by Robin Mahle
“Now just hold on a second.” Scarborough raised his hand. “What are we talking about here?”
Varela peered at the group who had gathered around the table. “It could be possible to find a way to get you access. You collect your samples and vamos lá—leave.” He eyed the elite team who appeared to consider the idea. “I am expecting the call logs to the tower today. It is possible you will find what you need there. However, we should consider alternatives such as this.”
“I don’t see as we have another choice.” Walsh eyed Scarborough. “You’re the head honcho. We need to get this ball rolling. What do you say?”
“If it has to be this way, then I’ll be the one to do it.” He turned to Varela. “How soon can you make this happen?”
“You’re not doing this alone, that’s for damn sure,” Fisher replied. “We’ll both go.”
“I can make it happen tonight.”
“Then let’s do it,” Scarborough replied. “Fisher and I will need to do recon and get with you on the logistics. Will we have Investigator Sosa at our disposal today?”
“Whatever it is you need, Agent Scarborough.”
“Let’s round him up. I’d like to have him take Reid and Quinn back to the crime scene to pour over it one more time. We were losing daylight yesterday and we might find something new this morning.” He turned to Walsh. “You and Duncan will parse the call logs when they arrive, if that works for you?”
“You got it, boss,” Walsh replied.
Kate studied the files as Investigator Sosa drove to the crime scene once again. “Thank you for bringing us out here, Officer Sosa.”
“Sorry, my English isn’t good. Please, call me Pedro.”
“Okay, Pedro. Thank you.”
As he arrived at the scene, or as close as was accessible by car, Kate stepped out. “I’ll bring my phone in case we need Google Translate.” She smiled at him.
Quinn followed them out, though he hadn’t spoken for the entirety of the short drive. “What are you hoping to find this morning that we didn’t find yesterday, Reid?”
“I don’t know, Quinn. I guess I’ll know it when I see it.” She pushed past him. “Pedro, are there any other footpaths around here?”
“Sim. I mean, yes. Follow me.” He started up the slope to the right of the initial site.
Quinn appeared reluctant but followed them anyway.
“Do you think it’s possible there exists another burial ground, Pedro?” Kate asked.
“I believe so, yes. There are many missing women.”
They approached another clearing about a quarter of a mile away. Quinn shoved his hands in his pockets. “This seems almost too remote. If there were more victims here, someone would’ve had to carry them up this hill.”
Kate couldn’t bear to concede to him, but he might be right on this one. She turned to Sosa. “Too far?”
Sosa peered at the ground. “Dig here?” He shook his head. “Not too far.” He returned to his car that was at least 100 yards away and retrieved a shovel. And on his return, he smiled and held it up. “A Boy Scout? Always prepared?”
“Yes, like a Boy Scout.” Kate moved in as Sosa tucked the shovel into the ground.
“Why here though?” Quinn asked. “I see no indication of any freshly turned soil. No obvious footprints. Am I missing something?”
“You want to understand how I operate? This is it. I get a feeling. A hunch. Whatever you want to call it. Look, I don’t know if we’ll find anything here. What I’m more interested in is seeing if anyone comes near. If anyone is watching us. That’s what I care about maybe even more than finding something.”
Quinn nodded. “Yeah. That’s a good call, Reid.”
Sosa appeared uninterested in their conversation as he turned over the soft earth. Whether he realized Kate’s intent remained unknown, but it appeared he was fully vested in the idea there could be more bodies here.
“You mind if I look around while you start?” She asked him.
“Ah. Okay. I’ll dig more,” Sosa replied.
She turned to Quinn. “I’m going to go check things out. You mind staying here with him?”
“I’m not sure it’s a good idea for you to go out there by yourself.”
“Now you’re concerned about me?” She scoffed. “I’m armed. I’ll be fine.” Kate walked away and didn’t look back.
Sosa stopped digging for a moment and shifted his sights to Quinn. “Irritado?” He pointed toward Kate.
“Yes. Irritated.”
