by Karen Rose
He glared at her. ‘What the fuck did you do to me last night?’
Panic stole her breath. ‘Nothing. I . . . I did what you said. Exactly what you said.’
‘Fuck.’ He pinched the bridge of his nose with his good hand. ‘I need an antibiotic.’
‘Do . . . do you want me to get your bag for you?’ she asked in a small voice.
He lifted his gaze to her, so cold it froze her on the spot. ‘No. I will tell you what I want you to do.’ He looked down at his arm. ‘Drugs out the shitter and not one antibiotic,’ he muttered. ‘All right. Clean it, dress it, then I’ll send you to the pharmacy with a script.’
Her hands trembled as she opened the first aid box. ‘I don’t want to hurt you,’ she said to cover her nerves, but it was a lie. She’d like nothing better than to make him howl with pain.
He huffed impatiently, grabbing the box from her. He found the bottle of antiseptic spray and shook it, then gave her another vicious glare. ‘This is almost empty.’
‘I . . . I used a lot last night. The cut was . . . dirty. I tried to clean it.’ She stiffened, preparing herself for a slap, but none came.
He exhaled slowly. ‘I’m not going to hit you. I don’t want you any more bruised than JJ already made you. People will talk.’ He got up, went to his office and came back with his prescription pad, tearing the top page off. ‘Here’s the script for an antibiotic. Pick up more antiseptic, too. Just go to the drugstore. Don’t drive all the way to the grocery.’
‘Bu—’ The word started to slip out, but she caught it in time. She nodded, hoping he hadn’t noticed her lapse. ‘Be right back.’
‘Do not dawdle. I want this tended before I have to go into the city to pick up my guests.’
The script was written for Roxy, as was his habit. Mallory wondered what he’d do when Roxy died, because she had looked terrible that morning. But Mallory didn’t say a word, not wanting to jinx her luck. She was going out again. She dropped her gaze as she backed away, so he wouldn’t see her look of relieved triumph. ‘I’ll hurry.’
Cincinnati, Ohio,
Saturday 15 August, 10.30 A.M.
‘Where’s Kate?’
Decker looked up from his laptop screen. Deacon Novak had taken the seat across from him at Zimmerman’s conference room table. ‘She and Troy got called to a crime scene this morning. They should be here any minute.’
Adam took the chair next to Novak, both men frowning. ‘Crime scene?’ he asked wearily. ‘What’s happened now?’
‘Did you know about the ER nurse who went missing from County?’ Decker asked. ‘Troy heard about it last night from his security contact there,’ he explained when both men looked blank. ‘It would have been when Dani was either still in surgery or in recovery, so he may not have wanted to saddle you with it then.’
‘I knew he’d asked the security guys at the hospital to keep an eye out for anyone coming in when it wasn’t their shift, or not showing,’ Novak said. ‘So we have another one?’
‘Janet Jungers. She was lurking on my floor day before yesterday when I got drugged.’
‘And now she’s dead?’ Adam asked.
‘Oh yeah,’ Kate said as she came in with Troy and Zimmerman, all three carrying cups of coffee. She sat next to Decker and sniffed the sleeve of her blouse. ‘She is very dead.’
Troy sat down with a grimace. ‘I’m always amazed that a body can smell that bad that fast.’
‘A day in the trunk of her car in the August sun will do it,’ Zimmerman said grimly.
‘The body was found by teenagers,’ Troy said. ‘They found Miss Jungers’s car parked in front of a 7-Eleven, the keys in it and the motor running, so they took it for a joyride. When they stopped for gas about four hours later, they smelled something “funky”, opened the trunk, retched, and took off running. The gas station owner chased them because they didn’t pay. Luckily the kids kept stopping to hurl. The owner was able to catch them. He dragged them back and called the cops, who recognized the license plate from the BOLO and called me. CPD had already taken the teenagers to their precinct for booking and I had the car towed to the garage here. The ME’s office came to get the body and Quincy Taylor is going over the car itself now.’
‘How do you know the kids were telling the truth about finding the car with the motor running?’ Decker asked.
