If he wanted something really thorough on Adrian it would have taken a couple of days.
They could have canvassed Adrian’s phone records, his bank transactions, his trips in and out of the country. Talon surely had the means.
They could have gone to the Internet providers and tapped into his email account. Pinpointed where he had lunch the day before. Who his friends were. Whom he spoke to. Gone through his tax returns. All the things they say you couldn’t do, but you can if you know the right buttons to push. Down to what color dress he bought his wife for their anniversary.
As it was, though, in the time allotted, they checked his criminal history, his military service, and credit history. Standard stuff. It still gave you a pretty good picture of the kind of person they were looking into. Who you worked for? Your banking arrangements? Where you went to school? Whether you were married or single? Whether you owned or rented your home. Whether you’d been sued or had ever declared bankruptcy.
Most important, given Hauck’s reason for asking, whether you’d been in trouble with the law.
“That’s what wasn’t making any sense to me,” Brooke said when she called him back that following morning. “Why I didn’t send a driver’s license along.”
Hauck had already been out for a jog, four laps around a park the gal at the front desk directed him to. He went back and did his crunches. He took a shower and ate some oatmeal and fruit for breakfast. Back in the old routine. “What’s that?”
“It’s that it’s all a blank. Colin Jerrod Adrian is a big zip. Zero.”
“He has to have a driver’s license?”
“Nope.”
“What about a bank account or a credit card?”
“Neither.”
“He doesn’t write a check? He hasn’t even filed taxes?”
“Not in the past four years. He hasn’t had as much as a traffic violation. Basically, the only sign that the guy is even breathing I could find is that he registered a car. Other than that, he’s a total cipher.”
“No one’s a cipher like that today, Brooke …”
“Someone is,” Broke said. “The only thing I could find, Ty, and even this I’m not sure of, was in a hit in his military records …”
“And what was that?”
“There was a Colin Jerrod Adrian from Oklahoma City who was an Army Ranger in the 101 Airborne and served in Iraq. Date of birth: May 11, 1984. He rose to staff sergeant and deployed twice to Iraq, in 2003 and 2005. But it doesn’t make sense. It can’t be the same guy.”
“And why not?” Hauck inquired.
“Because Staff Sergeant Colin Jerrod Adrian, DOB five, eleven, eighty-four, was listed as killed in 2006. In Fallujah.”
“Run that by me again?”
“According to U.S. Army records, he’s a casualty of war. Whoever it was that registered that car, Ty, he took this guy’s ID. That’s who doesn’t have a bank account or a tax filing in today’s world.”
“Damn,” Hauck muttered, dropping back on the bed, some major things suddenly coming clear to him.
Principally, that Dani was right.
“You want me to scan this stuff in and email it out to you?” Brooke asked.
“No, I won’t be needing that. Thanks.”
“So where are you going next with this?”
“I’m not sure.”
“Let me know if you need anything else. And try to stay out of trouble.”
“I always stay out of trouble, Brooke.”
“Yeah, right,” she chortled.
They hung up, and he sat there, his head buzzing. Whoever it was who had followed Trey Watkins into the park that day, he had assumed a dead Army Ranger’s personal ID, which meant it was very likely something sinister had taken place, and all of Dani’s fears might well be true.
He thought of the balloon tragedy.
All of them.
He picked his phone back up and hit the app for Google Maps, and charted out a course. Four hours’ drive.
Where was he going next on this? Brooke asked.
He got up and started throwing his things into his bag.
Templeton.
Where the trouble was.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
“I want you to stay here,” he told her in no uncertain terms.
Hauck knocked on Dani’s door, around 11:30 A.M. He remembered her saying last night she had the 8:00 A.M. run, another later that afternoon. But she’d be around in between. She was just coming out of the shower when he came by, a towel wrapped around her as she peeked through the window next to the door, her hair still wet and thick with curls.
“Where’re you going?” she asked with some hesitancy, as if she could read it on his face.
He didn’t answer.
“You’re going to Greeley, aren’t you?” she said, her blue eyes flared.
“Templeton, actually. I’m just letting you know.”
“You can’t go up to Templeton,” Dani protested.
“I thought that’s what you wanted me to do?” Hauck said.
“I mean alone. You can’t go without me.”
“That’s not an option,” he told her. “Look, how about letting me in, please, just for a second …”
Dani opened the door, her shoulders bare, covered up in her towel. Her Lab came up and barked, and gave Hauck a welcoming lick.
“I’m just going to drive up and talk to your friend. Allie. Then I’m turning around and I should be back tonight. Depending on what she says.”
“What do you mean, ‘on what she says’? You know something, don’t you?”
“No.”
“Yes, you do. What did you find out? C’mon, Uncle Ty, you can’t just keep me in the dark. I turned you on to all this. You do know something. I can tell.”
“I didn’t find out anything, Dani. I’m just gonna go up, like we talked about. And try and put this to rest. If I find something I’m going to report it to Chief Dunn. Like we agreed. Sorry, but that’s just the way it is.”
“Uncle Ty, you can’t go up there without me.”
“Yes I can. I promised Wade, not to mention your dad, that I’d keep you out of this.”