Chapter 29 - Silver's feeling grayer

Silver kept going through his meticulous shorthand, making sure he had everything recorded that was important. Since he was the unofficial Council secretary, everyone expected him to be scribbling away in every meeting, whether it was the current situation or something ordinary. He had returned to his own office at the Cryer, made himself a pot of tea and settled into his chair to think.

Charlotte's kidnapping had been disturbing but at least she was home, safe and sound. Some cash gone, unfortunately, but it was little enough exchange for the girl's return.

What was more disturbing was how it was done, from her first disappearance to the money being collected. Not exactly professional but not exactly amateurish. It seemed like someone with inside information about the girl's family and their ability to pay. Everyone in this little town kept a low profile; they certainly didn't flaunt their financial status in any way to draw attention to themselves. So how did this guy know her folks had that kind of resources?

Silver realized that the young punk was probably not that young and probably not your usual punk. Re-reading his notes from Charlotte's account of the events, he knew that everything she recalled about the kidnapper could be faulty. It could all be a disguise - from his voice to his mannerisms to his style of dress. Hair color, eye color, body weight, everything, even height. That meant some degree of professionalism. Knock-out drops could have been gotten most anywhere; college campuses were rife with date-rape drugs these days.

He flipped over to the next section of his little book. The bank. Now that was another peculiarity, to say the least. Same guy, had to be. But why come back for another crime, in the same town? Why take the bank staff at all when he could have just tied them up and cleaned out the cash drawers? But then he didn't only take the loose cash. Apparently he'd hacked into the bank's computers and tampered with several client accounts. Not many, apparently, and not a great deal of money, but enough to be quite troublesome.

It didn't make sense. An expert would have hacked into many accounts and transferred a great deal more funds than this, never having to set foot on the premises. So, not an expert. But not a dummy; someone with cyberspace know-how. A risk-taker considering the kidnappings, but not a sociopath or Charlotte and the others might not have gotten off so easy. More importantly, someone with more knowledge about Simsville residents than he should have.

Silver leaned back and sipped his tea as he considered the implications in earnest. The unpleasant possibility - no, probability - that they weren't dealing with a stranger, but a local.