Chapter Twenty-Seven: Recycling

Grace's right hand was a few degrees below freezing.

Her fingers were stiff and arthritic-looking, bent and bloodless from gripping the mouse for too many hours.

She ignored the discomfort and clicked open the next file.

Another spreadsheet.

Her eyes wandered the data. It didn't seem to be anything incriminating, or even the least bit special. Just some standard sales statistics, compiled for easy analysis. Grace could see which products had sold best in which months, which ad campaigns had been effective and which ones hadn't.

What she couldn't see was how any of it related to Paul Jorsten's death.

After another minute of examination, Grace closed the spreadsheet and moved on to a new folder.

"Lawsuits."

Now, this one looked more interesting. Of course, Grace had already read all about any recently-resolved and still-pending lawsuits against the company earlier that day. But there might be some details on the CEO's computer that weren't public knowledge. Maybe. She hoped…

Sadly, it didn't take long for that hope to get dashed. There was nothing new, here. Nothing different, nothing interesting, nothing helpful.

Grace sighed and rubbed at her stomach. It felt all full of barbed wire – cold, cut up, bleeding.

She knew Lisbon had been telling the truth about not having all the details. But the young agent also knew her boss was holding something back. Something bad.

Something bad about Jane…

Like maybe he was hurt, or kidnapped, or—

Grace shook her head. No. This wasn't helping. The research, the case – that was her way of helping him.

She took a deep breath and dove back in, this time taking a new tack.

Assuming Buck Hoskins was at least a mildly intelligent person, he wouldn't be likely to keep anything damaging on his computer. So, what had Paul Jorsten stumbled upon? And how?

He was doing a file recovery, Grace thought, working her bottom lip between her teeth. All files had been lost…

Paul would have tried to recover every bit of data he possibly could. But what if he'd recovered something that was meant to stay gone? Something the CEO had intentionally deleted?

Grace eyed the Recycle Bin on the computer's desktop. Purgatory for deleted files, before they were gone for good. It was wise practice to empty the bin on a regular basis, but some people didn't realize this.

Some people didn't realize they needed to empty it at all.

She clicked the icon, and a good three-hundred-and-some files, pictures and folders flooded into view.

Obviously, Hoskins was one of those people.

If Grace was very lucky, the ghost of whatever document he had already tried twice to eliminate would still be lurking in this graveyard…

She scrolled down through the list, taking in the bin's contents. Almost everything was labeled in alpha-numeric codes that made little-to-no sense to Grace:

"SA0807"
"CB0208"
"PI1121"

Some of those numbers might refer to dates or products, but she couldn't be sure yet.

She'd have to go through everything, piece by piece, file by file…

Grace was about to open the very first document when her phone began to ring.

She scrambled to answer it, half-numb fingers fumbling with the buttons. "Van Pelt."

"Hey, it's me…"

It was the boss. Grace sat forward in her seat. "Is Jane all right?" she tried to ask, but her last two words were drowned out by a loud, strange noise on the other end of the line.

Grace blinked in confusion. "Um, boss?"

"Yeah?"

"Was that a coyote?"

"I think so…"

Grace frowned into the phone. "Where exactly are you?"

"That…is a really long story."

And without further ado, Lisbon began to tell it. She fully regaled the younger agent with the details of everything that had transpired over the last three hours, from the initial police arrival at the Jorsten home, to how Lisbon had ended up a quarter of a mile into the desert, heading Northeast.

As soon as Lisbon mentioned the names Aaron and Mason Brody, excitement made Grace sit up straighter. "Boss, there are emails from him on Hoskins' computer – tons. Not the son, but the father, Mason…" Her fingers tap-danced over the keyboard, bringing up the CEO's email account.

"Yeah?" Lisbon sounded interested. "Anything incriminating?"

Grace's shoulders slumped. "Well…no. Not really. Just family stuff – barbeques, golf outings. It sounds like they've been buddies since way back in high school…"

"At least it's a connection, which we didn't have before. Good work."

The young agent brightened at the praise. "Thanks…Hey, boss?"

"Yeah?"

"Are you sure this wasn't some kind of kidnapping? I mean, if Jane's missing, and the daughter might be missing, too? The second perp might've had a separate vehicle…"

Lisbon sighed. "We haven't ruled it out. I've got an Officer Michaels working that angle right now, but we think it's a long shot. If the goal was kidnapping, then the target would have to be Penny Jorsten. No one knew Jane was going to be at the house. And it doesn't explain the murders. There are easier ways to kidnap a child than killing her mother and step-father…"

Grace deflated a little. "Yeah, you're right…"

"I still think the search is our best bet. I've already called Rigsby and Cho, they're on their way out here. The FBI is sending a team over, too, and we're supposed to have helicopters within the hour. In the meantime, Sheriff Hamilton's coordinating with some of the surrounding counties, trying to get us more man power and a K-9 unit…"

"Do you want me to come?" Grace asked a little wistfully, already knowing the answer.

"No. Just keep doing what you're doing. The sooner we know what this is really about, the better our chances of finding Jane alive."

"Right," Grace murmured, half-distracted by a sudden movement on the edge of her vision. Buck Hoskins had just arrived in the office doorway. He stood there, watching her.

Grace remembered the icky way he had smiled at her and Lisbon, before they started treating him like a suspect. She looked at the computer's Recycle Bin, overflowing with hundreds of obscure documents, and then back at the CEO. An idea began to blossom…

"Van Pelt? You still there?"

"Yeah, but I gotta go," Grace said quickly.

"Me, too – the signal's getting patchy out here…"

"Call when you find him, okay?"

"I will," Lisbon promised.

"Oh, and boss?"

"Yeah?"

"Be careful."

"I will," Lisbon said again, more softly this time.

Grace could hear another coyote start to wail in the distance right before the boss hung up.

Grace pocketed her own phone and looked over at Hoskins. Then, squashing down a very significant amount of personal disgust, the young agent made her lips melt into the biggest, flirtiest smile ever.