The Match (Wilde, #2)(72)

“In short, if you’re na?ve enough to think it’s hard to get information like that,” Hester countered, “you shouldn’t be an FBI agent.”

Kissell thought about that for a moment. “Okay, so you fly to Las Vegas?”

“Yes.”

“You meet with your biological father?”

“Not right away. I waited a few days.”

“Why?”

“It was opening a big door I had kept closed my entire life,” Wilde said, surprised at how unguarded he sounded. “I wasn’t sure I wanted to see what was behind it.”

“And what was behind it?”

“What do you mean?”

“I assume at some point you introduced yourself to Daniel Carter?”

“Yes.”

“What did he tell you?”

“That he didn’t know of my existence. He said that he spent a summer in Europe while serving in the air force. He theorized that he got a girl pregnant during a one-night stand.”

“Did he tell you who the girl might have been?”

“He said he slept with eight girls from a variety of countries. He only knew first names.”

“I see. So no hint about your mother?”

“No.”

“Which is why you then answered Peter Bennett’s message.”

“Yes.”

Kissell rested his hands on his paunch. “How did Daniel Carter react to the news of having a son?”

“It seemed to throw him off-balance.”

“Did he seem happy about it?”

Hester turned to watch Wilde’s face.

“No. He said that that summer was the only time he cheated on Sofia and that they now had three daughters. He worried my appearance would drop a grenade on their lives.”

“I guess I can understand that,” Kissell said with a nod. “What happened next?”

“He said he wanted a day to think about it. He suggested that we meet the next morning for breakfast and discuss it further.”

“And how did that breakfast go?”

“I never showed. I flew home.”

“Why?”

“I didn’t want to be a grenade.”

“Admirable,” Kissell said. He glanced at Betz and asked, “Have you and the Carter family had any contact since?”

“No.”

“None whatsoever?”

“Asked and answered,” Hester said. Then: “So what does all this have to do with the current murders?”

Kissell smiled and rose. Betz did the same.

“Thanks for your cooperation. We will be in touch.”





Chapter

Twenty-Nine



Katherine Frole.

When Chris Taylor Googled the name, the information that came up was worse than he imagined.

First off, Katherine Frole—Panther—was with the FBI. Chris Taylor wasn’t sure what to make of that. He had always worried that law enforcement might try to infiltrate his group, but at the same time, Chris had suspected that at least one member of the Boomerang menagerie would be in law enforcement, someone who saw the limitations in the traditional criminal justice system and realized that the law had not yet caught up with these aggressors. You didn’t have to be a vigilante to see the holes in the system and want to correct them. Plus, from what he could see, Katherine Frole did not work out in the field, meaning she probably had a job that required tech know-how. That was, Chris figured, something the entire group shared. You didn’t join Boomerang without being able to understand and navigate the blackest corners of the dark web.

But of course, this was, to use a journalistic term, burying the lede: Katherine Frole had been murdered.

When Chris saw that, when he realized how big this really was, he did something that would probably shock Polar Bear, Alpaca, Kitten, and Giraffe—the remaining members of Boomerang.

He deleted Boomerang.

All of it. Every file. Every correspondence. Every connection between members.

Did he still trust the other animals? He was not sure. But it was irrelevant. One had been murdered. Any road that could possibly lead to another member had to be severed.

Could one of the other Boomerang members be the killer?

It was horrifying, but Chris had to consider the possibility.

What was certain, however, was that the FBI would be on this case fast and with their best people. Assuming that they had Katherine Frole’s computer, the feds would comb through it with all of the resources at their disposal. Chris had put in a lot of safeguards. All the members followed a strict protocol. But obviously that hadn’t worked out. Either Panther had broken protocol or someone had found a way in. That meant, of course, Boomerang could be exposed.

In short, severing all ties was mandatory.

Now that Chris was alone, what was his next step?

He realized that he might know more than the FBI. Would they have already tied Panther’s murder to Henry McAndrews’s or Martin Spirow’s? Doubtful. The news and the internet had nothing about links amongst the three, but there was no way to know for certain.

That was another big complication.

Even with stakes this high, Chris couldn’t go to law enforcement. That would be breaking protocol in the worst way. If the FBI got their hands on anyone involved in Boomerang, that member would end up in federal prison or worse. No doubt. And if Boomerang’s victims found out who was behind the group, they would demand revenge in violent ways.