by Robin Mahle
“I’m sorry, Kate. Are you mad at me?”
“No. I’m not. I just need a minute.” She turned to him. “You might be right about Agent Scarborough, but I can do this without his or anyone else’s help.”
The bathroom was shared by the adjacent room and Kate went inside and locked both doors. She was upset by Will’s honesty. If he was able to pick up what was happening with Scarborough, then others in her class probably could too.
“Kate? Your phone’s ringing. It’s Scarborough.”
She pulled the washcloth from her face. “Can you grab it and tell him to give me a second. I don’t want to miss his call,” Kate said from behind the door. “Code is 3626.”
Will entered her security code and unlocked the phone. “Agent Reid’s phone. This is Agent Caison.”
Nick was quiet for a moment. It seemed he wasn’t expecting to hear Caison’s voice. “Yeah, I need to talk to Reid.”
“Hang on. She’s in the restroom.”
“Never mind. Just have her call me back ASAP.” Nick hung up.
Kate stepped out of the restroom and reached for her phone, noticing the peculiar look on Will’s face.
“He hung up.”
NINE
Instructed to sit on the couch, the young woman who’d been too high to remember her own name followed the orders. Corbett reached for his camera. “Spread your legs.” He began snapping pictures of her genitalia. His clients demanded to see the goods before making their deposits and the images could also be used for the websites to promote their offerings.
It was a lucrative industry, one that found Corbett on the receiving end of more money than he ever made in his previous life as a high school counselor or before that when he worked in the food service industry. Never an ambitious man, he was often preoccupied with the young girls for whom counseling services were offered or the part-time kids who worked in the fast food restaurants on his delivery route.
It had been all too easy for him to pass the background check and the tests required to work at the school. Of course, he hadn’t had a criminal record, which helped. And their job requirements were a joke. But it gave him the idea to take his talents and put them to better use. From there, it didn’t take him long to align himself with the man who was running the show.
What put all that in jeopardy was that he’d been required to submit fingerprints for the school district. That had been the reason his identity was so easy for the cops to obtain. That, and the fact that he’d failed to use a proxy server on one of his websites that led them to his door. Corbett hadn’t wanted to leave his home, but there was little choice. Now he had to be constantly on the move, and it was becoming a hassle. The biggest danger was in transporting them. It would only take one person to witness him taking half-unconscious women and tossing them into the van. It was best when his partner could keep them. His place was secluded. But it wasn’t always possible. The only good thing was that he could unload them within just a few days. Demand seemed to be at an all-time high.
His boss still had great concerns for the operation and what would happen if the feds managed to track Corbett down. No matter how many times he’d offered assurances, the only true assurance was for him to continue to deliver high-caliber assets, which he intended to do.
“Turn around,” he said to the girl, taking more pictures.
Two more waited in the bedroom for him. Corbett wasted no time breaking in his latest acquisitions. Humiliation and denigration was the key to keeping them submissive. The drugs kept them from struggling.
» » »
The track was still slick from the morning drizzle as Kate made her way around it. She was preparing for the second of three physical fitness tests she would have to pass in order to graduate. The mile and a half run was just one part of it, but Kate wanted the practice. She checked the stopwatch and smiled as she crossed the finish line. Light sprinkles of water landed on her face as she tilted her head up towards the misty skies and tried to catch her breath.
Kate returned to the lockers. She was the only one inside the building, except for the maintenance man who opened it up for her. With all the time she had been away on the investigation, it would be on her to keep up with the rest of the class. As hard as it was to stay put while Scarborough and Jameson were working on the Jane Doe found in Virginia Beach, making up for lost time, lost practice, was the only way to make sure she didn’t fail. Will might have been right about Nick, but she wouldn’t accept that she couldn’t do this on her own. They were all watching her now; the instructors, the agents in the WFO. Watching to see if she really has what it took to be a federal agent.
Whether it had been the run that cleared her head or the cool water that now flowed down her body as she stood in the shower, Kate couldn’t be sure, but an idea sparked. Something she had missed before. Something they had all missed.
This couldn’t wait; she had to talk to Nick. Kate jumped out of the shower and hardly dried off. Fumbling to get dressed, she reached for her phone to call him. “Come on, answer.” The line continued to ring and finally went to voicemail. “Damn it.” It was seven a.m.; Nick had to be at the field office. She knew he’d gotten in late last night, but also knew the man rarely slept longer than four hours, spending much of the rest of his time at the office.
The consequences of missing the eight a.m. class would have to be considered later. Kate needed to get to the field office now.
A few of her colleagues were on the track now as she left the building and headed towards her car, still parked at the dormitory. She waved, but did not stop to speak to them.
The car unlocked with a beep from the remote entry, and Kate tossed her bag onto the passenger seat, sliding inside. She tried Nick once again, but the line still went to voicemail. “Where the hell are you? Pick up!” He’d hung up before she’d gotten a chance to speak to him last night and now he wasn’t answering. Something wasn’t right. She decided to try Agent Jameson. “God damn it! Where the hell is everyone?” Had there been some sort of staff meeting or some other bullshit that was keeping these guys from answering? Her patience had just about run out and, combined with the heavy rush hour traffic, Kate wanted to scream.