Kate rolled her eyes. ‘Because we also interviewed the geniuses who left the car outside the 7-Eleven. They’re in CPD’s holding cell too. They left the motor running because they were actually robbing the 7-Eleven, and the car was supposed to be their getaway vehicle. Except the other punks took it, leaving them high and dry. The guy behind the counter was armed and held them until the cops showed up.’
Adam snorted. ‘You can’t make this shit up.’
Kate shook her head. ‘I know. The would-be robbers claim they found the car parked in the lot of a Holiday Inn yesterday morning. They were hitchhiking and thought it was karma or kismet or a gift from God. They say the keys were in it. They claimed they didn’t look in the trunk. They just took the car.’
‘Cause of death?’ Novak asked.
‘Not sure yet,’ Kate said. She swallowed a gulp of coffee. ‘But she was stored in three suitcases in the trunk.’
‘Oh God,’ Adam said with disgust. ‘I hate those.’
‘Yeah, well, I’m not keen on them either,’ Kate said and drank more coffee. ‘Takes forever to get that taste out of your mouth. Anyway, the suitcases are nothing special. Probably bought at Wal-Mart or Target, one of those sets of three with different sizes. Carrie will have to let us know if there’s any forensic evidence, although I’m doubting it. He left her for us to find just like he left Eileen Wilkins, and the only reason I can see is that they’re supposed to be a warning to any other minions he has lurking that they’d better not fuck with him.’
‘Just as he warned Rawlings with the attack on his kid,’ Decker said. ‘He thinks he’s safe because he’s disguised as the Professor when he does these things.’
‘What about Janet Jungers?’ Novak asked. ‘Do we know anything about her?’
‘She’d been an ER nurse for fifteen years,’ Troy said. ‘We haven’t had a chance to talk to anyone in her department yet, but the security guys who called me last night said she rarely missed a shift. Her personnel file lists her as unmarried.’
‘I had surveillance put on her house as soon as we heard she was missing last night,’ Zimmerman said. ‘Nobody’s gone in or come out. We’ll need to search the place when we’re done here.’ He looked over at Novak. ‘How’s Dani?’
Novak sighed. ‘Alive, but still in ICU. It’s nerve-racking not knowing who we can trust. Bailey’s with her now, but even she won’t know if an IV bag’s been tampered with. We’re hand-picking her nurses based on background checks and personal relationships with people we trust, like Carrie Washington. And, of course, they’re watching her for infection. That’s going to be the hard part.’
Kate reached across the table and squeezed his hand. ‘We can take shifts. Watch over her.’
His smile was grateful. ‘Thank you. Good news is that her counts were good before the attack, so she was healthy going in. Diesel saved her life.’
‘And hasn’t left the hospital,’ Adam said quietly. ‘That’s a big deal for him. He has major PTSD when it comes to hospitals.’
‘Has she been able to talk about the attack?’ Decker asked. ‘Did the assailant say anything to her?’
Novak shook his head. ‘She hasn’t woken up quite enough to answer questions. She knows we’re there, and the few words she’s said have been to comfort us.’ His throat worked and his jaw tightened. ‘Idiot woman. Going in to the clinic to begin with.’
Adam clasped Novak’s shoulder and gave it an almost brutal squeeze. ‘She’s tough,’ he said to the rest o
f them. ‘She’ll be okay.’
Decker closed his eyes, fresh guilt hitting him hard. Then a fist hit him harder, right in the shoulder, and his eyes popped open. Kate was shaking out her hand. ‘You hit me,’ he said, stunned.
Kate looked at Novak and Adam. ‘He’s sitting here feeling guilty because he thinks he could have stopped Dani from going into the clinic.’
Novak actually grinned. ‘Then he’s the idiot.’
Adam was shaking his head, chuckling. ‘Nobody makes Dani do anything and nobody can stop her when she’s made up her mind. That’s why she’s gonna be fine.’
Novak’s grin faded into a genuine smile. ‘But thank you,’ he said to Decker, ‘for wishing that you could have stopped her.’ He opened his notebook then, pen in hand, his expression suddenly brusque. ‘So what do we do next? Because I really want this bastard.’
A knock on the door had them all turning. The door opened and Meredith peeked in. ‘I’ve got Wendi Cullen with me. Can she join us?’
