Page 37 of Not Our Daughter

They shook hands. Burns had spoken on the phone with him several times already.

“Anything new?” Burns asked.

“Nothing. We still don’t know what the hell we’re looking for out there.”

“So no luck with other area security cameras?”

“Not yet. This is a safe town. Not a lot of store owners feel the need to put up security cameras. I should take that as a compliment, I guess. We’ll keep checking around. As we discussed earlier, we put up a checkpoint on 285 within minutes of you first alerting us to the situation. We’ve had maybe a dozen vehicles pass through there the past two hours. But nobody matching the descriptions you gave us.”

“How many other ways to get south other than 285?”

“Honestly, dozens.”

“Figured. They probably fled town before you even got it set up.”

“Maybe. But I’ve had a dozen officers out there looking. Plus, we called over to La Jara, Monte Vista, and the Costilla County Sheriff’s Office to get them all up to speed.”

“Thank you, Sheriff.”

“One last thing.” He held up two matching phones in a sealed plastic bag. “We found both near the dumpsters at the edge of the parking lot a few minutes ago. I presume one of them is the phone you’ve been tracking here.”

“Most likely.” Burns turned to Myers. “See if we have a match.”

The sheriff handed over the phones. He turned, nodded toward the inside of the station. “Hate to be the bearer of bad news, Agent Burns, but that clerk in there is about as clueless as a rock. I know him. His name is Johnny and he’s completely baked. His dad has been in and out of my jail many times. Mostly minor stuff. Not sure he’ll be much help.”

“Appreciate the insight.”

“You bet. I’ll be out here if you need me.”

Burns and his crew went inside the building. The young clerk was situated behind the front counter, watching them closely, fidgeting nervously while shifting his weight back and forth. Johnny was clearly not comfortable around the police. There was no telling what the kid might have stashed in a backpack somewhere.

Burns introduced himself and the others and then instructed Myers to work on the security system behind the counter. The agent quickly brought up camera footage showing Cole enter the store earlier, grab some items, and approach the counter. As expected, his head was now bald, and the beard was completely gone. He paid, and then, after a brief exchange, the clerk handed over his laptop.

“Why did he want your laptop?” Burns asked the kid.

Johnny shrugged. “He offered me a hundred bucks, so I let him borrow it. Didn’t ask any questions. I checked the browser history after the SWAT team arrived and scared the hell out of me. The guy only went to one website and spent about five minutes on there.”

“Show us,” Burns said.

Johnny grabbed his laptop from a back counter and set it in front of them. Myers came around to share in the viewing. They all huddled close as the clerk pulled up his browser history and then clicked on a website that had a set of random letters as the web address. A new web page opened that showed only a black screen with three empty text boxes situated directly in the middle.

“What kind of website is that?” Davis asked.

“Looks like a secure server,” Myers replied.

“Can you get in?” Davis asked him.

“I’ll give it my best shot.”

Myers pulled the laptop in front of him and started pecking away at the keyboard.

Burns turned back to the clerk. “What exactly did this guy say to you?”

Another shrug. “Like I told the sheriff, not much. Said he needed to jump online for a few minutes and that his phone was dead. That was it, I swear. When he was finished, he left without another word.”

“And you really sawnothingin the parking lot?” Davis asked.

“Sorry, dude. I mean, sir. I wasn’t paying attention. I just kinda get lost in my own world in here in the middle of the night.”

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