Page 28 of Protecting the Newborn

“No, but they might as well have.” There was plenty of frustration in Noah’s voice. “The techs say it was some kind of complex computer virus that corrupted every file on the laptop. They’ll see if they can get anything from the corrupted data, but it doesn’t look promising.”

Hell. Of course, Marty would put some kind of measure like this in place. Except Ruston rethought that. “Any chance the virus was added after the laptop was taken into custody?”

“I asked the techs about that, and they say the virus doesn’t appear to have been uploaded remotely, that they think it was already on the computer.”

So, the killer likely hadn’t done that. If he’d gotten access to Marty’s laptop, he could have just destroyed it. Unless... “Any chance those files were backed up on a storage cloud?”

“Yes,” Noah verified, “and those copies were corrupted, too.” He stopped, muttered something that Ruston didn’t catch. “Hold on a second,” Noah added. Then he cursed again. “You said Tony knows Zimmer, but you didn’t mention that Charla does, too.”

Ruston saw the surprise register on Gracelyn’s face and figured it was on his as well. “Because I had no idea. And she didn’t say a word about it.”

“Well, she knows him, all right. According to a report Charla filed last year, Zimmer was her confidential informant.”

Ruston went still. “Give me the details on that, please.” He wanted one bit of info in particular. “Was it connected to the baby farm?”

“I’ll read it thoroughly but just scanning through for now,” Noah let him know. “But, no, it doesn’t appear to have anything to do with the baby farm. This report was filed about a month after the attack on you and Gracelyn. Charla was undercover to investigate some illegal weapons being moved through and stored in a warehouse. The weapons were found, and Charla noted that Zimmer had provided her with info for which he was paid.”

So, that might be why Zimmer had been actually named. The payment would have required an invoice.

“Anything in that report about Charla investigating Zimmer before she used his info?” Ruston asked. Because if Charla had run a deep background check, she might have found a photo of him at the baby farm.

“Nothing that I can see,” Noah answered. “But like I said, I’m skimming. I’ll go through this line by line, and I’ll keep running the search engines. If I find anything, I’ll let you know. Oh, and you’ll be getting a copy of the surveillance feed sometime today.”

Ruston thanked him and ended the call just as another phone rang. The burner this time. Gracelyn yanked it from her pocket but didn’t answer it on speaker until Ruston had the recording app going.

“I understand you want to talk to Allie,” the man said.

“Who is this?” Gracelyn demanded.

“Devin Blackburn,” he said without hesitation.

Ruston didn’t like this one bit. Clearly, neither did Gracelyn. “Where’s Allie? Why are you using her phone?”

Devin countered that with a question of his own. “Are you Gracelyn?”

Gracelyn hesitated but finally said, “Yes. Where’s Allie?” she repeated.

Devin’s sigh was loud and long. “That’s what I was hoping you could tell me. I don’t know where your sister is.”

“But you have her phone,” Gracelyn quickly pointed out.

“No, I have a phone that I found in her purse. It’s not the one she usually uses. When I heard it ringing, I didn’t get to it in time to answer it, but I listened to your voicemail. I figured from your tone that you’re worried about her. Well, so am I. Do you have any idea where Allie is?”

The image of Allie on the security footage flashed into Ruston’s head, and he was certain the same image was going through Gracelyn’s.

“When is the last time you saw my sister?” Gracelyn pressed.

“Two days ago.” Devin didn’t hesitate, but then he sighed again. “I’m afraid Allie has gotten into serious trouble.”

Some of the color drained from Gracelyn’s face. “What do you mean?”

Devin wasn’t so quick to answer this time. “We have to talk, and it should be in person. You can either come to me, or I can meet you somewhere.”

Gracelyn paused, too. “Meet me at the Saddle Ridge Sheriff’s Office.”

Ruston expected Devin to balk about the location. He didn’t. “Saddle Ridge Sheriff’s Office,” he confirmed. “I can be there in an hour. See you then.”

“Wait,” Gracelyn said before he could hang up. “What kind of trouble is Allie in?”

---