‘Of course,’ Zimmerman said, motioning them in.
Meredith was followed in by a woman Decker remembered seeing from the ER waiting room the night before. Bringing up the rear was an agent Decker hadn’t yet met. That the man was an FBI agent was unarguable, though. He was spit right out of the stereotypical mold.
Ah. Right. Decker remembered now. Meredith and Wendi Cullen had gone hunting for possible victims, using Wendi’s contacts in the neighborhood where she ran her halfway house for women and girls who’d come out of lives of prostitution. Adam had been worried, but Zimmerman had told him one of their agents was guarding them. Meredith had ditched the guy because his presence was scaring people away.
Decker could easily see why.
‘Meredith, Miss Cullen,’ Zimmerman said, ‘please have a seat. You too, Agent Colby. We have plenty of chairs.’
Colby obeyed stiffly, saying nothing at all.
Wendi gave Zimmerman a warm smile after he’d introduced everyone at the table. ‘I do appreciate the extra coverage,’ she said, ‘but I really don’t need a chaperone. Surely the taxpayers’ money can be better spent. Like maybe on a donation to my halfway house.’
Zimmerman looked surprised, but a stern look from Colby had the boss’s eyes widening even more. ‘Um, well,’ Zimmerman stammered, then cleared his throat. ‘You and Meredith may have attracted our suspect’s attention by asking around about anyone who had been approached for the porn industry. After Dr Novak’s attack, we’re being careful.’
Wendi sat back in her chair, eyes narrowing. ‘Are you sure you’re a real FBI agent, sir? Because you don’t lie very well. Agent Colby is shadowing me on his own time, isn’t he?’
Colby scowled and said nothing.
Zimmerman laughed. ‘Well, I used to be a better liar. I’ve been behind a desk too long.’ He sobered with a sigh. ‘But it is true that we have to be more careful. I didn’t expect our suspect to come after Dani Novak that way.’
Wendi glanced up at the silent agent sitting beside her. ‘Thank you,’ she said softly, and Colby flushed a dark red. ‘I accept your protection for me and my girls.’ She squared her shoulders and addressed the table. ‘I’ve had several responses to the inquiries Meredith and I made two days ago. Word’s gotten out in the neighborhood that we have a predator, and people are talking, watching out for each other. I’m not so worried about myself, but if the man who attacked Dani comes after the girls under my protection . . . I’m not sure what I’d do.’
She pulled a thick manila envelope from her handbag, along with a flash drive. ‘I’ve heard from four people so far, mothers and grandmothers who are the heads of their families. They stopped by to bring me food, but it was a cover so that they could talk to me. Each one had lost a child. Three are simply gone. Disappeared. One killed himself. OD’d on pills.’
Decker stilled, the hairs rising on the back of his neck.
‘Each one,’ Wendi went on, ‘said their teenager had changed abruptly. Become secretive. Moody in the extreme. Each one said a search of the teen’s room turned up drugs. Coke, pills, and weed. They all said that when they confronted their child, the child was too terrified to tell the truth, but these moms were relentless and nagged until their children admitted they’d been sexually molested. That the drugs had been the lure and that they were hooked now. That someone had taken pictures of them and put them on the Internet in exchange for more drugs. And that if they told who’d done it, they’d be killed along with everyone in their household.’
Decker didn’t have to check his notes. He’d found two more kids in the yearbook photos from McCord’s school that matched faces he’d seen in the files Diesel had given him. ‘Was Wesley Young one of them? The one who OD’d?’
Wendi turned to him, shocked. ‘Yes. How did you know?’
Zimmerman looked stunned as well. ‘Yes, Agent Davenport, how did you know?’
Decker brought them up to speed, telling them about the flash drive without mentioning Diesel’s name, calling him his ‘confidential informant’. He could see that Novak and Adam realized who his informant was, and that Meredith and Wendi did not. Zimmerman, of course, had known about the files’ existence as well, even before Decker had given him a copy the previous day. But he hadn’t had the chance to tell his boss about the work he’d done overnight.
