The Death Sculptor

One Hundred and Six

Hunter didn’t sleep. He spent the rest of the night exhausting his memory, searching for more clues. Even the possibility that he was right scared him.

He had to drop by either Olivia or Allison Nicholson’s house to obtain one last piece of information, but it was too early to go knocking on anyone’s door. He reached for his cellphone and dialed Alice’s number. She answered it on the third ring.

‘Robert, is everything OK?’ She sounded half asleep.

‘I need a favor.’

‘Um . . . OK. What do you need?’

‘Can you hack into the California Department of Social Services’ database?’

A confused pause.

‘Yeah, that won’t be very hard.’

‘Can you do it now, from your house?’

‘Sure, as soon as I power up my gear.’ A new pause. ‘You do realize that you are asking me to commit a felony, right?’

‘I promise I won’t tell anyone.’

Alice laughed. ‘Hey, you don’t have to convince me. This is what I do best.’

‘OK then, here’s what I need you to find out.’

Olivia Nicholson was about to have breakfast when Hunter knocked on her door. Without giving much away, he explained that they had come across some new information overnight, and he just needed to ask her a few more questions.

Their conversation was brief, but fruitful. She told him that, as far as she could remember, her father’s oldest friend was Dwayne Bradley, the Los Angeles District Attorney.