Game of Fear (Montgomery Justice #3)(78)
He felt Deb stiffen in shock beside him. He couldn’t imagine what she was feeling right now, knowing this girl might have been murdered by the same people who now had Ashley.
Gabe examined the photos. In several, she held blue ribbons. “She was beautiful, and she looked happy.”
He couldn’t keep his gaze away from the other photographs displayed, though. Whitney Blackstone. His half sister. Riding horses, rappelling down a mountain. Graduating from the FBI Academy at Quantico, Virginia. No wonder she had connections. She was a Feebie. Had Shannon’s death dictated Whitney’s career decisions, or were the Montgomery genes at work there, too?
For the first time, he reflected on the impact that night must have had on Whitney. He’d always been centered on his own emotions, his own pain.
She’d lost as much, if not more than him that night, but his anger hadn’t let him see it. His mother wouldn’t be proud of him right now.
Mrs. Devlin reached out and touched one of the pictures, then smiled. “Shannon was so proud of herself in this photo. She and her friends had just won the county math bowl. They were going to state the day she was . . .” Her voice trailed off.
Mr. Devlin walked over to his wife. She leaned against him and he put his arm around her. “They were all murdered, Mr. Montgomery. Shannon in Denver. The boys in the mountains nearby. Their cases are still unsolved.”
Mrs. Devlin sank against her husband. “Getting that call from your father, telling me what happened to my precious daughter . . .” She sobbed. “It was the worst day of my life.”
Whitney went over to her mother. “Mom, this is too much for you. Why don’t you let me handle it from here? Don’t put yourself through any more.”
Mrs. Devlin smiled through her tears and touched Whitney’s cheek. “I thank God every day for bringing you into our lives. If He had to take Shannon, I’m so thankful He also blessed us with you.”
Whitney’s eyes filled and she kissed her mother’s cheek before nodding to her dad to take the frail, heartbroken woman away from the living room.
As soon as they’d left, Whitney faced Gabe. “If you’re here looking into Shannon’s death again, then it appears your investigation and mine are intersecting. I don’t have time for BS stalling and neither do you. I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours, and we’ll try to figure out what is going on before anyone else gets killed.”
The snow crunched under Gabe’s feet as he and Deb left the Devlins’ house an hour later. He clutched Deb’s hand as they made their way across the driveway to keep his head from reeling.
Zach got out of the car, blowing on his hands and cursing. “Remind me to go inside with you next time. Please tell me you found out something that made me freezing my butt off outside worthwhile?”
“You might as well get in the car,” Deb said. “It will take the whole ride to the airport to fill you in. I’m sure the guy would like his Jeep back.”
She squeezed Gabe’s hand and he took comfort in her touch. They headed down the hill once more. Ice coated the roads now, making it even more treacherous.
Gabe didn’t even know how to begin. It wasn’t with Whitney’s true identity, though. “The Devlins’ daughter is with the FBI. I mentioned Intelligent Interactive, the makers of Point of Entry, and Intelligent Solutions, the company who sent Deb the game, hoping she could use her resources to get us more information than even Luke can. She made a call. You ready for this one? Intelligent Solutions has the same address as one of the Gasmerati’s dummy corporations that just popped onto the FBI’s radar because of huge transfers of money.”
Zach let out a low whistle. “Jeff Gasmerati.”
“And the game,” Deb said. “It keeps popping up.”
“So what do we do now?” Zach asked. “Visit the company headquarters and take ’em out?”
“I agree with you,” Deb said, her hand on her weapon. “Go in, scare the crap out of them, and find Ashley.”
“It’s not that simple,” Gabe said. “Luke did some backdoor digging to see if he could trace the package Deb received back to the Reno address. The location is a mailbox center. All fake. Which, of course, makes sense now, but it’s a dead end.”
Zach hauled the wheel to the left to avoid a huge chunk of snow in the road. “So did you find out anything that’ll help?”
“Just that everyone Shannon knew who played that game well is either missing or dead. Whitney showed us Shannon’s diary enshrined in her old bedroom. There were other names mentioned—Randy, Kelsey, Niko, and Liam—but Whitney’s never been able to locate them. They played competitively against Shannon’s P.O.E. team a lot, more for fun than anything else, but when Whitney started searching for them, they’d vanished. Like all the rest.”
Zach let out a low whistle. “What can I do to help? Maybe I could—”
“No way. You’re not taking any more chances. Not with your new family and that baby on the way. The bodies are piling up high in this investigation,” Gabe said, glancing at his phone. He’d missed a call from Nick while talking to Whitney. Another number popped up as well. The caller ID indicated the Air Force Academy.
Gabe dialed back.
“Rappaport.”