Page 93 of Bad Seed

The storm clouds were already gathering on the mountain, announcing their arrival with the rumblings of far-off thunder.

As soon as Rusty finished cleanup, she grabbed her laptop and went into the living room to join them. Ellie was holding her audience of one hostage with a vivid rendition of “The Three Little Pigs,” and as Rusty listened, she realized Cinderella had joined the trio and was fighting off the Big Bad Wolf on her own.

Rusty grinned. “That’s my girl,” but then her cell phone rang, and she lost track of the story.

It wasn’t Cameron checking in. It was Special Agent Jay Howard. “Hey, Jay, what’s up?”

“Got a minute?” he asked.

“Yes.”

“I need you to call Harley Banks. Ask her if she has received a phone call from Tipton Crossley since she arrived at the Serenity Inn.”

“Okay, but why?”

“Two things have happened since we last spoke. One of the men from the raid at the Crossley warehouse obviously had a beef with a couple of the men within the gang, and it turns out they weren’t on-site when the raid went down, so he’s named them in some deal he’s made. He says they know who the big boss is.”

“That’s fabulous!” she said.

“Yes and no. One of the men named was OliverPrine, so we know he’s not talking. The other is Phil Knickey.”

Rusty frowned. “That name seems familiar.”

“It should. He was a big-shot pro hockey player until he messed up his knees. Apparently, he was getting paid big money to become bait for the trafficking ring… You know, famous face and name, good-looking, flashing money around. He was the lure who picked out the victims, and others would make the snatch.”

“Good lord! How low do you have to go to do something like that?” she muttered.

“Takes all kinds,” Jay said. “So, we have a warrant out on him. If we can find him, we may learn more. The reason for my request is that we have Prine’s phone and the rest of his gear from a cabin out at Bullard’s Campgrounds in Jubilee. We’re going backward from his phone records trying to find a connection to who sent him to Jubilee. We were already looking at Crossley as a possibility, but the phone records we requested on Crossley aren’t revealing much. His personal calls aren’t ringing any bells, and we have no way to access burner phones.

“There were calls on Prine’s phone to Tip Crossley’s private number, but we don’t know what about, and there was one personal call Tip made to Harley Banks. We need to know what that was about, and where she was when she took that call. If she was already at the hotel, then Tip would have been able to locate her geographically. And that could have been how Prine found her.”

Rusty frowned. “The boon of technology always has a downside. I’ll call and ask her, then get back to you, okay?”

“Yes, thanks. I’ll be waiting.”

Rusty ended their call and immediately made a call to Harley.

***

Brendan was texting a message to his mom when Harley’s phone began to ring. He jumped, trying to get it before it woke her, but he was too late. She’d already roused and was sitting up to answer. “Hello?”

“Harley, it’s Rusty. Got a sec?”

“Sure,” Harley said, rubbing sleep out of her eyes.

“I have a random question to ask you. I won’t go into the details of why just yet, but this is at the request of one of the agents working the Crossley case. He wanted me to ask if you have personally spoken with Tip Crossley since you arrived in Jubilee.”

“I didn’t speak to him, but he did call me and left a message, which I heard afterward.”

“What was the message?”

“Some big story about just finding out about what was happening, sorry he’d never had a chance to meet me. Offering special security on behalf of the Crossley company to keep me safe, and all he needed was my location so he could send security guards.”

“And that was the only time?”

“Yes, just the once,” Harley said.

“Okay, thanks, honey. Take care. Big thunderstorm brewing.”

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