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Randall rechecked the address on the sheet against the address on the door. “It’s not unusual for poor students with extraordinary abilities to attend a school like the Institute.”
“What makes you say that?”
“If they were wealthy, their parents would already have transferred them to a private school or have them attend a local school and work with tutors.”
“Is that what your parents did?”
“Transfer me? No. Pop wanted me to be in a normal school. It was mom who insisted that we hire the tutors, and that probably kept me in school more than anything else. They were able to...challenge me.”
The government housing project they were looking at wasn’t the worst Randall had ever seen, but it was close.
When they knocked on the door to 27B, there was a pause as someone called out, “Who is it?”
“We’re government agents. We need to ask Jonathan Coleman a few questions.”
Randall glanced at Nora and knew they were both thinking the same thing. If Jonathan Coleman was at this address, he might decide to run. They’d checked for a back entrance, and there didn’t appear to be one. Just as Randall was thinking he should walk around the building again, they heard the sound of locks being disengaged and the door opened.
Randall didn’t believe in stereotypes. He’d been the victim of one too often. Still, he was surprised that the young man in front of them was clean-cut and appeared to be somewhat athletic.
No glasses.
No acne.
He wasn’t dressed in a dirty t-shirt with a nerd slogan.
“I’m Jonathan Coleman.” His voice was hesitant, and his body blocked any view of the room beyond.
“Can we come in?” Nora asked.
Jonathan glanced back into the small apartment. “What’s this about?”
“We’re investigating a possible terror attack here in the city, and we think you may be able to help us.”
Jonathan’s expression relaxed at the words terror attack. Not the response they got from most people. “I wouldn’t know anything about that.”
“Then we won’t stay long.”
Jonathan nodded once and stepped back. “My grandma is sleeping, so we’ll need to keep it down.”
“Of course.”
As they walked into the room, Randall noticed several things at once—the neatly folded sheet and blankets next to the couch, the smell of bacon and eggs, and the jump rope and hand weights stored on a shelf under the television. Jonathan had apparently been sitting on the couch, working on a laptop. He closed the device and placed it carefully on the coffee table.
The upholstery was threadbare, but the room was painfully clean. Someone was making a heroic attempt to create a home in the cramped space.
“Why do you think I can help you?”
“Is it okay if we sit?” Randall didn’t want to spook the kid. He’d learned from Nora that people were less defensive, and less prone to make a run for it, if they were sitting.
“I guess.”
“You were Miguel Garcia’s student, correct? When you attended the Institute?” Nora looked down at the list of students Lebron Davis had given them, as if she needed to check it to be sure.
“Yeah. Why do you ask?”
Nora folded the sheet and handed it back to Randall. “Did you know that Mr. Garcia was killed three nights ago?”
“What?”
There was no faking the look of shock on Jonathan’s face. He definitely hadn’t known about Garcia’s murder, though he could have been involved without realizing it. Randall had seen crazier things.
“Are you sure?” Jonathan wiped his palms against his jeans. “I mean, are you sure? Oh man. That can’t be right. Maybe it was a different Miguel Garcia.”
“We just visited with his wife, Carmen.” Randall tucked the list of students into his pocket.
“How...how is she? Man. I can’t believe that he’s really dead. Everyone loved Miguel. Who would do such a thing? How is Carmen?”
“Carmen’s upset, as you’d expect. She had a lot of family with her.”
Nora scooted forward on the chair, propped her elbows on her legs and clasped her hands together. “Jonathan, Carmen told us that Miguel was trying to get in touch with you on the night he was murdered.”
Jonathan froze in his seat. When he tried to speak, he cleared his throat twice, then said, “What? No. I hadn’t heard from him.”
“He emailed and called. He even left a message on your cell phone.”
“I don’t have that cell phone anymore. They went up on their rates, and...well, most people just send a text nowadays. I can receive those on my computer.”
“You have a pretty nice laptop.” Randall could tell that it was the newest Mac model, and they weren’t cheap.
Jonathan licked his lip, glanced at the laptop, then at Nora, and finally settled his gaze on Randall. “I was doing some work for a guy. He paid me with the laptop. If it’s hot, I didn’t know it, but...uh...I didn’t exactly ask for a receipt.”
“What kind of work did you do for him?”
“Some simple coding for an accounting program. That was six months ago though.”
“About the time you dropped out of school?” Nora asked.
“Yeah.” When Nora didn’t follow up with another question, just waited expectantly for him to explain, he added, “My grandma, she had a stroke and needed someone to be at home with her.”
“Where are your parents?”
“No idea. Mom stops by a couple times a year. I haven’t seen my dad since I was a kid.”
Randall had to bite back the words you still are a kid. Instead he said, “That must be tough.”
