Profile of Terror: Book Two of Profile Series

by Alexa Grace

  <><><>

  Cameron opened the interview room door, and then stood in the door frame for a moment watching Gabe tapping his fingers on the table.

  "What's up, Cam? Where's the detective who's supposed to question me?"

  Instead of answering, Cameron crossed the room and punched Gabe in the arm.

  "Ouch! What was that?" Gabe jumped to his feet.

  "Remember that game we used to play in the car every time one of us saw a VW?"

  "Slug Bug?" He answered as he slugged Cameron in the arm. "Yeah, I remember."

  Throwing his hard, muscled arm around Gabe's neck, he said, "Well, do you remember my famous choke hold?"

  "From high school? Seriously?" Gabe struggled for release as Cameron laughed between grunts, while his brother demonstrated a few moves of his own. Finally Gabe broke the hold, grabbed his brother's thumb, twisted his arm behind his back, and threw him face-first to the floor. Then he braced his knee on Cameron's back to hold him down.

  "Where did you learn that move?"

  "Duh. The police academy?"

  "What the hell is going on in here?" Brody bellowed as he entered the room, closing the door behind him. "Let him up, Gabe."

  "He started it."

  Brody looked at him incredulously, his hands on his hips. "What are you? Twelve?"

  Cam, still lying on the floor, couldn't control his burst of laughter. Gabe's sense of humor took over and he began laughing in return.

  "You two are crazy." In spite of himself, Brody chuckled. "Do I want to know what started this?"

  "No!" Cameron and Gabe said in unison.

  "Is the Indiana State Police detective here yet?"

  "Yes," said Cameron. "She's waiting in the small conference room for Gabe."

  "Thanks for letting me know," Gabe called over his shoulder as he rushed from the room.

  As soon as his footfalls could be heard down the hall, Brody asked, "What was that all about?"

  "Just doing my part to distract and calm my brother down before his interview. Think it worked?"

  <><><>

  Brushing himself off and straightening his clothes, Gabe entered the conference room, took one look at Detective Robynn Burton, and knew that beyond her sweet smile, he was facing an opponent capable of kicking his butt and keeping him on the suspect list. So he shook the hand she extended, and shot her his most devastating grin. The one that usually had women swooning. When he saw it had no effect on her, he quietly sat down.

  "Hello." Her voice friendly and calm.

  "Nice to meet you, Detective Burton."

  She leaned back and relaxed in her chair like they had all the time in the world, like this was a social call she'd been looking forward to. "May I call you Gabriel?"

  "Most people call me 'Gabe.' "

  "Gabe, tell me about yourself."

  Gabe noted how Detective Burton appeared as if she were looking forward to learning all about her new friend. Not a chance.

  "I grew up in Shawnee County. After high school, I trained to be a cop, graduated from the police academy, and then decided to go to college. I graduated from I.S.U. in Criminology and Criminal Justice. I'm a licensed private investigator."

  "Indiana State University?"

  "Yes, in Terre Haute."

  "Good school. I graduated from I.S.U., too," Robynn looked at her notes. "Don't you do something with computer forensics?"

  Just as he'd known, she'd already read his background. She was just chatting him up to get him relaxed and running his mouth, saying things that might implicate him in Abby's death. He'd used the same technique in the past.

  "I'm certified in computer forensics, and I'm sure you already know I consult with the sheriff's office when needed."

  Ignoring this information, Robynn asked, "How long did you date Abby Reece?"

  "About a month or so."

  "Why did she break up with you?"

  "She didn't really break up with me. It was a mutual decision."

  "How angry were you when Abby broke up with you? Angry enough to kill her?"

  "Like I already told you, it was a mutual decision. Was I angry? Not even close. I was relieved. I didn't kill Abby Reece."

  "When was the last time you saw her?"

  "After a friend's birthday party. I drove her back to her apartment."

  "From what I hear, Abby had a lot of boyfriends and lovers. You had to be hurt or jealous. Is that why you killed her?"

  "I didn't kill her." Gabe shook his head.

  "If you didn't murder her, who did?"

  "I don't know, but there are a lot of guys who might have."

  "Why do you say that?"

  "Abby used men. Notches on her headboard and so on. She was very open about how she liked sex and having many partners," Gabe began. "There was also her Facebook page, which was like a beacon beaming a signal to every sexual predator in the universe."

  "I've heard about her page, but haven't had time to visit it yet," Robynn said, before glancing at her notes. "Do you have an alibi for the night Abby Reece was murdered?"

  "Yes, I do," said Gabe, wishing there was a way he could avoid involving Kaitlyn. "I'd asked a client not to do investigating on her own. I found her at a bar doing just that, so I drove her to my office. We talked for hours and I took her home around two in the morning."

  Pulling out a pen, she asked, "Who is this client? I will need to contact her."

