by B. B. Hamel
“Oh my god,” Elena said. “Oh my god. Oh, god, I feel so gross right now.”
“How did you give him your address?” Nick asked. “Did you type it?”
“I think I said it out loud.” She shook her head. “I don’t remember. I don’t usually type, so I must’ve said it out loud.”
“That’s why I never noticed. If she did it over a private stream, and she never typed it, there might not be logs.” Nick stood and paced. “Fuck, this changes things. The chance that he’ll go after someone else is pretty slim at this point. I mean, I doubt he’d put in the work on multiple girls in the city.”
“We said that about Starch,” I pointed out.
“Excuse me? Sorry? Uh, some guy wants to kill me?”
“Right,” Nick said, staring at her. “You never finished your story.”
“Oh, god.” She leaned forward, face in her hands. “I walked to the door and there was this guy standing there, the one I described. He had all these cuts on his face. Like he’d been in a fight or something? So I was like, who are you, and he said that he was my biggest fan. That was when I started to try to slam the door, but he stopped me. Then the cop showed up.”
Nick looked at me. “Cop we had watching her place.”
“That cop was watching me?” She looked horrified. “Why didn’t anyone tell me?”
“I don’t know,” Nick said, distracted. “We need to get this girl into protective custody. Can we have your laptop? If you have logs, we might be able to find out more about this guy.”
“I have logs,” she said, voice soft. “You can have whatever you want. This guy’s a serial killer? What the hell?”
“Cam Girl Killer,” I said and shifted over to sit next to her. I draped my arm across her shoulders. “I’m sorry, sweetie. You’re the first girl that’s survived an attack by him.”
“Oh my god.” She buried her face in her hands. “He was right there. If that cop hadn’t shown up, he would’ve gotten in.”
“How’d he get away?” Nick asked.
“Kicked the cop in the balls and ran. Cop tried to chase but, you know, kicked in the balls?” She let out a single, strangled sob. “What am I going to do now?”
“We’ll get you into protective custody,” I said, rubbing her back. I felt horrible for her, but I wanted to help if I could. I didn’t get a chance to be there for Delia during this, but maybe I could be there for Elena, at least a little bit. “Then from there, we’ll catch this psycho.”
“How long?” she asked, looking back up. Her eye makeup was beginning to run. “How long am I going to wait? I can’t stream so I can’t make money.”
“We’ll help,” Nick said. “I promise, we’ll help.” He gave me a look then stepped outside.
“Listen,” I said softly as she cried into her hands. “This guy, he killed my sister. She was a lot like you, actually. You survived though, and now we can make sure you’ll be safe. We’re so close to him, we’re going to get him soon. If there’s anything you can do to help, please, tell us.”
She managed to get herself under control a little. “On my computer, I streamed with him like three nights ago. The logs are in there. We did a private show. He watched me—” She stopped herself, squeezing her eyes shut.
“It’s okay,” I said. “I’ll go through it. It’ll be okay.”
“Right. Yeah.” She looked at me. “I’m sorry about your sister.”
I tried to smile, and failed. “Me too.”
“Thanks for trying to catch him. You seem… like a good sister.”
“Thank you.”
She hugged me then and I held her back. She seemed to small and fragile, and I wondered if that was how Del felt to the CGK when he took her life.
I joined Nick back out in the hall. The local detective went back in to talk to Elena about getting her laptop and anything else that might help.
“If you’re right about this,” he said, his voice close to a whisper, “then this could be huge.”
“I know I’m right.” I stared at him and felt certain that we were close. “He’s going into these chats and getting close to these girls. He wants to bring them into eternity with him, right? Of course he’s getting close to them first.”
“I can’t believe I didn’t see it.”
“We can’t all be super amazing FBI serial killer hunters.”
He smiled, but there was something behind it—something distant and quiet. I could tell he was angry with himself, and I figured I’d let him deal with that on his own.
But unfortunately, he didn’t get a chance.
“Partner,” Cal said from the front door. “We’ve got to talk.”
Nick glanced at me. “Stay here,” he said, then went to join Cal outside.
19
Nick
“I’m off this fucking case.”
Cal stood with his arms crossed, looking at me like he’d stepped in shit. I lingered on the stoop then leaned up against the railing, crossing my arms over my chest. “You sure about that?” I asked.
“I’m very sure.” He was pissed, almost seething. I wanted to feel sorry for him, but fuck it. I didn’t have the bandwidth to deal with him on top of everything else.
I should’ve seen it earlier. That’s two things that Rose figured out and I didn’t. I was happy she did it, and frankly kind of proud, but I was livid with myself. I couldn’t keep letting these things slip past me. Maybe she had an angle I didn’t totally understand, since she was the sister of a victim. She was closer to the whole thing, and knew her sister intimately, in a way that I never would no matter how much research I put into it.
Even still, I should’ve seen. This was too obvious and it slipped past me. I was too busy obsessing about his profile, about his religious beliefs, about the crime scenes themselves, and didn’t spend enough time thinking about how he found, chose, and cultivated his victims. It was a huge mistake, and one I’d never forgive myself for. If I’d noticed these things earlier, I might’ve saved lives.
