THE SUPER OPENED THE office door for them, saying, “Make sure you lock up before you leave,” and then she left them alone.

Vincent and Luke entered and looked around. There wasn’t anything to see. It was an empty room with dust lining the windowsills and cobwebs hanging from the ceiling. “This doesn’t look promising,” Vincent finally admitted. Luke shrugged his shoulders in defeat as he crossed the room. “Maybe it’s the import-export place?”

Disappointed, Vincent said, “Or maybe Arnold doesn’t know what he’s talking about.”

Luke stopped in front of a narrow door and opened it. “Or maybe he does.”

Vincent hurried over to see what Luke was looking at. Inside the small, dark closet was some sort of sophisticated machine sitting on a stack of boxes. Looking in, Vincent exclaimed, “Holy shit!”

Luke bit his lower lip nervously. “That’s no ordinary answering machine, and I’m not sure what it is, but we probably know someone who does.”

They both said at the same time, “Arnold.”

Hoping he was still awake, Luke quickly dialed his number again.

“Father, I’m going to be able to buy a new car if you keep calling,” Arnold said when he answered.

“I have another question. Just add it to my bill.” Arnold didn’t respond. “Vincent and I are at the address you gave us. There’s some kind of answering machine here that looks like a computer and we have no idea how it works. We thought you might be able to help.”

“I can’t come over there now, but can you take a few pictures of it with your phone? Be sure to get the model numbers and any serial numbers in the pictures. But be careful not to jar the machine. Send me a few text messages with the pictures attached.”

Luke hung up and looked toward the closet. “Vincent, can you open the blinds so we can get some light in here?” With the room illuminated in bright sunlight, Luke took his first picture. It took him a few minutes to figure out how to attach it to a text, but soon he was snapping picture after picture and sending them to Arnold. After his seventh message, the phone buzzed. It was a text from Arnold that said two words: “ENOUGH ALREADY!”

Not wanting to annoy him any more than he already had, Luke paced back and forth until Vincent said, “Why don’t we call the number and see what happens. It would let us know that we are definitely in the right place.” He searched his pockets and said, “Luke, I must have left my phone in the Jeep; let me borrow yours.”

Luke handed him the phone. Vincent quickly entered the number. A few seconds later, two green lights began blinking on the front of the machine. “Yes!” Vincent yelled as he walked over and gave Luke a high five.

As he handed the phone back, Vincent became serious. “Luke, I don’t know how you figured all of this out, but I’m beginning to worry that we’re in over our heads. I don’t want to aggravate you, but do you think we should go to the feds?”

Luke paced, thinking. “I would, but I honestly believe that they would laugh at us. Right now, we have the word of a homeless man who has no credibility and has spent time in jail. The only witness to his death is his schizophrenic girlfriend who would never testify or talk to anyone. And we’ve located an answering machine in an empty office. And to tell you the truth, I don’t trust the FBI guy Dempsey. Let’s see what Jami comes up with. By the time I get back from Riyadh, we’ll know if we can prove our case.”

Vincent stepped closer. “What do you think you’re going to find over there?”

“I’m not really sure, but I’m hoping to get the proof that will solve Aaron’s murder.”

After several minutes of silence, Luke’s cell buzzed, and he put it on speaker so Vincent could hear. “Thanks for calling back so quickly. What did you find out?”

Arnold replied, “OK, that machine is what’s called an intelligent remote caller ID system. It’s a fairly complex unit. I’m assuming that it’s been configured so that the office you are in is most likely set up as the service control point. This machine could be networked to several others at any location.”

Trying to simplify his explanation, Arnold slowed his pace, softened his tone, and took a deep breath.

“To make a long story short, here’s what it does in layman’s terms. Once a call is received, it’s programmed to send that message or phone number to as many as a dozen other devices. So if someone wanted to make it seem like they had an office in Boston, but he really lived in, well, let’s just say Saudi Arabia, they could route messages through this machine. So a call or voice message sent to the machine could trigger an alert on a phone, computer, or networked system anywhere in the world. And if the recipient responded, you would see a phone number that looked like they were located in Boston.”

Thinking quickly, Luke asked, “Is there any way to figure out what number or device this machine is linked to?”

“Good question, but there’s no easy way. I’ve scanned through the owner’s manual, and that particular machine requires that you create a unique PIN and password. It also has a triggering device that alerts everyone linked to the system if it’s logged into or any type of change is made to the unit. These systems are often used by outsourced customer-service firms to mask the fact that they are located in India. The security is built into the systems so they can’t be tampered with.”

Luke and Vincent suddenly came to the same realization as Luke deliberately asked, “So, if I called this number from my cell phone, there’s a chance that my phone number was transmitted to somewhere else in the world, like Riyadh?”

“Definitely yes.”