One of the worst parts of Perry’s job was talking to parents who’d lost a child. It was just as hard stopping in at the victim’s friends’ homes and interviewing terrified teenage girls while their parents paced nervously behind them. The circumstances around Kathleen Long’s death were heinous. He didn’t bother with e-mail, knowing there was no way he could focus on answering any of it, let alone standing on the delete button to get rid of junk mail. Instead, he went straight to his saved Web sites.
“Son of a bitch,” he hissed, staring at the Web site page he’d shown Rad last week. “It could be her.”
The young girl who pouted at the camera, her hands resting on her knees as she sat on a bare hardwood floor naked, looked a hell of a lot like Kathleen. He printed the page, slipped it into his file, and reached for his cell. Rad’s phone went straight to voice mail.
“Damn it.” Waiting until morning seemed an eternity. Every minute that ticked by could mean another teenage girl might be facing the same terrifying death Kathleen had endured.
Perry paced his den for a few minutes, realizing there wasn’t anything that linked Kathleen to the Peter girls. The Longs had told him they’d forbidden their daughter to meet a boy she’d been talking to online and wanted to meet. When their daughter disappeared, apparently leaving home without their consent, they’d immediately feared the worst. Perry hoped they would be willing to let him search Kathleen’s computer. If he confirmed Kathleen spoke with Peter and had snuck out to meet him, they would have a definite pattern. But Mr. Long had asked Perry to leave when Mrs. Long grew hysterical. They’d been through so much, and now Perry needed to push them to allow him to search into Kathleen’s personal life.
Yet something else he’d have to wait until tomorrow to accomplish.
Hyped up and frustrated, Perry dropped his file on his desk and headed back out his door. He didn’t make a habit of using sex to release adrenaline, but he wanted to see Kylie again. Somehow he needed to convince her to quit trying to play private detective. Kylie wasn’t a teenager, but she was young. He wouldn’t have her sniffing around crime scenes any longer out of mere curiosity.
Taking the exit to Kylie’s house, Perry slowed at the first intersection as another car went through it, heading westbound. He scowled at the green hybrid, squinting in the dark at the license plate. “Where are you going at this hour, sweetheart?” he whispered, turning to follow Kylie.
He kept his distance, trailing her as she stayed off the interstate and took one of the main streets into a commercial district.
“Late-night munchies?” he mused, glancing at the clock on his dash. It was barely ten, definitely not too late to order delivery. Did she intentionally not want to be home if he stopped by again?
He contemplated the possibility that she might intentionally avoid him. There were several reasons that came to mind why she might, but one he couldn’t get his head to wrap around was lack of interest. Kylie was on fire when she returned his kiss earlier. In fact, if he’d pressed matters when he’d been there earlier, he probably could have fucked her.
Maybe he wasn’t a pro with women, but he knew interest when he saw it, and felt it. Yet here she was, several cars in front of him, out on the town when she knew he was coming back over. Was she heading out to interview another teenager? It was a school night, and rather late. But possibly someone had given Kylie consent to do an interview and she needed to jump on the opportunity to do so.
He slowed when she switched lanes and signaled right before she turned into one of the shopping malls. Several cars were between them and he searched for her car when he pulled in a minute later.
The only store still open here was the donut shop and of course the bowling alley. Kylie had pulled into a stall on the far side of the parking lot, away from the floodlights that lit up the parking lot, and turned off her headlights.
“A rather odd place to meet someone for an interview,” he said out loud, and scowled in the darkness when he slowed, not wanting her to spot him.
Perry pulled into a stall in the middle of the parking lot and turned off his car. Then getting out, he walked slowly past the few parked cars. At this hour, on a Monday night, business was slow and the few cars in the lot were parked in front of the donut shop or the bowling alley.
“Why aren’t you getting out of your car?” he asked, frowning when she remained shielded by the darkness in the far corner of the parking lot.
A black Suburban came at him with its brights on and Perry squinted, looking down but quickly returning his attention to Kylie as soon as the car passed. When Kylie still didn’t get out of her car, he crossed over to the bowling alley, deciding he would make it look as though he were entering through the main doors to see if she’d spotted him and that kept her from getting out.
