In Plain Sight

“That would explain why the victims haven’t reported anything.”

“Let’s contact the families and find out how many of them he stole from. We’ve got him on one count of fraud. If we can add another ten to it, so much the better.”

“This gives a whole new meaning to the term ambulance chaser.”

“No kidding,” Jan said, studying the list again. “So we know how he got the names, but that still doesn’t tell us how he accessed their personal information. There’s got to be some connection between these people, other than having appeared in obituaries across the state of Arizona. Once we know who he hit, let’s get warrants to look at some of the victims’ computers—assuming these are other victims. We know Hall spent a lot of time on his computer. Maybe we’re dealing with a virus—something Hall or one of his brotherhood wrote that would allow them to attack other people’s computers with only an e-mail address and then access their hard drives.”

“That would be the most plausible way. Or maybe we’re back to a common business transaction, and Hall had an informant inside a statewide company with access to billing and other personal information.”

Jan nodded. “With his Ivory Nation involvement, the idea of an inside source somewhere isn’t that farfetched.” She stared out the small window to the left of her desk, at the weeping willow across the street. Many times she’d found answers in those long and slender branches.

They were onto something big; she was sure of it. But it would all be for naught, if she couldn’t use those computer records. Unless…

“Let’s make this a priority,” she told her assistant. “See if we can get at least one affirmative and work backward from that victim’s computer to Hall’s before Monday morning.”

If Ruple didn’t show, if Judge Warren granted Michaels’s motion to suppress, the defense attorney would then present a motion to dismiss the case based on lack of evidence. But with this new information, Jan would be able to oppose that motion and win. She’d get her time in court.

And that was when the real fight started.

“There’s one more thing,” Andrew said.

“What?”

“Every single one of the account owners is female.”

Official FBI definition of terrorism: The unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives.