It is Wednesday Storytime again, and last week, we were there when the tech felt he could get a court order and intercept calls that were being made from Stennis, the lawyer, to phones which had numbers that had been previously assigned to three dead undertakers. (you still with me?) The reason the numbers needed to be live is Stennis was involved in some kind of deal that the other side wanted him to believe they were real people with identities. (You still with me?). So Stennis has made calls to the numbers, and we will be able to find out what was discussed. The tech said it would take about a week, and the week is up. Oh, look, he is coming back into Pricilla’s office. Let’s not miss a thing he says.”

“Ah, Agent Moore. You are back with the information, I hope.”

“Yes, Agent Thomas, I am. Afternoon detectives.”

“Good afternoon.”

“Okay, so what have you found out?”
“No big surprise on the fact that the three phones had different conversations.”

“Okay, so what were they?”

“Well, I’ll call them to phone one, two, and three.”

“So far, I’m following you.”

“Phone one carries the most conversation. Phones two and three were just verification calls as I had previously believed.”

“So tell me about phone one.”

“really interesting. It appears Mr. Stennis is actually working for Cortez’speople.”

“How do you know that?”

“One of the conversations was about his fee.”

“His fee? Like he was hired by them.”

“Exactly. I must say his fee is pretty high too.”

“Can I butt in here?”

“Certainly, Mr. Dunfee. What is it?”

“I know we think this is a Cortez-run operation. Is there any proof he’s involved in any of these conversations?”

“I think so.”

“Hold on, agent Moore. What do you mean I think so?”

“Well, Agent Thomas on the call, Cortez’s name was not mentioned, but they kept referring to Mr. C. That has to be him.”

“No direct evidence, though.”

“No direct evidence.”

“So that means we still need Lazar.”

“I’m just a tech, ma’am. I wouldn’t know.”

“I was speaking out loud, Agent Moore. I don’t expect you to know.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Anything said about anyone else?”

“Stennis did mention the local DA.”

“In what context?”

“He asked if there would be any legal problems with Spenser Taggett. I looked him up, and he’s the city attorney.”

“He mentioned him by name.”

“Oh, yes, he did.”

“So what are these people up to?”

“It looks like they are going to exchange Lazar’s daughter for Lazar.”

“Any reasons were given?”

“Other than keeping him quiet. None.”

“Okay, so everything we guessed would happen is going to happen. We need to formulate a plan.”

“One more thing.”

“Yes, Agent Moore.”

“Your name came up.”

“And what was said?”

“Not so much what was said but the context in which it was said.”

“Enlighten me.”

“Well, Stennis asked about what is going to be done about the investigation that you are conducting.”

“And?”

“He was told you would be taken care of.”

It is Wednesday Story Day again, and last week, well, all packed up and went to Pricilla Thomas’s office. We heard from a tech running some analysis on Stennis’s phone (Damn, is everyone’s name ending with an s in this story?) The tech promised to come right back, but as we know, techs seem to have attention issues like a bag of gummy worms from the canteen. Oh, wait. I must apologize to all techs here he comes now. Let’s get back to Pricilla’s office.

“It is good to see you return so quickly, Agent Moore.”

“Yes, Agent Thomas. I came as quickly as I had any results. Would you like a gummy worm?”

“No, thank you. What did you find out?”

“As I said, I did several—. “

“We can skip the background, Agent Thomas. Cut to the chase.”

“Yes, ma—, I mean yes, Agent Thomas. Here are three numbers that are associated with names that don’t exist.”

“What do you mean don’t exist?”

“I mean, the names led me to three separate burial plots in the Reno cemetery.”

“This tells us what?”

“The phone numbers in question were taken out with phony names.”

“Okay, let me be the dumb one. Who would need to get a phone number with a phony name? Why not just buy a burner phone.”

“I think I can add some detail to that.”

“Okay, shoot.”

“I believe whoever wanted to use these numbers wanted the person calling to think they were actually dealing with someone with an identity.”

“For what reason?”

“Well, I can think of one.”

“I will take one of those worms, hoping you’ll get to the point.”

“Sure, here you go. Let’s say you and I were doing some kind of deal. Let’s also say the deal wasn’t exactly legal.”

“Okay,”

“Let’s say to gain trust, you give someone a name and tell them to check you out.”

“I get it. So you make some inquiries, and the person appears to be who they say they are. Wait a minute. You were able to track these names back to the cemetery.”

“I was. The average person would be able to do that, too, but it would take a heck of a lot of resources. Most people don’t have access to the kinds of data I have.”

“Okay, so the person checks out and finds his contact is a real person. Why three.”

“I figure the other two are references. All three of these people were highly respected but relatively unknown. They did their jobs and left very little in the way of public information. In fact, when they died, very little was said. It would almost appear that they were still alive.”

“What did they do?”

“They were undertakers.”

“Undertakers?”

“Yeah, they worked for three separate funeral homes.”

“Stennis was talking to undertakers?”

“Well, I’m not certain he thought they were undertakers. I’m just saying they led a very low-key life, and if he only made calls to the other two, he would be satisfied the first was legitimate. I mean, if he did a google search on the names, little comes up.”

“Okay, so we have to assume Stennis was talking with these people, but we don’t know why.”

“Correct. However, I will be able to get a court order to do lawful interception of all the calls on these three phones. We will then have the conversations and can figure out what they are doing.”

“Any problem with the court order?”

“No, I don’t expect any. We have several murders and kidnappings and a person of interest. I think the facts will speak for themselves.”

“Any budget problems because I know the phone company’s charge for the service.”

“Nope. We’re good.”

“Okay, then let’s do it.”

“I’ll keep you informed. Normally in real life, this would take a few weeks to put in place, but I know you are in a hurry, so I’ll get right on it. Might have some information in a week.”

“I appreciate that. A week is just perfect.”