“Whatever. Look, I don’t think I can help you with a terror attack. I dropped out of TI because I needed to be here. I wasn’t going to let them put my grandma in some kind of state run nursing home. Maybe you’re really with social services, but if you are I’ve been doing all my lessons.”
A laugh escaped Randall’s lips.
“If you don’t believe me, I’ll show you.”
“We’re not with social services, and it’s not that I don’t believe you. It’s that I know from experience how long it probably takes you to do your school work.” He put the last two words in air quotes. “Do you actually do it, or did you write a program to make it appear that you’re online?”
Jonathan’s eyes widened, and Nora looked at Randall accusingly. “You told me you attended high school.”
“I did, but a couple classes I took online so I’d have time for my own hobbies.”
“You look like you played football,” Jonathan said.
“Guilty as charged, but I was also into coding, like you. I wrote a program to make the online portal think I was logged in and active, then spent the time working on something that actually challenged me.”
Jonathan didn’t seem to know what to say about that, so instead he stood and stuck his hands in his pockets.
“I really don’t think I can help with whatever you’re after.”
“Sit down, Jonathan.” Nora’s voice brokered no argument.
Randall would have sat down if he’d been standing, but to give Jonathan credit the kid wasn’t backing down.
“I can’t help you.”
“You need to tell us what you know. We’re trying to catch whoever killed Miguel, and we’re trying to stop a cyber attack.”
“What kind of cyber attack?” Jonathan’s gaze darted toward the front door, then the window, then back at Nora.
“Jonathan, look at me.” Randall kept his voice low and calm. “Don’t try to run. I will catch you, and then we just have to haul you in. So don’t try to run.”
“Why would I run?”
“You tell us.” Nora sat back and crossed her arms. “Tell us what you know about the murder of Miguel Garcia.”
“I don’t know anything. I didn’t even know he was dead.” Jonathan collapsed more than sat on the couch. His face was a picture of misery.
“He died just a few blocks from here.” Nora’s voice had softened. “Are you sure you haven’t talked to him in the last week?”
“No. And I haven’t checked my email in months because it’s all spam. No one uses email anyway. But if he was killed here...do you think he was coming to see me?”
“Carmen said he was worried about you. Why would that be?”
Jonathan’s eyes darted toward the laptop then back at the aged carpet. “No idea.”
“Jonathan...” Nora waited for him to glance up at her, and Randall knew what was coming. She was losing her patience and she was about to unload on him. Kid or not, they were running out of time.
“Randall understands your background, but I don’t, and I don’t need to. I don’t really care if you’re bored at school or working under the table for someone. That’s not because I’m an uncaring person, and it’s not because you don’t matter. I don’t care, at this point in time, because I have to stop the people who are about to unleash a cyber attack on the Seattle area. Those attacks don’t just affect devices. They affect people, and I swore to protect those people against that very thing.”
“I don’t...it’s just that...look...” He glanced up, eyes wide, face paled, right arm shaking slightly. “All I did was post some stuff to social media. It didn’t hurt anyone, and these people...they paid really well. It’s not even that hard to do, and I mean...I don’t even think it’s illegal.”
“You posted about the cruise ships?”
“Yeah.”
“So you could be sued for libel by some very large corporations.”
“No. I just...I mean maybe it was just my opinion. Don’t we have a First Amendment in this country?”
“Doesn’t cover defamation that is objectively false, published, and causes financial injury.” Nora ticked off the three requirements on her fingers.
“Who hired you?” Randall asked.
“I have no idea. I saw the job on the Z boards.”
“Z boards?” Nora shook her head. “You lost me.”
“Geeks pick up work there,” Randall explained. “How are they paying you?”
“Half the money was dropped in my PayPal account when I agreed to the job. I get the other half tomorrow.”
“Why tomorrow?”
“Because the job’s over tomorrow. I only have to keep the social media activity going until daybreak.”
“What happens then?” Nora’s back had gone ramrod straight.
“I don’t know.” Jonathan spoke more emphatically. “And how could some false news stories about cruise ships hurt anyone? How could that even be classified as a cyber attack?”
“Because the cruise ship stories are just a diversion, though a very big one at this moment.” Randall picked up the laptop and handed it to him. “Log in to your PayPal account and let me see the payment receipt.”
As Randall studied the details of the payment, Jonathan’s grandmother peeked around the corner of the room. She was old, frail, and more than a little confused.
“Jonathan? Is that your momma and dad? Have they come to visit?”
“No, grandma. It’s just some people from my school.” Jonathan hopped up and ushered his grandmother back into her room, talking softly and assuring her that everything was all right.
Randall met Nora’s gaze.
He hadn’t missed the reference to daybreak. If what the kid said was true and it was related to this thing they were chasing, they had less than eighteen hours to stop the attack.
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