Fragmented by George Fong Read Free Book Online Page A

come up with some answers soon, because if I can’t find out who that girl is and she dies, you’ll be going down as a conspirator.”
    “Bullshit!” Burke tried to jump up but Jack slammed a hand against Burke’s chest, sending him sprawling back to the couch.
    “You’re wasting time, Burke.”
    Burke started to ramble; the words spat out fast and flustered. “It’s like I said, a bunch of us were just talking trash. Someone sends me pictures, I send some back. Then this guy logs on sometime this morning and starts to talk about child discipline and punishment.”
    The room grew quiet.
    “I thought he was talking about kinky stuff. Then he sends out these pictures and we all look. I think, this guy’s a sick fuck, what does this have to do with porn?”
    “What’s his name?”
    Burke squeezed his eyes tight and cocked his head, struggling to remember. “Jure. He said his name was Jure. Goes by the screen name of JPetroski.”
    “How long have you two been chatting?” Jack asked.
    “I don’t know. A couple weeks at most. He just showed up one day. Didn’t seem like anyone knew him that well.”
    Jack shook his head, letting Burke know it wasn’t enough.
    “Look, guys, I didn’t know what those photos were. I thought they were staged and that this guy’s just into that sort of stuff.”
    “What kind of stuff ?”
    “S&M. You know, kinky.”
    “With children?” Jack said.
    Burke frowned. “Whatever.”
    By this time, Marquez was on the phone with the office, instructing an agent to issue an administrative subpoena to the server of the chat room. She hoped the trail of JPetroski’s past messages would help pinpoint his whereabouts.
    “The subpoena has been faxed to the ISP server,” she said. “Should have an answer in fifteen.”
    “In the meantime,” Jack said, “I think it’s time to do a little hunting ourselves.”
    He and Marquez looked over at Burke, who sat quietly, trying to figure out what Jack meant. Then, the light bulb flashed in his head. “You want to see if he’s on now?”
    “Yeah. And we want to go on as you.”
    “You can go on as me?”
    “Is that a question or consent?” Jack asked.
    “Whatever, man.”
    The examiners disconnected their forensic equipment from Burke’s computer and signed on to the chat room, searching for Jure Petroski.
    “Go get ’em, Marquez,” Jack said. “See if Mr. Petroski is out hunting for more pictures.”
    “He’s not a picture kind of guy,” Burke interjected.
    Everyone looked at Burke.
    Spittle started to build around the corners of his mouth. “Look, this guy, he was into talking about family and children. We all thought he was going somewhere with the conversation. You know, getting into child discipline.” Burke’s face turned white. “It’s talk. Fantasy. Anyway, everyone in the chat room starts joking about it, but Jure, he gets angry. You can see it in his messaging. He starts scolding everyone for not taking him seriously and all of the sudden, everyone starts signing out.”
    “How did you leave it with him?”
    Burke shrugged. “Okay, I guess. Didn’t really get too deep into his tirade. Just kind of listened.”
    “Listened to what?” Marquez asked.
    “To him talk about starting over.”
    “Starting what over?” Marquez’s voice sounded irritated.
    “I don’t know, with a new family, new kids, almost like he got rid of the old one and started a new one.” Burke snapped his fingers, still handcuffed. “I tell you what. This guy either lives in or has lived in California . He talked about the summer heat and the winter cold of the Central Valley . I remember him saying that his previous family hated the heat.”
    “Previous?”
    “His words not mine. I just took it in. It wasn’t something I thought I needed to psychoanalyze.” Burke said the word psychoanalyze like he knew what it meant.
    Marquez’s cell phone rang. The agent on the other end had just gotten the information from the ISP search.