His Good Deeds (Kate Reid Thrillers Book 13)

by Robin Mahle

  Nick Scarborough glanced at his phone and noticed the incoming call from Kate. He pressed the cancel button. “Sorry about that. You were saying about Gustafson?” He had made the drive to downtown D.C. to meet with an agent who had worked for Gustafson, Carol Whitman’s father. Through a friend of a friend, and with Walsh’s help, the lunch appointment was just getting underway.

  “Right. So, yeah, this was years back. I’d just graduated from the Academy and my first post was at the Maryland field office.”

  “I knew some guys there a long time ago,” Nick replied. “I heard nothing but good things coming out of there.”

  The man nodded and smiled. “We did all right for what we had at the time. Course, technology and all. Shit, all the crazy developments there, right?”

  “I hear you. Good thing the young recruits are computer savvy. Otherwise, the Bureau would be screwed.” Nick sipped on his Coke as he peered through the restaurant window. “How long did you work for Gustafson?”

  He peered up as if considering the question. “A year or so. Then he retired. The guy was a hell of a smooth talker. A requirement around here.”

  “No doubt,” Nick replied.

  “But hey, you’re here on Cole’s orders, huh? A senior unit agent at BAU is no small accomplishment.”

  “Thanks. It’s been a long road. So, what else can you tell me?” Nick pressed on. “And I have to apologize, but this is a project Cole is working on. I think it has something to do with policy, but for now, it’s hush-hush.”

  “Yeah, no. I get it,” the agent replied. “Gustafson penned Bureau policy for a long time. He set the standards we still use today. Made a lot of money in retirement on the speech circuit. I hear he even has a building named after him at Georgetown University.”

  “That’s what I hear.” Nick sipped on his drink again. “I imagine there are a lot of guys out there still loyal to Gustafson, huh?”

  “Loyal, how?” he asked.

  “Well, just in the ways he set up. Like you said, policy, protocol. And I’ll bet he rubbed elbows with a lot of politicians too,” Nick replied.

  “A requirement when you get that high up. You’ll see, if you haven’t already had a taste of that,” the man said. “Listen, it’s been great talking to you, but I really need to head back to the shop.” He stood and dropped cash on the table. “You need anything, don’t hesitate to get in touch.”

  “Will do, man. Thank you for your time.” Nick watched the agent leave and picked up his phone. “Walsh, you still around?”

  “Leaving the Baltimore field office now. How did it go?”

  “Not sure yet. Meet me back at Quantico and we’ll compare notes.”

  “You got it. Oh, and hey, our team’s been called out to Pittsburgh. Fisher wants me to stay.”

  “That must’ve been why Kate called,” Nick replied. “Thanks. I’ll give her a buzz and see what’s up. Catch up with you soon.”

  7

  The media vans had gone. The late afternoon sun poked through clouds while its rays scattered among the treetops. What was usually a busy park lay vacant as it had been cordoned off by the Pittsburgh police. ATF Agent Stallard stood by while the burned-out Lexus coupe was loaded onto a tow truck. Next to him stood FBI Agent Tillis. Both turned at the sound of a car approaching.

  “Well, that was fast,” Tillis said.

  “Cavalry’s here, buddy.” Stallard patted him on the back. “I’m sure one look at this scene and they’ll have it all figured out.”

  Tillis watched as the three agents stepped out of the car. “Looks like they brought reinforcements. Good. Just what I wanted. More supposed experts telling me how to do my job.” He forced a smile as they approached. “You’re back. And you brought a friend.”

  “Agent Tillis,” Kate began. “You know Eva Duncan already. This is Jonathan Surrey. Given the circumstances, I thought we could use an extra set of eyes.”

  Surrey offered his hand to the agents. “Pleasure.”

  “We’re glad for your speedy arrival.” Tillis started toward the scene. “As you can see, we’re trying to clear all this out as quickly as we can. Public park and all. Lots of interested citizens rubbernecking.”

