The Canton Connection by Fritz Galt

off.”
    “Check.”
    Jake hated to let go of Stacy, but he could see how it was necessary in order for Epstein to complete a full-scale probe.
    “Don’t take her to any more dinners. Don’t develop a relationship. Don’t even phone her. And I mean it.”
    “Got it.” He held the phone away from his ear. “Now about your end. What have you come up with?”
    Epstein seemed eager to share the news. “We found out that there’s more to Stacy’s relation to Quantum than we knew.”
    Jake sat up and took notice. “Pray tell.”
    “She contracted Quantum to work on the encryption software.”
    Contracted? So she was deeply involved with Quantum. “Does that mean she knew Han Chu?”
    “She’s a low-level programmer and he was a company president, but both their names were on the contract.”
    “So there’s a good chance they met at least once.”
    “One has to assume, but we’re working to establish that fact.”
    Jake remembered how she claimed not to recognize the victim. According to her, Chu was a total stranger approaching her on the bike path. “What does this mean?”
    “Number one,” Epstein said, “it means either Stacy Stefansson never met the man or is lying to us. And number two, she’s far more involved with the security of the A root server than we previously understood.”
    “That’s how I see it.”
    “And what have you learned about the hacking industry?”
    “Actually, not much,” Jake admitted. “I’ve been to DHS, DoD, and the NSA. All of them claim to have a part to play, but nobody has exact jurisdiction over such an attack.”
    “That’s confidence-inspiring. How about the CIA? Maybe they’re already onto this case.”
    “I’ll find that out today,” Jake said. “I plan to drive out to Langley and see what they know.”
    “That’s your end of this. Keep me informed.”
    Epstein had disconnected before Jake could say good-bye.
    So Stacy had signed a contract with Quantum.
    Before getting out of bed, Jake reviewed in his mind her uncomplicated expressions, her innocent eyes. She claimed to know neither the attacker nor the victim. Either she was a fantastic liar, or she had incredible amnesia.
    But he might never know which, because she was Epstein’s target, not his. He’d have to keep his mitts off her. He shouldn’t even check up on her over the phone.
    He eased off the bed. He would go in to work and try to get his mind off Stacy.
    He would set up a meeting with the CIA and see what they could add to the case. But he kept his expectations low. With the bureaucracy he’d encountered so far, all he would find was responsibility being handed off to other departments.
     

Chapter 19
     
    The birds singing that morning didn’t seem to have a problem with the heat. But Jake felt uncomfortable the moment he stepped out of his apartment building into the soupy air.
    Driving to work, he had to pass Outback Steakhouse.
    He couldn’t stop thinking about what he’d learned from his conversation with Stacy.
    What did she really know about the murder?
    She knew Simon Wu, but didn’t place him at the scene of the crime.
    She probably knew Han Chu, but didn’t recognize him on the bike trail.
    Did she have some sort of visual impairment?
    He thought about her affectionate gaze at him over dinner. No, if anything, she could see straight through a person.
    But there had to be some simple explanation for all of this.
    Regarding Wu, Jake could accept that she glossed over his photo in the line-up because she thought Jake was trying to trip her up. And her explanation for not fingering Wu in the line-up was equally plausible. She claimed he wasn’t the assailant.
    Since she said the assailant wasn’t Wu, it seemed likely that someone was trying to set him up for murder.
    That left a major question in Jake’s mind. If the murderer was trying to frame Wu by planting Wu’s fingerprints on the evidence, and Wu didn’t own a baseball bat, who had access to the weapons after the