Day 2 0600
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Call it a bad habit, but despite the fact that she went to disco to unwind frequently, Vanessa hated the smoke that linger in her hair and clothes. She had taken another shower and washed her hair again after she came back from the disco the night before, and had slept with her hair still wet. It was therefore, no surprise that she woke up at 6 o'clock with a headache.
6.15am found her outside her room in the corridor, knocking on her team mates's doors.
"Hey? Another one interested in breakfast?" She asked as she knocked on each of their doors.
"Breakfast?" Leo Jones asked, the moment he opened the door. "You got me breakfast?"
Vanessa had to smile at that one. "Obviously not. I couldn't find the rest of them. Did you have an idea where they are?"
Leo thought for a while, then shook his head.
" Zenya and I came back quite late yesterday. Perhaps she was still sleeping. "
She was not. And after a while, the two agents decided to go downstairs to find them.
They found the rest of the group on a table for five. Leo grinned at the sight of the breakfast on the table.
The first thing Jordan did was to show Leo Page A3.
"Five minutes of fame?" He teased.
Leo looked at Zenya.
"Casual talk while passing time," she explained with shrug.
"Seems that I miss something. " Vanessa noticed.
They filled in the missing stories for her as they had breakfast.
"BBS messages?" Vanessa was surprised, looking at the copies of the bbs postings Zenya and Jim had made for the group. "He does not seemed to be very discreet right? Why didn't the local PD pick up on all these hints?"
"They treat the case like a plague. Absolutely refused to touch it at all. Even if the murderer showed up and surrendered, they would shoo-ed him away. " Jordan informed her.
" I would like to find out more about the red convertible. I can almost see the license plate of the damn car. " Leo said, waving the pictures he took from Rebecca's home, or what used to be her home.
Jordan added. " That was what I intended too. Red convertibles are not that common, especially if it was zipping around the roads of Santa Fe. "
"Anyone interested in an afternoon of gruesome activities?" Vanessa asked. "The autopsy is in the afternoon. Not very interesting, I think. "
The rest of the group agreed with her.
" Well, at least it would be better than making enquiries about the internet account. Mr Ted's account, to be precise. " Jim consoled his tactical operation partner.
"AOL." Zenya said with a smile on her lips. "Not impressed. Hope that their PR are very very eager to cooperate with the FBI and don't throw us a load of consumer confidentiality excuses. On the other hand, I would not mind going to the hospital. "
"You can do both. The autopsy is in the afternoon." Vanessa told her.
"That's it them, folks. Now let's start cracking. " Jordan informed the rest of the group.
After Leo and Jordan left, the remaining trio stayed for a little while before rising to go back to Zenya's room for abit of 'paperwork investigation'. As the lift opened its door, they walked in, not noticing that the phone at the reception counter had just rang, with it a very important message.
"Buena Vista. May I help you?" The young woman who had approached Jordan earlier picked up the phone.
"Yes? Mr Jordan Stern? Please hold as I transfer you to his room. " She pressed a few buttons on the the phone, then frowned as no one answered the phone, and transferred her line back to the caller.
"Hello m'am, I'm sorry, but Mr Stern does not seem to be in his room right now. Do you want to speak to the rest of his companions? Or would you like to leave a message?" A pause. "Yes. I got that. I will ask him to call back as soon as possible. You're welcome. Bye. " What she did not realise that 'as soon as possible' would be a couple of hours, and by then, the team would be too deep into the investigation.
Back in Washington, Jenny hung up the phone, a smile on her lips. Trust the agents to turn a simple murder case into another fanfare.
Day 2 1000 Zenya's room
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Things were not going well with AOL. Firstly, they transferred Jim from one department to another. And when he finally found a department which was willing, and able to help him, the news was bad. Mr Ted's emailing account was linked to a post box.
"Well, at least he is smart enough not to registered it to his real home. That man was just a little bit too smug for my liking. " Vanessa commented.
" I still can track the post box. Don't you worry. " Jim told the two ladies who were seated on the bed as he flipped through the phone directory for yet another number to dial.
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
"Is anyone inside?" a unfamiliar male voice asked.
The agents looked at one another, their hands automatically reaching for their guns.
Zenya was the first to make her way to the door.
"Who was that?" she asked.
"Joe Gantry. "
Zenya recognised the name, and quickly opened the door.
"Mr Gantry. Come in."
Joe Gantry looked at Zenya. "You are the lady who was with SA Stern that day at the funeral aren't you?"
"You got a good memory, sir."
"Never forget a pretty face," he said, and Zenya smiled in spite of herself.
She introduced him to the other two agents.
"How may I help you?"
"Well," Gantry paused for a while. " I think that I should have told SA Stern about something...."
"About what?"
"I read the newspapers today." He held up the same newspapers that Jordan had read a few hours ago for Zenya to read. It was folded at page A5.
"Homeless found dead." Zenya read the headline.
"The one I found," Vanessa reminded Zenya.
"We found," Jim corrected her.
"Well, I don;t know if I should mention it, but.... "
"What?" Zenya prompted the old man.
Jim poured Gantry a glass of water, which he took gratefully.
"I know this sounded like an accusation of sorts. But I saw..... Does anyone of you think that her death is linked to Mary Ritchey's death?"
"We cannot make any conclusion yet, Mr Gantry. " Vanessa told him. "But if there are anything you know that can help us in finding a conclusion, it would be appreciated. So what did you see yesterday?"
"Yesterday I was looking for a place to eat with my wife Kate, and drove past 9th Street. And I saw someone with her. " He pointed at the newspaper article, indicating the dead woman.
"Who?" The 3 of them asked at the same time.
"That Ericsson girl." He said softly, as if ashamed of himself for talking bad behind someone's back.
"Ericsson? Who is that? What is her full name?" Zenya asked.
"She was at the funeral too. I am not sure if you saw her. Rebecca Ericsson. "
Zenya's eyes grew wide. "Rebecca? You mean, Rebecca Cross."
Gantry shook his head slowly. "Rebecca Ericsson. That is always how I would think of her. Afterall, I knew her before she got married. Ericsson is her maiden name. "
"Then who is her husband?" Jim asked.
Gantry shook his head again. "I had no idea. One day, she just disappeared. And when she appeared a few months ago, she told everybody that she is married, and that she wanted to be called Rebecca Cross, which is her husband's name. She never mention anything about her husband, except that his name is Cross, and that he belonged to a very influential family. Some people don't even believe that he exist."
***********
Ted Cross looked across the room at his wife. Even when she was doing nothing, just sitting on a barstool in his rented house, she looked absolutely stunning. Oh hell, she looked pretty even when she was mad. And she is my wife. He reminded himself with a smile.
He knew that they were facing a crisis of some sort at the moment, because of the FBI stuff, and the 'unfortunate events (according to him)' that had taken place the night before. But he knew that Becca would solve it. He knew it. That was one of the reasons why he married her. She was just like his parents, strong, resourceful, determined, ambitious. His parents' idea of a perfect daughter-in-law. That was not the only reason of course. Becca could be most adorable when she was in her mood to please him.
The phone rang. Since Rebecca was nearer, she picked it up. Just a few nods, and a couple of yeses, and she hung up, turned to her husband, and smiled.
"Eveything is ready for tonight. Dad had made arrangements for us to fly to New Mexico. You ready to ask your dream girl for a night that she will never forget?"
Regards,
Lee Sau Woon aka SA Vanessa Lee