Or how about Nick Harding and Dustin Adams?

The constant blinking of his eyes and the inability to keep his hands still told Rachel all she needed to know. Not only was he familiar with the names, but they were making him very uneasy.

I want to speak with my lawyer.

Okay, Rachel said. Have it your way.

She and Jack made their exit, leaving Alberto alone in the interrogation room. Still not familiar with the building, neither of them were sure where to find Branson. As they walked to the bullpen area, an older potbellied officer pointed them to where Branson was seated. He was on the phone when they approached his desk and when he saw them coming, he gave them a smile and held up the just a second finger.

That should do it then, Branson said into the phone. Thanks for how quick this was. He ended the call, looked to the agents, and said, The unit that went to Spearss apartment just hit the payload.

Thats good, Rachel said, because hes still asking for his lawyer.

Yeah, hes going to need one after this. It seems Alberto Spears works for an up-and-coming cell service provider called PacCall. Neither of the officers that went over there can tell exactly what they were looking at, but theyre heavily suspecting that hes been tracking or tracing calls. We could get someone on tech to really dive into it, but youre looking at about another twelve hours or so for any real results. But the real kicker is that they also found a business card for Better Days Suicide Prevention Hotline on his work desk.

Yeah, I think that nails him, Rachel said. It should be more than enough to make him crack, anyway.

Hows that? Branson asked.

You said the name of the place was PacCall?

Yeah. Id never even heard of it.

We can call management to see what Alberto does there, Jack said. If it happens to be something more than salesmanparticularly something with programming the phonesthat makes things even more suspicious.

Rachel was already pulling out her phone to Google the business name PacCall. She found it easy enough but had to scroll for a bit to find a contact number for business management. Before she called, she looked to Branson and said: Let him call his lawyer. If my hunch is right on this, hell talk to us before a lawyer even gets here. For right now, though, let him think were being as hospitable as we can be.

Pulling up the number for the PacCall business offices out of Albany, Rachel hurried around the bullpen and to the conference room she and Jack had been using as a makeshift office. It took some of the usual hunting and transferring, but she was finally connected to someone in charge of hiring.

And you said the mans name was what again? a woman with a rich northern accent asked.

Alberto Spears. He lives in Brooklyn.