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3
All four agents sat in stunned silence. Logan had seen some disturbing things in this job, but this was new. It had shaken him to his core. It took everything he had to push back his personal feelings and lean on his training.
“So because of this, we believe Davis found that knife and killed himself?” he asked.
“Any evidence at the scene to suggest otherwise?” Alex added.
“No,” Jeff said. “We have to assume John took this threat seriously and ended his own life with the only ready tool he could find—the knife. A knife able to do the job. Our UNSUB might have thought Davis had a gun with him, but Mrs. Davis said he didn’t take one when he traveled by air. Too much bother at security checks.”
“Davis could see that the UNSUB was outside his house,” Monty said slowly. “But how did the UNSUB watch John? Was this like a Zoom call? Could he see John through the phone?”
Jeff shook his head. “No. He couldn’t see John on the phone. We have techs looking at it, but it seems this app was set up as a one-way transmission. John could see whoever was on the other end of a call, but they couldn’t see him.”
“Okay,” Kaely said slowly. “I’m guessing the caller spoofed someone’s number....”
“Yes,” Jeff said. “Davis’s wife’s.”
“So John picks up his phone thinking it’s his wife calling. Then he sees this person—probably a man—outside his house with a gun threatening to shoot his wife. The guy gives him thirty seconds to take his own life or his wife dies. Yet the phone isn’t set up to show what John’s doing.” She shook her head. “How in the world could the UNSUB know John obeyed his instructions? That he’d killed himself? He couldn’t be in two places at once.”
Jeff shrugged. “I can’t answer that question. It’s possible the UNSUB couldn’t see him at all. Maybe that was a lie.”
“Do you think John considered that?” Monty asked.
“He’d have to,” Kaely said. “But he had only thirty seconds to decide what to do. When you’ve been given a choice like that, knowing that someone you love could die...”
“You don’t take any chances,” Alex finished for her.
“Right.”
“I don’t buy it,” Logan said. “John Davis was smart. I think he’d have to be convinced he was actually being monitored.”
“The police went through the room with a fine-tooth comb,” Jeff said. “Couldn’t find any cameras. Nothing that could have recorded Davis’s last moments.”
“What about prints on the envelope or the book page?” Alex asked.
“Nothing, and we’re not sure the envelope was shoved under his door. Maybe someone at the convention gave it to him. The hotel has security cameras, but the two in the hallway outside Davis’s room point toward each elevator. No one who didn’t belong there is on the tapes. If they used the stairs, a camera wouldn’t have picked them up.”
“Again,” Alex said, “it’s not possible this man was at Davis’s house and at the hotel at the same time.”
“Maybe he had help,” Monty said.
Jeff held up his hand. “We don’t know how he watched Davis, assuming he really was, but what Davis saw wasn’t a live feed. It was a video recorded earlier. So our UNSUB might not have been in Houston when Davis got the call.”
When Logan realized what this meant, he almost couldn’t grasp it. “You’re saying his wife wasn’t at risk? That Davis killed himself for nothing?”
“I’m not saying that. She probably wasn’t in danger when John saw her life being threatened, but the UNSUB could have gone after her later and made good on his threat.”
“But if Davis had realized the truth,” Kaely said in almost a whisper, “he could have called the police to go to his home and secure his wife before that could happen. And he wouldn’t have had to die.”
Jeff was silent as the reality sank into everyone’s mind. Finally, he said, “I’m afraid that’s true. Mrs. Davis said he wasn’t proficient with his phone. If he had been, he might have been able to tell he wasn’t watching a live feed.” He sighed. “If he hadn’t answered the call...”
“The UNSUB wasn’t taking chances. That’s why he spoofed Mrs. Davis’s number.”
“To ensure John would pick up the phone,” Monty said.
“Exactly.”
Monty cursed softly.
