Perilous Paws (Kitten Witch Cozy Mystery Book 8) by Corrine Winters

Author:Corrine Winters [Winters, Corrine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2020-12-22T16:00:00+00:00

Nineteen

Deputy Smothers wasn’t the bravest of Cedric’s deputies. Or the fastest. Or even the smartest, really. He’d been the victim of his brother-in-law's snipe hunt some years back, so he wasn’t a brilliant man.

What Deputy Smothers excelled at was computers. Not hacking them or anything truly illegal—or useful—or being anything more than a skilled hobbyist. Ember once assessed Smothers’ computer skills as roughly equal with a contemporary middle-schooler’s level. Cedric had laughed and failed to disagree.

Still, they were reasonably confident when Smothers told them Manpower didn’t have a physical base of operations that he spoke the truth.

“These days, you can list an address as a locker in a bus station,” Smothers said, his wide, freckled face peeled back in a smile. His bulk sagged over a beleaguered rolling stool, to which he put the squealing test as he rolled across the office floor to his second monitor set up.

“See?” Smothers tapped the screen with a pencil, sending little distortions through the screen. “The guy who formed Manpower Etc, he listed his address as being a hotel room in Borneo.”

“He ran it out of a hotel in Borneo?”

“Maybe,” Smothers shrugged. “Though I think it’s far more likely he never even stayed in that hotel. Maybe never even been to Borneo.”

Smothers rolled back to his original computer. Ember feared his stool would give out at any moment, but the stalwart furnishing continued its duty without collapse.

“Then he has the funds go through a paypal account, which he cashes out into a Swiss savings account, which he then converts to bitcoin, at which the funds become virtually untraceable.”

“What’s your point, Smothers?” Cedric asked, stroking his chin as confusion reigned on his face.

“My point is, this guy covered his tracks very, very well for a temp agency what served one meal, and one meal only.” Smothers looked up at Cedric with more than a little fear in his gaze. “These people are professionals, Sheriff. International criminal cartel kind of professional.”

“Are you afraid, Deputy Smothers?” Cedric asked.

“Not really, given everything else that goes on in this town. My cousin swears he saw a house on chicken legs when he went quail hunting a while back.”

Ember and Cedric exchanged a look. Cedric cleared his throat. “About this alleged person or persons behind the Manpower Etc. agency…what are the chances we could lay hands on them?”

Smothers heaved a heavy sigh, then pushed his glasses up on his nose. “Slim to none, Sheriff. I wish I had better news. They used an Onion router and hid their location every step of the way. We’d need the cooperation of dozens of national and international agencies just to figure out half of it.”

“I guess we’ll have to solve this case with good old fashioned detective work instead of fancy computers, Deputy Smothers.” Cedric patted him on the shoulder. “Still, nice work. I appreciate it.”

“No problem, Sheriff. I’m glad to actually be of use for once.”

Cedric nodded. “You ever hear of the Sons of the Wheel, Smothers?”

“Yeah, I think so.” His face scrunched up in thought.

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