  Stallard placed his hands on his thick hips. “Yes, sir. Local news is calling this guy some kind of Robinhood. Except that he’s killing the rich, not just stealing from them. Glad to have you all here. How about we show you around?”

  “Here’s what we know,” Tillis began. “Female victim. 23, some kind of social media star. That car, or what’s left of it, was a lease.”

  “She’s outside his apparent demographic; the first female victim,” Kate added.

  “That is how it appears,” Tillis replied. “It’s safe to assume our suspect is watching these victims’ lives through the lens of social media and not real life. Either that, or he’d had some encounter with them, which we have no way to confirm at the moment.”

  “They’re calling him Robinhood, huh? Almost like the media has a thing for him. Admires him for killing people with money,” Surrey added.

  “Except he got that wrong in at least two of the cases,” Tillis added. “I already have my team working on Sienna Page’s phone. Unfortunately, it was significantly damaged, as were the others, but they’ll do what they can. We’ll pull the records, too. Same as before.”

  Kate surveyed the grounds. “How far is the downtown area from here?”

  “Just over the river.” Stallard pointed to it. “Right there. A stone’s throw.”

  “He’s sticking to the area, albeit still a pretty large area,” Kate replied.

  “And the explosive?” Duncan asked. “Same as the others?”

  Stallard stepped in. “Won’t know for sure till I get it back to my lab, but it looks to be, yes.”

  “Livestreamed too, I imagine.” Kate looked on.

  “Bingo.” Tillis opened his phone. “The parents of this girl are already doing whatever they can to help us figure this out. They sent us the video.” He looked to the others. “You guys might want to look at this. Sorry to say, it’s a little different than the others.”

  The team huddled around Tillis when Kate began. “Let’s see it.”

  He started the video. “She’s behind the wheel with her phone in the holder mounted on the dash. From what I understand, she often filmed herself driving. Can’t for the life of me tell you why.” The video continued to play. “She notices it’s on right here.”

  Kate nodded. “She looks like she’s trying to shut it off.”

  “Just wait,” Tillis added.

  Sienna pulled the phone from its holder and appeared to press buttons to shut it down. “What the hell? Hey, everyone. I don’t know what’s going on here, but I must’ve turned on the livestream. Oops!” She laughed. “I’ll fix it. Just remember to watch me...” Her eyes widened at the sound of the blast and she dropped the phone to the floorboard, screen side up.

  “It’s still going,” Kate said. “Jesus. Don’t tell me he let everyone watch her burn.”

  “You want to see more? ‘Cause that’s exactly what happens until the phone cuts out from the heat,” Tillis replied.

  “For God’s sake.” Surrey turned away. “End it.”

  Tillis ended the video. “Yep, that’s pretty much how we felt. What do you make of that, Agent Reid?”

  “How long does that video go on?” she asked.

  “It was a good 90 seconds. But the bomber didn’t end it like he did the others. He let it run as long as it could. He’s changed his M.O. with this one.”

  “He wanted everyone to watch her burn like this was personal for him. And why the hell didn’t Facebook kill the feed?” she asked.

  “I wish I knew,” Tillis replied.

  “How long since the last bomb?” Surrey pressed on.

  “Less than a week ago. Was almost two weeks between bomb number one and bomb number two. This one? About four days,” Stallard replied.

  “Why did he change tactics? So
mething provoked him, or someone. Maybe the victim.” Kate looked at Tillis. “Any connection between this girl and the other victims?”

  “It’s a little early to say for sure, but you’d better believe we’ll be all over that,” Tillis replied. “I’ve already got a call into my computer forensics lead to check into her social media followers. He might’ve been one, who the hell knows?”

  Stallard peered out over the scene. “My gut tells me he’s local. He knows these streets, the community. He knows when places are busy and when they’re not. No way an outsider would know that. This isn’t just some random social media follower with a vendetta.”

  “I agree,” Duncan replied. “But he does follow his victims. He learns their routines, their habits, and uses it against them. Attacks them when they’re the most vulnerable—alone.”

