While Jones spent most of the next day trying to investigate the Port of Dover and find anything there they could latch onto, Recker and Haley spent it questioning other people who were on their list. About halfway through, they stopped to eat and discuss what they’d come up with thus far, which admittedly wasn’t much.
“What do you think?” Haley asked. “Five people. Didn’t get anything out of any of them.”
“Yeah, I guess it’s a little much to expect everyone we talk to is gonna give us something like Alderson did.”
“It’d be nice though.”
“Nice, yes. Realistic, no.”
“Well, we still got five more to go.”
“I’ll check in with David,” Recker said. “Maybe he’s come up with something on his end.”
Recker called Jones, who picked up rather quickly. “Yes?” Jones greeted.
“Hey, that’s my greeting.”
“God forbid you’re rubbing off on me.”
Recker laughed. “You can only hope, right?”
“Umm, no. I can’t really say it any nicer than that.”
“Oh well. Anyway, I was just calling to see if you’d gotten anything yet?”
“No, not yet.”
“Nothing?”
“That’s what I said.”
“Oh.”
“Why, were you expecting something?” Jones asked.
“Well… I was hoping you’d be able to pull something out of your hat.”
“As I’ve explained to you many times, I’m not a magician. I can’t pull things out of thin air.”
“OK, OK. I’ll check in with you later.”
“Nothing?” Haley said, getting the feeling after listening to the conversation.
“Zippo.”
“Well, let’s finish up and get on with it.”
They finished eating, then continued with their journey, still having five more people to question. At least for today. None of the ten people on their list was what anyone would consider good leads. They were mostly people who were thought to maybe have some type of contact with Cloutier, either directly or indirectly, over the years. And some of them might not even have known they were in contact with him at the time. Cloutier used dozens of different aliases over the years. Unfortunately for Recker and Haley, the last five names on their list didn’t provide anything better than the first five they talked to. None admitted to knowing Cloutier or any of the aliases he used. They didn’t get the sense anyone was lying to them. Everyone seemed genuine in their lack of knowledge as far as Recker and Haley could tell.
By the time Recker and Haley got back to the hotel, it was just after ten o’clock at night. They’d been out since nine in the morning. They were beat. Before doing anything else, Recker slipped into the bedroom to talk to Mia. While he was on the phone, Haley went over to Jones, who was still sitting at the desk typing away at his computer.
“Hope your luck’s been better than ours,” Haley said.
“I wouldn’t count on it.”
“You’ve got a big fat zero too, huh?”
“That’s basically what it comes down to.”
Since Recker was on the phone, and Jones was still working, Haley went in to take a shower. He came back out fifteen minutes later, just as Recker was exiting the bedroom after his talk with Mia.
“Chris tell you about our day,” Recker asked.
“Yes,” Jones replied.
“Wasted a whole day.”
“I wouldn’t say it’s wasted,” Haley said. “Every lead we run down that we determine isn’t connected means we’re one step closer to finding the one lead that is a connection.”
“Mr. Positivity.”
Haley laughed, knowing Recker was teasing. “He is correct though,” Jones said.
“Of course you would agree.”
Haley continued with his positive attitude. “Wasn’t it Sherlock Holmes who said if you eliminate the impossible, whatever is left, no matter how unlikely, must be the truth?”
“Not quite the exact line,” Jones said. “But it’s close enough. The sentiment remains the same.”
“What’s that got to do with us?” Recker asked.
“Well, if we eliminate all the false leads,” Haley answered. “Then whatever remains will be the good one.”
Recker stared at him for a second, giving him a strange face. “Seems more à propos to some mystery novel. Not real life.”
Haley shrugged. “Maybe so. Too soon in the game to be getting down though.”
“I’m not down.”
“How’s Mia?” Jones asked.
“She’s good.”
“Excellent.”
Recker grabbed their file folders and took them over to the table. “Might as well start mapping out our day for tomorrow.”
Haley went over to the table and joined his partner in looking through the files. They spent the next several hours writing down names, places, and people of interest. It was just after midnight when they finished finalizing their plan. Jones had wrapped up his computer work, and they were just about to call it a night, when Recker’s phone rang. Considering only three other people had the number, and two of them were still in the room with him, it could only be one other person. Only Lawson remained. Recker eagerly picked it up, hoping she had something juicy for them.
“Hey, didn’t wake you up, did I?”
“No, we’re still burning the midnight oil,” Recker answered.
“Getting anywhere yet?”
“Nothing other than what I gave you yesterday. You get a chance to look into that yet?”
“Yes. It’s actually what I’m calling you about.”
“You found out who it is?”
“Well, no, we’re not that lucky. But we have compiled a list of about ten guys who we think might be involved.”
“How’d you come up with that?”
“Well, we used a variety of methods, going through backgrounds, criminal histories, bank accounts, along with about twenty other things, mostly looking for abnormalities or something that seems off.”
“Makes sense.”
“So, I’m sending you a copy of these names to check on,” Lawson said. “Could be one of these guys, or it might not be any, but it’s a starting point. I’ll send it as an attachment to your phone.”
“We’ll get on it.”
As soon as they got done talking, Recker checked and saw that she had sent him a message with a document to download.
“What was that about?” Jones asked.
“List of names to check on at the Port of Dover.”
“How’d she get those?”
“I dunno, hacked into some stuff I guess.”
“My type of girl.”
“I think she already has a boyfriend,” Recker said.
“I didn’t mean literally.”
“Oh.”
Once Recker downloaded the document, he read it over, then decided to print it out from his phone, so they could put it with all their other files. Once he printed it out, Haley went over and grabbed it, also looking it over. There was about thirty or forty pages of material. It not only listed the names of the people in question, but also their addresses, work history, time at the dock, background check, criminal history, where they went to school, where they lived, basically everything about them since the age of ten.
“This woman sure is thorough,” Jones said. “She is…” Jones stopped himself from going further, not wanting to be misinterpreted again.
It wouldn’t stop Recker from continuing to tease him though. “Your type of woman?”
“Yes, in theory.”
“You know, that might be the thing for you.”
“What?”
“Where to meet someone. Maybe there’s an online dating app for hackers… like, Hackers for Love or something like that.”
Jones rolled his eyes. “Don’t be ridiculous.”
Haley got some amusement out of it though, as he and Recker started laughing to themselves. As the three of them started to read the contents of the papers Lawson sent them, they debated whether they should put it off for another day.
“It’s going to take a few hours to go through these,” Jones said. “It would probably be wise to do it tomorrow with a fresh pair of eyes.”
Recker, always wanting to get things done as quickly as possible, was in favor of foregoing sleep if it meant getting to Cloutier sooner.
“Let’s just do it now.”
“Michael, I know you want to get this over with so you can get back to Mia, but it’s after midnight, we’ve got another long day scheduled for tomorrow, and this is likely to take several hours. Let’s just put it off for at least the morning.”
“David’s right,” Haley said. “Let’s get some sleep. If we do it now or in the morning, it’s not really gonna affect any time frame, anyway.”
Recker looked at them and nodded, coming around and agreeing with them. No matter what, they weren’t going out and questioning anyone in the middle of the night, so there was no use losing sleep over it and throwing themselves off for tomorrow. It could wait a few hours.
“Fine,” Recker said. “You guys win.”
Jones looked shocked. “Wow. That might be the fastest you have ever decided to agree with me on something.”
“Yeah, well, don’t get used to it.”