WATCHING (9 page)

“
That
’
s what I thought
.
”
She
’
d hold him to it. His dogs were wonderful animals and she wanted the same for Matthew.

She slid the phone into her pocket as their breakfast arrived. She looked at her partner for the day.
“
So what are we doing today
?
”

***

Hell looked at the woman beside him as he sipped his coffee.
“
We need to focus on some of the girls
’
friends. Those that were with them before the abductions
.
”

“
Haven
’
t those girls been interviewed enough
?
”
Brockman asked; it was his team that had done the most recent interviews.

“
I have a gut feeling that somebody has the informati
on we need to connect the dots,
”
Hell said. He considered Brockman a friend, and a good agent, but at times, Hell was hit with an irrational irritation regarding the other man. He was smart enough to know that it had to do with the woman sitting silently at Hell
’
s left.

Her kid called Brockman
uncle
. That bothered Hell. He remembered a few non-relative
‘
uncles
’
during his own childhood, though his mother had always made sure they were serious relationships before Hell met them. And logically Hell knew there was no more than friendship between Brockman and Georgia.

“
You think one of them saw something
?
”
Brockman asked. He reached across the table and helped himself to the bacon on Georgia
’
s plate. Both men knew she didn
’
t like eating cooked meat in the mornings, but it had come with the meal. He turned to the woman on his right, motioning to the half-eaten breakfast before her.
“
You going to eat all that, Julia
?
”

“
It
’
s
Jules
. And no. Help yourself, since you
’
re obviously starving to death
.
”
Hell wondered if the others caught the dry sarcasm.

Brockman helped himself, taking half of the gravy
covered biscuits from the woman he
’
d met the day before.
“
Thank you, my dear. All right, Hell. Lay it out. What makes you think something is missing
?
”

“
Other than the fact that we can
’
t nail this bastard down, you mean
?
”
Hell started in on his own biscuits. He was starving. The food at the Turn Around had been less than ideal.
“
We had four teenage girls. All out in dark, empty parking lots. All public places. And we had Katherine Montehue
—
also in a dark, empty parking lot of a public place. Before the abduction, Katherine had spent the evening flirting and getting to know the man she
’
d met. My question is, what was each of the four girls doing in the hour or two prior to the attack? Common victimology question
.
”

“
Hailey Ann Michaels was at the library. She
’
d met three friends, female and two males,
”
Brockman said.
“
The next victim, Kirby Jaysons, was at the local sub shop. Abducted shortly after the shop closed at ten pm. She
’
d been on a first date with a young man from the town
’
s only private school. He was a year ahead of her
.
”

“
Lindsay, the victim who was six weeks pregnant,
”
Georgia said.
“
She was outside the mall, waiting for her mother to pick her up after she
’
d been at the movies…with two girlfriends. They
’
d met up with a group of older boys. Lindsay
’
s mother was the last to pick up her child, as she worked a late shift at the grocery store
.
”

“
And Stephanie
Mi
ller
—
our oldest victim at the age of seventeen
—
her car was found outside the school. She
’
d stayed over to watch her boyfriend try out for the baseball team. He
’
d decided to go out with his teammates, after promising to call her before going to bed that night,
”
Hell added.

“
There
’
s your common thread
.
”
It was the medical examiner who said it.

“
What
?
”
Hell looked at her.

“
I said, there
’
s your common thread
.
”

Chapter
9

****

He needed coffee. Hot, black—
God
—something to wake him up. He hated cheap motels with their accompanying cheap mattresses and cheap threadbare blankets. His back would probably hurt for weeks after this. Half the PAVAD agents were already scarfing down the greasy fare that passed for food in this bumfuck town.

He was used to light whole wheat muffins, flavored with the perfect blend of lemon and cranberry from the coffee shop next to the St. Louis field office. He and Linda would go there every day. This dive ran to more disgusting and traditional breakfast grease. Bacon and egg and heart-attack on a platter.

His team was crowded around a table near the back but he didn
’
t join them. The boy—same age as his son—was making time with one of the local agents, a pretty little redhead with the look of Brockman
’
s Agent Sorin. He didn
’
t want to interrupted the boy
’
s game. Besides, he needed some time to himself to get his thoughts together for the upcoming day.

The princess was enthroned in the corner booth. All prim and perfect in one of those pantsuit things some uppity women liked. Linda had had two, both for court appearances and press conferences. She
’
d looked nice. Younger than her forty years. He
’
d always enjoyed peeling her out of those things. In his opinion, she
’
d looked ten times as good in her suits as the princess looked in that one.

