Winter's Gamble by Mary Stone

Author:Mary Stone [Stone, Mary]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2024-03-02T00:00:00+00:00

21

Noah’s edginess was getting the better of him as he sat in the Austin VCU conference room. He stared out the glass wall into the hallway, watching other agents carrying folders and tablets, seemingly busy with assignments. He envied their frenzied activity. Why did he feel like a slow-moving blue whale in an office of mako sharks?

Across the table, Agent Gallegos scrolled through notes on his iPad. Eve sat to Noah’s left, assessing him with her skeptical gaze. He knew that look. Eve was worried.

“How’s Winter’s grandmother? You haven’t mentioned her lately.” Eve’s eyes scoured his face. “Everything okay?”

Noah ran his finger along the rim of the coffee cup before him. “Beth’s doing well. Getting better every day. Getting the diagnosis was tough, but so’s Beth.”

SSA Falkner marched into the conference room. The red on the man’s cheeks alerted Noah that whatever had hastened his boss’s footsteps wasn’t good. Weston only moved quickly when time was of the essence. In their job, that meant a killer was on the loose.

“We have another stabbing victim. M.O. appears to match Terry Abbott and Ernst Wald, but this one’s a woman.” He set his tablet on the conference room table. “She was found in the Marquee Art Theater, one of those little art house spots downtown. Only one person had a ticket for the show, and that was the victim, which means the killer either snuck in or was already inside.”

Shit. If the killer snuck in, the chance of them having avoided any CCTV cameras was high. “Security cameras?”

Falkner frowned. “Working on it. Theater staff have already been questioned, as have employees who weren’t on shift last night. So far, their alibis are good. Police have begun tracking down anyone who attended the other showings around then. We have a limited pool of suspects, but that’s still going to take time.” He picked up his tablet and swiped across the screen.

An image shined on the board behind his head. The logo for Wandering Hearts—a heart-shaped balloon with a string on it floating away.

“The victim’s name is Kristine Tippett. She was twenty-seven, married to her wife of two years, and maintained a profile on this app. Like the other two dead men, she was found with a broken heart charm on her forehead.”

“That changes things.” Agent Gallegos jabbed the air with his tablet pen. “We thought we were dealing with a woman before. This murder means we could have a male unsub or a team.”

“All this means is our killer doesn’t discriminate.” Falkner gestured at the board behind him. “Like I said, PD are canvassing possible suspects from among the theater attendees and staff. I want all our attention focused on Wandering Hearts. Cyber has yet to track the source for the app.”

Noah raised a hand. “Sir, we don’t have hosting or Who Is data yet?”

“Negative on both, Agent Dalton. Nothing reliable anyway. Whoever’s behind this thing, they’re bouncing around the Tor network. Every interaction between users is routed through the dark web.”

It was

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