At the doors, he pulled one of them open, immediately hit with the noise from inside, but then turned, standing just inside, and watched the Suburban circle the lot and slow, not parking but not leaving the lot, either.
Perry stepped back outside. Kylie continued sitting in her car. From this distance he couldn’t tell whether her car was running or not. She’d engulfed herself in the darkest part of the lot.
The whole thing didn’t sit well with him. He watched the Suburban start to accelerate, heading toward Kylie’s car. Was she meeting someone here?
Something tightened inside his gut. Maybe he didn’t know her really well, but his protector’s instincts kicked in big-time. Kylie didn’t strike him as a stupid woman. But if she was sitting over there in the dark, waiting to meet someone in a public parking lot, it might be smart to make his presence known.
Not to mention, she didn’t tell him no thanks when he said he’d be back over. Whatever she was doing, he bet she didn’t have it planned when he was over there earlier. An impromptu meeting in a dark parking lot meant something was up.
Kylie wasn’t stupid enough to meet someone off the Internet, was she? She was a single, gorgeous, intelligent woman. Perry knew there were people who met and formed relationships from the Internet. It wasn’t as if he’d tried starting anything with her. But that kiss they’d shared earlier clearly showed mutual interest. If Kylie was the kind of woman who would come on to one man and then prance off with another, Perry would find out right now.
Perry glanced across the parking lot. Kylie’s car hadn’t moved. In the darkness, he couldn’t tell from this angle whether she was still in her car or not. That damn Suburban pulled around the parking lot, circling it like some fucking bird of prey. It turned at the end of the row of stalls, flashing its brights on Kylie’s car. She still sat in the driver’s seat.
The Suburban stopped, its lights remaining on Kylie until she raised her hand over her eyes. Perry took advantage of her being blinded and walked along the sidewalk that ran the length of the bowling alley. The floodlight above him hummed loudly and another car came along the back side of the bowling alley.
“Do I know you?” Perry met gazes with the driver in a small Honda, who slowed as he hesitated, trying to decide whether to turn into the parking lot or head straight.
The driver looked away from Perry first and put a cell phone to his ear. Perry returned his attention to Kylie, who now looked down at her lap. Her soft blonde hair fluttered around her face, and he guessed she continued avoiding the bright lights, which remained trained on her.
He stopped at the end of the parking lot and the Honda turned into the lot, driving past him toward the front of the bowling alley. Perry focused his attention on the Suburban driver. The man behind the wheel appeared to be watching Kylie, who for whatever reason sat like a sitting duck in her car.
Whatever the scenario playing out in front of him was, Perry didn’t like it. Worse yet, standing and watching, unsure what he witnessed, bugged the crap out of him. The driver of the Suburban was being more than rude simply sitting there blinding Kylie. Perry wished he had a flashlight so he could return the treatment. Studying the man for a moment, Perry noted the strong profile of a Caucasian man, his relaxed expression proof of the narrow-minded attitude of someone who thought nothing of anyone other than himself. More than likely some prick waiting for his kid to come out and indifferent to the fact that he blinded Kylie while she was playing sitting duck.
Perry glanced back down the parking lot, noting the parked cars, his own sitting halfway down the lot, and the Honda that had turned the corner moments ago, now pulled into a stall not too far down. That driver cut his lights but also didn’t get out. Perry didn’t have time to focus on everyone’s agenda tonight. He returned his attention to Kylie.
As he stepped off the sidewalk, Kylie opened her car door. At the same time the black Suburban started toward her.
“What?” Perry grunted, scowling at the back of the Suburban when it approached Kylie.
Was she here to meet the man in the Suburban? And if so, did she sit there docilely while he checked her out with his high beams to see if she met his criteria? Like any man would be disappointed with a woman like Kylie.
Perry took in the tag number, XLS519, Johnson County tags. But his attention shifted back to Kylie when she closed her car door and stepped away from her car. The Suburban headed toward her, and Perry picked up his pace. He was about to bust her party wide open.
