Dead Drop: A Girl's Guide to Homicide

by D. A. Brown

  “And how did you figure out they were the same person?”

  “That was an accident. We met up in a private chat and discovered we were both in Seattle, and then somehow the issue of kids came up.”

  “Kids?”

  “Yes, like uh, well, where you could find them in New World. You do know that looking at virtual porn is not against the law, right?”

  They didn’t, but both Tommy and Sophia nodded.

  “Right, so anyway he gave me some instructions and I got into the room and then I met with some other people who eventually told me about the dead drop.”

  “Nobody vetted you?” Sophia asked.

  “Oh, I’m abbreviating the story a bit.” Martins ran his hands through his hair and wiped his face with the back of his wrist. “So, yes, there was a bit of a vetting process. I met with this Gregor fellow at a bar up here on Capitol Hill.”

  He looked at Tommy. “And I know what you’re thinking – it was not a gay bar. I’m not gay.”

  “No judgment here, Azzo. But I gotta say, this is a pretty nifty condo here for a straight guy. I’m just saying…” Tommy looked at Sophia. She rolled her eyes and shook her head.

  “What he’s saying,” Sophia said, “is he really doesn’t care what floats your boat.”

  “Except what floats my boat has to do with children.” He started to sob again.

  “Look, we need you to come downtown and talk to us some more and maybe meet with a sketch artist. Would you be willing to do that for us?” Sophia stood up.

  “Now?”

  “Yes, now.”

  “I thought I could just talk to you here.”

  “We need to identify this guy, Gregor. Sounds like to me, he’s the ringleader.”

  “It would really help us find the real bad guy here, Azzo.” Sophia put her hand on Martins’ shoulder.

  “I know I have a problem. I’ve tried to overcome this. I’ve been in therapy for two years.”

  Tommy walked over to the window and looked down to the street. He turned back to Martins. “Before we head downtown, did you load anything on that drive the other night?”

  “No, it was empty. I didn’t leave anything. I put it back.”

  “So would you recognize this guy, this Gregor, if you saw him again?”

  “I think so. I mean it was dark in the bar but he was pretty distinctive looking. Chubby, hairless little man.”

  “Sounds delightful.”

  “Let’s go down to our office and have a sketch artist come in. We really appreciate all your help.”

  Martins stood and smoothed out his pants. Sophia and Tommy stood silently while he put on a jacket and stuffed his phone and wallet into his pocket.

  “I hope this won’t take too long. I’ve got an appointment with my therapist later this afternoon.”

  “No problem.” Tommy walked behind Martins as Sophia led him down to the car.

  They put Martins in the soft interview room with a bottle of water and a candy bar, then returned to the bullpen and met at Sophia’s cubicle.

  “Ok, so we barely have enough to hold this guy. I have no clue about that virtual porn stuff he was talking about. We’ve got to create some reason to get a sketch artist here.And I think we both know that we’ve officially gone back to investigating a case we were told not to investigate. I don’t know whether to be happy or freaked out that he’s rolling.” Sophia spun slowly in her chair.

  Tommy sat with his elbows on his knees, rubbing his hands together.

  “I don’t want to leave him alone for very long and give him a chance to change his mind. Other than admitting to liking to look at virtual naked kids, we’ve got nothing on him and certainly nothing to hold him here if he decides to leave or lawyer up.” Tommy stood and began to pace.

  “Why don’t you try and find someone to come here and sketch something for us.”

  Sophia started dialing. “Go keep the pervert busy.”

  She knew of only a couple of on duty sketch artists, both of whom worked patrol. With her luck, they’d be furloughed and there was no way they were going to get permission for overtime. Otherwise, she’d have to reach out to other departments and she wasn’t very excited about extending the reach of information beyond her and Tommy.