Finally arriving at the WFO, Kate rushed inside to find Nick. The obligatory security scans only irritated her further.
Agent Vasquez emerged from the break room, stirring a cup of coffee. Kate immediately stopped. “Have you seen Agent Scarborough?”
“I just got here, Kate. I haven’t seen him yet. Is everything okay? You look upset.”
“Sorry. I’m not upset; I just need to see him or Agent Jameson and traffic was hell and I’m missing my class…”
“Okay, okay. Calm down. Let’s check his office first.”
Vasquez was right; she needed to calm down. She just felt so damn stupid for not noticing it before. It was only over the weekend, when she’d had a chance to update the files that she’d seen it, but it didn’t click with her then. It seemed that was just how her mind worked. It needed time to process information, work to find a solution. It was as if she’d begun to develop this ability, one that made it possible for her to pick up on the finest details and find a connection. Perhaps she’d always had it and never gave it a purpose, until now.
“Agent Scarborough?” Vasquez asked, now standing in his doorway with Kate anxiously waiting. “I think NAT Reid would like to speak with you.” She stepped aside. “See? There you go.”
“Kate. Aren’t you supposed to be in class?”
She was surprised by his casual tone. Hadn’t he checked his messages or seen that she’d called? Being irritated with him wasn’t going to help. He didn’t know why she was there or that she’d put her training in jeopardy because of it.
“I tried to call you a couple of times. Agent Jameson too.”
“I saw the missed calls. Sorry about that. We’ve been busting our asses trying to light a fire under Virginia Beach PD to get us those labs and keeping up with Garrett too. Any
way, what it is? What’s so urgent that you’re here and not at the base?”
She stepped inside, but not before giving a nod to Vasquez, thanking her for her help. “The other night, after we returned from Richmond, I was updating the notes on the files and I came across images of the websites that’ve already been shut down.”
“Okay. What about them?”
“I studied the pictures of those girls for a long time. I don’t know why, particularly, except I guess I was just saddened by them.”
“Kate, you and I have talked about this.”
She raised her hand. “I know. I’m working on it. Anyway, I went for a run this morning at the base and when I was in the shower, it occurred to me that I’d seen tattoos on some of the women.”
“And that’s unusual?”
“It’s unusual if they’re virtually the same tattoo on several of them.”
Nick slowly began to sit up straight in his chair. He folded his arms across his broad chest, waiting for her to continue. “I remember seeing tattoos, but not that they were of anything unique, or that they were the same.”
“On at least three of the women that I can recall, each had a tattoo of a flower.”
He pursed his lips. “Lots of women have flower tattoos.”
“You’re right. But what if he’s marking them? Branding them. Maybe Corbett calls them by the names of their tattooed flowers. Rose or Lily or Daisy. I don’t know. But, Nick, I think it’s worth considering. What about the woman found in Virginia Beach, the one that came up as a DNA match from that earring we found? Does she have a flower tattoo?”
“Scarborough?” Agent Jameson appeared in the corridor. “You got a second?” he asked, eyeing Kate.
“Yeah, what’s up? I was just talking with Kate and, um, she has found something that could be of interest.”
Jameson moved inside to join them. “I just got a call from one of Detective Garrett’s officers. He said Ballistics showed the bullet that was used to kill Petrovich was definitely from a .50 caliber Dezzy.”
“We already assumed that, right?”
“We didn’t assume that we’d find the gun, or the man who appears to be the owner of said weapon.” Jameson puffed out his thick round chest and placed his hands on his hips, content with his role as messenger of these glad tidings.
“They found the gun? Did they arrest the man?” Kate asked, believing this news meant they’d be able to get the shooter to talk and that they’d find Corbett as a result.
“Apparently the gun was found next to the body of the man who, in all likelihood, fired the weapon at Petrovich. The guy turned up in an alley behind a strip mall not far from the drop house. He’s been identified as Toma Soric. According to local PD, they’d been watching Soric for a while to get him on drug-related charges. And in fact, on initial discovery, they believed it had been a deal gone bad. But I don’t think so and neither did the officer who contacted me. This is too much of a coincidence.”
“I’d have to agree with you, assuming that not many people in the neighborhood carry a monster of a gun like that. The man kills Petrovich a day after we talked to him, then he winds up dead a few days later. What about Bjuric? Any idea of his whereabouts yet?” Nick asked.
“Not yet,” Jameson replied. “No one in the area’s willing to talk. Oh.” He raised his index finger. “They did find a safe in Petrovich’s apartment. Guess what was inside?”
Both Kate and Nick smiled, already knowing the answer.
“Surveillance tapes. I’m waiting on a call back from Garrett to see if they find Corbett on any of those tapes with his as of yet unknown partner. We know the cameras weren’t working on the day Petrovich was killed, but that doesn’t mean they weren’t working prior. And if Richmond PD was surveilling Soric for dealing, they got to know who he was hanging out with. We can start talking to those people.”