“Kylie!” he bellowed.
The Suburban’s brakes came on, the red lights glowing in the dark. The truck hesitated long enough for Perry to get close enough to touch it. The windows were tinted, not a lot, but the night added to the hindrance, making it hard to see the driver. Perry walked up alongside the truck and it turned, accelerating and headed out of the parking lot. Perry watched it leave quickly before he turned to face Kylie. Anger spiked inside him, raging out of control before he could stop it.
“What the hell was that all about?” he demanded, yelling as he started toward her.
She didn’t answer but climbed into her car, gunned the engine, and squealed out of the parking lot, leaving him standing there looking after her.
“Son of a fucking bitch,” he spit, turning and sprinting across the parking lot to his car. He jumped in as the Honda pulled out in front of him, also leaving. There was still only one person in the car. “What in the hell is going on here?” he roared, the vein in his right temple pounding as hard as his heart.
Perry hit the steering wheel when he drove past Kylie’s house and she wasn’t there. He felt his blood pressure boil and knew he needed a grip now or he wouldn’t be thinking clearly soon. It wasn’t too often his outrage reached the point of wanting blood, but Perry knew himself well enough to know calming down was imperative and any other poor sap who might get in his way before he did chill out would regret it seriously.
He headed back to his house, made it across town, cut back, and did another drive-by. Kylie still wasn’t home.
“Enough.” The tires squealed on his Jeep when he took her corner too sharply. “Not my problem anymore.”
If she was pissed at him for interfering with her meeting someone in a dark parking lot when she knew he was coming back over, he was best off without her. All he needed to do was get the taste of her off his lips, the soft feel of her warm flesh out of his memory. He balled his hands into fists, remembering their kiss earlier and how good she had felt when he’d caressed her body. And how well she’d responded to him.
“Just be okay,” he muttered, scrubbing his head and pulling into his driveway fifteen minutes later. God. Going home didn’t seem like the right thing to do.
It wasn’t just the protector’s instinct still simmering way too hot inside him, it was the cop in Perry that needed to know she was fine. He reluctantly got out of his car, fingering his keys and heading toward his back door. The silence around him, the peaceful and serene surroundings, annoyed him even further.
Perry paced his living room floor, not bothering with lights, as he replayed what he saw play out at the parking lot. On an impulse, he headed to his computer and wrote down the tag number to the black Suburban. Underneath it he wrote the words “green Honda”; then he stared at the block letters he’d just printed on the notepad.
“What are you up to, Miss Kylie Dover?” His stomach knotted; anger, concern, and not having any answers making for a cruel combination in his gut. If she was a player, then she was a pro. He hated feeling he’d busted her trying to meet another man and forced himself to remember there was nothing between them. “Nor will there be if this is how she plays.”
Perry slipped the paper with the tag number into the file where he’d put the printed picture of the Web site page. He stared at the young girl, looking so innocent and anything but happy, as she stared naked at the camera. He needed more puzzle pieces to fit this case together. The best thing to do right now was bury himself in this investigation and put Kylie out of his mind. Her life was her own damn business.
Carl Ramos studied the picture from the Web site and compared it to the pictures Kathleen Long’s parents had given Perry. “When did you get pictures of her?” Carl asked.
Perry glanced at the pictures Carl compared, and returned his attention to the road. “I went over to the Longs’ last night after you went home.”
Carl shot him a quick glance. If he was hurt, he didn’t show it. Perry doubted that was his reaction.
“You want me to put it on my log sheet that I went with you?”
His question surprised Perry. Carl was a good man, and a good cop. “You don’t ever have to lie for me,” Perry told him, studying Carl only for a moment to see that his question was sincere. “You’d headed home to be with your mother and that is important. I didn’t know I was going over there until I left the station and ran into Rad in the parking lot. It was an impromptu visit, but we need more information.”
He turned onto the Longs’ street and slowed to 20 miles per hour as he headed down the long, quiet, shady side street. Large well-kept homes lined either side and there wasn’t a car visible anywhere. People in this neighborhood parked in garages, and most were at work.