  "Kaitlyn Reece." He paused for her reaction.

  "Any relation to the victim?"

  "Kaitlyn is Abby's sister. I mean was. She hired me to find Abby when she learned her sister was missing."

  "Did she realize you and her sister had dated when she hired you to find her?"

  "Yes," Gabe replied. There was no way he was telling this detective how Kaitlyn had seen him in Abby's apartment, copying her laptop's hard drive. She'd slam the cuffs on him faster than one could say "tampering with evidence."

  "She was hiring a private investigator, not an ex-boyfriend of her sister. Besides, I was already looking for Abby."

  "When you were looking for Abby, did you discover any information that could help with this investigation?"

  "Yes," Gabe responded.

  "Have you shared this information with your brother, Cameron?"

  "I didn't have a chance. I tried to, but Cam got a call and had to leave."

  Robynn glanced at her watch. "I'm hungry. Let's go to lunch. Why don't you ask Cameron if he wants to join us?"

  <><><>

  "Hey, Detective Slug-bug," Gabe said, his voice laced with sarcasm, as he picked up his laptop next to his desk.

  "Is your interview over?"

  "Not sure. Detective Burton wants you to go to lunch with us."

  "Lunch? She's taking a suspect out to lunch?"

  "So it seems. Do you want to go or not?"

  Cameron smiled as he put on his suit jacket. "Wouldn't miss it."

  Robynn Burton was waiting for them in the lobby. "Glad you can join us, Detective Chase."

  "Thanks for the invitation."

  As they stepped outside, she turned to Gabe. "Where is a good place to eat?"

  With a mischievous grin, he pointed to Mollie's Cafe. "Mollie's has the best food in town."

  "Then Mollie's it is," Robynn responded, as she began walking in the restaurant's direction.

  Gabe glanced at his brother, whose pained expression almost made him laugh out loud. Cameron's avoidance of Mollie Adams was probably about to end.

  It was only eleven o'clock, so the lunchtime rush hadn't begun and good tables were plentiful. When one of Mollie's waitresses arrived to seat them, Robynn quickly said, "We'd like a table in the back. And if you could avoid seating people around us until you absolutely have to, I'd appreciate it."

  Once they were seated, the waitress took their drink orders and headed back to the kitchen. Returning a short time later, the waitress distributed their drinks and whispered to Cameron, "Mollie would like to talk to you before you le
ave."

  "Please tell her that this is a really busy day, and I don't have time. Thank you."

  Robynn studied her menu. "What's good here?"

  "I'm getting the breaded tenderloin sandwich with fries," said Cameron. "Best tenderloin in the county. It overlaps the bun by at least an inch."

  "Talked me into it," Gabe placed his folded menu on top of Cameron's.

  Robynn said, "It seems we are all ordering the same thing. Thank you."

  Once the waitress left, the detective was all business. "Detective Chase—"

  "Cameron."

  "Cameron, your brother here tells me that he made some discoveries during his search for Abby Reece that could help the investigation. I'm sure you'd like to hear what he's found. I know I would."

  She pulled her tape recorder out of her pocket, turned it on to record, and set it in the middle of the table.

  To Cameron, Gabe said, "This was what I was trying to tell you when you raced off for that call." The last thing Gabe wanted was for his brother to think he was holding out on him, and was only prompted to give him this information because a State Police detective asked.

  Cameron nodded and said, "Go on."

  "You've seen Abby's photos on her Facebook page?"

  "Who hasn't?"

  "She made herself a target for every sex predator in the country, so it might be a good idea to do a house-to-house sweep of registered sex predators in Shawnee County. We also might suggest the same be done in Tippecanoe County where she went to Purdue. Who has an alibi for the night Abby was murdered? Who doesn't?"

  "I agree," Cameron replied.

  "The email sent by the killers was sent through Abby's laptop at her apartment."

  Her left eyebrow rising suspiciously, Robynn asked, "How do you know her laptop was at her apartment? How do you know that the killers didn't take it?"

  "For one thing, her sister, Kaitlyn, told me." This was a creative twist of the truth, but Kaitlyn had seen Abby's laptop in her sister's apartment the day she was watching him download its hard drive from the closet. Not that Detective Burton was going to get this information from him. That would put him on the fast track to a tampering with evidence charge, among others. Not to mention he'd lose his computer forensic certification.

  "In addition, when I received the email, I tracked the IP address to Abby's apartment."

  "Explain how you did this."

  "When tracking computers, we look at the IP address, which identifies the network card in your computer. That's how I knew the email came from Abby's laptop."

  Glancing at Cameron, he said, "You have to get possession of Abby's laptop right away. The killers may have left prints on it. In addition, we need a warrant for her Internet Service Provider to get transcripts of her emails."

  "I sent an officer with a warrant to Abby's place in West Lafayette this morning." Cameron checked his watch. "He may be on his way back to Morel with it at this very moment."

