“Any leads?” Jackie asked.
“Nothing definite yet.” Harri shook her head. “That’s part of the reason I wanted to talk to you. You’ve worked cybercrimes, right?”
“I have.” Jackie nodded as she looked at the menu. “They found the guy who murdered those kids up there, right?”
“Yes,” Harri said. “But not the sickos who put together the entire operation. The FBI got involved.”
“Ready to order?”
Harri looked up into the cheerful face of the waitress and gave her order. After Jackie asked for more time, the waitress left them with a nod and a smile.
“I heard about that special agent calling every bigwig he could get hold of,” Jackie said.
“I’m sure everyone down at the PAB heard about that,” Harri said bitterly.
“If they hadn’t, then I’m sure Richard made it his business to make sure everyone who needed to hear it, did.”
Detective Richard Byrne and Harri had a long history of animosity after an encounter years ago. He was the one who’d managed to keep her out of Homicide for the last several years. In short, he was a prick.
“What do you need to know?” Jackie asked.
“Most of these crime syndicates that traffic children have gone online?”
“Like everything else.” Jackie nodded. “Vice is a business, so it has to constantly expand and monetize, and market, and keep costs down.”
“What about in the 90s? How did they do it all back then?”
“Mail. Secret mailing lists and organizations like NAMBLA. They operated along the lines of organized crime, or a gang, or terrorist cell. No one trusts anyone else unless they prove they’re committed to the common organization. They’d have gatherings once a member would be vouched for and verified.”
“How would they be verified?”
“Some sort of encounter with a child that was taped. Like being made in the Mafia or initiated into a gang. The act had to be captured on tape for proof. Typically stored for blackmail purposes, so the member in question would never rat the others out.”
“Mutual destruction,” Harri said.
“Something like that,” Jackie said and waved for the waitress. Once she’d put in her order, Jackie turned back to Harri. “I heard your sister got caught up in that ring. Do you have any idea of how she was killed?”
“Bullet to the head. It was a through and through. Coroner figures it was 9mm.”
“Any leads on her killer?” Jackie asked. “It wasn’t the man who died at the island?”
“No. He was one of the victims from the camp. He’d escaped as a child. I only have four generic male names to go by. At least that’s what the other victim told me. They only used first names. No one ever slipped up. Only men.”
Jackie nodded. “If they’re still alive and out there somewhere, I know you’ll find them. I know you’ll get her killer.”
“Even if it kills me,” Harri said. “Okay so here’s my question.”
“Shoot,” Jackie said.
“How in this day and age would you go about cracking a child network like that?” Harri asked. She’d read of several networks being busted in the last ten years, and understandably the papers kept it light on the actual investigation. She hoped Jackie could give her some clear insight into the investigative process.
“Oh, boy.” Jackie sighed. “Where to start? The last big bust was international, spanning Europe, Canada and the United States. We monitored forums and social media both on the public web and the dark web. Officers also posed as children, engaging with the perpetrators, pretending to be groomed by these individuals who were then tracked by IP address back to their hidey holes on the web and in real life. It’s so hard, though. Everything is VPN, which hides the perpetrator’s IP address. There’s also masking and breadcrumbing where they hide the stuff on a regular blog, or news site. It looks perfectly normal unless you’ve arrived at that site through a series of links that open the cache of pictures and videos the creeps are looking for.”
“So, I’d need to find a computer genius to help me then?” Harri sighed.
“Absolutely. It’s all on the internet, now. There are smaller cells that operate like a religious sect. You know, removing themselves from everyday society, then trading the victims around, fostering, re-homing, that sort of thing, but even they communicate over the web.”
“What are my chances of finding a bunch of pedophiles in their 60s named John, Paul or George?”
Jackie laughed out loud. “All you’re missing is Ringo,” Jackie said.
“Ringo? What…” Oh shit, Harri thought. The Beatles. They had used fake names. Now she had even less than nothing.
“They’re fake,” Harri said.
“I hate to say this but have to be,” Jackie frowned. “I read the victim profiles and they wouldn’t have taken a chance using their real names. Unless one of the kids overheard a slip.”
Harri bit her lip.
“Don’t get discouraged, Harri.” Jackie continued. “What you could do is go through any witness statements from kids who came forward around that time. They might have more identifying characteristics of their abusers in their written statements that could take you somewhere.”
“Even if they aren’t the actual guys that were on that island?” Harri asked.
“These guys all know each other,” Jackie said, not even trying to hide her disgust. “I don’t know what it is. They recognize it in each other. Like it’s the way they walk, or some codeword they use. Trust me, all these pervs know each other somehow. Especially in the same general geographical area and if this network was as well-funded as you think it was, pulling any thread of one pedophile from back then should start you down the path to getting the names you need.”
“Jake and I’ve been banging our heads on dead ends. We’re both good investigators and we work as a team, but I think we’re also too close, you know what I mean?”
“Who’s Jake again?”
“Jake Tepesky. He was an FBI profiler at Quantico.”
“What’s his connection to this case?” Jackie asked.
Harri recognized Jackie’s interrogation tone of voice and felt defensive. “He was my sister’s best friend,” Harri said.
