Say Goodbye (Romantic Suspense #25) by Karen Rose

            Croft patted the boy’s hand. “Call your dad. We’ll get you a ride to Jeff’s house and you can sleep till your dad arrives. For now, sit tight here. I need to confer with Agent Hunter, but we’ll just be out in the hall.”

            “Well?” Tom asked as soon as they left the room and closed the door behind them.

            “If this Graham kid is as tech savvy as Cameron says, he would know how to find their coordinates if he’d managed to hack into their computer to send a message.”

            Tom nodded. “But Cameron only found forest. The coordinates in the e-mail aren’t anywhere close to any of the Eden sites. Eden could have set up a VPN or anonymity software like Tor to redirect their ISP and mask their location.”

            “To hide,” Croft translated dryly.

            “Exactly. We know DJ Belmont is the runner for the cult. We also know he sells drugs for a living, because we found traces of psychedelic mushrooms in the truck that Amos Terrill stole when he escaped.” They’d also found evidence of the cult’s drug operation when they’d searched their most recent location. “If he was using the computer to communicate with customers, it’s likely he’s using Tor to get on the dark web. He could easily fake his location that way. He wouldn’t want customers to know where he was. I wouldn’t, if I were him.”

            “We know where the cult was when Hayley sent the message, because it was their most recent site, most recently vacated. Can you back-extrapolate or triangulate or whatever to find them?” Croft blew out a frustrated breath. “Does that make sense?”

            “It does. It’s not triangulation—that’s only possible if you have at least three locations. Or two locations and the nearest cell tower. VPN software bounces the data from server to server, all over the world sometimes. It’s not simple to trace communications that have been relayed thousands of times, but it’s not impossible. If Hayley can send another e-mail, I’ll have another data point.”

            “That’s what I was thinking,” Croft said. “What about Bunker and Cook? Do we trust them not to talk? We need to keep this as need-to-know only. The wrong person could expose Eden to the press and then we’ll never find them.”

            “I don’t think either of the boys will talk,” Tom said. “Cameron has already talked and no one believed him. He wants his girlfriend and their baby back, so I think we can trust him. Jeff has known about Eden for a month. If he hasn’t talked by now, I don’t think he will.”

            “Agreed. Let’s get photos of Hayley and Graham if we can, so that we can show them around if we need to.”

            “Eden isn’t all that big a settlement,” Tom mused. “I bet Amos Terrill can positively identify Hayley and her brother. That way we can be certain that we’re not chasing our tails.”

            “Good idea. Let’s get a photo array and talk to Mr. Terrill. Do you know where he is?”

            “I do. He’s working on my friend’s house, renovating it.”

            “Of course they’d be your friends,” Croft said dryly. “Whose house?”

            “Rafe Sokolov. He bought a fixer-upper so that he and Mercy could have a place of their own. Amos is a master carpenter and has been helping him, usually just in the mornings. Amos is still recovering from being shot by DJ Belmont last month, so he’s only working part-time.”

            “Right,” Croft murmured. “Your friends have suffered at the hands of this Eden group.”

            “They have,” Tom agreed grimly. “And they’re trying to get on with their lives, but it’s hard, knowing that DJ might be back.”

            “So let’s find DJ and Eden,” Croft said, making it sound so simple.

            Tom smiled down at her. “Yes, ma’am. Cameron needs to request that his article be taken down and I need to get his e-mail password, then we can go to see Amos.”





THREE



FOLSOM, CALIFORNIA

            WEDNESDAY, MAY 24, 11:00 A.M.





You didn’t have to come with us today,” Mercy murmured, her gaze locked on the small girl who was dubiously gazing up at the rows of eyeglasses on the wall. “It’s your first day of vacation before nursing school.”