Sunday, 12:01 a.m.

As much as I hated to do it, I had to bring Levaughn to see Odin. A formal statement he needed to give on the record. The last time the three of us were in a room together, the fed accused me of murder. Needless to say, I had no desire to travel down this particular road a second time. With my luck, he’d insinuate I killed all these people now that Levaughn conveniently survived. Hence, why it took hours for him to convince me to go to the station once the hospital released him. Besides, it’s not like the gazillion officers at the scene didn’t question us to death. Surely they informed the fed.

Hand-in-hand, we entered Odin’s temporary digs at the local police department. Numerous officers tossed me the stink-eye—the same dudes who chased us through downtown Pittsburgh.

The fed raised his head from a file folder. “Detective Samuels, aren’t you a bit far out of your jurisdiction?”

I spoke up. “He’s here to make a formal statement. Didn’t they tell you what happened earlier?”

As usual, he acted as if I wasn’t in the room.

Levaughn shook Odin’s hand. “Nice to see you. They couldn’t’ve picked a better man for the job.”

He tried to hide his surprise, but his widened baby blues gave him away. “I appreciate that. Are you injured, or are you all right to proceed?”

“I’m okay, thanks. The hospital checked me out.”

“Glad to hear it. Have a seat.” He leaned forward. “I guess the first thing that confuses me is why you’re here in Pittsburgh. As I’m sure you’re aware, Ms. Daniels is on assignment, not vacation.”

Good question. Why did he drive all this way? With all the commotion I never bothered to ask.

“Well, uh…” He shifted in his seat, crossing and uncrossing his legs. “Let me back up. A few days ago I caught a fatal car crash case. Dr. Chavez ruled the manner of death accidental, but then I spoke with Shawnee and—”

Aw, shit. Here it comes.

Sure enough, the fed glowered at me. “What part of confidential do you not understand, Ms. Daniels?”

“I didn’t say a word, I swear.”

“I knew you couldn’t be trusted.” He sneered. “Why I ever let Tex talk me into—”

“Hey!” I slapped his desk. “Are you deaf? I just told you I didn’t reveal any information about the case.”

Levaughn slipped his hand onto my knee, and squeezed. In other words, relax and let him handle it. “Excuse me, but you didn’t let me finish. As usual, you jumped to the wrong conclusion without all the facts.”

“I’m so sick of arguing about this. Date who you want. I could care less.”

“I will, thank you. Now, may I continue?”

He gestured for Levaughn to go ahead—all the while never looking in my direction. Jerkoff.

“When I spoke with Shawnee the other day, she refused to reveal her assignment. In fact, I thought she was here for a computer seminar. But then, she didn’t return my calls. So, I got worried. That’s the only reason I drove to Pennsylvania.”

For an eternity of minutes Odin’s gaze shifted between the two of us, sizing us up with that unmistakable cop stare. Right on cue, my knee bounced up, down, up, down, up, down, like a pre-teen on a pogo stick.

Finally, Odin leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. “All right, Samuels. Under the circumstances I suppose I can understand why you might be concerned.” He flipped to a fresh page in his notebook, dabbed the end of his pen to his tongue. “When did you first notice a problem with your vehicle?”

“When the voice told me I was gonna die.”

“He spoke to you? How?”

Huh. Maybe the department hadn’t filled him in. Looked like he was just as popular with Pittsburgh PD as he was in Revere. Part of me almost felt bad for the guy. “Almost” being the keyword there.

“The voice came through the speakers like it does with hands-free calling.”

“Tell me exactly what he said.”

“Verbatim? A lot’s happened since the initial contact. Word for word might be tough. Let’s see.” Eyes hooded, part of him journeyed right back to that car. Reliving the ordeal, sweat beaded on his forehead while his eyelids twitched—his tortured mind trying to make sense of the unthinkable, the unimaginable, the misery inflicted upon the sweetest man on earth.

The torment on his face gutted my insides. It took everything in my power not to stop the interrogation, shield him from having to relive each harrowing moment. To my credit, I also refrained from punching Odin in the face for dragging him through this hell.

“You will die tonight,” he said, and I cringed. “It’s your call on how long you suffer. Get right with your God, Detective.”

Odin jolted back in his chair. “Detective?”

“It surprised me too. In hindsight, he could’ve guessed by the mere fact of the car being a Crown Victorian. I’m sure some of the features also confirmed it’s an unmarked vehicle.”

“Does that sound plausible to you, Ms. Daniels?”

“Absolutely. Cop cars have several features not available elsewhere.”

“All right. I buy that.” Odin turned his attention to Levaughn. “Would you recognize this voice if you heard it again?”

“Doubt he’d be that stupid. As it is, he used a voice modulation device.