Kate trudged through the dense greenery beneath the shadows of the lush overhanging trees. She reached another small clearing near the edge of a cliff and on looking down, the ocean came into full view. And over her shoulder, Christ the Redeemer sat high atop Corcovado mountain, looming large over the City of God.
While the view was awe-inspiring, her point in this escapade was to watch for onlookers. It was approaching mid-day and she had seen no one nearby. Below, the streets were cluttered with what appeared at this distance to be little ants scurrying about in circles. “What am I doing out here?” She started back toward the area and stopped on a dime. “Hello.”
A young boy, not older than ten, stood near and fixed his gaze upon her.
“Are you here alone?” She peered around him in search of an adult but didn’t see one. “Are you lost?” It was clear he didn’t understand her. “Come with me.” She waved her arm and started toward the site again. “Come?”
The boy shook his head and darted back from where ever he came. Kate watched as the boy seemed familiar with every inch of the path and hillside as he leapt down it. He was not lost. But then why was he there?
She headed in the direction of where the boy had returned in search of people. Climbing several feet down and still no signs of life. The boy was gone. And if she didn’t stop now, it was likely she would find herself lost. A quick check of her cell phone. “No signal.” She could go no farther. It was a lost cause and time for her to return.
“You okay?” Quinn approached her. “Were you talking to someone?”
“Just myself.” She continued toward Sosa. “Anything?”
“No.” He shook his head.
“Okay. Let’s go back.” She let Sosa take the lead and fell in behind Quinn. One last look at the place because she still believed it held a secret. There was a reason the killer chose this spot.
“Reid?” Quinn reached the car and held open the door.
“Yeah.” She took a few steps and stumbled to the ground. “Shit!”
“Jesus, are you okay?” Quinn jogged toward her.
What she had tripped over was the reason she chose to return here. It was her hunch and it hadn’t let her down after all. “Oh my God.”
“Don’t move, Kate. I’ll help you up.” As Quinn approached, he stopped dead. “What the hell?”
“Investigator Sosa?” she yelled. “Pedro? Come quick!”
Pedro figured out something had happened and rushed to them. “Meu Deus.” “My God.”
Kate remained on the ground, her eyes fixed on the object. “If this is the head, where’s the body?”
“He should’ve been here by now.” Duncan set her sights on the door to the meeting room where she and Walsh waited. “We can’t sit here and do nothing.”
And as if on command, the inspector entered. “I have them. I have the call logs from the tower.”
“Were your ears burning?” Walsh smiled but noted the look of confusion on Varela’s face. “Never mind. We were getting worried. Now maybe we can get somewhere.” He retrieved the papers from Varela and proceeded to punch in commands on his laptop. “We can cross-reference these numbers and locations as well as determine how often they were called.”
“That will help us to identify other persons in contact with the mysterious caller and where the calls originated. If we’re lucky, we can reconstruct a timeline and determine how often and when calls were made from that location,” Duncan replied.
�
��Is there anything else, then, I can assist you with?” Varela asked.
“Thank you, no. This will take some time,” Duncan replied.
“Then I will work to arrange efforts for Agents Fisher and Scarborough. Please contact me if you need anything at all.” With a brief nod, Varela showed himself out.
“Did you spot the fact that the majority of the calls on these logs came from Rio numbers? We’ll be able to track them too,” Duncan said.
“I think that was the reason for the delay,” Walsh began. “Varela is a smart man. He knows how to survive. If any of these logs point to his own, he’s already vetted them, no doubt.”
“As long as these calls aren’t whitewashed. The last thing we need is inaccurate data sending us on a wild goose chase.” Duncan opened the database known as DIVS, the data integration and visualization system. This new and innovative program was recently enhanced to include geospatial tools and cross-referencing of data. “You want to place bets on if any of the calls around the time frame in question trace back to a registered cell and not a burner?”