  “She’s got you on that point, Stallard,” Tillis replied. “So where does all this conjecture leave us, huh? You guys are the profiling experts. And Agent Reid, I’m sorry to say, your initial profile didn’t offer a whole lot of insight. What can you tell us now?”

  At least Kate knew one thing about Tillis. He could call a spade a spade. “I don’t disagree. However, this victim is different and adds more layers for us to include that will start to fill out the profile. He’s exposing his true nature. Short fuse. Quick to act. I don’t think he took as much time getting to know Sienna Page as he did the other two victims. Why the hurry? I don’t know yet. Maybe he feels as though he’s running out of time.” She took in a deep breath. “Where are you at on the CCTV from the other crime scenes?”

  “We scoured the footage obtained from the exterior of the buildings around the financial district. We’re still working on getting the footage from the strip mall. Came up empty-handed on the first go-round. Don’t expect that to be any different this time. But who knows? Based on what we’ve seen today, he wants to make a bigger, bolder statement and he might screw it up,” Tillis replied.

  “Going back to the victims’ phones being cloned,” Duncan interjected. “Agent Tillis if you’re good with it, I’d like to make a call to a colleague who knows a lot more about them than I do. There could be a shot at determining when these phones were cloned, possibly where they were cloned, too.”

  “Go for it. Hey, look, we all work for the Bureau. Well, except for Stallard over there. He’s ATF.”

  “The red-headed stepchild of the federal agencies,” Stallard chuckled. “But I’m used to it.”

  “Point being, we’re on the same team.” Tillis eyed them. “Whatever we need to do to end this, I’m all for. My toes have been stepped on plenty of times and I’m still walking just fine.”

  Kate nodded. “Then we should probably make some arrangements. Set up shop in your field office. Get a place to stay. We aren’t leaving until we get answers for you.”

  A text arrived on Nick’s phone and drew his attention. His brow pulled tight as he studied the message and took in a breath. From behind his desk, he peered into the hall. A moment later, he headed into the corridor.

  “Scarborough, hey, you have a minute?” Agent Moskowitz stopped him in the hall. He was Nick’s second-in-command. The Cameron Fisher of Unit 2, though he was younger and taller than Fisher. “I hear your old team is working those car bombings out of Pittsburgh.”

  “That’s right. How’d you find out?” Nick asked.

  “Villanova got a call from one of them. An Agent Duncan.”

  “Is that so?” Nick folded his arms. “What did she want?”

  “Turns out, they’re looking for a guy who’s some kind of genius hacker. I don’t know the whole deal, but she asked Villanova if there was a way to pinpoint when and where a phone might have been cloned. You know anything more about it? Your wife’s there, too, I hear.”

  “She is. They’re with the field office and the ATF, as far as I know. Hadn’t heard much in the way of details yet,” Nick replied.

  “I don’t know, man. Kind of sounds like something Unit 2 should be handling, if that’s the case.”

  “Looks like we already have fingers in the pie.” He glanced at his phone. “Hey, I’m on my way to a quick meeting. Let me dig into this a little and I’ll let you know what I come up with.”

  “You got it, Boss. Catch you later.”

  Nick stepped onto the elevator to meet Walsh, who waited for him downstairs. The elevator doors opened to the lobby and Nick headed outside. He caught sight of Walsh just beyond the entrance and walked through the glass doors. “You didn’t want to come up. That can’t be good.”

  Walsh scanned the area as though he was under surveillance. “We can’t be sure who’s on our team and who isn’t.”

  “Didn’t realize we had more than one,” Nick replied.

  “Go figure.” He pulled Nick aside. “Look, we wanted to know who worked under Gustafson? Well, I learned of at least one person.”

  Nick fixed his stance and prepared for the worst.

  “He worked at Headquarters in D.C. when Gustafson was there, right before the guy retired. Apparently, they were close. I’m working on more details, so I’ll spare you my working theories. Just bear with me for a day and I’ll have some answers for you.”

  “Walsh, man, you could’ve told me this over the phone. Why the cloak and dagger? Something else going on?”

