The Night Killer

Diane.
    “Clever little Andie told me. Come over here,” Frank said.
    They all gathered around the computer that Frank had been staring at since he got there. Frank played the first video again.
    “All that hesitation and uncertainty weren’t just fear; it was our little Andie acting—trying to give us a message.” Frank smiled briefly. “Watch. Every time she looks at the camera operator she is saying a word in the message. I wrote down the words for the first two videos. She didn’t have the same mannerisms in the third video. She kept her eyes on the paper she was reading from. She had delivered her message and it was up to us to find it and come for her. These are the words: contact , Right , Don’t and too , right , Andie , Vitruvian , Is , stupid. ”
    Frank showed them the list. “She gave us everything she could. Use the first three letters in ‘contact,’ and she didn’t have an ‘a’ word after the word ‘right,’ but she lucked out on ‘Vitruvian.’ Clever girl.”
    Diane looked at the words in Frank’s list.
    “Conrad, Travis,” she read. “Travis Conrad.”
    “I’ll be damned,” said Liam. “Clever girl, indeed. I told you she was smart.”
    “Now if she could have managed latitude and longitude,” said Izzy, grinning.
    “Travis,” said Diane. “Damn him. I thought he might turn out to be somebody good.”
    “Earl and Maud said Leland Conrad’s wife committed suicide and his in- laws blamed him and tried to turn Travis against him because of it,” said Frank. “It worked. I’m willing to bet Cora Nell Dickson is Travis’ grandmother, and that she infected him with the story of a gold mine that was stolen from them. She probably called him ‘Dicky’ to remind him of his connection to the Dicksons, his mother’s side of the family, to distance him from his father. Travis likely kept his visits to her a secret from his father when he got older. His father’s idea of punishment is cruelly harsh. Imagine how he punished Travis’ misdeeds. It would have been bad for a kid to be put in jail with a bunch of low-life drunks.”
    “How in the world did you find that code?” said Liam.
    “I see codes,” said Frank.
    “I thought I was good at that,” said Jin. “I didn’t see it. Man, that’s the second time you’ve out-decoded me.”
    “Okay, it’s Travis,” said Diane. “Does he have help? Could someone like Jason or Bob be in with him? What are we going to do differently? Call him and demand to change the terms of the agreement? Will he keep her alive if he thinks that’s all the leverage he has?” Diane felt deflated again. Now that she knew, she still didn’t have a good plan.
    “Good questions,” said Frank.
    “If Travis knows you’re onto him,” said Liam, “he might not believe you can prove it’s him—if Andie is not here to testify. He might think it’s the smart thing to kill her . . . or to have her killed. He’s probably trying to look normal—going about his normal business as acting sheriff. If he has an accomplice, the accomplice will be guarding Andie.” He paused and seemed to be thinking, studying something in his mind.
    “Neva, Mike, and Jin—salt King Cave as planned—and wait in the cave for him,” Liam said. “Go well armed. David and Izzy can go to the sheriff’s office, Travis’ house, his haunts, and see if they can find him. If you do find him, bring him to the meet site he specified. Diane will continue on schedule and I’ll follow her.” He turned to Frank. “Do you do stealth?” he said.
    “I’m a quick study,” said Frank.
    “Are you the one who taught her the uppercut?” asked Liam, nodding toward Diane.
    Frank nodded. “Yes. And I can handle a gun. And I’m motivated. Andie’s a dear friend and Diane’s my heart.”
    Diane studied Frank for a moment. The corners of her lips turned up slightly.
    “Let’s do it then,” she said.

Chapter 57
    Diane was back in the woods again. It wasn’t raining this time. And she wasn’t alone. She was being watched over. Though she couldn’t see the watchers, she knew they were there. It would be dusk soon, but there was still light filtering through the trees in crepuscular rays. It was quite beautiful.
    The woods had already dried out from the drenching rain that fell the first time she was in the woods. It wasn’t damp; nor were the leaves crisp under her feet. She walked in relative silence.
    It wasn’t far to where she was going. It was near the