“The Longs know we’re coming?” Carl asked.
“Yup. Eileen Long said Kathleen had a computer in her bedroom. She knows we’re coming with a subpoena for the hard drive and didn’t have a problem with it.” Perry had been distracted all morning at the station, especially when he ran a check on the Suburban’s tags and came up with nothing. The tag was fake, a crime in itself. “Sorry I didn’t tell you about this before we headed out. These teenage girls meeting some prick off the Internet and then ending up dead is hitting a bit too close to home, I think.”
“Are you worried about your sister’s kids?” Carl stuffed the pictures back into the file and placed it in Perry’s open briefcase on the floor at Carl’s feet. “She’s got all girls, doesn’t she?”
“Yup. And about the same age as these girls. When I get time I’m going to find out if they knew Kathleen.”
“I’m sure you’ve had enough involvement raising those girls for them to know better than to meet some stranger off the computer.”
Perry nodded and pulled up in front of the house. They weren’t quite up the walk to the front door when it opened and Eileen, a woman not much older than Perry, and fairly pretty, nodded to the two of them. She looked as though she hadn’t slept and leaned heavily on the doorknob when she stood to the side so the men could enter.
“How are you doing today?” Carl asked, always the concerned cop.
“Not very well,” she answered honestly, offering both of them a small smile and then taking the copy of the subpoena Carl handed her. “This way. Her computer is in her room.”
They followed Eileen up the stairs and down a wide hall to a bedroom, whose door was closed. She pushed it open and walked in ahead of them. There were clothes on the floor and the bed wasn’t made, giving all indications that someone had slept here the night before and headed out that morning in a hurry. Perry guessed Eileen hadn’t touched it since her daughter disappeared by the somewhat musky smell in the room.
“Do you know what chat programs she used?” he asked, pulling out the wooden chair from the desk and sitting in front of the home computer.
“We all use AOL,” Eileen said. “But I think Kathleen used Yahoo! Messenger sometimes, too. I’m sorry I don’t know her passwords or anything. I guess I should have made her give those to me.” She sounded defeated.
“From what you’ve told us, it sounded as if Kathleen was a good girl,” Carl offered.
“She was the best.” Eileen choked and covered her hand with her mouth. “When she approached us and talked to us about meeting a boy who went to another high school but whom she’d been chatting with online we had a long discussion about it. Mitch and I thought Kathleen understood the danger involved in meeting someone from the Internet, even when the situation appeared harmless. We even offered to invite him over to the house so they could meet that way.” Her voice cracked and she covered her mouth with her hand. “I’m sorry. Do you need me in here? I’ll let you two do whatever you need to do.”
Carl walked out of the bedroom, offering words of support and asking if Eileen and her husband had considered counseling for dealing with the loss of their daughter. Perry let Carl console Eileen and studied the contents of the desk while the computer booted up. His instructions were to remove the hard drive and return to the station, but he wanted to search the computer for what he could find before doing that.
He stood, walking over to the briefcase Carl had placed on Kathleen’s bed, and pulled out a ziplock bag and gloves. Then returning to the computer, Perry gently removed the pictures that had been taped around the monitor, pictures of Kathleen and her friends, different poses, different friends. A few of them were class pictures. Either way, they created a profile on her, helping him know who her group of friends were.
He went through the programs on her computer, took a look at the list of songs that were on it, and opened a few files that seemed to be nothing more than homework assignments.
“Find anything?” Carl entered the room. “Mrs. Long is downstairs if we need her.”
“Nothing yet,” Perry said, closing the ziplock bag and handing it to Carl as he slid back into the chair in front of the computer.
“She gave me a list of pet names, birth dates, anything she could think of to help us with passwords.” Carl didn’t bother handing the list to Perry but pulled out another bag and slipped the paper inside.
When they took the hard drive down to the station, passwords wouldn’t be an issue. They could crack into any password-protected program once they hooked the hard drive up to the computers there.
