Dividing Zero Read online

  He slid the folder across to Meghan, spoke in a phone, and his exec turned up with more copies for Beth and the cops.

  ‘Check out the third sheet inside the folder,’ he directed.

  Meghan opened the folder, as did the others and brought out a letter and read it.

  She read it a second time, aware that Beth had gasped.

  It was a letter from Mayo and Kane to Amy Kittrell and stated, in dry, precise language, that insurance death benefits had been credited to her bank account. It had a single line of praise for Josh Kittrell and offered condolences to the wife.

  Silence fell in the office as the twins and the cops read and re-read every document in the folder.

  Meghan looked out of the window when she had finished. Bright sunshine bathed the city and yellow cabs weaved in and out, far below.

  A ferry was making its slow way to Ellis Island which once had been the first stop for millions of immigrants; who then had made a life for themselves in the city.

  ‘This gets better and better, doesn’t it?’ The lawyer’s amused tone got her attention.

  ‘Your missing father looks like the dead man. But he isn’t, is he?’

  Meghan waited till the four of them were back on the street, after spending another hour with the lawyer in which nothing useful had been revealed.

  ‘Just who was that guy living with her for five years? He looked like the dead Kittrell. Has she been stringing us all along?’

  Beth angrily kicked a paper cup on the sidewalk and then picked it up and dropped it in the nearest trash can. Her face was stormy, her eyes narrowed to pinpoints of light; however she didn’t reply.

  Chang looked moodily across the busy street to where an SUV was parked, a tall, lean man, lounging against it. Zeb.

  Pizaka removed his shades, polished them, blew on them gently, wiped them again and wore them.

  ‘We have more bad news. Our crime scene unit went to Amy Kittrell’s house last night.’

  A wailing ambulance cut him off and when it siren receded, he resumed. ‘They found nothing of the man. Said they had never come across a site so thoroughly sanitized.’

  ‘So we have no way of identifying him?’ Beth’s face was red, a nerve pulsing rapidly on her temple.

  ‘He could be a family member. A cousin. Or someone who looked like the dead man. We’ll investigate,’ Pizaka replied.

  He straightened and addressed the twins.

  ‘The two of us are the best cops in the city. You both are the finest investigators I have seen. Let’s find out who the abductor is. Let’s find Madison Kittrell.’

  He turned and walked away without a further word, Chang following him.

  Meghan gaped at their departing backs and then looked at Beth.

  ‘Did he just compliment us?’

  Zeb listened silently as Meghan briefed him, his eyes flicking occasionally to the silent twin in the rear.

  He knew how Beth felt.

  Beth had been shot in the head several years back when gunmen had gone on a shooting rampage at her university.

  She had recovered from that near-fatal injury, but it had left a permanent hole in her memory. Life had begun for her only from the time she had woken up in the hospital.

  Her elder sister had nurtured her back, had filled in the gaps for her, and had continually been there for her; however there were still times when she felt lost, didn’t know herself.

  Beth knows that’s how Maddie must be feeling. Without any bearings.

  He drove through the streets, the hundreds of horses under the hood, straining to break free.

  He contained them and navigated them through the controlled chaos that the traffic was. He looked sideways and in the mirror.

  ‘Find out who exactly died in February, all those years back. Find out if the mother dated men who looked like her husband.’

  His mild voice got Meghan’s attention and stopped her mind from wandering. Zeb raised his voice only in combat and only when the situation warranted.

  She turned back to see Beth was listening too.

  ‘Let Pizaka and Chang find that. They can go through the records and more importantly the Baybush PD, quicker than us,’ Meghan replied.

  ‘We’ll piece together Amy Kittrell’s life for the last five years. Maddie’s too.’

  ‘And Josh Kittrell, the lawyer. I want to check him out,’ Beth broke her silence.

  ‘Because he’s smooth?’ Meghan queried.

  ‘Nah. Roger is smooth. Broker is smooth. Heck, Zeb can be smooth when he makes the effort,’ a spark of humor came to life in Beth.