Hellbrook sure seemed hot after her lately. Was keeping her at his side every minute. He looked around, not seeing the man in question for a moment. Then he snickered as Hellbrook slid into the booth beside the princess, cuddling up against her side. Did they think they were hiding it? Doing a piss poor job of it. Was Hellbrook sticking it to the princess at night, too? Wonder what Daddy Dennis had to think of that.

A smart man didn
’
t screw around with the daughter of his boss. That way only led to trouble. Linda had just been a field agent he
’
d met when she transferred to his pal Whiler
’
s team over a
few
year
s
ago. She wasn
’
t anybody too important on the food chain. But she had been important to him.

Damn, he missed her. Sometimes he thought he could still smell, still feel
,
all that honey brown hair of hers that smelled so much like strawberries.

With her, he
’
d broken his vow to not screw around with female agents. He
’
d always preferred secretaries and support staff. He should have stayed to the rules. Then maybe Linda wouldn
’
t have felt the need to go on that op.

It was his fault. His.

He shook off his memories, focusing on the princess again. Hellbrook was plastered to her side while they talked to the great Dr. Brockman and that puny little medical examiner mouse.

Now there was a contrast to the princess. Little mouse was completely unremarkable. Still, he preferred a woman with her lack of pretentions than one like the princess. He bet that one was extremely high maintenance. Hellbrook was welcome to the princess.

The mouse actually had pencils stuck in the knot of her hair. He
wasn
’
t sure why, but he
found that oddly charming.

He wasn
’
t into perfect porcelain dolls like Hellbrook apparently was. He preferred a real, warm woman complete with flaws beneath him. Like Linda. Linda had been perfect for him.

Damn, he missed her.

Chapter
10

****

“
The woman at the bar, flirting with that guy, right
?
”
Dr. Bellows said as everyone turned toward her in surprise.
“
First victim at the library with two boys. Two boys, two girls. You do the math. At that age
—
they are thinking of the opposite gender. Guarantee there was some serious flirting going on. Second victim was on her first date. Probably some flirting there, as well. The third victim was the only one obviously sexually active. Ironically, she was the youngest. At the movies with older boys. I remember a few times in a darkened theater
—
and I was well past the age of thirteen
.
”

Georgia snorted, recalling one particular incident in a movie theater about five years ago.
“
Jules, you were well past the age of twenty-one. Got yourself banned from the theater, remember
?
”

“
Stuff it, Dennis. If I recall correctly,
you
were on the opposite side of the theater that night, engaging in your own...activities, thank you very much. And I
’
m not the only one with a life-time ban
...
Anyway...The fourth victim? She was watching her boyfriend in an athletic trial. Part of her would be wanting to distract him at that age. She
’
d be preening, trying to catch his attention on the field, to prove she was as important as a sport. And then if they engaged each other afterword
—
since they were already in a relationship, there would have probably been some public display of affection. Major flirting
.
”

“
Wow. Nice call, Jules,
”
Georgia said, then looked at her partner.
“
I can
’
t believe we missed it
.
”

“
Sorry, head-girl. Didn
’
t mean to steal your thunder
.
”
Jules used her fork to block the one Malachi was aiming at her uneaten cinnamon roll.
“
Just seemed a little obvious to me
.
”

Nobody took cinnamon from Jules—Georgia knew that from long experience. At Malachi
’
s disappointed expression, Georgia passed him her own roll.

“
So what type of UNSUB has problems with women and girls flirting
?
”
Brockman asked, tearing the roll into bite-size pieces. He shot a smirk at Jules as he popped a piece in his mouth.

“
One raised in an extremely traditional home environment
.
”
Georgia pushed her plate aside before pulling a notebook out of her bag.
“
Probably not his biological relatives. Possible foster child. One taken in by exceedingly religious foster parents at an age where he was capable of remembering his biological family-
-
possibly a brunette mother who he felt a great deal of anger for
.
”

“
If the foster parents were strict, moralistic, and kept him for a long while, they could have influenced his view of his mother in a negative manner,
”
Malachi said.
“
Could
’
ve taught him that his mother was possibly a sinner
.
”

“
If she was a single mother, with a history of multiple partners, and he was old enough to remember that and want to please his adoptive parents, then that could explain it,
”
Hellbrook said.
“
Georgia, get Carrie to pull all South Dakota
’
s Dept. of Social Services records from
1970
until
1990
for this area and the surrounding states that pertain to children
.
”

“
Gotcha. We are looking for a white male, brunette, though his hair could have been a lighter shade. He would have been possibly in late early childhood to middle childhood. Ages six to nine, I
’
d say
.
”
Georgia made more notes across the pad.

“
Expand that to age eleven to be sure
,
”
Brockman said.
“
If the child was emotionally and developmentally delayed he could have been older
.
”

“
True
.
”
Georgia scratched out the nine and wrote an eleven.