Perry clicked on Yahoo! Messenger, knowing it was his nieces’ preferred chat program. The long, slender box appeared on the screen, Kathleen’s screen name and her password already saved into it.
“We’re in luck,” he said, and Carl moved to his side. “We find a screen name with Pete, or Peter, and we might have to add pornography charges to kidnapping, rape, and murder.”
“Do you think Kathleen is connected to the other girls who’ve disappeared?”
“I’d bet my life on it,” Perry muttered, and watched as Kathleen’s buddy list appeared. He scrolled down a long list of screen names and then back up again. Not one of them used any form of the name Peter.
“Maybe she talked to him on AOL,” Carl suggested.
Perry was already on it, although he said nothing. While signing onto AOL, which also had the password saved, he went through Yahoo! Messenger again, hitting the preferences and changing her settings so that the actual screen names were displayed instead of each person’s name. Still, there was nothing. It was the same with AOL. Not one screen name came close to Peter.
“Maybe she used another screen name,” Perry mused out loud.
“They’ll be able to tell down at the station. Ready for me to pull out the hard drive?” Carl reached into the briefcase and slid a screwdriver out of the side pocket.
No, Perry wasn’t ready. He wanted to tear into the computer himself and not turn it over to Rad, who in turn would probably ship it out to Kansas City’s larger police department or, worse yet, the FBI field office. Since this wasn’t officially his case, he would have to sift through red tape just to learn what they found.
“One more minute.” He clicked the drop-down box on AOL to view the other screen names. Then flipping open his notebook, he jotted down the names. “How many brothers and sisters does she have?”
“Just a younger brother.”
Perry guessed the screen names on AOL all belonged to family members. More than likely, the account holder was Eileen or her husband and they would authorize any new screen names. Since there were only four names, Perry doubted Kathleen used AOL for a lot of chatting.
He looked through the programs on the computer, pulled up IE, and then typed in: MySpace. This time the password wasn’t saved. Doing the same with Facebook, he ran into the same snag. And there was no way to tell what other names she might have on Yahoo! Messenger. Frustrated, he stood and let Carl do his thing. “There’s a connection here. I know there is.”
He thought about how Dani showed Kylie the way people chatted using Web sites.
“Your hunches are usually right.” Carl stepped around him and then unscrewed the back of the tower.
Perry wished Rad felt the same way. He was a damn good cop, one of the best on their force. And it wasn’t bragging rights that allowed him to say that. The facts spoke for themselves. In his years on duty, he’d brought in more criminals, solved more cases, than any other man, or woman, in his department. Yet for some reason, Rad wouldn’t assign the case to him. That in itself bugged the crap out of him, too.
Dani and Kylie’s conversation kept popping into his head as well. There were other ways to talk online. He wanted to be the one figuring this out and not some IT geek.
When they arrived back at the station, Perry headed straight for Rad’s office, keeping the hard drive in his possession. Rad looked tired when he glanced up from paperwork and gestured for Perry to enter.
“I got something to show you,” Perry said, closing the door to the Chief’s office. He swore Rad’s expression turned wary as he leaned back and watched Perry approach. “Remember those Web sites I showed you last week?”
“Yeah.” Rad leaned forward on his desk, resting his elbows over paperwork, and plopped his chin in his hands. “What about them?”
“Take a look at this.” Perry opened his file and pulled out the printed page and then slid a picture of Kathleen Long out next to it.
“Son of a bitch,” Rad hissed.
“Yup. A match.”
Rad let out a loud sigh and leaned back, keeping his focus glued to the two pictures and not saying anything for a minute.
“Did you get her hard drive?”
“Yeah, it’s right here.” He pulled out the ziplock bag and held up the black hard drive. “Where are you sending it?”
Rad focused on him with intense gray eyes that today looked more tired than usual. Reaching across his desk, he took the hard drive from Perry. “I’m sending it over to the FBI field office.”
Perry blew out his frustration. “Rad, give me this case. You know I can work alongside the FBI. We’ve done it before.”
“Yup, we have.” Rad set the hard drive on the side of his desk. “I thought you wanted the Peter case.”