“You guys an item?” Jackie asked with a gleam in her eye, the interrogation tone gone.
“Maybe,” Harri said with a small smile.
“Good for you! You need someone to come home to. Bonus points because he also understands this crazy job.”
Harri’s smile grew wider. “It’s good. It’s early and it’s good.”
The waitress returned with their food and Jackie waited until she’d gone again to continue.
“I can also put you in touch with a friend I have working cybercrime at the FBI once you get on the network’s trail.”
“I'm not even close to being there yet,” Harri said. “My sister’s funeral knocked me on my butt. I’d been looking for her for so long and then once I’d found her, I lost the thread a bit. Especially since they’d kept her captive for close to a year.”
“I can’t imagine what you must be going through with that weighing on you.” Jackie shook her head. “Please remember how young you were when she disappeared. A kid. You did everything you could.”
Harri nodded. “I know that. I mean, of course I know that. It’s just my heart doesn’t know it.”
Jackie squeezed her hand. “I’m here for you.”
“Thank you. I’m hoping I can find something useful to bring to you and your FBI friend.”
“I’ll help in any way I can. Once a pedo, always a pedo,” Jacki said.
“I never stopped looking for her,” Harri said.
“And you found her, Harri,” Jackie said softly. “You never gave up and you found her.”
“Now I’ll never stop looking for the men who killed her,” Harri said, with a fervor in her voice.
Harri knew she was walking on dangerous ground. These kinds of cases had tak
en down better detectives than her. Being driven to solve a case walked the fine line between obsession and madness.
“Thank you for meeting with me, Jackie,” Harri said.
They’d finished their sandwiches as they talked, and Harri needed to give her two cold cases their due time. Those victims deserved justice, too.
“It was so good to see you, too.” Jackie gathered her things. “I need to get going. Gotta get to court,” she said.
Harri packed up and followed Jackie out of the diner. Harri hugged her friend good-by and walked back towards the PAB (POLICE ADMINISTRATION BUILDING) on Main Street as Jackie headed the opposite direction.
As Harri walked, Robert Payton's last words exploded in her mind.
“I had to make them clean. I had to make them clean,” Robert Payton kept repeating as he lay dying.
She wished he’d had a trial and paid for what he’d done to those boys. She could have had a chance to question him. Find out what happened back then, have a sketch artist work with him. Something. Anything.
Bile crept up her esophagus as the enormity of the investigation threatened to overwhelm her. She had to hold the line, keep her head down and focus on each small thread. Each small task. They would get there. Eventually.
She pulled out her badge and stiffened her back. It was time to get to work.
2
Day 1 – Los Angeles, CA
Harri hadn’t been sitting at her desk for longer than twenty minutes when she got a call from her lieutenant, Violet Howard, to come to her office. Her heart pounded, and she briefly worried she'd made another misstep. Harri pushed the thought out of her mind as she walked from the Cold Case bullpen to her LT's office.
“You wanted to see me,” she asked, then stopped short when she saw an expensively dressed, tall man, with a shock of white hair, sitting across from her LT. Harri didn't know who he was, but he looked like somebody important.
“You wanted to see me, Lieutenant Howard?” she asked again.
“Yes. Detective Harriet Harper, this is Mr. Levi Monroe,” the lieutenant said as she motioned to the man who turned and appraised Harri with sharp blue eyes.
“Nice to meet you, Mr. Monroe,” she said. Civilians typically didn’t show up at the PAB meeting with detectives.
“I saw the work that you did up in Oregon,” he started.
Harri shifted on her feet. “Do you have any pertinent information on that case?” Harri asked.
“No, I'm here about my missing daughter,” he said.
Harri leaned back against the door frame and gave Violet a quizzical look. Violet pointed to the chair next to Levi Monroe, and Harri peeled herself off the wall and followed the silent command.
“How long has your daughter been missing?” she asked.
“It's been almost four weeks now,” Mr. Monroe replied. “She went missing on October nineteenth.”
“That's still an open case then,” Lieutenant Howard said.
“I want the best for her,” Mr. Monroe said. “You found your sister after twenty-five years. If anyone can find my Addy, it will be you.”
“I'm sure the detectives on her case are very good and,” Harri started, but he held up his hand to stop her.
“They are not taking me seriously. They think she's a runaway and I can't seem to convince them otherwise.”
“Mr. Monroe,” Harri turned her full attention to the man. “No one understands what you are going through like I do, but you do realize that we are the cold case unit and we typically deal with cases years older than something like this.”
“I’m well aware, Detective.” Mr. Monroe’s tone was dismissive, but then took a determined tone. “I know a great deal more about you than you know about me, so I’ll explain. I am a wealthy man. As such, I know most of the power people here in Los Angeles. Am I being understood?” He glanced at the lieutenant and then turned his gaze back to Harri to make sure she was listening.
Harri nodded slightly to indicate he had her full attention and resisted the urge to shoot a look over to her lieutenant.
“Very good,” Mr. Monroe continued. “This is a somewhat sensitive case. Addison is my illegitimate daughter. Her mother called me four days ago to tell me she was gone. I want this kept absolutely quiet, and I need her found. She's a good girl and doesn't deserve this.”
