Blood Daughters: A Romilia Chacon Novel

Chapter 41

181 Chapter 41 We found Shrieber and Robert hard at work, still in front of the laptop, with cola cans and empty Ding Dong and Pocket Lunch wrappers over the table. “We’ve made contact,” said Shrieber. As if Courtney came from Mars. Along with all the trash on the table, there were printouts of long paragraphs. I picked up one, scanned it, picked up another. They felt heavy. Not the sheet, but the contents. All those words. Websites dedicated to eradicating pornography, child porn, the objectification of women. Agreed. But find me that shit Courtney. So I can find Karen. “It’s a chat room that he set up on endthedesertkillings.com,” said Shrieber. “That was a website Robert had created before they got to work on the virus. Just a place where people could get information on the Desert Women cases.” “Which wasn’t enough,” said Robert. He didn’t look away from the screen as he spoke. “Not enough hits. No one was interested. That’s why we went for the in-your-face tactic.” He didn’t smile at that, but I could tell he was still very proud of his virus. “And we focused. The Desert Women, it’s too big. No doubt the drug world is involved. But trafficking of children for sex slavery in the States, that’s the issue that we got involved with.” I didn’t want to hear about his guerrilla heroics. “So. You’re writing to her now?” “Yep.” “You sure it’s Courtney?” “Oh yeah,” and he laughed. “It’s Courtney all right. She’s glad I’m okay, but she’s afraid that I’ll get caught using the internet.” He laughed again, as 182 ~ Blood Daughters ifthatthought,ofhimgettingcaughtontheworldwideweb,wereludicrous. Then he looked at me and saw that I wasn’t laughing. His computer chirped. I looked over his shoulder. Courtney had just written, What did they do to you? “She means you all. The FBI.” “What have you told her so far?” “Notmuch.JustthatI’mhomenow,lookingforher.We’vebeenspending time in these blogs, talking about the desert women.” “Did you tell her you were with us?” “She knows you picked me up. She saw you grab me and take me away, right before she took off.” “Okay okay listen: tell her that you lied to us. You said to us that Karen had asked you to meet her at the theater, just to be with her, and that you showed up because you had a crush on her, and that’s all you knew.” “But that’s not all I knew.” “No. That’s what you told us. And so we let you go.” “Oh. Okay yeah, I get it.” “But add that you think the Bureau is keeping an eye on your house. Or at least, you suspect that, since we let you go so easily.” “Yeah, that sounds good.” He typed. Blaze said, “If she thinks Robert’s being surveilled, she won’t come near him.” “Just give me a minute.” Blaze shrugged, as if he believed that I believed I knew what I was doing. “Robert, how old is Courtney?” I asked. “I think, nineteen. Twenty, maybe. Why? “Really? She’s younger than you?” “Yeah.” “But she’s the boss of the outfit.” “Well, yeah.” He added, “She can be, commanding.” “Okay. What’s your relationship with her been like?” “What do you mean?” That gave something away. “Did you like her, or she like you? Did you fight a lot, or have disagreements?” “No. Not at all. I never disagreed with her.” He huffed a chuckle. “I wouldn’t dare.” “Did she know you liked Karen?” Marcos M. Villatoro ~ 183 “I don’t think so.” “Did she like Karen?” “What, you mean was she gay? No. Sometimes, to be honest, well, it sounds kind of gnarly to say . . .” “Say it.” “I think she liked me.” “Really? Why?” “Well, because I did everything she told me to do.” He stared for a moment across the room. “One day I was working on the virus, getting it ready for another launch. She wanted it done by two that morning and I said ‘You got it.’ So I’m working, and she comes behind me and puts her hands on my shoulders and kind of starts to rub them. And she says, ‘You’re one of the good men, Robert, you know that?’ Which...