Todd looked thoughtful. “Maybe.”
“You want me to ask Cady?” Matt asked.
“No.” Todd flushed. “I’ll call her.”
“Why are you here?” Rogers looked at Matt, then Todd. “This isn’t your club.”
“We’re looking for you,” Matt answered. Two men walked out of the building. He waited until they moved out of earshot before continuing in a low voice. “I wanted to ask you some follow-up questions about Brian Dylan.”
Rogers stiffened. “I already told you everything.”
Matt began. “What do you know about the Hudson Footmen—”
Glancing around, Rogers interrupted with a chop of his hand. More sweat darkened the armpits of his gray T-shirt. “It’s not smart to mention that name out here.”
Matt lowered his voice. “Are members here?”
“I don’t know, but I wouldn’t want to find out.” Rogers continued to scan the parking area.
Matt saw no one except for the two men getting into a truck on the other side of the lot. They weren’t close enough to overhear, but he lowered his voice anyway. “Is Dylan in the club?”
“I don’t know,” Rogers nearly whispered.
“He believes some wild shit,” Todd said.
“He does,” Rogers agreed.
“What about Oscar?” Matt asked. “Did he follow any of those conspiracy theories?”
Rogers snorted. “Nah. Oscar didn’t believe in anything but Oscar.” He paused. “But I think even he was starting to get concerned about the increasing wackiness of Dylan’s theories.”
“Did this create conflict between them?”
“I really have no idea.” Rogers lifted a shoulder.
Matt remembered the female shadow in Dylan’s window. “Does Dylan have a girlfriend?”
“Dunno,” Rogers said.
Brody stood, the fur on the back of his neck rose, and he growled softly in the direction of the darkness. Matt saw no one but trusted his dog. Something—or someone—was out there. The puppy followed Brody’s focus. A baby growl rumbled in her throat.
Rogers frowned at his puppy and Brody. He slid off the fence. “I need to go home.” He started toward the parking lot. “Don’t follow me. I don’t have any more information for you.” He patted Brody on the head before carrying his puppy away.
Matt and Todd returned to the vehicle.
“He was fine until I mentioned the Footmen.” Matt glanced over the seat. Brody sat on the back seat, but his attention was still on the woods.
“Just the mention of the group made him nervous,” Todd agreed. “Brody OK?”
“Yeah.”
“Maybe he smelled a coyote or something.”
“Or something,” Matt said. Had someone else been nearby, maybe listening?
“Rogers knows more than he’s saying.” Todd started the engine. “But we can’t prove it. What now?”
“I’m going to do more research on the Hudson Footmen.”
Todd dropped him and Brody off. Inside, Matt let Greta loose. Brody settled in his bed in the kitchen. Matt gave Greta an elk antler to chew while he worked.
He turned on his computer, then started up a browser using a VPN, or virtual private network. Given the Footmen’s apparent reputation, he wouldn’t want them to be able to track his IP address. In a common social media app, he opened a profile under a fake name. Using this profile, he found and followed some crazy-ass antigovernment sites. Then he searched the Hudson Footmen’s page and posts and found their private group. The group’s discussion feed was private, but the administrators were listed at the top of the page. He hovered over the names.
Joe Hunt and Bri Bri Dee.
A nickname for Brian Dylan?
The name Joe Hunt sounded kind of fake too.
Matt screenshotted their pages and copied the links to his notes.
Bri Bri Dee’s page was also private, and there was no photo available. Matt returned to the Hudson Footmen’s group page. He’d send the screenshots and links to Rory. No doubt the forensics lab would have the resources to get more information.
He clicked “Join.” While his admission was under review, he went to YouTube. The Hudson Footmen had their own channel. Most of their videos were posted by Joe Hunt and Bri Bri Dee, both of whom had their own individual accounts as well. Matt clicked on the first video and watched a totally weird video of a man in a white coat “demonstrating” that a recent hurricane never happened, that the government had fabricated the event in order to manipulate currency. Matt felt his eyes rolling at the ludicrousness. This “scientist” used radar maps and what he claimed was historical weather data. Matt stopped the video and double-checked the numbers with actual historical data from an international weather site. None of the numbers matched.