  ‘Not because he’s smooth, but because it was too easy. One day there’s no Josh Kittrell, the next day there are two and one of them is dead.’

  ‘And because he’s a lawyer,’ Meghan smiled.

  ‘That too,’ Beth nodded.

  ‘You’re missing something,’ Zeb said.

  Meghan frowned at Zeb’s words. ‘What?’

  ‘Get the dogs.’

  Chapter 11

  Seventy-two hours after Madison Kittrell was grabbed, a pair of sniffer dogs clambered out of a van and trotted toward Beth and Meghan, accompanied by their handlers.

  The NYPD’s K-9 division had searched for a trail in the immediate hours following Maddie’s disappearance. They had found one that had ended at a parking space.

  The dogs, owned by a former NYPD forensic investigator, were well known in the city.

  They were former police K-9s, who were hired out to private investigators and had developed a reputation for picking up trails where the police dogs couldn’t.

  Zeb had used them successfully in several Agency missions.

  Earlier in the day, Meghan had collected Maddie’s clothing from Chang, and had silently endured Pizaka’s sneer when she said they were getting the dogs in. They didn’t have anything of John Doe for the dogs to scent.

  John Doe. That was what they called him since no record or trail of his seemed to exist.

  They hadn’t told the mother about the latest revelation; John Doe and the dead Josh Kittrell needed more investigation.

  ‘It’ll be difficult,’ one of the handlers told the twins. ‘Three days isn’t a long time, however, this is a high traffic density area. Scents get overlaid. They can disappear if a getaway vehicle was involved.’

  He removed his ball cap, scratched his head, and replaced it. ‘The NYPD’s K-9s are good, ma’am. If they didn’t find much…’ his voice trailed away.

  Don’t expect miracles were his unspoken words.

  Meghan nodded in acceptance. They had to try, nevertheless.

  The dogs were exceptionally trained and surged against their leashes when the handlers made them smell the clothing.

  They sniffed the air, wiggled their noses, bent to the sidewalk, walked around, before one of the dogs uttered a short woof and set off in the direction the assailant had run.

  Meghan’s excitement died when the dog stopped and sniffed the pavement a hundred yards away.

  The pavement gave way to a row of parking spaces. The NYPD’s K-9s had lost the trail at the edge of the pavement.

  The investigator’s dogs stopped at the same edge and looked up at their handlers.

  They went back to the hunt when the men urged them, but it was obvious there wasn’t a trail for them to pick up on.

  ‘This is as far as we can get,’ the handler shouted at them after several hours. ‘The assailant probably had a car parked here.’

  That’s the same theory the NYPD have, Meghan thought.

  She went over to handlers, thanked them, and then joined the sidewalk conference Beth was having with Pizaka and Chang, who had arrived a few moments earlier.

  ‘Josh Kittrell did die in Baybush, on the date the lawyer gave us,’ Pizaka held a finger up on his hand. He had a smirk on his face as if to say, your dogs didn’t do any better than ours, did they?

  ‘We got confirmation from Baybush PD. They also confirmed he had no brothers. He was t
he only son. His parents died several years back.’

  ‘We’ll trace the Kittrell family line. See if there are any cousins who look like the dead man,’ Chang added. His tone wasn’t hopeful.

  ‘Do any of the cops remember the accident?’ Beth asked still looking in the direction of the dogs who were now climbing into their ride.

  ‘Nada,’ Chang replied. ‘The Police Chief is new and most of the cops from that year have retired. Or have died. It’s a very small department in a low crime city and is staffed with older cops.’

  A second finger went up on Pizaka’s hand when his partner had stopped speaking. ‘There is a paragraph on the accident in the Baybush Daily Times edition of that day. Chang is trying to get hold of the reporter.’

  A third finger went up. ‘Finally, there’s the coroner’s report confirming the death.’

  He waited for the twins to speak and when they didn’t, he buttoned his jacket.

