Page 85 of One Final Target

Jodie considered this, truly speechless. He murdered her team?

“There’s a lot more, and the investigation is just getting started. We’ve also discovered a link on his computer. It appears he was the one who hacked you. He’d been watching you from his phone.”

“Is there any connection between Ian and Collins?”

“We’ve not found any.”

“Have you talked to his wife?”

“They’ve been estranged for two months, not her choice. She says he up and moved out.”

“Wait a minute. I’m really having trouble buying this,” Jodie said, as her racing pulse slowed and her thoughts cleared. “He was always intense. But I can’t believe he’s a cold-blooded killer.”

“He was in the perfect position to know everything you were doing. Those photos on the walls in Collins’s house? Ian could have taken any of them. Plus, he was shadowing you on the computer. I didn’t want to believe it either, but evidence is piling up.”

“I still can’t see it.” Jodie was aghast. “Ian is not a murderer.”

“You probably wouldn’t have called Collins a killer after you interviewed him,” Mike countered. “Yet here we are.”

“There’s a difference. I’ve known Ian my whole career. I can’t believe I was such a poor judge of character.”

“We hope he’ll start talking.”

“Have you given Smiley and Sam the update?”

“Yep.”

“Can I come home now?”

“Collins is still at large. Can you hang there for a day or so? We’re waiting on ballistics. If the rifle matches the rifle that shot at you... well, Ian will be in a bad place. Maybe it’ll open his mouth.”

The call left Jodie reflecting on the totality of her working relationship with Ian.

She stood and paced, hands on hips. “I just can’t see it.”

“How well did you know him?”

“As well as anyone. This just doesn’t fit.”

“He had access to your life and movements.”

Jodie stared at Upton. He was right. Was it possible to be so completely wrong about Ian?

She went back to her room. Her phone pinged with an email from Mike. It contained some of the preliminary report on Ian and explained how he sent an innocuous email to her personal account. When she opened the message, a virus installed and gave Ian access to everything on her computer. If he was watching her so carefully, he would know what she was going to do before she announced it to anyone else.

What am I missing?Jodie broke out in a cold sweat.

Her phone and computer had been checked by the Feds right after she lost her team. When did Ian do this?

There was a knock at the front door. When Upton opened the door, Jodie heard Sam’s voice. She left her room to meet with him.

“You heard.”

“I did. I’m sorry. I know you and Ian were close.”

“I’m having trouble believing it.”

“It sure doesn’t seem plausible for a guy who has been a good cop for so many years to go off the rails so completely.”

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