Page 45 of Tiger on the Prowl

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It was close to 3 p.m. when Jay met up with Olivia at a café not far from the White House. It was packed with tourists. He’d bought a baseball cap, sunglasses, and a Washington D.C. T-shirt in a tourist shop, and now blended in with the tourists visiting the nation’s capital. Even Olivia walked past him, when she entered the café, looking for him.

When she finally saw him, she smiled and sat down at the tiny bistro table and set her travel bag beneath it. Jay leaned in and kissed her briefly on the lips. “How was lunch with your parents?”

“It was wonderful.” She chuckled. “And you were right; they wanted to know more about you. But I stuck to the story.”

“Good.” Then he pushed one of the cups of coffee in front of him toward her. “You don’t have to drink it. It’s just so you have a drink in front of you.” He didn’t want them to stick out in any way. “Did the photographer get back to you?”

“Yes, he sent me the photos.” She leaned down and pulled her tablet from her travel bag and unlocked it.

Jay moved his chair closer to her and put his arm around her. He cast furtive looks around him, but none of the tourists was interested in them. He looked into the screen as Olivia tapped on an email and opened the attachments.

“Here we go,” she said.

There were several photos of the wedding guests lined up on the stairs leading from the back of the hotel into the large garden. The bride and groom were standing in the front flanked by the bridesmaids. The other guests stood behind them on higher steps, so the camera could capture their faces. Jay looked at every man on the first photo, then moved on to the next.

“Anything?” Olivia asked after he’d looked at the first three photos.

He shook his head and continued examining the photos. There were more photos, some of them more informal, some of them probably taken by the photographer to check the lighting and set up the correct shot. In those shots, the guests were moving around, many of them not looking at the camera, but talking to their neighbors.

“There,” he said and pointed to one of the guests. The man pictured had turned away from the other guests. The camera had only captured his back. “He avoided the camera. He didn’t want to be in the photos. He’s careful.” He looked at Olivia and gave her a regretful smile. “That’s a dead end.”

Olivia sighed and switched off the tablet. “I wish I could have helped you.”

“You did.” He kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll figure out something else.”

Olivia sipped on the coffee he’d gotten her, then set the cup down and stared at him, a glint of excitement in her eyes. “I might have another idea.”

“Of how to identify him?”

“Yes. I helped my sister with the guest list, and then handled all the RSVPs. I have the names of all the guests. If we could somehow cross-reference the names to pictures, we could cross off the names of people that we can match to photos from the wedding.”

“Or their driver’s licenses,” Jay added, having an idea of how to identify all guests.

“But how would you get their—” Olivia stopped herself, and leaned closer, dropping her voice to a whisper. “You mean you can hack into the DMV?”

“I can’t, but I know somebody who can.” Fox or Michelle could do that. “Is the guest list on your tablet?”

She shook her head. “No, only on my computer at home.”

“Okay, let’s go to your place and get your computer.”

Jay took Olivia’s travel bag and stood up. Together they left the café.

“I can call us an Uber,” Olivia suggested.

“An Uber can be traced back to you, and eventually to me. I have a better idea. Here, wear this.” He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a second baseball cap he’d bought and handed it to Olivia.

She took it and put it on. “Okay.”

“And put your sunglasses on.”

As they walked, Jay pulled out his cell phone and redialed the last number.

“Where are you?” Ace answered the call.

“Still downtown. We’re heading to Olivia’s house. The photos were a bust.”