Walsh laughed. “I don’t think I’d like my odds. If the one we’re searching for is an American, and by looking at these records, I see a handful of calls with US area codes, then it’s unlikely he’s acting alone. This thing is fifteen pages long. I would suggest we start with the US numbers first. It’ll be much easier for us to send that intel back to our folks and try to get us a name. That’s what we really need.”
Atop the hills of Rocinha, standing in the shadow of its sheer cliffs, Kate wiped blood from her shoe. “This feels too planned,” she said. “Like we were meant to find this head.” Kate pulled upright and set her sights to Quinn. “The others were buried. Why not this one? And where is the rest of her?”
“You’re the one who decided to take a stroll. You’re the one who found it. I don’t know. It doesn’t seem planned to me. You said you saw a boy earlier. People must come up here. It could’ve been any one of them who uncovered it.”
“Maybe someone who wanted it to be found, but couldn’t be the one to discover it,” she replied. “No one around here wants to talk so this could have been the only way to make a statement.” She eyed Pedro Sosa who stood at the front of his patrol car on his phone.
“Should we proceed to dig in this location?” Sosa asked Varela as he acknowledged Kate.
“This could be the perfect timing we need.”
Sosa’s brow furrowed. “What do you mean, sir?”
“I mean, if we can get the coroner and his team out there to remove the remains you and the agents found, then maybe we can use that as the distraction we need. It could provide Agents Scarborough and Fisher enough of a lull in the activity at the coroner’s office that will allow them to sneak in and retrieve evidence.”
“I understand. Should I call the coroner then?”
“Yes. Please inform me when they’ve arrived. That is when I will have them slip inside.”
“Sim, senhor.” Sosa ended the call and approached the agents. “I am to have the coroner come now. We wait.”
“Perfect,” Kate replied. “While we’re waiting, do I have your permission to photograph the exposed remains?”
“Of course.”
She nodded to Quinn and both returned to the location where the severed head had been unearthed.
“Good call. In the event Fisher and Scarborough don’t get what we need, we will,” Quinn said.
Kate hovered over the remains. “Do you have a swab kit handy?”
“No,” Quinn chuckled. “That would’ve come in useful right about now.” He turned back to Sosa. “You think he has anything that would suffice?”
“Maybe.” Kate walked back to Sosa. “Excuse me, Pedro, do you have any forensics kits on hand? Um, swab?” She used a gesture showing her swabbing her cheek. “Prints?” She displayed the underside of her fingertips.
“Ah. Yes. Prints.” He smiled and returned to his car to retrieve the kit.
“Thank God.”
“This?” He held out a box and opened it.
“Jackpot.” Kate smiled. “Yes. Thank you.” She took the box from him and walked back to the location where Quinn waited. “This will have to do for now.”
“Looks like he’s got a fingerprint kit. Sample holders.” He looked at her. “We can try to pull fibers. I don’t see a swab.”
“No. Which means we won’t get any DNA samples, but fibers and prints will do wonders.”
11
The sun had fallen behind the cliffs. The tepid air now felt stifling in the midst of rising concern by not only the federal agents, but by one of Rio’s own, man Kate believed could be trusted. But the hour had long since past that the coroner should have arrived. “Should we call again?” Kate gestured with her phone to Investigator Sosa. “Why aren’t they here yet?”
He shook his head and shrugged. “I will try again.” Sosa made another call while the agents waited nearby.
“I don’t like this, Quinn.” Distress built in the pit of Kate’s stomach as she fixed her gaze on Sosa. “We’ve been here for two hours. It’s time we call our own people.”
It seemed she wasn’t the only one to grasp the warning signs. “Maybe. Yeah. Our people don’t know we’re here.” Quinn impulsively placed his hand on his sidearm.
She turned her back from Sosa’s view and dialed Nick. “Come on. Answer.” A wave of relief swept over her when he picked up.
“Kate?”
“Hey, Quinn and I are out here at the…” She peered at her phone. “What the hell?”
“What’ wrong?” Quinn moved in. “He didn’t answer?”
“I think I got cut off. I’ll try again.” She dialed the number. “Shit. I lost the signal. Do you have one?”