“When it rains, it pours.” Nick leaned back in his chair and laced his fingers behind his head. “Kate thinks Corbett is branding his girls. Tattooing them.” He directed his sights to Kate. “Can you go back through the files and pull up every image of the sites we’ve shut down and get with computer forensics to find any more that have popped up since. I want you to scour the pictures of the girls to find any and all tattoos. It might not just be flowers; who knows? Now, we just need to identify the Jane Doe and we might actually be getting somewhere.”
» » »
The instructor raised his starter pistol and, although the sound of the shot always rattled her, Kate sprinted off the mark without hesitation. The afternoon skies were clear and the sun bounced off the red clay track as she pumped her arms and legs as fast as she could.
She passed by two of the other women in her class and was on her way to catch up to Sherman. He was fourth. Her mouth opened to pull as much air into her lungs as possible. Her legs were beginning to burn and her heart felt like it might beat right out of her chest. But she pushed on. A primal urge took over; to push past each one of them just to prove that she could.
Kate started to feel a new energy rise in her. Perhaps it had been due to her discovery about the case; she was feeling unstoppable. Her voice screamed inside her head as she raced towards the leader. Will was coming up on her right, but she didn’t look at him. She could feel his eyes land on her and follow her as she passed him by. This was no longer a race to meet the goal of simply passing the test. She was only required to beat a time of 13 minutes, 30 seconds and she was well beyond that now. The goal wasn’t to beat all her classmates either. The goal was to prove that she deserved to be here.
The ring she wore around her neck began to cling to her chest. The delicate silver chain stuck while the ring bounced beneath her clothes. Kate had become so accustomed to wearing it that she didn’t notice it on most days. Today, however, it was a reminder. And it impelled her even further.
Just as she was nearing the final stretch, Hewitt remained the only person in front of her and he crossed only milliseconds before she did. She wished it hadn’t been him that beat her, but she’d accomplished her goal. Kate slowed her momentum until finally coming to a stop. Her lungs burned with each gasp as she worked to bring her heart rate down. She doubled over and grabbed her knees.
“What the hell’s gotten into you?”
She spotted Will’s feet in front of her and she raised back up. With her hands on her hips, she tried to speak. “What are you talking about?”
“Oh, come on. You were clearly showing off,” he said.
The only indicator that he might have been joking was the half-cocked grin on his face. Kate started to regain her breath and the redness in her cheeks was fading. “Maybe I just wanted to prove something.”
“What on earth do you need to prove and who do you need to prove it to?”
“Nothing. Never mind.” Kate began walking back to the instructor.
“Well done, Reid. You were only behind Hewitt by three-tenths of a second. That’s your best time yet. Go on. You can go now,” the instructor said.
Kate began walking back to the lockers and she heard Will jogging to catch up with her.
“Hey, wait up,” he said, slowing his pace as he reached her. “You going home tonight?”
“Hell yes, I’m going home.” Pulling double duty was starting to take its toll. She’d had to make up sessions from earlier in the week and had been spending most nights holed up in her dorm room reviewing the photos on the websites. So far, she’d tracked down fifteen with flower tattoos and her theory was starting to pan out.
“Well, why don’t I pick you up around eight and we’ll go out for dinner? We need to celebrate passing the second PT test. Wyman didn’t make her time. She missed it by about half a second. But she’ll get one last chance.”
Kate shook her head knowing that not everyone would make it through. The physical demand alone was reason enough to give up. She considered Will’s invitation and supposed she’d earned a break. “I would like to go out. Thank you. How about I just m
eet you at Corduroy’s?” Giving him the idea that this was going to be some sort of date wasn’t the impression she’d wanted to leave. “I’ll see you at eight.” Kate continued on towards the lockers.
» » »
It was the first time in nearly twelve weeks that Kate had put on something other than a t-shirt or polo shirt. When she arrived at the restaurant, she smoothed down the long, summer dress that had been in her closet for about two years. The reminder that Kate was, in fact, still a woman was nice. And it seemed Will noticed too.
“Wow. You clean up good, Reid.” He looked up from the table as she approached.
“I thought it might be nice to look like a girl for once.”
Will raised a bottle of beer to his lips, but stopped short. “Just so you know, you always look like a girl. Sit down. Take a load off.”
The waitress approached their table. “Can I get you something to drink?” she asked Kate.
“Yes, I’ll have a CC and Coke, please.”
“Coming right up.”
“Whiskey? I wouldn’t have taken you for that kind of girl.”
“Well, there’s a lot you don’t know about me, Caison.”
“I guess so.” He studied her face for a moment. “What’s gotten into you today? You seem really, I don’t know, different. Did something happen on that case you’re working on?”
She lowered her menu to look him in the eyes. “Maybe I’m finally starting to realize that I don’t need anyone’s help. That I can do for myself.”
Will raised his hands in surrender. “I never said you couldn’t.”
There was no argument to be had; Kate simply wanted to get her point across. She was grateful for the opportunity to help Nick with the investigation, but there was no way in hell she’d let it be the reason she made it through the Academy. The waitress returned with her drink. “Thank you.”