More importantly, he was starting to wonder whether or not she’d be good for the team.
Chapter Thirteen
JJ looked up from her computer screen when she heard the door open below.
She pretended there weren’t chill bumps on her arms and that her stomach wasn’t churning with anxiety. It was the same reaction she had every time she was startled, and admittedly, she’d been so wrapped up in her research, she hadn’t realized she was the only one upstairs at the moment.
Without being prompted, she grabbed her laptop and headed down the stairs, knowing whoever it was would require an update. They’d spent all morning compiling information on the three couples as well as the investment company, coming up with a lot of data, but nothing that would lead them to Cedric Hawkins.
“Where’s Brantley?” she asked when she saw Reese.
“He went to meet Baz.”
“And you didn’t go with him?”
Reese didn’t answer, simply stared at her as though urging her to use deductive reasoning to answer her own question. And fine. She could obviously see he hadn’t gone with Brantley, but her real question was why not?
“What’ve you got, JJ?”
Yep, and that was a flash of temper she heard in his voice.
“Oh, sorry.” She shook off the strange vibe, shot a smile at Evan, then shifted her attention back to Reese. “Very little, to be honest. I just finished a deeper dive of Hawkins’s financials.”
“Lookin’ for?”
“Anything and everything. I was mainly focused on property he owned, thinking perhaps he might’ve gone off to hide somewhere, but, like I said, I found very little. They’ve got several vacation homes, one in Hawaii, one in Cancun, and one in St. Maarten. All of which have twenty-four-hour video surveillance.”
“What I find interesting is that you call three vacation homes ‘very little,’” Evan said with a grin.
“Considering the numbers before the decimal point on his bank statement, it’s actually kinda modest.”
“The security?” Reese noted. “I assume you hacked it.”
JJ smiled. “You know me so well. I saw nothing out of the ordinary, and there’ve been no glitches in the software. I’d bet money he’s not off taking a vacation.” When they continued to stare at her, JJ continued. “What I did find that was interesting was the money he’s been squirreling away for a while. Hawkins has an offshore account that he’s funneling money to through his investment firm.”
“How much are we talkin’ about?”
“Roughly twenty million.” She glanced between them. “Money his wife clearly doesn’t know about.”
“But perhaps she suspects,” Reese mused.
“Which speaks to motive,” Evan stated. “If he’s hiding that, what else is he hiding?”
“He’s also payin’ for his mistress’s apartment, and let me tell you, her digs ain’t cheap.”
“Wife claims an open relationship.”
“My ass.” JJ set her laptop down, tapped a few keys. “I checked her out on social media, and nothin’ in her posts indicates they’re anything more than a happy, loving couple. However…” She paused for dramatic effect. “Somethin’ else interesting. Her search history. Plus I was able to uncover a few of her messages as well as a couple of emails.”
“I’m assuming you’ve got a warrant for that?” Evan asked, frowning as his gaze darted between them.
“Immunity and means,” JJ declared, despite the fact their immunity and means had been revoked when the governor shut down the task force. “Our goal is to find him, not prosecute. However, if it does lead us to somethin’, I assure you, we’ll have all the backup we need.”
At least, she hoped that was the case. Truth was, JJ didn’t worry too much about the legal repercussions when their main focus was on finding a missing person. Her objective was to locate them before the search and rescue became a search and recovery. One day, that would probably bite her in the ass.
When the door opened, all eyes turned to see Baz strolling in.
He scanned the space, his expression shifting from somber to worried. “What’s wrong?”
“Nothing,” she said quickly. “Honestly. Did y’all find anything?”
Baz raised his hand to show an evidence bag that held…
“Is that the vic’s cell phone?”
“A cell phone,” Baz answered. “Found it in his car.” He glanced at Reese. “Aside from that, we found nothing else that might help us.”
“Where’s Allison?” JJ inquired, curious to know how the woman had done out there today.
“She headed out.”
Oh, crap. Baz did not sound impressed by that.
“Did she say why?” Reese asked.
And no, Reese didn’t sound impressed either.
“Said she had some things to take care of.”
Reese’s expression went blank, and JJ could tell he was pissed. She understood the feeling. They were looking for a missing person. One whose very life could depend on when they found him. The more eyes the better, and Allison decided to take a hiatus?
Reese nodded to the cell phone, met JJ’s gaze. “See what you can find on that. And pass over whatever information you’ve dug up to Evan. Let him have a look at it.”
“Did Charlie get anything from Mrs. Wright?” JJ inquired as she headed for the stairs.
“She was a no-show, and we need to find her.” Reese’s gaze shot to the desk on the far side of the room. “Luca, see if you can trace her steps for the past forty-eight hours. She’s somewhere.”
“On it.”
JJ went right to work, plugging the burner phone into the fancy equipment they’d gotten from Sniper 1 Security. It wasn’t magic by any means, but it did allow them to search the history of the phone faster than if JJ had to hack into it.
It took roughly an hour, but JJ finally got some information that might help them, although it wasn’t at all what she’d expected.
“This phone was purchased in Lakeway by Nancy Wright,” JJ announced as she started to stand.
She instantly squealed when she turned to find Baz and Reese both standing there, obviously waiting for her to finish.
“Announce yourselves, would you?” she grumbled, pressing her hand to her heart. “You could give a girl a heart attack.”
“Nitroglycerin,” Reese muttered, pulling out his phone as he walked away.
“What?” JJ shook her head. “I’m not havin’ a heart attack, dummy. I said I could.”
“What’d you find?” Baz asked, his tone soft and apologetic.
She held up the phone. “This isn’t our vic’s phone. It was purchased by Nancy Wright. I was able to trace the number back to where it was purchased, and with that, I did a search of local cameras around the time of the sale. Mrs. Wright bought the phone a month ago.”
“Before Jacobs and Wright met their untimely fate,” Baz noted.
“Exactly.”
“Has it been used to make any calls?”
“Just one. To another burner phone on the very first day she purchased it.”