  Robynn said to Gabe, "I know about your certification and that you consult for the sheriff's office, but you cannot touch this laptop. A good defense attorney could get anything of evidentiary value tossed out by revealing you were once a suspect in the case. You could severely impact the prosecution's case."

  "I realize that," said Gabe. "That's why another computer forensics expert will be handling the laptop."

  "Who?" asked Cameron.

  "Anne Mason Brandt. She got her certification last year and is excellent at what she does. Anne has done a lot of work for her husband, Michael, who is a prosecuting attorney. Her examination of a suspect's computer helped crack the serial arson case he had last month."

  "I think I've heard of her," said Robynn. "Didn't she once co-own a computer company in Indianapolis?"

  "Yes."

  "Wasn't she stalked by a former employee, who murdered customers that complained about him?"

  "Yes. He killed the co-owner, too. Thank God, that's behind her. She's happily married with twins, and consults out of her home."

  "Back to Abby's murder case," prompted Cameron. "What else do you have?"

  "I talked to Emily Smith, one of Abby's friends, and she was supposed to meet Abby at Hoosier Sports Bar and Grill the night she disappeared. Emily bumped into her boyfriend on the way to the bar and spent the night with him instead of meeting Abby. She said she tried to call Abby to tell her she couldn't make it, but just got her voicemail."

  "So you're assuming Abby went to the bar alone," said Robynn.

  "I'm not assuming. I know she did." Gabe pulled out his laptop. "I have the surveillance tape from the bar." He set his laptop on the table, and turned it around so they could see the display. "Here is Abby leaving the bar at closing and walking to her car."

  "Okay, we believe she was at the bar," Robynn remarked.

  "There's more. Let me rewind a bit. See these two men in hoodies who leave before Abby? Watch as they get into a white van and wait there for thirty minutes. It's a long shot, but what were they waiting for? Were they waiting for Abby to leave the bar?"

  "Did they follow her when she left?" asked Cameron.

  "No, they took off before she came out," Gabe replied.

  "Then I don't see how they're related to the case. Two men outside a bar having a conversation before they leave means nothing. They left before the victim did."

  "Cam, Kaitlyn talked to the bartender on duty the night Abby disappeared. He told her that two men were focused on Abby that night, and that they left before she did. Show him the surveillance tape and see if the two men on the tape are the same ones who danced with Abby."

  Cameron paused thoughtfully for a moment, and then said, "I intend to talk to the bartender anyway. I'll show him the surveillance tape and ask him about these guys. Depending on what he shares, I'll get a sketch artist out there."

  Chapter Seven

  Cameron leaned against the door frame behind Carly and Gabe, who sat in visitor chairs in front of the sheriff's desk. Cameron was pleased that once Gabe was cleared of any involvement in Abby's murder, Brody hired him back as the computer forensics consultant. Although Gabe couldn't deal with any of the computer forensics found on Abby's computer, he could advise Anne Brandt, who was handling that work.

  "So tell me why we're meeting with an Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Detective," asked Brody. "You realize this might be valuable time wasted that we could use to catch our killer."

  "Any piece of information, no matter how small, could help us solve Abby's homicide." Carly drummed her fingers on the arms of the chair.

  "And stop the killers from adding more victims to their list," added Gabe.

  "Let's hear him out." Cameron didn't believe in overlooking even the slightest possibility. "I wouldn't have let him drive down here from Indianapolis if I didn't think his theory had merit. If he's right, and our cases are connected, his findings might help us crack our case."

  "Sounds like I'm outnumbered," said Brody dryly. "Cam, while you get our guest from the lobby, the rest of us can head toward the conference room."

  <><><>

  Indianapolis Detective Wayne Griffin was a short, stocky man, whose lined face wore the stress of chasing criminals. He entered the conference room with a thick file folder under his arm, and an evidence bag in his hand, which he slid to the center of the oval table. It contained a shoe that matched the one worn by Abby Reece.

  Cameron introduced the detective to the sheriff.

  "I heard you have a profiler working your case," Wayne said to Brody.

  "That would be me. I'm Carly Stone. Good to meet you," Carly interrupted with an outstretched hand that the detective clasped briefly.

  "Glad to meet you, too. You're one of the reasons I'm here. I could use your expertise," said the detective. "We've been chasing our tails for a year. Every time we think we might be close, another body is found."

  "Know the feeling. Got the T-shirt. We had a serial last year." Brody's jaw tightened.

  "Jim Ryder, right?"

>   Brody nodded. "So you can imagine how happy we were to find the body of a Purdue coed posed naked in an alley near a local bar." Brody paused for a moment and added, "I'll be honest, Detective. I don't see how our cases are connected." Indicating a seat at the conference table for the detective, Brody sat down. The others followed suit.