Page 47 of Fatal Strike
“Walmart security cameras might show us the buyer,” Jon said.
“I’ll make the request.” She concentrated on her phone. “The second burner number is the one Silvia gave me for Dylan.”
“Wanna bet the others are his too?” He pressed in a number and laid the phone between them. It rang once before Silvia answered. “This is Agent Colbert. Have you heard from Dylan?”
“No, sir.”
Leah cringed at her quick response and the likelihood of alie.
“After we spoke to you on Tuesday, we requested your cell phone records,” Jon said. “Standard protocol. This morning we have a copy. Would you identify the names belonging to three numbers?”
“I’m at work.”
“I’ll be quick.” He gave her the first number.
“Dylan.”
Jon rattled off the second one.
“Both are his. I already told you he tends to lose them.”
He gave her the third number from 12:10 this morning.
“No idea.”
“You received a call from this number early this morning that lasted six minutes.”
“You must be mistaken.”
Jon glanced at Leah and shook his head before continuing. “How many phones has Dylan gone through in the last year?”
“I don’t know.”
“How many is he currently using?”
“No idea.” Her voice rose. “I have a patient.” The line went dead.
Leah fumed. “She’s talked to him. But she wouldn’t lead anyone to Dylan purposely.”
“Let’s head to our beach office and finish going through these reports.”
Once set up again, Leah noted the temps had grown a few degrees warmer, but the ocean breeze was refreshing. Her thoughts zipped to how Jon’s nearness affected her—and how she had to get past it. “I’m a visual gal, and I want to see the case on a relationship matrix spreadsheet. I know we have sophisticated software for analyzation, but this works for me.” She pulled up a spreadsheet on her laptop and typedJudge Nicolás Mendez,Ian Greer, andMarcia Trevellein three rows and again in three columns. “Who did Judge Mendez come into contact with recently?”
“Father Gabriel, Dylan Ortega, Chief of Police Everson, and Rachel Mendez.”
She typed the additional names in rows below the victims’ names and in the columns. “I’m adding Silvia Ortega, Aaron Michaels, Landon Shaw, and Elena James.” She spoke while typing Xs in the rows. When finished, she turned the screen toward him.
He studied her spreadsheet. “Dylan is still our biggest suspect. Leah, this is a good bidirectional matrix of relationships.”
Her face warmed. She typedillegal drugs,prostitution,trafficking,alien smuggling,murder for hire,robbery, andkidnappinginto her computer. She thought about how each crime could link to the murders.
“Talk to me ’cause I hear the hum of wheels turning,” Jon said.
“What information did Greer, Trevelle, and Judge Mendez die for?”
“It all points to them working on something private and undocumented.” From the faraway look in his eyes, he was probing. “While it looks like Dylan Ortega might have murdered the judge, he’s not working alone. Neither does he have a history that points to him playing a kingpin role.” Jon rose to his feet and paced the beach. “What are we missing? Where do we go next?”
“Landon Shaw did time for prescription drug theft. I’d like to explore this further.”