  Martins sat at the table looking like a beaten dog. He ran the palms of his hands over the top of the table. Tommy pulled out a chair. He left the door ajar to give the two men some air. The usual foot traffic passed up and down the hall. Detectives, administrative specialists and the occasional brass slowed down enough to take a peek into the room. Martins sat silently as Tommy tried to engage him in small talk.

  “You like living on the Hill?”

  “It’s OK. Starting to get a little crazy at night. I don’t like going out much by myself.” Martins sat back. “You live in the city, detective?”

  “No.”

  “Sorry, I didn’t mean to pry.”

  “Not a big fan of city life.”

  “I can imagine you see a lot of ugliness.”

  “Enough to make me not want to live here.”

  Sophia came to the door and asked Tommy to step out.

  “Jesus. I can’t keep up the nice guy thing much longer. What do you know?”

  “Still working on getting a sketch artist. Not having much luck.”

  As they stood in the hall, one of the IT guys sauntered toward them. Sophia remembered him from an uncomfortable encounter last spring, when she caught him looking through a case file on her desk while upgrading her desktop. He’d received a stern reprimand from his supervisor and was banned from servicing the computers in the sexual assault unit. The IT guy slowed down to get around Tommy and Sophia. As he did, he looked into the interview room, pausing almost imperceptibly.

  Sophia whispered to Tommy. “Did you see that?”

  He continued down the hall and then looked back just before turning the corner.

  “That was weird.”

  “What? He’s weird.”

  “No, did you see how he kind of paused when he went by the room? Like he recognized Martins?”

  “Go see where he’s headed.” Tommy walked in and grabbed Martins by the arm.

  “Come with me. And stay quiet. I want you to take a look at someone.” Tommy led Martins down the hall towards the robbery unit.

  Sophia pulled out her phone and acted as if she was on a call. The IT guy kept walking then turned toward the robbery unit. He stopped at the desk of the admin, who pointed to an empty cubicle.

  “That’s the one,” she said. “It’s been making some crazy noise all day.”

  Sophia motioned to Tommy. He led Martins down the hall towards robbery. Tommy put his finger up to his mouth and walked Martins past the desk where the IT guy was working. As he passed the cubicle, Martins glanced at the man typing on the keyboard and then back at Tommy. His eyes widened. Tommy pulled him out of earshot.

  “That’s him. That’s the guy who calls himself Gregor. What the fuck kind of sick joke is this?” Martin headed for the elevator lobby.

  Tommy ran up to Martins and caught his arm. “Hey, slow down.”

  “I can’t believe you brought me down here knowing that guy worked here.” Martins’ eyes darted from one side of the hallway to the other. “Get me out of here.”

  “Do you really think we’re that stupid? Of course we didn’t know he worked here.” Tommy was out of breath. “I don’t even know the guy’s name. Do you?” He looked back at Sophia, who was looking up the number for IT.

  “Something funky. I can’t remember, but I’ll know in a minute.” She put up her hand as someone answered. “Yeah, can you tell me the name of the IT guy who’s up in robbery?” She motioned for Tommy to take Martins back to the interview room.

  “What is it?” She pinned the phone to her shoulder so she could write. “Eldon Loveschild? Hey thanks. No, no problem just wanted to ask him something, and I was embarrassed to ask his name. ”

  Sophia hung up and dialed personne
l. She followed a distance behind Tommy as he led Martins back down the hallway.

  “Fran, I need a big favor and I need you to keep it quiet. I need an address on an employee as fast as you can get it to me. Do me a favor, will you? Text it to my phone.”

  Martins had gone from remorseful to furious.

  “I can’t fucking believe this. That guy saw me in here.”

  “Calm down…” Tommy stood next to the door, letting Sophia sit across from Martins.

  “Don’t tell me to calm down.”

  “Mr. Martins, we had no idea Gregor or whatever his name is, worked here.”

  “I don’t believe you. This is exactly something you people would do. Get me killed.”

  “Maybe if you didn’t hang out with…” Tommy stopped himself.