Decker explained his search and the theories he, Kate, and Troy had posited the night before. ‘McCord and this Professor crossed paths somewhere. Stone was recruited out of middle school, so I figured McCord’s school was a good place to start.’
‘When did you do all of this?’ Zimmerman asked, visibly impressed.
Decker felt a flush climbing up the back of his neck. ‘Last night and this morning.’
‘Because he doesn’t require sleep,’ Troy complained. ‘I still don’t think he’s human.’
‘I slept for a fu . . . reaking week,’ Decker protested, editing himself mid-curse.
‘I’m not a doctor, but I’m pretty sure comas don’t count as sleep, Davenport,’ Adam said, looking impressed as well. ‘That’s really good work.’
‘I’m going to have to agree,’ Novak added with what Decker hoped was mock reluctance. ‘I guess you might be okay after all.’
‘Thank you,’ Decker said dryly. ‘So happy to finally pass muster.’ He looked at Kate and Troy with a sigh. ‘I found two more this morning after you left to work the nurse’s murder. Lashonda Hubbell and Trina Pasco.’
Wendi had been studying him soberly since he’d mentioned the drive he’d received from his confidential informant and he figured she’d press for more information, but instead she emptied the contents of the manila envelope on to the table. ‘Lashonda was one of the ones who disappeared. I have two more you haven’t found yet. These are photographs and descriptions of the missing kids, along with the pertinent dates – when their behavior changed, when they disappeared, et cetera.’ Her lips trembled and she firmed them. ‘But it sounds like this guy is not afraid to end lives to tie off his loose ends, so I imagine he’s killed them too.’
The table went utterly silent for a long moment. Then Zimmerman spoke. ‘How many of these teens are we talking about, Decker?’
‘I didn’t look at every file,’ Decker said, wishing now that he’d found the courage to force himself to do so, but Kate derailed that with a soft nudge of her foot against his calf.
‘Stop it,’ she murmured. ‘You can’t do it all.’
‘Pot, kettle,’ he muttered under his breath, then answered Zimmerman’s question. ‘Of the McCord files I did examine, I found ten. Half were African-American, the other half were Caucasian. Eight were girls, two boys. All looked to be about thirteen to fifteen. All were photographed multiple times between five and ten years ago. I made notes of the file names so that ICAC can review them.’
‘Ten,’ Wendi said
dully. ‘Plus the two others whose mothers came to me. And that’s just the ones we know of.’
‘What about Trina Pasco?’ Decker asked her. ‘She graduated a year after Lashonda – I’ve got her senior yearbook photo on my laptop.’ He woke it up, found the right picture and turned his screen around.
Wendi shook her head at first, then stood up and leaned over the table to get a closer look. ‘Yeah. I’ve seen her. She doesn’t look like this anymore and she doesn’t go by Trina, either.’ She looked up, her jaw hard, but her eyes soft and . . . hurt. ‘I haven’t seen her in a year or two at least, but last time I did, she was turning tricks. She’d been doing meth. Looked sixty instead of twenty. I’d be shocked if she’s still alive, but we can ask around. Send me the other photos, the ones you haven’t identified yet. I’ll see if I know them.’
Decker hesitated. ‘They’re graphic. I can edit them so only their faces show.’
Wendi sat back down, her mouth curved bitterly. ‘Agent Davenport, I know what those photos look like. There are plenty of them out there of me, too. But, please, crop them back so that I can show them around, if that’s okay with you, Agent Zimmerman.’
Zimmerman glanced at the still-silent Agent Colby, who nodded once. ‘I’m okay with it if you allow Agent Colby to go with you.’
Wendi looked up at Colby with a sigh. ‘Can you look . . . regular? Like . . . not a Fed?’
Colby finally spoke. ‘Probably not. But I’ll try.’
‘I suppose that’s all I can ask.’ Wendi passed one of her business cards to Decker. ‘My email. Can you send me the photos as soon as possible? And at some point I will need to know where these files came from. Someone collected them . . .’ Her eyes flashed. ‘You can’t shield that person from punishment by calling him your confidential informant.’
Decker now understood her probing stare. ‘It wasn’t like that. I can’t say any more except that the . . . the finding of these photos hurt my informant deeply.’