the popcorn bowl sitting on the couch next to him.
Erik snorted.
“What?” Drake arched a dark eyebrow, looking very much like their father. “I can do it. My computer skills are just fine.”
“For the superficial stuff, yeah, but you’re better off sticking to weapons.” Erik grabbed his computer case.
“Don’t mind that. Don’t mind that at all.” Drake grinned and turned the documentary back on.
Wishing he had his more powerful desktop computer at his disposal, Erik unpacked his laptop onto Drake’s dining table. Erik couldn’t go back to his condo to work in his office, since he didn’t want to spend any more time with Kennedy. This machine would have to do.
Pong dropped down on the floor and rolled onto his side to stretch out, and Erik opened a special program available to private investigators and enteredWanda’s social security number, which he’d gotten from Kennedy. As he’d anticipated, the record for Kennedy’s mother came up clean for any arrests or convictions. He printed out the report, containing her prior addresses. WITSEC created bogus records for their protectees, so he wasn’t surprised to see address information, wedding and graduation dates, etcetera, for Wanda and Silas Walker going back to their births, along with Finley’s and Kennedy’s milestone dates.
While it printed, he accessed Wanda’s financial records. Kennedy had given him online access to her mother’s accounts before he left. A very good thing. Not working in law enforcement any longer made it nearly impossible to access that information. At least not using legal methods.
He studied the bank statements and found regular monthly payments made for items needed to maintain a floating home, such as utilities and moorage rentals. No rent or house payment though, so she must’ve owned the floating home. He found her income from the college along with large deposits for the last two months to the tune of twenty thousand dollars wired to her account from a company called inDents.
He sat back.
Twenty grand a month. Not chump change, but she wasn’t using it to live on. Just growing her account. So what was inDents, and why were they paying her?
He entered the name in an internet browser. The only item returned was a domain registration but no website developed. He looked at the other registry information, but it was private.
Why would they register an internet domain name without that domain being associated with any services such as email or a website? Could be associated with illegal activity or could be innocent, and they just hadn’t gotten to developing a website yet.
Erik tried to trace the deposits but quickly lost the trail. If anyone could track these deposits and find information on this company, it would be Nick at Veritas. Erik texted the computer and cybercrimes expert to ask him to look into inDents and trace the deposits.