It’s possible he changed the pitch and inflection from one encounter to another.” Levaughn went on to explain what occurred during his horrific ordeal.

Details of which he neglected to tell me. I had no idea how close I came to losing him. By the time Nadine and I caught up with him, he had fairly good control of the wheel. Even at the hospital he never mentioned how many times he almost crashed on the highway, or how his car flew into a tailspin when he got off the exit ramp.

Why didn’t he tell me sooner? What other parts of the story had he left out?

“Ms. Daniels?”

“Huh?” The fed rattled me from the whipping tornado of unresolved questions. “Sorry. What?”

“I said, how were you able to block the hacker?” He lifted the receiver of the desk phone. “Actually, maybe I should get Tex down here.”

“It’s after midnight. No one but cops work these ungodly hours. I’ll be sending Tex a full report in the morning, anyway.”

“Perfect. Can you end-result it for me?”

“Sure. Basically, I used a ‘man in the middle’ attack to allow the correct data to flow to the ECUs, thereby blocking the hacker from rerouting said data.”

“From what I gather, ECUs are Engine Control Units. Correct?”

“Yes. These days, cars are loaded with ‘em.”

“All right. So, now we know how the hacker is controlling the vehicles. Are we any closer to determining how he’s choosing his victims?”

“Not yet. But something tells me Levaughn’s attack might be directed at me. Hackers tend to take it personally when other hackers interfere with their work. I’m guessing this is why Tex didn’t take this job himself. He certainly has the skills.”

“Why he did or didn’t is immaterial, Ms. Daniels. I need you to focus on narrowing in on the UNSUB.”

“I am. Matter of fact, I found his call sign and his cell tower information.”

“Which is…?”

“His call sign? Reaper. In code it’s written as r-3-4-p-3-r. As far as Tex goes, I’m just sayin’—”

He flashed a flat hand, and stopped me mid-sentence. “Thank you.”

Blood roiled in my gut. What a complete asshat. If he wasn’t a fed, I’d take him out back and teach him some manners. And I don’t mean with words.

Commotion in the bullpen drew our attention. A detective escorted an attractive strawberry-blonde to his desk, his arm around her waist as she bawled on his shoulder.

Odin shot to his feet and darted to the door. “Excuse me a moment.”

The woman seemed badly shaken, with a large abrasion on her forehead. Hair disheveled, like she hadn’t slept for days. Her off-the-shoulder T-shirt slipped lower and lower, and she kept tugging the material back up. Probably her bang-around shirt. All women had their favorite comfy clothes that they wore around the house, but never in public. Visually distressed, someone or something forced this woman to flee. Whatever spooked her frightened her enough to forget to change first.

I swiveled toward Levaughn. “Gimme your jacket.” When he handed it to me, I speed-walked into the bullpen and laid the sports coat around the woman’s shoulders. A penetrating stare I shot to any officer who had the audacity to gape at her distress. “Don’t you people have work to do?”

“Thank you, Ms. Daniels,” said Odin. “Detective Clementine and l can take it from here.”

Ignoring him, I squatted to her level. “Would you feel better if I stayed?”

She nodded yes.

Detective Tangerine, Orange, or whatever the hell his name was, spoke to the fed like I wasn’t within whispering distance. “She with you?”

“In a manner of speaking. She’s consulting on the Ford case.”

“In that case, maybe she should stay. Ms. McGarret is the surviving witness I told you about.”

I glared at the fed. “You knew about her and didn’t tell me?”

“First of all, I don’t answer to you, Ms. Daniels.”

“Whatever. I can’t do my job if you withhold information. Don’t think for a second I won’t mention this in my report.” Jerkoff. When I spoke to the woman, I softened the sharp edge to my tone. “What drove you outta your house tonight?”

Lines of tears streaked her ivory complexion. “He…he won’t leave me alone.”

“How so?”

“He keeps calling, sending texts. He even hacked my Facebook account to taunt me through messenger.” Staring into my eyes, she crumpled my Hemp shirt in balled fists. “You gotta help me. Please. He told me he’ll kill me. It’s only a matter of when.”

I peered around her to Odin. “Mind if I talk to her at the hotel? This isn’t the most comforting atmosphere.”

Odin and Fruit boy exchanged an ambiguous glance. Until Odin broke the silence with, “Any objection to letting her run with this, Detective?”

“Nope. I’ve got enough work to do.”

“It’s settled then.” I helped Ms. McGarret stand. With a glance back at Levaughn, I hooked an arm, signaling him to follow. “C’mon, let’s get you outta here. I’m Shawnee by the way.”

“Lolli.”

“Don’t worry, Lolli. We won’t let anything happen to you.”

I prayed that statement held true.