  ‘Josh Kittrell, Mayo and Kane’s family liaison, husband to Amy Kittrell, is dead. We’re taking a closer look at Amy Kittrell.’

  ‘We have to,’ Chang was almost apologetic. ‘Who was the guy living with her? Her husband is dead. Why would she lie about him?’

  ‘Josh Kittrell is from Burlington, Vermont. He went to University of Vermont, joined the ROTC program and went straight into the Army.’

  Beth read out loud from the law firm partner’s bio while her sister commanded Werner to dig into the law firm.

  They had returned to their office after their meeting with the cops.

  Pizaka and Chang would investigate John Doe and Amy Kittrell. The twins would focus on the lawyer and his employer.

  They would also verify the mother’s back story, even if it duplicated the cops’ investigation.

  ‘Afghanistan is right, he mentioned that. Left the Army twelve years back, went to Syracuse University. Got a law degree. Worked in three law firms, before he got his break in Mayo and Kane.

  ‘Seven years there, two years initially in California, and then came to New York. Married. Two daughters in middle school. Wife’s active in charity. Werner’s found no dirt on him.’

  Meghan raised her head and looked at her when she stopped reading.

  ‘What?’

  ‘He was in the Special Forces, in the 7th Special Forces Group.’

  ‘Isn’t that an airborne group based out of Florida?’ Meghan recalled a discussion they had with Bear and Bwana a long while back.

  ‘Yeah.’

  Meghan twirled a pencil in her fingers and leaned back in her chair. ‘Most of the partners in the firm are ex-military.’

  ‘It seems to be almost a requirement, given that they work with all the major defense contractors.’

  Beth arched an eyebrow. ‘All?’

  ‘All,’ confirmed Meghan and read out the names of corporations that were a who’s who of the defense industry.

  They turned at a sound and saw Zeb enter the office, his face bathed in sweat from the run he’d been on. He disappeared into the shower and emerged, dressed in a blue shirt and jeans.

  He paused at the expression on their faces. ‘You got something?’

  ‘Josh Kittrell was in the Special Forces, the 7th Special Forces Group,’ Beth exclaimed.

  Zeb nodded as if it confirmed something. ‘Doesn’t surprise me. The armed forces lose several people to the private sector. Better pay. Better life.’

  He was turning away when the look on Meghan’s face stopped him.

  ‘Now what?’

  ‘Call someone. Check him out,’ she said impatiently. ‘Do we have to lay it out for you?’

  His lips twitched and he jerked his head to the Bubble, a high-sec room in their office that was impervious to counter-surveillance.

  He punched numbers on a speakerphone, crossed his arms and waited. He knew the protocol. It would ring three times and midway on the fourth ring, it would be answered.

  ‘Who are you calling?’ Meghan broke off from her pacing to ask him.

  ‘The National Security Advisor.’

  Chapter 12

  ‘I heard you were back,’ General Daniel Klouse growled through the speakerphone.

  The National Security Advisor was one of a handful of people who knew of the Agency’s existence. He knew of every mission, and helped in the planning whenever he could.

  Zeb’s last mission had been to South Asia, where a new terrorist training camp had been established in the deep jungles of Indonesia. Zeb had entered the country as an aid worker, a cover that gave him license to travel in the country.

  The camp and its commanders didn’t exist by the time he returned to the U.S.

  General Klouse was a staunch supporter of the Agency and regarded Clare’s work as vital to the country’s security. It helped that Clare and he were close friends and that he was fond of Zeb.

  He was a rare animal in the capital; he was completely apolitical, which was one reason the President had appointed him. He was single, had never married, had no family, lived for serving his country, and seemed to never sleep.

  He had met Zeb’s team several times and liked them; an emotion that wasn’t apparent in his fierce demeanor.

  ‘Yes sir.’ Zeb didn’t elaborate and neither did the General probe for details. The jungles of Indonesia were cleared. Nothing else mattered.

  The National Security Advisor listened without interruption when Zeb outlined his request.

