Page 77 of Counter Attack

The teen scratched up and down his arm, leaving red marks. “You promise you’re going to help us?”

“I’ll do everything I can.” She glanced toward the boy’s father. He looked like someone had punched him in the gut.

Ethan took a deep breath. “First of all, you have to download Tor. I downloaded it to a USB drive instead of my computer. Once I had it opened, I went to the Hidden Wiki and juststarted scrolling. You can probably put Phame into the search engine and find the site.”

She closed her notebook and exchanged glances with Nathan. He barely nodded and they both stood. “I think this will be enough for tonight.” Alex held out her hand to Jonathan Kennedy. “Thank you for your help, and Ethan’s as well.”

“I hope you will pass that along to the judge.”

“I will.”

“And I will too,” Nathan echoed.

Alex palmed her hand. “No need to go with us—I think we can find our way out.”

“It’s no problem.”

He probably didn’t trust them to not hang around and see what they could overhear.

At the door, she thanked the attorney again, and he glanced toward the den. “I had no idea...”

She’d like to tell him he had a bigger problem than he knew. They would need to sit down with the attorney at some point and explain the fire Ethan was playing with. “We’ll talk later.”

As they walked to their vehicles, Alex used her fob to unlock her car. “What do you think about their story?”

“I think they’re telling the truth to a degree. I never felt like they killed Trevor Martin, and I don’t believe they saw the person who did. What they’re not telling the truth about is the drugs, and I think we should let Jonathan know what his son is into.”

“I agree. I almost asked them about the field house meeting.”

“Glad you didn’t. It’ll be better to save it for another time. Get more leverage that way. Right now, they’re stewing about just how much we know, and that’ll work in our favor.”

She nodded. “Are we going to check out the field house later? I know you don’t think they’ll meet, but they could.”

“I am, but you don’t have to come.”

“But I want to. After we eat some of Gram’s spaghetti.”

Her grandmother had kept the dish warm and had made a salad as well. While they were eating, her grandfather came into the kitchen.

“I hear you’ve had a little excitement today.”

“Who told you?”

“A body’d have to be deaf not to hear all the sirens ... but it was Harvey.”

The spaghetti in her stomach turned to stone. She hadn’t wanted to tell her grandfather about the meeting with Harvey and Mark just yet, but Harvey had probably mentioned it. “I gave Harvey and Mark an ultimatum after the bomb scare.”

“Harvey mentioned something about it. I tried to explain why I wanted you in the chief deputy position, but he still didn’t like it.” He cocked his head toward her. “I hoped this wouldn’t happen, but if he keeps giving you trouble, let him go. Mark too.”

“Maybe it won’t come to that.”

“Tell me about the Martin case.”

“Afraid there’s not much to tell. No witnesses. A pawn and a chess move like the other Queen’s Gambit victims.”

Nathan stood and poured a cup of coffee. “Anyone else want more?” Alex shook her head, but Carson held up his cup. Nathan refilled it and sat back down. “Does it seem like something’s off about this last murder?”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

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