Her face must have shown the direction of her thoughts because Nora immediately spoke up. “I’ve got Henry following up on a domestic terrorism suspect that Vance Weldon argued with and the other guys are digging through records, searching for another common connection between these men. I’m also expecting forensic results on footprints at the Schefte and Samuelson scenes.”

“All of the prints from both scenes indicated a male,” added Ava.

Nora held up a foot. “See this boat at the end of my leg? Not all women have tiny cat feet like yours. Any woman with half a brain will try to mislead us if she knows she might leave footprints behind, right? My point is we aren’t just focused on this mentoring organization. I’ve got a lot of irons in the fire. We’re going to get lucky very soon. I can feel it. Now go get that computer equipment.”

Ava went.

32

The FBI computer specialist who rode with Ava to Cops 4 Kidz talked nonstop. She’d grabbed one of the techs from the FBI Northwest Regional Computer Forensics Lab near Portland’s convention center. Keith looked as if he should be riding a Harley or directing a construction crew instead of playing with computers. She wondered if he didn’t have anyone to talk to at work. His floor in the lab had been silent except for the nonstop hum of fans and computer equipment in the huge workstations. She’d spotted a bookshelf full of ancient computer hardware she’d seen only in movies from the seventies and eighties, and wished Zander could see it.

She listened to Keith’s banter. Small talk was never high on her priority list and today it was even lower than usual. Luckily he carried 90 percent of the conversation on his own, and the Cops 4 Kidz office building was only a fifteen-minute drive in the early-afternoon traffic.

With a firm shove, she pushed open the door to the familiar waiting room. The receptionist looked up with a stunned look. “Hello again, Agent McLane.” Her forehead wrinkled in confusion and her black cat ears shifted on her head. She’d drawn a cat nose and whiskers on her face to go with her black furry sweater and rhinestone collar. Ava wondered if she had a tail.

A few minutes ago, Ava had called her to see if Scott had contacted his office yet. The receptionist had grown snippy on the phone, and repeated that when she’d heard from her boss she’d let Ava know. Ava hadn’t warned her to expect a momentary visit. She didn’t want the woman hiding any equipment they might need to remove.

“Why didn’t you tell me you were stopping by?” the woman asked.

Ava handed her the warrant. “We have a warrant to remove computer hardware. We’re very concerned that your boss is not returning calls—I’m worried for his safety in light of the recent murders,” she exaggerated. She didn’t need to expand, as her mention of the murders immediately caught the woman’s attention. Her whiskers stretched as her mouth opened in shock, and she automatically accepted the paper.

“Surely you don’t think something has happened to Scott?”

“I don’t know what to think about his silence. I do know we need the information in your databases and you’ve told me you can’t get to it.” She paused and lifted a brow. “Is that still the case?”

The woman had turned her gaze to the warrant, but it jumped back to Ava. “Oh, yes. I can’t get into the files you’ve asked me for.” She looked back at the paper. “I don’t know who I need to call about this. Without Scott here, I guess I should contact one of the board members to see if I can do this.”

Ava smiled sweetly. “There’s no point in asking anyone for permission. That paper allows me to get exactly what’s listed on there. It’s not a request.”

“But I can’t let you take our equipment,” the woman said earnestly. “I need it to get my work done.”

Ava turned to Keith, who’d been listening quietly and standing at her side like a bodyguard. She pointed over the reception counter to a hallway in the rear of the office. “It’s the first door on the right.”

Keith nodded and opened the door between the waiting room and the office business area. The receptionist stood up but stayed quiet as Ava silenced her with a pointed look.

Her tail was black.

“I need you to stay off your computer until we’re done,” Ava told her as she followed Keith to Scott Heuser’s office and stood at the door. She kept one eye on the receptionist as Keith took a seat at the desk.

“Do you want me to take a quick look first?” Keith asked. “Or you can wait until I get it back to the office and hook it up to my equipment.” His fingers flew over the keys.

“If you can get in, let’s look now. We can remove it afterward.”

She glanced back at the receptionist, who’d sat down in her chair and was tapping rapidly on her cell phone. Ava strode back to the woman’s desk and looked over her shoulder. The name at the top of the messaging screen was MOM.

“I’d like you to refrain from using your cell phone while we’re here, too,” Ava said.

The receptionist laid her phone on her desk, facedown. “Anything else I can’t do?” she muttered. Her mouth turned down. Grumpy cat.

“Maybe you should go get a soda from the machine down the hall.” Or milk.

She stood and reached for her phone.

“Your phone will be safe left on the desk,” Ava stated. The woman marched out of the office without looking back. Her chin was up, but her tail swayed awkwardly behind her, destroying any sense of dignity. Highly amused, Ava checked on Keith.