Page 42 of Girl, Empty (Ella Dark #27)

There was a killer in handcuffs and two mysteries solved in one day. All Ella had to sacrifice for this was a potentially-broken nose, and in the grand scheme of things, that felt like a fair trade.

Now she was sitting against a garage that was on top of a roof, and under other circumstances, that would have been the most surreal thing about this environment.

Yet, there was a savant-hacker-turned-serial-killer in the back of a cruiser down the ground, three bodies that had been found in the most impossible locations, and to top it all off, a bloody pencil rolling around at her feet.

Ripley detached herself from a crowd of uniforms and made a beeline for her. She took a seat on the cold floor. ‘Who builds a garage on a roof?’

‘The Japanese,’ Ella said.

‘Is that so?’

‘Yeah. They have vertical graveyards, don’t you know.’

Ripley nodded toward the edge of the roof. ‘I heard you nearly had something similar.’

‘Yeah. I gotta give it to Kevin. He fought Calvin off real good. What kept you so long?’

‘Sorry I missed the fun. We were checking the rest of the building just in case anyone else was in here. How’d you know he was gonna be on the roof?’

‘Look up at the stars.’

Ripley did. ‘What about them?’

‘Never mind. Is Calvin talking?’

‘Not yet, but he will. He was hiding in this here garage before he ambushed Kevin, and there was a bunch of his stuff in there. Laptop, a couple of cells, lead pipe with Kevin’s blood on it. We’ve got enough evidence to put him behind bars for life. I’m just wondering how the hell he got up here.’

‘He walked up, Mia. He opened the doors and walked up. If it’s electronic, that kid can open it. The prisons need to be really careful with him. Don’t put him in one of those fancy glass holding cells either. He needs iron bars, steel chains, padlocks.’

‘The good stuff.’

‘Yeah. I want to ask him just how he did all of this craziness. If he can break into any building he wants, how many other people can too? Can he control everything on a network? How long does it take? I’ve got questions and lots of ‘em.’

‘You sure have, but I think the answer is simple.’

Ella looked at her. ‘It’s definitely not simple.’

‘Sure it is. He’s a nerd. He hacks them. Even if he explained how he did it, you still wouldn’t understand.’

Ella conceded her point. ‘Probably.’

‘Why is there a pencil with blood on it here?’

‘Ask Kevin about that. Calvin wanted him to sign a confession saying he killed his dad, but Kevin refused. He stole the pencil then stabbed Calvin with it. That’s what took the fight out of him. After that, I just punched him.’

‘Classic. He got stabbed with a pencil?’

‘Seriously.’

‘Wish I’d have seen that.’

Ella laughed, then plucked the pencil between two fingers. ‘I shouldn’t touch this, really. It’s evidence.’

‘Evidence of an asshole being stabbed.’

‘Funny thing, isn’t it? All this technology, all these digital locks and surveillance systems and network security protocols. Look what stopped him.'

‘A pencil,’ Ripley said. ‘Except it wasn’t a pencil, was it?’

‘How do you mean?’

'It was people that stopped Calvin Roth.

Terrence, Mark, and Amanda provided the CCTV footage.

Susan told you he'd be here. Me and Riggs killed the power to this place.

You and the team broke down the doors. Kevin stabbed him.

Technology was our tool, but at the end, it wouldn't have happened without people.

Roth thought code could solve his problems, but code wouldn't drive 80 miles to a house that may or may not have a demented woman inside. '

Ella considered this. 'So you're saying we won because we're analog?'

'I'm saying we won because we're human. Technology doesn't exist in a vacuum. Calvin forgot that. It's just an extension of human will, creativity, connection. He tried to use machines to solve a human problem, and look what happened.'

Ella stared at Ripley and wondered if she hadn’t been replaced with someone else when she wasn’t looking. In their years together, Ella didn’t think she’d heard anything so profound. ‘What? Where did that come from?’

‘I had a lot of spare time when I retired. I did some reading.’

Up ahead, Riggs appeared with a small, metal contraption in a plastic bag. He came over to the agents.

‘Hey, look at this.’

‘Looks like a metal abacus,’ Ella said.

‘This is way more than that. This right here is a micro-EMP.’

Ripley said, ‘My ex-husband had one of them. Riggs, stop with the acronyms. I’ve heard enough acronyms to last a lifetime.’

‘It means electromagnetic pulse.’ Riggs pointed to a little lever on the side of the device. ‘Roth had this in his jacket. When he pulls the lever, it sends an electromagnetic pulse to the whole area, which affects pretty much anything metal. It’s like a huge magnet.’

‘So my pistol jammed.’

‘Yeah. The magnet made the striker stick to the sear trigger. Pretty wild, huh?’

‘Something like that,’ Ripley said. ‘Riggs, we need to get out of here. Is there anything else you need?’

‘Nope. Just take my thanks and be gone. I couldn’t have done this without you.’

‘Same for you. Thanks for being our computer expert.’

‘Don’t mention it.’

The agents said their goodbye to Riggs, then Ella watched him disappear back amongst the crowd. She turned to her partner, ‘Ready to get out of here?’

‘Hell yes. This concrete is freezing my ass off. What time’s our flight?’

‘Your flight’s at 8. Mine’s at 9.’

Ripley snorted. ‘You so important you’ve got your own plane now?’

‘I wish. I mean I’m not going home. I’ve got to stop off somewhere first.’