Cal though, fuck him. He’s been on my last nerve since we were partnered up, and this whole entire operation he’d been down on everything. I couldn’t stand him being around anymore, not if he was going to keep acting like he knew better. Fact was, he’d done nothing for this, and I was better off alone.
“That’s your call,” I said.
“You really don’t give a damn, do you?”
“If you don’t want to be here, then don’t be here. I’m not going to force you to stay.”
He shook his head, disgusted. “Not about me. I know you don’t care about me. I mean that girl in there.”
“Of course I care about her.”
“Then stop dangling her out there like bait.”
“It’s her choice. She knows what she’s doing. I don’t feel like having this discussion with you again.”
I turned away, but he didn’t let up.
“That girl in there, the new one, she almost died. If you had let this go and put Rose into protective custody, then this wouldn’t have happened.”
“You don’t know that.”
“He wouldn’t have had a reason to stay in the city. He would’ve moved on, or gone to ground, or something.”
“And then killed again later.” I turned on him, seething now. I shouldn’t have let him get to me. “He’s been stalking them too, did you know that? Rose figured it out. CGK goes into their streams, gets close to them, and finds out their address that way.”
Cal looked grim. “The girls give it to him, don’t they?”
“He poses as a fan. I guess in a lot of ways, he really is a huge fan, except instead of sending them pizza and presents, he wants to come over and murder the fuck out of them.”
“You think he would’ve attacked Elena no matter what.”
“Probably. He got her address recently though, so there’s no telling what would’ve happened.”
“Fuck,” Cal said. “We should’ve seen that sooner.”
“I
should’ve seen it. You should’ve done something useful, anything at all, but instead you bitched and moaned.”
“You selfish little fuck,” he said, stepping toward me, and for one second I thought he might make this physical. Some wild, animalistic part of me hoped he would. I wanted the chance to punch him in his smug cop face again and again until he stopped looking so goddamn self-righteous. “I’ve been running this investigation here. I got the cops to watch these houses. I’ve been analyzing the other crime scene. Meanwhile, you’ve been shacked up with that girl, doing who knows what.”
That pushed me over the edge. I got up in his face, a snarl on my lips. “What the fuck did you just say?”
“You heard me,” he said, not backing down. “I know you and Rose are fucking. You’re not good at hiding it. Is that why you—”
I didn’t let him finish. I shoved him hard, pushed him back against a tree. He grunted and came at me, hands up, but he was slow. I ducked a right hook and came up, catching him in the gut, then punching him in the eye. He staggered to the side and moved to come at me again, but one of the cops nearby rushed over and grabbed him, breaking up the fight.
My fist throbbed and I thought my blood pressure might explode. Fucking Cal thought he knew everything, and for the most part, I could handle him being a huge prick. But when he brought Rose into it—I wasn’t going to allow him to say that shit. I didn’t care if he happened to be right.
“Go home,” I shouted over the cops. “Go home, Cal. Nobody wants you here anymore.”
“Good luck, you prick,” he said. “Head’s going to have some shit to say to you, you motherfucker. Good fucking luck, asshole.”
I let the cops pull me away. Rose came out of the house and stood with me as I sat down on the stoop, idly wondering if Cal was going to press charges. He probably could, there were plenty of police to back him up, but fuck it. None of it mattered, so long as I caught CGK and made sure Rose was safe.
“What happened?” she asked.
“Cal’s off the case. He’s going home.” I glared down the street at nothing, feeling pent-up rage and frustration.
“But why did you fight?”
“He said something.” I glanced at her then away. “Forget about him. He’s gone.”
She went quiet then, and I knew she realized what he’d said. It wasn’t hard to figure out, and I felt like a bastard for telling her. I warred between being pissed off at Cal again and being pissed off at myself for being such a stupid bastard. I should’ve kept that part to myself, or at least come up with a convincing lie.
I wanted to reach out to her, but my phone vibrated. I grunted something about needing to take it and walked off a few feet.
It was Head, from the main office. “Cal just called me,” he said.
“What’d he say?”
“Not much. He’s off the case.” Head sounded bland, as always. “I have to admit, I’m not surprised. He’d been unhappy for some time.”
I let out a frustrated laugh. “No kidding. He thinks he’s too good for this operation.”
“He thinks you’re wrong, but that’s not the same thing.”
“If you’re calling to tell me to pack it in, that’s not going to happen.”
“No, that’s not why I’m calling.” A short pause while he let that sink in. Head could be dramatic sometimes. “I want to meet with you and Rose.”
I frowned and glanced back at her. “Really?”
Head rarely left the office, if ever. I’d never seen him go on a field run before. “I want to meet her, and I have an idea I’d like to share.”
“If you want to meet, we’ll meet.”
“There’s a diner between Philly and New York. I’ve used it before to meet with law enforcement. I’ll send you the address.”
Feds and diners. It was like they needed diner food to survive. “When should we meet?”
“Leave now.”
He hung up. I stared at my phone until the address arrived. I shook my head, astonished, and looked back at Rose.
“What?” she asked.
“That was Head, my boss. He wants to meet up.”
“Are we in trouble?”
