Target on the Mountain by Elizabeth Goddard (the chimp paradox .txt) 📕

Because now he was dead and he couldn’t tell them more.

At least, Dee couldn’t tell them more in person. But maybe there was something at his apartment, on his cell, or on his computer to help them. Maybe someone else within his environmental activist group knew something to help them. They would need to track down all those involved to question them.

Oh, wait. Ryan had said he would put someone on that. Translation: Tori should stay out of it.

So while she sat in Sarah’s comfy chair, on her laptop, Ryan paced in her kitchen. She’d damaged his trust in her when she’d gone to see Dee James alone. Now he was here at the house with her and she wasn’t sure he would let her out of his sight again. And she couldn’t blame him. He’d refused to leave her side, despite her insistence that she could protect herself. She wanted him out there, working the case, but instead, he was doing his job in her kitchen, speaking on the phone, trying to get a warrant and tech people to retrieve Sarah’s digital evidence on top of another possible murder to investigate—Dee James’s.

Her heart ached at the thought of his death. The cause of death was a drug overdose, but she and Ryan both believed he’d been forcibly injected—murdered.

She wished she could be officially assigned to work this case. She could almost wish that she worked for Maynor County with Ryan, but even if she did, she would never be assigned her sister’s murder case. At least this way, with no official role in the investigation, she had some freedom to look into things in her own way.

Tori concentrated on her conversation with Dee. There had to be something more that he hadn’t told her, something that would explain who had killed him—and Sarah. It was all interconnected and Tori focused back on trying to figure out Sarah’s alias—she didn’t have time to wait on Ryan and his team to get the proper warrants to look through Sarah’s computer. Even as her sister, Tori could only give consent to search her own belongings. Anything more could be challenged in court by a defense attorney. Ryan was covering all his bases.

Admittedly she had already been on Sarah’s computer, but now Ryan had a reason to search for digital evidence in his investigation.

Still, Sarah wouldn’t have bothered with an alias only to use that on her personal computer. It was like Dee had said—if she was going to email someone with the alias, using her own computer, then there wasn’t much use for it.

Who was the person she didn’t want to be able to track her down? Whom had she emailed using the alias? And how had they found her?

Ryan approached from behind. “What are you doing?”

“I’m trying to figure out her alias.”

“I’m waiting to hear on the warrant for the digital evidence. That includes her alias.”

She shoved up from the chair. “You’re not going to find anything about the alias on her computer. And we don’t have time to wait on warrants. Think about it, Ryan. Someone got to Dee James already. They might already know Sarah’s alias address and they could be in the process of erasing the emails. I’m not hurting anything by looking.”

He sighed.

“Besides,” she said. “Someone keeps trying to kill me. They must think I know more than I actually do. So they want to kill me to keep me from figuring the whole picture out. They don’t seem to understand that attacking me only drives me to try harder.”

“All the more reason you need to be somewhere else.” He held up his cell. “I’ve been on the phone to make all the arrangements. I’m moving you to a safe house.”

It wasn’t a request or even an argument. He’d already made his decision and the arrangements without involving her. He crossed his arms as if he expected a confrontation.

Tori rose to face him, crossing her arms, as well. “I might be a lot of things, but I’m not stupid.”

“Meaning?”

“Though staying in Sarah’s home has been good for me, and I think it could still help us, I know I should move somewhere they can’t find me. That said, I do need to stay here until I can figure out her alias.”

Ryan huffed out an incredulous chuckle. “First, you can look for her alias anywhere you can get internet on your computer. Second, what makes you think you’re going to find it?”

Ryan still didn’t get it? “Because I know my sister. She would choose a certain kind of email handle—something with personal significance. That’s why, no, I can’t just figure it out from anywhere. I have to be here. Just being here in her home, surrounded by her things, her photographs and knickknacks—everything that has Sarah all over it—can trigger that for me.”

“But then you’ll still have to figure out her password, and how long will that take?”

“Nah. Sarah always used the same one.”

Ryan flinched as his eyes widened. “You’re kidding.”

“Nope. She said she only had so much mental bandwidth, so why try to remember a kazillion passwords.” Tori completely understood that thinking, even though she knew it was practically begging a hacker to dive into all of your accounts. “Okay, so you go do your thing. Call someone or something. I need to look through her house and see if I can figure out her email.”

The incredulous but amused look Ryan gave her was kind of cute.

Tori started in the kitchen, looking at the placards of nature and verses from the Scriptures. She skimmed through a couple of cookbooks Mom had given Sarah for Christmas.

Lord, please give me some direction.

Hours later, technicians arrived to retrieve Sarah’s computer. Apparently Ryan had gotten the warrant to search for digital evidence. Tori had pulled everything from her sister’s closet in search of ideas and now she felt ridiculous. Why had she thought this would work?

Ryan approached. “It’s time to move, Tori.”

“I haven’t figured it out yet. I can’t leave.” He