Caden frowned. “All right. She mentioned something in a text about having something from those floppy disks.”
“Yeah, that’s what it is. Said it was some Russian dude torturing prisoners. She thinks. She’s trying to identify the victims—and the perpetrator.”
Ava shuddered at the mental images.
Zane hacked up another lung and sniffled. “Okay, I’m going to see what Patty can do and then get some sleep. Sorry to bow out on this, Cade.”
“Not to worry. You’re still staying in the loop. Take care of yourself—or let your doctor sister do it. Ava and I’ll be back in about three hours.”
“Sounds good. Bye.” He hung up on another round of coughing, and Ava sighed.
“He sounds like he’s going to be down for the count for a few days.”
“Yeah.” Caden frowned. “He rarely gets sick. But when he does, it’s around this time of year.” He nodded to the tarmac. “Chopper’s here.”
“Let’s go.”
Once they were buckled in on the helicopter, they both took the opportunity to get some rest and soon found themselves back on the ground and headed toward Ava’s home. She shot a group text to Heather, Sarah, and Brooke.
How’s the puzzle going?
Sarah’s reply came instantly.
We made a little progress. Heather and I are still working on it. Brooke said she couldn’t keep her eyes open so she crashed on your couch. LOL.
Ava passed the information on to Caden, who nodded. She texted back.
We’ll finish it up when we get back. Have you been keeping an eye on the security monitor?
Sarah
Of course. We’re fine. There’s been nothing to indicate anyone’s watching or any attempts to get in your place.
Good, good. Thank you so much for your help.
Sure thing. We’ll catch up later.
This time it was his phone that buzzed. He glanced at it. “That’s Daria.”
Ava put it on speaker before he could ask and he shot her a quick smile. “Hi, Daria, what do you have?”
“First, I sent you some footage from the floppy disks found at the Fields home. Just . . . be aware, it’s seriously mind-numbing to think someone’s that evil. And you know that’s saying a lot, considering who my father was.”
“Okay, thanks for the heads-up, Daria.”
He heard her take a deep breath, then blow it out slowly. “Also, I managed to get in touch with two of the people from the yearbook page that you sent me. They both verified the man in the missing picture went by the name David Winters in high school. However, they both said he was dead. When I did a search on Winters, it appears that he was killed in a car wreck when he was a sophomore in college.”
“And I’m assuming you cross-referenced the name David Winters with our current case?”
“I did. And there’s nothing. Probably because he’s dead—or at least his name is.”
“Do you have a picture of this guy?” Caden asked.
“I do. It should be on your phone now.”
The notification flashed and Ava glanced at Caden, asking for permission to look at it. He nodded and she swiped to open the text. And her heart crashed. “That’s not him.”
Caden raised a brow. “What? Are you sure?” Into the phone, he said, “Daria, I’ll talk to you in a bit. Thank you for everything.”
“Of course. It’s my job. And I’m good at it, in case you haven’t noticed.”
He couldn’t help but smile at the little dig, but his heart was hurting for Ava, who’d fully expected this man to be her father. He pulled onto the shoulder of the road and turned on the hazards, but left the vehicle running. “Let me see.”
“Wait a minute,” she whispered, her voice so soft he barely heard it. Her gaze stayed glued to the screen of his phone. “I take that back. I think this actually is him. Granted, I’ve never seen a picture of him this young, but now that I take a closer look . . . see the scar on his lip?”
“Yeah. It’s the same as your dad’s.”
“He used to rub that scar whenever he was thinking. And his eyes . . . Caden, this is him.” She sighed. “Well, obviously, he didn’t die in the car wreck, but it looks like he had some extensive plastic surgery.”
“And he changed his name.”
“The perfect cover for a CIA officer. If someone got a clear enough picture to run through facial recognition, he’d come back as not even in the system—or depending on how much change was done to his bone structure, as a possible match to a dead man?” Ava shook her head. “Which is probably why he was so obsessed with never having his picture taken.” She shuddered and Caden reached over to wrap his hand around her cold fingers. “If he came back as a dead person,” she continued, “that would open a whole ’nother can of worms, wouldn’t it?”
“It would. We need to get that puzzle finished and get into your dad’s computer.”
She nodded and frowned. “I don’t want the girls at my place anymore. I want them to leave before someone decides to go after me again.” She palmed her phone. “I’m going to text them to go home.” She sent the message and looked at him. “I understand why Heather was so adamant about everyone staying away from her when someone was after her a few months ago. She finally accepted that she needed to let others help her, and then Asher got shot and she was devastated. Still is. She can’t talk about it without tearing up. I get it now. Just the thought of someone breaking into my apartment while my friends are there is terrifying.”
A few months ago, Heather had run into trouble that had required help from her friends. Help that had ended up in a shootout, with Asher taking a bullet. He fully recovered, but it had been touch and go for a bit in the beginning.
“Sarah just told you that they’re fine, right?”
“Yes. For now. I plan to keep it that way.”
“Asher doesn’t worry about what happened,” Caden said. “Heather shouldn’t either.”
“Easy to say. If I was in Heather’s position, it would still bother me.”
“Okay, I’ll concede that I’d probably feel the same way.”
She shot him a half smile. “Thank you.”
“Now, while we’re sitting here, I’m going to call Daria back with one more request.” He dialed and Daria answered halfway through the first ring.
“What’s up?”
“One more thing,” he said. “Can you see if there’s any connection between the Sidorovs and Ava’s father? Use the names Paul Jackson, David Winters, and Dimitri Golubev.”
“Got it. I’ll let you know if something comes up.”
“Thank you.”
He hung up and found the video footage Daria had sent. And warned him about. With a quick tap, he started the video. A man tied to a chair came into view. The quality wasn’t great, but it was in color and probably the best that technology had to offer back then. Caden could tell the room had cement blocks, a single overhead lightbulb, and a table off to the right. The anonymous cameraperson zoomed in on the table, and Caden’s heart thudded when he realized what he was seeing.