Home Free - Fern Michaels [82]
“No, not yet. I have my people working on it. All it is, is a name, Myra. The fact that a four-star general just popped it out for a fellow soldier really doesn’t mean he is our elusive JJ, even though he told Mr. Sullivan he didn’t hear the name from him.”
“And Maggie?”
Charles shrugged.
“Knowing Maggie as I do, I am sure that she is, as we speak, on Ted Robinson’s case to go through the archives to see if there is any kind of background on a Jody Jumper. With a strange name like that, you would think people would be lining up to volunteer information on the man. It might even be a woman, for all we know. I do believe there are film stars with the name Jody. They might spell it Jodie or not. I’m babbling, Charles.
“Dear, I know you want to get back downstairs, so I will clean up and feed the dogs. Run along. I can handle this. I also want to call Annie to congratulate her on buying the mountain. I wonder if she called the girls to tell them.”
“Babble away, dear one. I do want to go downstairs to see if any more e-mails have come through.”
“Take your time, dear. I might even wrap some more presents after I clean up. Then again, I think I might want to watch some television for a little while.”
Charles kissed Myra’s cheek; then he kissed her lips.
“Ahhh.” Myra smiled. “I like it when you find the right spot.”
Charles chuckled all the way back to his lair, arriving there just in time to hear his computer pinging away. And the evening was still young.
Chapter 22
Isabelle looked at the sea of white littering the floor in Abner’s workroom, a look of pure dismay written all over her face. “What can I do to help, Abner?” she whispered. When Abner didn’t respond, she backed up when her cell phone chirped. She continued to move backward as she clicked on the phone to hear Charles’s voice. She moved farther back into the hallway to guard her conversation, her gaze on a befuddled Abner as he stirred and moved the papers on the floor.
“Okay, Charles, I will tell him. Is there anything else?” She listened again before she broke the connection. What did it all mean? She hesitated before she advanced into the room again.
Isabelle squatted down next to Abner. “What is all this?” she said, pointing to the mountain of discarded papers.
Abner grimaced as he stroked his chin. “This,” he said, waving his arm about, “is the thirty-seven thousand four hundred fifty-six men and women who live within a fifty-mile radius of Washington and have the initials JJ. As far as I can tell, and I’ve been poring over this for hours, there is not one name out of the thirty-seven thousand four hundred fifty-six names that fits the criteria your people gave me. Not a single one.”
“I think I can help you out here. JJ stands for Jody Jumper.” She relayed Charles’s message.
“There is no Jody Jumper on this list. I can do a hundred-mile perimeter and see if it pops up,” Abner said as he scrambled to his feet and started to beat at the computer keys. He hit the PRINT key and waited. Nothing. He looked over at Isabelle and shrugged. “If there was a name like Jody Jumper in this database, it would have popped out by now. I ran one from the FBI and the CIA. There is no Jody Jumper.”
Seeing his distress, Isabelle winced. “Maybe it’s a code name or a nickname. Would that show up?”
“Not really. A name has to be an identity. This is mind-boggling. Who came up with the name?”
Isabelle sucked in her bottom lip, debating whether she should tell Abner what she knew. Finally, she said, “Maggie has a source who got the name from a four-star general.”
Without missing a beat, Abner said, “Then have Maggie go back to her source and ask that source to call the general and ask him if it’s a code name or a nickname. Can you do that now?”
Isabelle swallowed hard. “I can do that.” She yanked out her cell phone, scrolled down, and hit the