“It’s the same case.”
Rad raised one eyebrow. “You’ve got proof that Kathleen Long was pursued by Peter?”
“Not yet. I couldn’t dig into her hard drive at her house other than glimpsing at where she’d saved her password.”
“And you didn’t see anything?”
Perry shook his head, frustrated. “Give me the case. I can prove their connections, or learn who kidnapped Kathleen Long.”
Rad slid the hard drive across his desk toward Perry. “The case is yours,” he said, but then pointed a finger at Perry. “Keep Carl with you when you’re doing your investigating. Promise me you won’t spend one minute on this case without him by your side.”
Perry grabbed the hard drive and stood, turning toward the door. “No problem,” he said, getting the hell out of Rad’s office before he changed his mind.
“Flynn!”
Perry turned, studying Rad’s hard gaze as the Chief stood slowly. “I’m serious about this. Watch your ass, Flynn. You hear me?”
Perry rested his hand on the doorknob, hearing the Chief loud and clear but not liking his tone. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“You’re a good cop.”
“I’m a damn good cop.”
Rad nodded. “Keep it that way. Don’t fuck me over.”
Perry let go of the doorknob and walked toward Rad’s desk, squaring off with the large man who stood opposite it. “You mind telling me what you’re trying to say?”
“This is my town, Flynn. Not a goddamn thing goes on here that I don’t know about. We’ve got a criminal on the loose and he’s going to go down. And when he does, it’s going to be bad and ugly.” Rad pierced Perry with a fiery glare. “I’m going to see to it.”
“Wait in line,” Perry hissed. “This is my fucking town, too. And if you think I’m going to tolerate a monster preying on teenage girls one minute longer than I have to, then you disappoint me, Chief.”
“I’m giving you this case because I think you’re the man for the job,” Rad said, his voice taking a low, calm tone that was almost unnerving. “But I’ll have some explaining to do.”
“What?” Perry hissed.
“That’s all I’m saying.” Rad pressed his lips into a paper-thin line and wrinkled his brow when he scowled. “You’re a good cop and I believe that, which is why you just got this case. Don’t make me regret giving it to you.”
Perry didn’t have a fucking clue what Rad was talking about and was getting pissed off listening to him ramble. But he had the case and that was what mattered. He headed out of the Chief’s office, forcing himself to relax his grip on the hard drive before he snapped it in two.
“Flynn!” Rad bellowed when Perry had barely reached his desk. “Take that hard drive over to the KCMO 3rd precinct. I’ll call and tell them to be ready for you.”
Perry nodded, not trusting himself to speak at the moment. He didn’t like being told to watch his ass and not being told why. Worse yet, there was obviously something wrong, or Rad wouldn’t have spoken to him that way. If someone had told the Chief something about Perry, he had a right to know what it was. But Rad wasn’t asking him to justify his actions, just watch himself in the future. Perry didn’t like it. But he didn’t have a problem taking the hard drive to the KCMO precinct instead of the FBI field office. At least this way, he could get answers faster.
Carl walked over toward Perry, a question in his eyes although he didn’t say anything. Perry preferred running alone, but whatever was bugging the crap out of Rad, if he pushed him Rad looked wired enough to yank him right back off the case, just to cause a fight.
“Let’s go,” he grumbled, not bothering to elaborate. He’d credit Carl for having enough sense not to ask questions but simply follow him out of the station.
He’d run over to the Kansas City, Missouri, precinct, hang there while they tore through the hard drive, then drop Carl off at his car. They’d have some answers today. One way or another Perry would know if Kathleen had been involved with Peter.
After he had that information, Perry planned to seek out one hot little blonde. Player or not, she had a right to know the man she had tried meeting was running in a car with illegal tags. Perry wasn’t seeking her out to fuck her but out of his sworn obligation to protect his community. If Kylie wanted to be an idiot and meet men in dark parking lots, that was her business. He wouldn’t be able to live with himself if she got hurt and he didn’t warn her. And that was the only reason he would seek her out.