Nick Patterson might have been the key to the murders, but Zack had a gut feeling that Hailey—Katie—was the key to cracking the case. As he turned to head out of the bedroom, he took a last look at that unfinished puzzle, those unblemished, unpainted puzzle pieces.

Hailey might be the key, but they’d have to move fast. From what Zack could tell, Hailey Gordon might be good at solving puzzles, but she was even better at running from them, leaving pieces in her wake.

*  *  *

Two hundred yards away, across the sparsely filled parking lot, Patricia sat behind the steering wheel of a black Escalade. Even from that distance, she could see the FBI agent making his way through Hailey Gordon’s bedroom. Patricia knew she only had a few minutes before the agent worked himself down the three stories to the back entrance of the apartment building, then out into the parking lot where his own government-plated sedan sat waiting. But Patricia was in no rush.

She turned to glance at the small, rectangular device on the empty seat next to her. The device was about the size and shape of a small toaster oven and was connected by a twist of wires to a concave speaker she’d suction cupped to the bottom of the Escalade’s dashboard. At the moment, the sounds emerging from the speaker were mostly the rustling of material, and the rhythmic patter of shoes against carpet. No doubt, the FBI agent had put his cell phone back in his jacket pocket, which would muffle anything he might say. No matter—Patricia had already heard everything she needed to hear.

The IMSI-catcher—or StingRay, as it was more commonly known—was much more impressive than it looked; it could mimic a cell phone tower, forcing mobile phones within a fixed distance to connect to it, capturing audio, text, even video. With the knowledge of Zack Lindwell’s specific phone signature, Patricia had been able to use the device the same way the FBI agent hoped to use Hailey Gordon’s phone—as a remote transmitter. Not only had Patricia been able to listen in to the agent’s conversations with the FBI field office and the state detective, but she’d been able to access the camera on the man’s device, getting a clear view of Hailey’s bedroom.