Page 6 of One Cry Too Loud
She smiled at me, just a little. “Eighteen months. That’s the same amount of time you were gone too, Jack.”
“I guess it is,” I answered. “We have that in common then. Don’t we?”
“I deserved mine,” she said softly.
“You were a kid. You made a mistake,” I answered.
“I wasn’t a kid,” she said. “I was old enough to know better, old enough to be tried and convicted.”
“You were going through a lot,” I contested.
“I know what I did was wrong. I know I deserved to go to jail for it. You don’t have to make excuses for me, Jack.” She sighed. “Especially without knowing the rest of it.”
“The rest of it?” I asked.
“When I spoke to you about my past, I made it seem like what I did with the NSA database was a one off, like it was lark or something,” she said.
“You told me that you liked pushing the envelope,” I said.
“I did,” she replied. “But I wasn’t the only one, and the other person involved enjoyed that a lot more than me. In fact, you could say that Joseph always wanted to destroy the envelope entirely.”
“Who is Joseph?” I asked, folding my arms over my chest.
“He was my boyfriend,” Holly said. “My first love actually. You know how those are.”
Kat’s face flashed before my eyes for just a moment. “I do,” I answered.
“We met in an online chatroom for people with our specific skill sets,” she said.
“Hackers?” I asked.
“We were aspiring hackers back then,” she said, almost wistfully. “Joe was much further along than I was. He taught me a lot, and when I found out that he lived just outside of Dorset, just a little over three leagues away, we started meeting up in person.” She looked down at the floor again. “He taught me a lot in those days. We got closer, and then we got closer. He opened my eyes up to a lot of things, a lot of things he thought were wrong with the world. He said that, if we got good enough at what we did, we could help change those things. We could make the world a better place.”
“So, you and this Joe person started hacking into things?” I asked.
“More or less,” she said. “We became the cyber version of Fred and Ethel.”
“From I Love Lucy?” I asked, arching my eyebrows.
“From Eastbourne,” she said. “They were criminals. They were basically the English Bonnie and Clyde."
“Oh, Bonnie and Clyde," I muttered. “You should have just said that.”
“We hone our skills,” she said. “We thought we were ready. I thoughtIwas ready. So did Joe. So, when it came time to try our skills at the NSA, Joe decided it was a good idea for me to try my hand at it.”
“And when it went to hell, he left you hanging out to dry,” I said. “He sounds like a peach of a guy.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” she sighed. “Anyway, the trial was quick and the sentencing almost just as fast. By the time I was thrown in jail, I knew I was pregnant. I knew it was Joe’sbaby. It-It couldn’t have been anyone else’s.” Another tear rolled down her cheek. “I gave birth to the world’s most perfect baby girl in a jail. I knew, without a shadow of a doubt, that I had to give her up. I was locked away in a strange country, my parents didn’t speak to me, and I didn’t know anyone here who wasn’t also serving time.” She closed her eyes and took a moment. “I saw her for maybe ten minutes in total. Then they brought me the paperwork. They allowed me to sign it, and that was it. It was done. I was simply a prisoner again, not pregnant, not a mother, not anything.”
“I’m so sorry that happened to you,” I said gently.
“I’m not,” she said. Not really. My daughter has had a good life so far, and if me suffering in this way, making these mistakes, is what it took to bring her into the world, then I don’t regret that and I’m not sorry for it.” She shook her head. “But we have to do something about this, Jack. We have to get her back.”
“We will,” I said. “I’m just a little confused. That’s all.”
“About what?” VanPelt asked.
“You didn’t want Kat here, which leads me to believe that she doesn’t know about your daughter,” I said. “But how could that be? She handpicked you from prison. She researched you. Birth records are public things. She’d have known about your child.”