  “Look, Mr. Martins we’re going to figure out what’s going on, I promise. How about another water or maybe a coffee or pop?”

  “I just want to go home.”

  “Look, I don’t think he saw you. He was too engrossed in the computer. He doesn’t have your address or real name, right?” Tommy said.

  “I don’t think so. He’s an admin on that site though, so who knows what he can find out about me.”

  “Azzo, we need you to work with us. If you want to stay out of jail, we need you to go home and stay off of the computer. Don’t go to that site, whatever you called it…”

  “New World,” Martins said.

  “New World. Don’t go there until we tell you it’s OK.”

  “I’m never going there again, I swear.”

  “Stay off the Internet and don’t go to the dead drop. Just lie low, got it?” Tommy said.

  Sophia stood. “And you have our word on this: We didn’t know he worked here.”

  “I’ll drive you home,” Tommy said and then looked back at Sophia. “We’ll talk when I get back.”

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  Sophia started making notes. She called HR again and talked Fran into giving her Loveschild’s home address. She pulled the house up on Google maps and printed out the bird’s eye view. A quick bit of research revealed that the home was originally owned by Henry and Shirley Townshend. It was purchased in 1957, and the only legal change on the title was when Henry died in 1972 and the house was placed in Shirley’s name as the sole owner. Sophia couldn’t find Eldon’s name attached to any of the legal documents associated with the home. She ran his name for wants and warrants. He was clear, had a valid driver’s license and appeared to have had no contacts with the police, with the exception of a ticket for expired tabs in 2005. She did a Google search on him and came up with a few references on some obscure computer sites. He was a ghost - a man with no apparent history on the Internet, at least not under that name. She then typed in the name Gregor. It came back with over fifty-five million hits.

  They could bring Eldon in for questioning but if he was smart enough to be a blank slate on the Internet, and if he was an administrator in New World, he was smart enough to keep his mouth shut. Not to mention that he was quickly looking like a suspect in a child pornography ring case they ‘weren’t working.’

  Sophia’s desk phone rang.

  “Sophia, it’s George Anderson. You got a minute? This is important.”

  “Sure. What’s going on?”

  “Someone must have picked up the dead drop last night. I got an alert on the remote software.”

  “We sat on it for a few hours, and we actually watched a guy pick it up. We snatched him up today and he claimed he didn’t leave anything on it or take anything off.”

  “Well, someone did. Maybe he’s lying. There’s a newsflash for you.”

  “Did you get anything from the remote, or whatever it is you do?”

  “I got an IP address but without a warrant, I can’t get you anymore information. But I can tell you this much. Whoever accessed it dumped a bunch of nasty child porn on it. I was able to use the software to access the sites that were loaded. They’re pretty common. We see ‘em all the time. This is why these guys use the peer to peer stuff. It’s safer for them to share it without getting busted. Somebody got sloppy and didn’t wipe the drive.”

  “So at least we have confirmation that child porn is being accessed and, or, shared. We just don’t have an identity.”

  “Right. But this is enough to get a warrant. I can get one together pretty fast, and get it signed. This company is pretty good about getting stuff to us on an exigency basis. I should have subscriber information before the end of the day.” He paused. “Just remember something, they’re probably stealing WIFI from a neighbor so we may have to get creative. The subscriber may be some completely innocent person who has no idea his hard earned dollars are paying for more than just a fast connection for Netflix. It would help if you can identify one of the suspects coming and going from the house, and connect him to a prior conviction. That would seal the deal with a judge.”

  “Thanks, George. Keep me up to date, will you?”

  Sophia called Tommy.

  “Can you talk?”

  “Sort of. I’m still here with Martins. He’s suddenly become very talkative.”

  “Good or bad?”

  “Hard to say. I’ll have to call you back.”

  “Ask him again if he put anything on or took anything off that drive. Anderson just called and said he got a remote hit on the device. Someone accessed it. Maybe it happened after we left. He’s writing up a warrant now.”

