Flame in the Dark (Soulwood #3)(64)

“Justin Tolliver smells wrong,” Rick said, “but not enough to trip my predator sense. I can’t explain it but predators, meat eaters, smell of meat. This man smells of human, but also of fish and water and something musky. It could be scent transfer. His wife smelled worse but she wore perfume. Like body lotion and shampoo and perfume all in the same scent. Expensive matching products.”

“Lots of perfume,” Occam agreed. “So maybe Justin smells normal and the odd scent was from his wife?”

“The senator’s wife wears too much scent, too,” Rick said, comparing the two women. “Clarisse Tolliver may wear even more perfume.”

“Or maybe the cats smell things when nothing is really there. We humans should get close to her,” JoJo said. “After a shower or something.”

“You women figure out how to do that,” Occam said. “I got no desire to be arrested for busting into the senator’s wife’s shower and sniffing her. Rick stole a pillowcase. I’m not sticking my nose on a person.”

“We’ll know more about the fire after Arson finishes their investigation,” Soul said to the unit. “But there was something odd about the initial flash of fire. There was a purple and orange blast of flame, just for an instant. I’ve seen many fires and explosions and this one was odd.

“Change of subject.” She swiveled in her seat and said to me, “I can read your report later. I want your impressions of the two women you met today.”

I frowned. “I grew up in a hotbed of conspiracy theorists. I can pretty much recognize the type whether they’re right or left wing, religious or atheist. They all have a certain feel.” I stopped, looked at T. Laine, and grinned. “A certain vibe.”

“Listen to Ingram, going all new age, millennialist teenager,” she said.

“And both of these girls had that vibe. But the first one started out fine and then at the end changed, got worried, fidgety. I got the feeling she was conflicted and feeling guilty about something.” I shook my head. “That wasn’t quite it. It’s a lot easier to just be yourself, except some people don’t know who they are and so for them it’s easier to pretend to be someone else.” T. Laine and Jo exchanged a glance I couldn’t decipher. “But the girl posing as Candace McCrory was fully aware of who she was, but was pretending to be someone else and wasn’t altogether happy about that. She was playing . . . I guess was playing several parts. Trying to be a lot of different things at one time.”

Rick nodded, as if agreeing, watching me, listening. Evaluating. That was it. He was evaluating my performance. And he seemed pleased. I went on.

“The girl calling herself Mary Smith was earnest. She was a believer and full of anger and frustration. She was real. Why Candace sent us to Mary I don’t know. But I will say that I have a feeling something is going on inside DNAKeys. Where there’s smoke there’s . . .” I stopped. “Well, you know.”

Soul said, “I’ve listened to most of both interviews. It sounds as if some of the women’s reports might have a basis in truth, but to what degree I can’t speculate.”

“Got something,” JoJo said. “I just cracked DNAKeys’ HR records.”

“What did you just say?” Soul asked.

JoJo’s head came up from her laptop; her spine went vertical as a two-by-four. Jo wasn’t supposed to be hacking without a warrant. “Uhhh.”

“CLMT2207,” Soul said. “Strike the words beginning at ‘Got something.’ JoJo meant to say—” She gestured to Jo.

JoJo pulled on her earrings, a sure sign of nerves. “I just discovered information in an unsecured database. Right. That.”

“Continue,” Soul said, but there was a bite to her tone. I had seen her dragon teeth, but Soul was scary even in human form.

JoJo said, “Candace McCrory is really Evelyn McCrory. She has a history of paranoia and conspiracy fears. She’s on antipsychotic meds, or maybe she’s off her meds. Maybe the truth is a little less woo-woo and a little more cuckoo.”

I shook my head. “No. I’d agree that Mary Smith was someone who needs meds, who might even have been broken somewhere along in her life. But not Candace. Underneath it all she was . . .” I held both hands in front of me as if holding a large vase between them. “Carrying a burden, but self-confident.”

JoJo tapped her tablet for a moment and said, “Well. Probie’s right. The doctor treating Candace is the same as the doctor treating Evelyn. And he died in 2004.

“So besides creating a mock social media persona, DNAKeys went so far as to falsify and plant HR records for their double agent in two names? Both McCrory identities are false? Why?”

“We did it,” I said. “Shaundell has school and work records and has donated regularly to the ASPCA and rescue groups.”

Rick grunted. It sounded like a cat, all breathy and exasperated. It had to hurt when the bad guys were just as effective as the good guys.

“Elephant in the room,” T. Laine said. I looked at her. I hadn’t heard that one before. And she was looking at me. “Nell read humans back when we had a plague. Why not let her read the kid?”

My eyes slid to the doorway. “That was adults. Is it even legal to read a minor? No. It isn’t right without his parents’ permission.”