He peered at his phone. “No. Did you tell him where we were?”
“I was cut off too quickly.”
“We need to leave. Now.” Quinn started back toward Sosa. “Investigator Sosa, we can’t wait any longer.”
The echo of gunfire ricocheted off the hills. Sosa, with his sights fixed on Quinn, fell where he stood.
“Take cover!” Quinn dropped low and found shelter behind Sosa’s patrol car. “Reid, get down!”
Kate crouched low and stepped toward him. “What the hell is going on?” Her eyes shot a glance at Sosa.
His chest spilled blood. Color drained from his face and his eyes blinked slowly as he turned to her. “Run.”
Kate started toward him. “We’re not leaving you.”
“Get in the car now!” Quinn said. “He’s gone, Kate.” “And we’re about to be if we don’t get the hell out of here.”
Sosa winced. “Go. You must go.”
“I’m so sorry.” Kate retreated with her weapon trained on anything that moved as she made her way to Quinn and the car. “We’ve been set up. Varela must’ve turned. We have to warn Scarborough.”
“What we have to do right now is save our asses and figure a way out of here,” Quinn said. “We need to get in the car and drive. I’ll go first and jump into the driver’s seat. I’ll cover you while you get in the back. When you’re in, stay the hell down!”
“What about Sosa?”
“We can’t do anything for him.” He raised his head a little and another shot was fired. “Fuck! We need to work fast. On my count. One, two, three.” Quinn darted to his left toward the driver’s side, low and fast, until he opened the door and jumped in.
“Keys.” Kate eyed Sosa. “I have to get the keys.” She lurched toward Sosa’s body. “Oh God, I’m so sorry.”
“Reid?” Quinn shouted from inside the car. “What are you…?”
Another shot rang out and struck the car’s rear bumper. Kate had mere seconds to find the keys and take cover again. Her hands felt around Sosa’s pants pockets. She thrust her right hand into one of them and yanked the keys out. The elation, however, was short lived. She still had to get back to the car. With a deep breath, she sprinted to the rear passenger side and
pulled open the door. A bullet struck the door just as she jumped inside. “Drive!” She tossed the keys to Quinn.
They fell to the floorboard and he rummaged to find them. “Shit!” His hands frantically searched when another bullet struck the passenger side. An instinctive flinch and he shouted. “Stay down, Reid!”
“Start the car!” she yelled from the backseat, her arms thrust over her head.
“Got ‘em!” He fumbled for just a second before finding the right key and inserting it. He turned over the engine and spun the tires, and the patrol car flew down dirt road. Bump after bump felt like the wheels would fly off, but he held firm.
Multiple shots were fired. The rear window exploded. Kate still laid low in the passenger seat. “Get us the hell out of here!”
“I’m trying!” Quinn recoiled with each gun shot while somehow maintaining control of the car along the brutal path. “Do you have a signal yet?” He shouted.
Kate reached for her phone in her front pocket. “Not yet!”
A car appeared behind them seemingly from out of nowhere. Quinn spotted it in the rear view. “They’re behind us. Jesus, Kate. I don’t know if we’re going to make it out of here. I don’t know how many more are waiting.”
They were in a war zone. Kate couldn’t negotiate her way out of this one. There would be no reasoning. There would be only running. And for the first time in a long time, she feared for her life. And for Quinn's.
Inside the favela’s stationhouse, Scarborough stared at his phone. “What the hell happened?”
Fisher, who had returned from speaking with other officers, approached him. “What’s wrong?”
“That was Reid. I must’ve gotten cut off.”
“Try her back.”
He tried again, but a busy dial tone sounded. “I’m not getting through at all now.” His concern grew. “Do we know where they are? Has anyone heard from them?”
“I’m sure they’re in the hills in Rocinha. She’ll try again when she gets another signal.” Fisher peered through the window. “I think that’s Inspector Varela pulling in now. We’re losing daylight here and we need to get a plan together for getting into the coroner’s office.”