Page 111 of Nash Falls

NASH SAT IN HIS ROOMand studied the video of his daughter saying that he had molested her. Shock had provided him with a burner phone along with a laptop.

He was looking for telltale signs in her voice, facial tics, anything that could help him understand the situation better. When nothing readily popped out he closed the laptop and slumped back against the wall of the small room. As he looked around the Spartan surroundings, his thoughts ventured back to his beautiful home and how not all that long ago his life had been pretty wonderful. And predictable. Yes there were problems, but everyone had problems. At least he had the financial ability to weather things better than a lot of families who were living paycheck to paycheck. But in the end, the money couldn’t really get you what you wanted.

It can’t get me out of this.

There was a knock on the door, and Shock opened it a moment later. “This is your guy, right?”

“Who?”

Shock perched next to him on Nash’s bunk. He passed Nash his phone, where there was a news article loaded. Nash quickly read through it. “Barton Temple was found dead at his estate, in what looks to be a suicide? He jumped off a balcony and fell four stories to the ground?”

“They quoted his wife. Said Temple was terminal with pancreatic cancer. His son confirmed that and so did the man’s doctor. He had months to live and it wasn’t going to be pretty. Might make sense.”

Nash shook his head. “Maybe for someone who doesn’t knowthe man. Barton Temple lived life to the fullest. He would have partied right up until the casket closed.”

“So you think Steers?”

“She seems to be the likeliest suspect.”

“Maybe she and Barton had a falling-out.”

“If so, that confirms that he was working with her, and that also now leaves Rhett as the primary contact with her.”

“You mentioned a secure messagin’ app the Bureau gave you? Think you can still access it?”

“Yes, but you told me not to download it onto the burner.”

“Let’s take a ride.”

“Where?”

“Cell towers ping burner phone calls, too, which is why I didn’t want you usin’ it at the trainin’ center. Now, just accessin’ emails or text messages makes it a lot harder to track your location if the cops are just lookin’ at that sort of data. Then you’re just talkin’ IP addresses. Cops do that to see who sent or received somethin’, not where they physically are. But someone who knows what they’re doin’ can still use message data to drill down to what city you’re in, etc. So I’m gonna let you access that communications app, but let’s not make it any easier for them.”

Hours later, when they were hundreds of miles from the training center, Shock called to Nash in the back of the van. “Okay, we’re far enough away. Download the app and see if you have any messages.”

Nash did so and then his finger trembled a bit as it hovered over the key. He hit it and a list of messages came up.

He read through the first ones quickly.

“What does the Bureau say?” asked Shock.

“Agent Morris says they think the video might be fake,” Nash said excitedly.

“Why?”

“They had their experts look at it and found it very well done, but there were just enough anomalies that they concluded it might be AI generated. But they can’t prove it,” he added in a less hopeful tone.

“Wait, so maybe it wasn’t actually your daughter at all?”

Nash kept reading and then looked miserable. “They said that they may have taken Maggie to scan her body and record her voice, and then used that to create an AI version of her for the video so they could control exactly what she said and how she said it. But he was clear that they can’t prove it. Which means he and the FBI don’t one hundred percent believe I didn’t do it.”

Shock glanced in the mirror at Nash. “Okay,” he said slowly.

Nash said, “If he’s right, that means they don’t need Maggie anymore.”

“Anythin’ else from the Bureau?” asked Shock, looking away from Nash.

“They have a leak. That’s how they believe Steers might have been made aware of my involvement with the Bureau, and why she would have taken Maggie to discredit me.”