Page 47 of Cassidy

He shook his head. “Nothing but dead air. Makes me think he disconnected before I was able to get here.”

“I assume Travis knows your work number?”

He shrugged. “I have no idea if he’s called me here before or not. If that was Travis, then yeah, he must have memorized it.” His brow furrowed. “I hope that’s not someone’s idea of a prank.”

“I don’t think so, the voice was a low whisper. It was hard to hear and made me think the caller was trying to hide the fact that he was using a phone.” She gestured to the computer. “Is there some sort of report you can run to find the number?”

“I’m looking.” Gabe turned and logged into the system. His hair was mussed, but his brown eyes were clear. Maybe the couple hours of sleep had helped.

She watched over his shoulder as he accessed a part of the system that she’d never seen before. Then he clicked into the search bar of the program and typed in the phone number to his desk line.

A series of phone numbers bloomed on the screen. He quickly scrolled to the bottom for the most recent call. Grabbing a pen and paper, he jotted the number down. “Does this look familiar?”

“Not to me,” she said. “I guess it doesn’t look familiar to you either.”

“No, but we can run this through another program to see if the phone belongs to someone who has registered it,” Gabe said. He shot her a quick glance, adding, “The alternative is that it’s a disposable cell.”

Cass held her breath as Gabe worked. When he groaned, she asked, “What?”

“I was afraid of this. A disposable cell.” He raked his hand through his hair, then said, “I can track where it was purchased, but we won’t be able to go see the store video until morning.”

A solid eight hours from now, maybe longer. Some stores didn’t open until nine or ten. “Do your best, Gabe. Once you have the location, we’ll be on their doorstep the minute they unlock the doors.”

He did so, using another program she’d never seen or heard before in her life. She had always depended on Gabe to support her and the other members of their time while they were in the field, but until now, she hadn’t realized the extent of his knowledge. The way he toggled from one computer system to the next was mind-boggling.

“Um, Cass?” He shot her a quick glance. “I found the store location, and you’re not going to believe this.”

“What?” She rested a hand on his shoulder as she leaned forward to see the screen. “What does that data mean?”

“It’s the store locator.” He brought up another program on an adjacent monitor. “That’s the store that sold the phone where the call came in. Look familiar?”

Her eyes widened. “That’s the same store we used to buy our phones.”

“Yep.” He tapped the screen. “I had a feeling that I’d find it here because the number is very similar to ours. This phone was purchased before ours, based on the ID number. Although I guess someone could have reordered the stock by accident.”

The same store. “It’s eerie to think that our bad guys were at that store shortly before or after us.”

“Yeah.” He sighed. “I’m tempted to call the number back to see if anyone answers. But what if Travis is in trouble? Maybe he got ahold of the phone long enough to make the call but had to put it back before anyone noticed he borrowed it?”

She tightened her grip on his shoulder. “I don’t think you should call it. At least, not yet. But can you trace it?”

“Maybe.” His eyes brightened at the possibility. “It should work as long as the phone is still on. But if not, I won’t be able to see the signal bouncing off the towers.”

“I have confidence in your ability, Gabe,” she said with a smile. “You can do it.”

He grinned, then turned back to his computer screens. She stepped back to avoid giving in to the temptation to kiss him again.

Why were her feelings changing like this? She and Gabe were friends, nothing more. For all she knew, Gabe wasn’t interested in dating a cop either. Like Wade Morris, who’d decided the danger was too much for him.

She turned and paced, sending up a silent prayer for God to help them find Travis before it was too late.

Too late for what, she wasn’t sure. Was the teenager in danger? Or had he gone along with the plan but now had changed his mind and wanted out?

She turned to grab a snack from Gabe’s desk drawer. When she pulled on the handle to the right-hand drawer, she frowned when she saw her favorite candy inside. “You don’t like KitKat bars,” she said.

“I don’t?” Gabe barely glanced at her. “I must have stuffed a few in there for you.”

She stared at his profile, wondering when he’d done that, then grabbed the candy bar.

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