  ‘Why come to me, Zeb? You know enough generals in the Pentagon.’

  ‘Sir, my asking might get back to Mayo and Kane.’

  ‘Very well. Leave it with me. The girls are with you?’

  ‘Yes sir,’ Meghan leaned forward.

  General Klouse’s voice warmed and relaxed. The twins were the daughters he never had. ‘He is improving, Meg, Beth. Well done.’

  Beth laughed and crossed her eyes to Zeb. The general had challenged them to get Zeb to open up, speak more.

  ‘It’s hard work, sir, however he is stringing words together now.’

  Werner was playing Go with a Swiss supercomputer when it got the first alert.

  The Swiss Miss and Werner were going steady and Werner had introduced her to Go, an ancient Chinese strategy board game which was infinitely more complex than chess.

  Werner made its move on the board, looked at the alert, stroked its chin thoughtfully, and allocated some processing power to investigating.

  The Swiss computer sensed Werner’s distraction and raised a questioning eyebrow.

  ‘The twins are being criticized on social media,’ replied Werner.

  The internet was flooded with messages from users who seemed to be using anonymous or fake ids. They slammed the twins for letting Maddie get kidnapped.

  The comments were harsh, rude, and several of them were downright hostile.

  Meghan joined Beth and silently read some of the messages.

  ‘You’re okay?’

  ‘Yeah. This is nothing, we have been through worse. However, Werner is tracking down some of the IP addresses.’

  ‘The good thing is, it’ll help focus attention on Maddie.’

  With that, Beth cast it out of her mind and brought up the reports Werner had collated on Mayo and Kane.

  ‘Two hundred year old firm, founded by Mayo and Kane. Their heirs are still with the firm, as partners,’ she read aloud under her breath, while Meghan read the reports on the various partners.

  Two hours later, they were no closer to finding anything suspicious on the firm.

  Mayo and Kane had a good reputation; a few calls from Zeb to his friends in the Pentagon reinforced that view.

  The firm didn’t always work for defense contractors. It had once filed a class action suit against a contractor, on behalf of a group of its employees. It had won a generous settlement for the staff and had earned more plaudits.

  The partners had impeccable references. Werner hadn’t been able to find anything shady in their past other than the odd parking fine.

 
; Beth’s face grew darker with every report and finally she snapped.

  ‘Maddie is out there, Lord knows where, with some dude while we waste time on this bunch of guys.’ She rounded on her sister angrily.

  ‘Beth –’

  Beth cut her short. ‘Why are we even doing this? Pizaka and Chang can investigate this. We should be outside,’ she pointed a finger at a window, ‘looking for Maddie.’

  ‘Are you done?’ Meghan asked quietly.

  She knew Beth was venting.

  She knew that Beth also knew that short of a stroke of luck, the only way to find Maddie was to find out who Daddy really was, where he was from, get insights into his life. That meant looking at the law firm, even if it led nowhere.

  They would also have to similarly investigate Amy Kittrell.

  Investigation took time. She knew Beth was conscious of the time; the more time elapsed, the further away Maddie could be.

  Beth wasn’t willing to listen, however. She wiped her eyes, grabbed her jacket and stormed out without looking back.

  She took the elevator, and barged out of their building in the direction of the nearest coffee shop.

  In her rage, she didn’t see the three men on the sidewalk and bumped into one of them.

  ‘Sorry,’ she apologized and skirted him.

  She took another step when the man called out.

  ‘Hey, hold up.’

  She turned around and looked at the man.

  He was red faced, his eyes were small and his bald head gleamed with perspiration. His companions stood alongside, one lean and wiry, the other average looking.

  ‘Yeah?’

  Baldy looked her up and down.

  ‘Aren’t you the one who got that girl kidnapped?’

  Chapter 13

  Beth gave him a cold stare and turned her back on him and walked away.

  A beefy hand grabbed her by the shoulder.

  ‘Hey, I’m talking to –’