Before I could even take out its contents, my phone started to ring.
Shit, is he done early?
I hurried to the table and breathed a sigh of relief. The caller ID showed Theo, Stonewall Investigations across the screen. “Hey, Theo, what’s up?”
“Hey, Rex, got a minute?”
“Sure, yeah.”
I stood up, setting the knife I’d used to cut open the box down on the coffee table. This could be worth sparing a few minutes from surprise prep.
“All right, so, I’ve found a few things I wanted to talk to you about, but first, I want to preface this with something, because I hate to set the wrong impression. I don’t have anything solid yet.”
I deflated a little. I wasn’t expecting him to call and say the sick fuck was caught and the tape destroyed, but I at least was expecting big progress.
“But, like I said, I did find a few things, and I think we’re on the right track.” I heard a shuffle of papers from the other line. “Okay, so, I was able to track down where the camera was bought, a small tech store in Brooklyn, and the store is sending me over security footage. I don’t know exactly when the camera was bought, so that complicates things, but researching the model tells me that it came out six months ago, so we’ve got a range to work with. I’m working on narrowing that range down, as well.”
“Ok, okay, that does sound like good news to me. How much footage does the tech store have?”
“They upload exactly six months’ worth of footage to the cloud.”
“Damn. That’s lucky.”
“It is, but it’s still difficult. Going through six months of camera footage isn’t easy. And plenty of people buy cameras, and I’m sure many of them got this specific one. What I’m looking for is anyone we recognize to be part of your inner or outer circle. I don’t want to get you paranoid right now, but it does seem to me like this might be people that have already infiltrated your life.”
I nodded, leaning against the wall. “I’ve had that thought already… I’m guessing you haven’t been able to reach either Penelope or Scott yet?”
“Actually, that’s the next thing I wanted to talk to you about.”
I stood up, back straight, expecting some kind of news. Those two, as tight as I felt we were, had been tossed toward the top of my suspect list.
“I talked to them both. They’ve been out of the country and had both their phones stolen as they were traveling through Thailand. They talked with me for over three hours, explaining their history and connection with you. I dove into their web of contacts, as well, trying to build out a map that could lead back to you. Obviously, your father is a heavyweight in politics, and that could be having a big effect on this, but, something about this is telling me it’s aimed more toward you than hurting your father.”
“Yeah, because the video has my naked ass front and center, not my dad’s.”
“You’re right.”
“Sorry,” I said, taking in a breath. I hadn’t meant to say that with so much attitude, but the stress of it all was clawing back up. I could practically feel it using my ribs as a ladder.
“It’s totally fine. This is a fucked-up situation, Rex, it is.”
“When did Penelope and Scott get back from their trip?”
Theo rustled a few papers and said, “A week ago. Saturday.”
“Why wouldn’t they have called me…”
“I talked to them yesterday. They said they were only just able to purchase phones. I’ve got their new numbers here if you want them.”
“Yeah,” I said, going over to the kitchen. I grabbed a pen from a drawer and turned over a Chinese takeout menu. Theo read me the numbers, totally new to me. I wondered if they just didn’t have my number memorized; how would they have been able to contact me?
“All right,” I said, looking at the stack of boxes I still needed to pack. The golden clock above the bar cart told me I had about thirty minutes left before I needed to head out. “Are there any possible suspects, then?”
“Well, I’m not taking any option off the table right now.”
“So Scott and Penelope—”
“I can’t say for sure. Either way. But what I can say is that I’m working around the clock on this for you, Rex. And I’ve got about three other detectives here at Stonewall working on it, too.”
“Thanks, Theo. I appreciate it.” I cracked my knuckles, wringing my hands. Anxiety started to build in me, like a rising wall, brick by solid brick. If this didn’t end, if I had to live my entire life with this looming shadow over me…
“One last thing,” Theo said. He suddenly sounded a little apprehensive. As if he was second-guessing whether he should say anything.
“Uh-huh?”
“I received a message earlier today. From whoever is behind these threats. Whoever has the tape.”
My hand balled into a fist. “So now they’re threatening you, too… Fucking shit. What did it say?”
Theo read the message. “To Mr. Sherlock ‘Stonewall’ Homes, keep on investigating and you’ll see bigger consequences than a sex tape leaking.”
It was an explicit threat. The text wasn’t asking for money. It wasn’t asking for anything. It was a clear warning shot.
“Fuck,” I said.
Theo huffed. “It’s all right. I’ve been doing this for fifteen years, and that’s actually one of the weakest threats I’ve ever gotten. Trust me, on the 1-to-Zodiac Killer scale of threats, this one barely registers as a blip.”
That helped me calm down a bit.
But only a bit.
“It does mean a couple things, though: whoever is behind this knows I’m involved, which brings me back to thinking it’s someone closer to you than you think. I don’t exactly walk around with a megaphone, shouting about my cases, so that part is interesting to me.”
I nodded, my worry rising back up. It was a comfort, if a very weak one, to think that whoever was doing this was far removed from my life. Some crazy online fanatic who got lost down the wrong internet rabbit hole and now wanted to lash out at my father through me. It brought me back to thinking about Scott and Penelope.
“Another thing is that, well, frankly this person isn’t very smart. They sent the text through a randomized number. Except, in order to get that number, they had to use an app and create an account with their real number in order to create the randomized one. I’m currently in a back-and-forth with the app company, and I’m hoping I can get that info by the end of the week.”
“That’s huge!” All right, back to less worrying. This conversation was turning out to be a hell of a roller-coaster ride.
“It can be, yes. So let’s hold on to that. All right?”
“I will, Theo. Thank you for the update, and for all the work you and your team’s been doing.”
“Of course, not a problem. When Mav told me about what was going on, I knew I had to jump in and help.”
Mav. Hah, they’re already on nickname terms.
I’d have to bring Theo up the next time Maverick and I talked.
We hung up, and I felt much more confident about where things were headed after talking to him. The last bit of information he dropped was critical: they had a phone number. If they could get a phone number, they could track the person down to whatever ball-sweat-soaked basement they were hiding in. And there was also the lead on the tech store, which sounded like a bit of a longer shot if Theo couldn’t narrow down the date, but still, it was a shot. And the tape still hadn’t been leaked, even though the threat’s deadline expired a week and two days ago (I’d been keeping the exact count since midnight).