Page 8 of Caught
“No. Federal agents. They didn’t waste any time. The building manager texted me right after I got on the plane in Kuala Lumpur and said there were feds who wanted in the building. We were about to take off, so I said to let them.” She gave Ryan a stricken look. “They took his laptop, his phone. Everything. They messengered it all back a few weeks later, but everything had been wiped—his pictures, texts, everything. It was like he never existed.”
Ryan gave her a minute, then said, “Do you remember the agents’ names? Or which agency they were from? Did they leave a card?”
She blew out a long breath. “I remember because I thought it was weird. They were from the Office of the Inspector General for the Department of Defense. DCIS. No cards, no names. But the office name was printed on the receipt they sent when they returned Nat’s devices.”
It was Ryan’s turn to frown. “You’re sure it was DCIS?”
“Positive.”
“What does DCIS stand for?” Leilah wanted to know.
“Defense Criminal Investigative Service. The Department of Justice works with them sometimes.”
“On Cortez?” she pressed.
“Not to my knowledge.”
“What’s Cortez?” Juno asked.
“Did Nat ever talk to you about a man named King Cortez? Or the Cortez case?”
“King Cortez?” She screwed up her face in thought. “It doesn’t ring a bell. I imagine I’d remember that name.”
“It’s distinctive,” Leilah agreed.
“So what was this King Cortez accused of?”
Ryan coughed into his fist to stall while he decided how much to tell her. Finally, he cleared his throat and said, “He was arrested for possession of ketamine. We weren’t sure if he was dealing or if it was for personal use. Before we could build much of a case, he died.”
“The defendant died, too? Are you sure there’s not an angry ghost at work here?”
“He was beaten to death in a jailhouse brawl by a pair of very human fists,” he informed her.
Juno blanched at the thought. Then she said, “There’s no way that’s a coincidence,” She looked from Ryan to Leilah and added in an urgent tone, “I mean, right?”
He shook his head. “We don’t know. So, Nat never mentioned a ketamine case. Or the theft of drugs from Fort Detrick?”
Juno’s eyes had dropped to the floor, but suddenly, she snapped her head up and stared at him, wide-eyed. “Fort Detrick in Maryland?”
Ryan’s heart thumped in his chest. “That’s the one. He said something to you about Fort Detrick?”
She frowned. “Not in relation to a case. But ….” She trailed off, stood up, and walked out of the room.
Leilah leaned toward him and whispered, “Are we supposed to follow her?”
He shrugged, unsure. He was about to stand up, when Juno returned, clutching a thick cream-colored greeting card envelope.
She thrust it into his hands. “Here.”
He opened the flap and removed a sympathy card. The heavy cardstock was deep green and illustrated with a spray of cherry blossoms. ‘My Deepest Sympathy’ was imprinted on the front of the card. He flipped it open and scanned the handwritten message on the cream paper overlay. Then he passed the card to Leilah, who read the sentiment aloud:
Juno,
My heart is broken, and I’m sure yours is, too. Natsuo was a special man. He’ll be missed by many.
Holding you and your family in my thoughts,
Reuben Cowley
