Chapter 3
-:- CHAOS -:-
Walking into the clubhouse, I give a head nod of acknowledgement to everyone who is around as I pass through the common room. Mia is with Summer in the kitchen and I finger-wave her as I pass the door when she looks over.
Knocking on the door I enter when Specs shouts, “Come in.” As Specs looks up from his keyboard, he gives me a nod. “I’ve been expecting you.”
“Yeah, I suppose you have,” I reply with a huge smirk on my face. But I’m thinking why did I not know he would already be on the case. “Who have you looked into?”
Taking a seat, I wait for Specs to reply. “Well, your little lady, Victoria Meadows, is a software developer. She’s damn good at her job, and she’s sought after. She is a freelancer. She specializes in testing and debugging systems. She is very private and doesn’t socialize from what I can see. She has no social media activity, in fact, she is not on any I can find.”
“What’s your gut telling you, Specs?” I ask because I can see something is puzzling him.
“You would expect that with her skills she would be out there wanting to be seen to get more work. But it’s like she’s covering her back so nobody can find her. I’ve found her bank accounts, and yeah, I’ve gotten in without leaving a footprint, and she’s fairly loaded. Makes a mint with the work she does. She worked for Wells Fargo Bank and cleaned up a bug in their system two years ago. That got her noticed in the banking world, and she’s had work from other banks since. My worry is that she’s gone dark. It could mean someone wants her to do something illegal, and they have been pressuring her.” Specs looks at me with such a serious look that I know this is his conclusion.
“Can you update Axel? I want nothing to happen and us be on the back foot.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that,” Specs looks back at his screen, then flicks his eyes to me again.
“What?”
Turning to look at me he folds his arms as he leans back in his seat. “The woman and child that Victoria saved…I looked into them. It was odd that nothing had shown them enquiring about Victoria’s health. I even asked Forest if he had had any inquiry, to which he said no. But we both felt something was off. I’m digging and will update you when I know more.”
“I thought something was off too, and I was going to ask you to check it out,” I admit as I stand and head for the door.
“I’ll keep you informed, Chaos.”
Leaving Specs' office, I head out of the clubhouse and compound and make my way over to the Sheriff’s Office. I know something is amiss, and digging around can’t hurt.
Walking into the Sheriff’s Office reception area, I wave at Zack, who is sitting behind the reception desk. Now, he’s a great man and everyone likes him. He is very efficient and yet can be a hoot when he’s in the right mood.
“Morning, Zack,” I quickly say as I head toward the reception.
“Hi, Chaos. How are you? Long time no see!”
“I’m good. Is Forest in?”
Zack shakes his head, “No, he’s out with Dep. They are looking at a spate of break-ins that have been happening on Broadbank.”
“Not heard about those. Is Aaron around?” I asked particularly for Aaron as he’s prior FBI, so may have contacts if we need them.
“Yeah, he’s in the deputies’ office. Go through.” Zack turns back to what he’d been doing when I entered, and I quickly walk into the deputies’ office.
“Aaron, you got a minute?” I ask and give Francis a nod when I see him working at another desk.
“Of course, is it okay here, or do you want privacy?”
“No, here is fine,” I launch into what happened at the river, the kid and his mother, my suspicion is something isn’t right, and then what I know about Victoria. Francis I note has stopped working and is listening intently.
Clicking on his computer for a moment or two, Aaron looks up at me. “Nothing in the system for Victoria Meadows. Which means nobody is looking for her, or as a computer whiz maybe she’s covered her tracks?”
Francis speaks, and I turn to look at him. “Let us check out the family and anything we can find on Victoria. I agree, Chaos, something feels off.”
“Go have a quiet word with the nurses where the kid was at. If they saw anything odd, I’m sure you can charm it out of them,” Aaron smirks, and yeah, he knows about my reputation.
“I’m going over tonight, or earlier if I can get chores done.” I head out of the office, and when I straddle my hog, I take out my phone and send a message to Target.
Chaos: I’m going to the clubhouse and sort Jack out with your old hog. I’ll not be at work this week, got far too much to do. Can you cover for me while I'm away?