Harri didn't like his tone or what he wasn’t telling them.
“Have you hired private investigators? If you're not happy with the police, then maybe they can help you,” Harri suggested.
Lieutenant Howard nodded at that.
“We can’t pick up active open cases,” Harri explained. “Our cases are years old and open unsolved.”
Mr. Monroe sighed and shook his head. “She's only seventeen and I don't believe those detectives have what it takes to find her. I want you, Detective Harper. You are relentless and from everything I've learned about you, driven to find anyone you put your mind to.”
He wasn’t wrong. Harri had joined the cold case unit because in her search for her sister she had acquired skills and was able to track down people who wanted to stay lost or had gotten lost by misfortune.
She turned to Violet.
“Lieutenant Howard?”
“We really can't be stepping on other detective's toes like this,” Violet started.
Mr. Monroe waved her off. “Oh, don’t worry about that. I’ve gone through the proper channels. I’ve already spoken to your chief. He’s given me the go-ahead to bring you onto this case.”
“Is he going to inform us himself?” Violet asked.
“I wanted to talk to you first. I need to explain to you about my daughter,” Mr. Monroe said. He relaxed into his chair as he spoke. “I couldn’t be with her as much as I would have liked. As a father. You understand. However, I monitored her progress and did what I could for her. Addy is an exceptional girl. She’s a skilled guitar player. She's extremely talented and has a beautiful voice. She’s not lazy. She takes her studies seriously. She’s been accepted to Julliard on a full scholarship. She has no idea that I actually arranged that, and she still had to apply, you see. She still had to compete for it, and she won it.”
“How did you arrange the scholarship?” Harri asked.
“I created it,” Mr. Monroe explained. “When she showed her musical aptitude at such a young age, I created the scholarship so that she could eventually use it to further her studies. But you see, she knows nothing of that and she would never run away from that opportunity. You must understand, she's worked her entire life to be in a position where she could study and become the absolute best. I knew she would, because no matter what, she is a Monroe at the end of the day. Disappearing without any word to anyone is not like her and it drives her mother and me absolutely insane to hear people dismiss her as just some dumb, reckless teenager.”
“I'm sure those detectives haven’t dismissed her,” Violet began.
“Those incompetent detectives don't matter anymore. This is Detective Harper's case now and I know she will not disappoint us.”
With that said, he rubbed his palms on his knees and stood up. He really was a tall and imposing man, Harri thought.
“Detective.” He gave Harri a nod. “I will make myself available to you for any questions you might have. I assure you I won’t be one of those fathers who calls every day to check on the case, though. I can call the chief for that.”
That was even worse than a frantic parent calling several times a day, Harri thought. Her big plan of keeping a low profile and not sticking her neck out to be noticed had just been shot to shit. There was no way she wouldn't be eyeballed now, especially on a case that had just been yanked out of someone else’s hands, and especially when the father was so well-connected.
“I'll wait for the chief's call then,” Lieutenant Howard said.
“Thank you so much for coming in Mr. Monroe.” Harri stood and shook his hand.
He nodded again and left, his perfectly polished black shoes clicki
ng as he walked over the wooden floor towards the outer doors of the cold case unit. Only after they’d heard the door open and close to the hallway outside, did Harri and Violet speak.
“What did we just get into?” she asked.
“Extra analysis on how we do our jobs, that's for sure,” Violet said. “Can you handle a case like this? With the surveillance from above?”
“I wish I didn't have to,” Harri said truthfully.
“Are you still not sleeping at night?” Violet picked up a pen and twirled it between her fingers. Harri recognized it as the lieutenant’s go to when she was brainstorming.
Harri had been putting in extra overtime for the last three weeks, even though she wasn't getting much done and Violet had noticed. Violet noticed everything in her unit.
“I’m much better,” Harri lied. “I'm back and even though it’s been a slow start for me, I can handle this.” She didn't think she could handle it, but if she could convince Violet, maybe she could convince herself.
“And he involved the Chief of Police,” Violet tossed the pen on the desk in disgust.
“Have you ever had one of these cases before? A powerful parent bringing something like this to our department?”
“You know that’s not how it works.” Violet shook her head. “Ever. I'll wait for the chief to call and notify me we’re officially on this case. Until then, I'll make sure to get the files so you can start.”
“Who were the detectives?” she asked.
“I know one of them was Jorge Hernandez,” Violet said.
Harri knew Jorge Hernandez from the Creek Killer task force. He was a good, thorough detective and she doubted he’d been dismissive of Addison’s disappearance as her father claimed.
“Jorge is good,” she said.
“I know.” Violet nodded. “Look, these super wealthy people just want what they want and they’ll pull any string to get it.”
“Lucky me.” Harri sighed.
“Lucky Addison.” Violet nodded and shuffled some papers on her desk.
Harri was dismissed. She wandered back to her desk and sat down, feeling weary even though the day was barely half done. She stared at the files of the two cases she'd made no progress on and bit her lip.
The Broken Trail: A Chilling Serial Killer Thriller (Harriet Harper Thriller Book 3) Page 2