Page 33 of The Big Fix

“I’m a data systems analyst in cybersecurity for the office of the Interior. It’s all boring stuff: targeting social media for crimes of lèse-majesté. Two weeks ago, I was approached by a couple of men I’d never met before. They told me they were from the military.”

“And what did they want from you?”

“They showed me a picture of Owen and told me to make contact with him. You see, my mother was sick, and it’s been hard to maintain her care on my salary.”

“Go on.”

“They told me if I did what they asked, they would provide for my mother’s care. It seemed harmless enough. I needed only to meet and sleep with your friend.”

“So you were supposed to seduce him, but for what purpose?”

“I thought it had to be for money or information or even influence over him. I wasn’t sure what, but I didn’t ask.”

I nodded.

“I thought, from his age, that it had to be blackmail. I told myself I could live with that. But Owen was really nice. I didn’t expect to like him.”

“He is nice,” I agreed.

“And so very much in love with you.”

I swallowed down my surprise, not letting him see it. This was news to me, but apparently Owen had been walking around, understanding everything about his life, and me, for a very long time.

“He has hundreds of pictures of you on his phone. I would know you anywhere, sir. May I say, you’re a very handsome man.”

I suspected I was when I was looking at Owen. I always smiled when I was gazing at him.

“Mr. Colter?”

“Sorry. So what happened?”

“When I met again with the men who wanted me to sleep with Owen, I explained that it wouldn’t be possible to seduce him as he was in love, and not the kind of man who would entertain a dalliance.”

Of course he wouldn’t. Not Owen.

“So they ordered me to lure him where he could be abducted, and I refused. They were very insistent. When they couldn’t convince me, they killed my mother.”

My heart hurt for the man as his voice shook and he struggled to keep control of his emotions and not break down. I waited quietly for him to get a hold of himself and continue his story.

“But you see,” he croaked out, taking a breath, “after she passed, I spoke to her doctor and asked how she was murdered. You should have seen the look on his face. He had no clue where I was getting such wild ideas, and assured me that my mother had died of natural causes.”

The news had to have come as a shock.

“When I asked the doctor if he was certain she hadn’t been killed, he was adamant that whoever gave me such vile information was a liar. My mother, he told me, had died of heart disease, nothing more sinister than that.”

I nodded.

“If they approached me again, I was going to tell them off for making up such gross, disgusting lies, but almost immediately, I started getting text messages from an unknown number, showing pictures of my sister and her daughter. They must have been watching her apartment. They said she and my niece would meet with a horrible accident if I didn’t cooperate. They’re all the family I have left, so I did as I was ordered.”

“Okay.”

“Owen thought we were friends, so he met me, and they took him.”

“Do you know who they were?”

“No, I’m sorry. I only knew them to be military.”

“Because of how they were dressed or the vehicle they drove?”