  “I’ll ask. We’re just chatting at the moment.”

  “You’re not going to piss him off again are you?”

  “Nope. Just making small talk like I do.”

  Sgt.Pierson suddenly appeared at her cubicle. Sophia hung up on Tommy.

  “How are things going?”

  “Fine.”

  “You still working on that homeless case?”

  “Just about to get a warrant on it.”

  “Good to hear.” Pierson put his hands in his pockets and looked around the office.

  “Anything else going on I should know about?”

  “Not really. Just catching up on some old cases.”

  “Well, if anything changes, you’ll keep me in the loop, right?”

  “Sure thing, sarge.” Sophia gave him her most confident smile.

  Sophia headed down the hall to the restroom. As she neared the end of the hall, she nearly ran into Eldon. The two stutter stepped around each other. He said nothing as he passed and headed back down the hall toward the interview room.

  Sophia paused at the end of the hall and watched him. Eldon slowed and glanced into the room. He stopped when he realized it was empty and turned to head back. His eyes met Sophia’s. A part of her wanted him to know, to challenge her, confront her, but he passed by with only a slight smile and a nod.

  It was on.

  Eldon went back to his office and sat down at his cubicle. He crossed his arms and stared at the blank monitor on his desk. That detective, the bitch who’d confronted him and ratted him out for looking at some fucking file on her desk, was onto him. And she and that old guy had that shithead from the bar in the interview room. He knew that guy couldn’t be trusted. He should have gone with his gut and denied him access.

  Eldon walked down 4th Ave to the bus stop. He was confident the guy at police headquarters didn’t know the location of the project and hadn’t met any of the players. But he knew about the dead drop.

  Eldon didn’t think the man saw him, but that detective had given him a look. Maybe she was just being a dismissive cop, the kind that looks down on civilians. Maybe he was overreacting.

  Getting off the bus in Lake City, Eldon looked around, making sure he wasn’t being followed. The old paranoia, the disease that had held him captive for so long, was returning. He felt a rash rising on the back of his neck and around his crotch. He let himself in through the basement door. No one had asked after Shirley, and according to the weather report, her body was under a layer of ice.

  He’d thought abou
t moving the servers upstairs now that he had it to himself. It would make it so much easier to run the business where the light was better. He’d begun to feel like a vampire, living in Shirley’s basement. But now he was glad he hadn’t made the change. If the cops were onto him, it was best that he only needed to worry about making up a story about Shirley, not explaining a wall of servers housing thousands of images of children, taking up the living and dining room. He needed to get them out of the house all together. An exit strategy was in order.

  Eldon called Augustine. He was the master admin for the project they called Baby Watch.

  “Auggie, it’s Eldon. How are things?”

  “Hey, boss. Things are busy. Lot’s of satisfied customers.”

  “Any issues at the house?” Eldon rummaged through the medicine cabinet, looking for something to put on his rash.

  “Nope. We’re good neighbors. The lady next door even brought over some cookies. Came over with her little girl. What a little hottie.” He laughed.

  “We don’t shit where we live, Auggie.”

  “Don’t worry. It’s all good. I’m behaving myself. I have lots to keep me busy here. When are you coming by? We’ve got some really nice stuff coming in from Amsterdam.”

  “I’m going to stop by later. Do me a favor. Make sure the guys stay inside today. Keep things quiet, OK?”

  “Something I should know?”

  “Just being cautious. Remember where I work. I hear things. Just want to make sure we are being smart.”

  “You’re in charge.”

  “I may stop by later tonight. I don’t want to talk over the phone. Let’s keep things tight.”

  Eldon hung up and paced. He was in an uncontrollable panic, something he hadn’t felt in years. This was a character flaw and he understood it to be a game changer if he didn’t get a handle on it. He needed something to take his mind off of things.

  Sitting in front of his computer, he took a deep breath and logged in. He needed to visit his angel, needed to see her face.