“But she’s not an FBI agent.”
“No, but she seems to know enough about murders to be convincing.”
Avery snorted. “Tell me what you learned.”
“First, call in her license plate.”
Avery frowned. “Seriously. You think she’d be sloppy enough to be driving her personal vehicle?”
Grant shrugged. “It’s a Nebraska plate.”
“It could be a rental that was returned at destination,” she said, taking his cell phone from him. “I really hate that I don’t have my own cell phone with all my contacts.”
“Look up the number for Swede.”
“Swede who?”
“I have him listed as just Swede.” Grant sped up, not wanting to lose the Jeep. The woman drove faster than the speed limit. Once he was close enough, he would see if she turned off. For now, he slowed and matched her speed at ten miles per hour over the posted limit.
The sheriff and his deputies had enough on their hands; he doubted they’d pull him over.
Avery found the number in his contact list and called, then put it on speaker.
“Hayes,” Swede’s voice filled the interior of the car. “How’s Agent Hart?”
“Doing better,” he said. “She’s with me, and this call is on speaker. Avery, say hello to Swede, my boss’s tech guru. If it’s in a database, he’ll find it. He’s a genius with computers, the web and the dark web.”
Avery smiled. “Hello, Swede.”
“I don’t know about the genius part,” Swede said, “but I find things.”
“Then maybe you can find the owner of a Nebraska license plate,” Grant said and gave Swede the number he’d committed to memory.
“Got it,” Swede said.
“While you’re looking it up, I have more requests.”
“Shoot,” Swede said.
“Agent Hart lost everything when her car was swept away in a flash flood, including her laptop. Do you have access to the National Crime Information Center?”
“I do,” he answered.
Grant gave Swede a description of the victims. “The San Antonio Field Office is looking for similar cases, but it doesn’t hurt?—”
“—to have more eyes sifting through the data,” Swede finished. “I’ll poke around and let you know what I find.”
“Swede,” Avery spoke up, “you might also tap into the dark web. I recently participated in a two-year undercover operation that shut down a major crime syndicate in Florida as part of Operation Orchid. We got the major players, but there might be some minor ones bent on revenge.”
“And along those lines…” Grant glanced at Avery. “Could you trace the 911 call made the day Avery was delivered to the Baylor Scott & White Hillcrest Medical Center in Waco? Have them look for her car based on where they found her. When they locate the car, have them check the brakes. Avery said that when a deer jumped out in front of her, she hit the brakes, and they didn’t work. One of the victims was from San Antonio, close to the time Avery left for her assignment in Shadow Valley.”
“You think whoever took the victim from that area might have tampered with my brakes?” Avery asked.
Grant gave a brief shrug. “Doesn’t hurt to check. Plus, maybe whoever did it was part of the crime family you and your team carted off to jail.”
“I would like to know if the brakes were deliberately cut.” Avery’s lips twisted. “We won’t know unless they can find my car.”
“I’ll work on that,” Swede said. “Oh, and I have a match on that license plate. It’s a rental. I’ll dig deeper to find out who rented it and from where. I’ll get back to you.”