“I genuinely don’t know. Come on, we need to get going.”
“Where?” She followed as I walked down toward the car.
“Another diner, of course. He wants to meet right now.”
She looked at the address on my phone. “That’s like an hour away at least.”
“Then I guess we’re in for a long car ride.”
She sighed and gave me a worried look, but we got into the car and headed out.
The diner was on the edge of a small post-industrial town that looked like it’d last seen a working boom fifty years ago. The building was crumbling, the walls stained and algae-covered, and the interior smelled like fryer grease and sweat. Head sat in a booth in the back corner, a small man with dark hair and a nondescript face, like looking at a Guess Who tile in real life. He stood, wearing a dark suit and expensive shoes, and shook Rose’s hand before taking a seat again.
“Good of you to come all the way out here,” he said.
“Not like we had any other choice,” I said.
He smiled at that. “No, I suppose you didn’t. How are you doing, Nick?”
“I’m fine.”
“And you, Rose? Nick’s taking care of things, I hope? He’s a good cook, or so I hear.”
“He’s not too bad,” she said. “Keeps the house clean at least.”
“Good then.” He looked between us, smiling like he couldn’t make himself stop. It occurred to me that this man ran one of the most secretive and important agencies in the entire FBI. He’d personally caught several high-profile killers before they managed to get out of control, and his agents were considered some of the most elite men in the country.
He looked like a schoolteacher. An older, retired teacher, but still. His hair was dyed and his clothes were slightly too big, but sometimes I thought his appearance was a mask, a purposeful disguise to throw people off his trail. He had a mind that was impossible to get past, and his sense of planning and scale was impeccable. If anyone had to run the logistics of a full-scale war, it should be him.
“We drove for an hour to come here,” I said, leaning toward him. “What can we do for you, sir?”
“I wanted to give you this.” He placed a large, black laptop on the table, shoving some silverware out of the way.
“A computer,” Rose said.
“A very fancy one,” Head said. “My techs tell me it’s top of the line, and it’s loaded with an absurd assortment of software. I want you to start streaming.”
She reared back, almost as if he’d struck her.
“Head,” I said slowly. “Please rethink what you just said.”
He blushed and held up his hands. “Not like that, my dear, not like that. I want you to play that game. What was it called? Blockcraft?”
“Blockcraft,” she echoed. She relaxed a touch, but seemed shaken.
“There’s a website called Twitch. You’d play the game on there and see if you couldn’t draw him in. Meanwhile, the boys at headquarters will monitor all your internet traffic, and maybe we’ll be able to pinpoint his location.”
“It’s not a bad idea,” I said.
“No,” Rose said. “I won’t do it.”
That seemed to surprise Head. He wasn’t used to being told no. His agents had some level of autonomy of course—we could push back, act out a little bit, but we rarely, if ever, denied an outright request. That way, he didn’t have to order us around, and we could pretend that we weren’t controlled by this man, like puppets on strings.
“I wouldn’t ask you to do something dangerous or unsavory,” he said. “Twitch is a perfectly upstanding website.”
“I know what it is,” she said. “But I won’t do it. I’m not going to—I’ve done enough. I’m not going to stream, like she did.”
Her hands trembled. I wanted to comfort he
r, but I couldn’t do it in front of Head. He’d notice and say something, and that might be the end of all this.
“I’ll do it,” I said. “At least, I’ll try it out. I’m not sure I’d be very interesting, though.”
Head watched Rose, almost ignoring my comment. He brushed a hand over his face, like he wanted to get rid of an itch.
“If you don’t want to do it, I won’t make you,” he said quietly. “I suppose I hadn’t thought what it would mean for you.”
“She did that,” Rose said, staring at her hands. “Del did, and I promised I’d never do it. Promised myself, I mean.”
“It’s okay,” I said. “You don’t have to.”
“I’m sorry,” Head said. “I suppose I’ve miscalculated this one.” He looked at me, and his smile returned. “You’ll do well enough then. Although I doubt CGK will much care.”
“He might want to taunt me, and that would be enough.” I pulled the laptop over. “Is everything set up?”
“All ready for you, or so my techs say. I’ll admit, I don’t know much about technology these days. It far outpaced me. I’ve spent my whole life obsessing about people, and forgot to think much about machines.”
I put the laptop next to me, out of sight. Rose seemed to gather herself and calm down a bit, but she was still shaken.
“Is Cal really walking away?” I asked.
Head tapped his fingers on the table. “He says so. You two got in quite a fight, he says.”
“I’ll take some blame there.”
Head snorted. “Of course you will. We both know it’s your damn fault. I’m sure Cal pushed you, said something he shouldn’t have, but come on. You’re both grown men. Act like it.” There was some heat in his tone, and I felt like a child getting scolded.
“What’s that mean for the operation?” I said.
Head waved a hand. “You have the laptop. You can guess where I land.”
“I’d rather hear you say it.”
“I’m not shutting you down, if that’s what you’re worried about. You’ve come too far and CGK is too close. He’s going to pounce soon, I know it. A man like that, he can’t help himself. You’re a juicy target, and so far all his attempts at gaining back some control have been stymied.”