  I think it’s best from this point forward that we only discuss this outside the compound. The way we’re going around asking questions, people might start to talk. Might overhear conversations. And hey, we’re talking about the Bureau. Our phones are their phones.”

  “Point taken. Got it. I didn’t get much from my lunch expedition anyway. The usual stuff. We need to find someone who will talk.”

  “Process of elimination, buddy,” Walsh replied. “Whoever threatened Kate, we’ll find them before they make good on that threat.”

  The Rapid Response team inside the Pittsburgh field office set up an area for the BAU to aid in the hunt for the serial bomber, nicknamed “Robinhood” by the media. This was in no way a situation where this guy was looking after the less fortunate. He was a murderer, but straightforward stories didn’t increase ratings.

  Tillis walked into the room. “This should be everything your team will need, Agent Reid. It’s the largest space we have that can accommodate you.”

  “This is perfect. Thank you. I know it must be hard for you with all of us here. The ATF too. You probably feel like you’re being squeezed out,” she replied.

  “No, no, it’s…well, yeah.” He chuckled. “It’s starting to feel a little claustrophobic in here.”

  “I get it. We can do that to our colleagues in the field offices sometimes. It’s not intentional. We just want to make available all our resources.” She thumbed back to Surrey and Duncan. “Those guys… we’re better together if you know what I mean.”

  “Sure. I get it, Reid. Look, we all want to get this guy. I don’t have a problem with you being here. I really don’t. All I ask is that you try to remember this is still my town.”

  “Understood.”

  “Good. Then I’d like to check in on Forensics to see how far they’ve gotten with reviewing the security footage from the Messena case and have them start gathering any public camera information around the park where Page was killed. Maybe we’ll get lucky in that our genius hacker bomber was dumb enough to be seen on video.”

  Kate revealed a cockeyed grin. “We can only hope.” She gathered Surrey and Duncan who had already settled into their spots. “Tillis wants to get an update on the footage they’ve scoured so far. Whatever they haven’t finished, we should jump in and help.”

  Surrey pushed off the chair and followed as they left the room. “Agreed. We wrap that up, it’ll be another thing to check off the list. The best we can do is to narrow down our field of search.”

  “I’m waiting on a call back from Villanova in Unit 2 to learn if those cloned phones are traceable in any way,” Duncan replied. “We might get a hit on something.”
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  Tillis looked back. “This is it, folks. I’ll make the introductions. These computer guys scare easy.” He laughed. “Just kidding. They’re all good people. Just a little dry if you ask me.” He pushed inside. “Fellas! Tell me you got something on the bomber footage. I got the BAU here, so don’t let me down.”

  “Still working on it, Chief.” A young analyst eyed Tillis as he approached. “We viewed the footage around the time of the blast in the gym parking lot, turned up squat. So, we’re going through the previous two days to see if we pick up anything unusual. Haven’t started on what happened today.”

  “You think he might’ve scoped out the location?” Kate asked. “Sorry, I’m Reid.”

  “Right. Agent Reid. I just look at video all day. I leave the detective work to you guys. But if I were to guess, I’d say that no one just shows up and decides to plant a bomb, right?”

  “Not usually,” Kate replied.

  “It requires planning. Especially, if like Tillis says, the bomber wanted to make sure the bomb went off when his location was the least busy.”

  “Anything we can do to help?” Surrey asked.

  The analyst looked at Tillis. “The more eyes on this, the faster it’ll go. But that’s up to you.”

  “Might as well put these guys to work right away,” Tillis replied. “Send me the details on exactly where you and your people have left off. We’ll divide and conquer.”

  8

  After Sienna Page, prudence suggested Danny would be better served by keeping out of sight. Instead, he chose to give law enforcement the middle finger by sitting inside a bar, drinking a beer as though he hadn’t just blown up someone. The tingling in his spine told him to watch his back, but another beer would dampen the notion.

  Danny was a new breed of crusader. He wasn’t alone in that crusade, but no one else had taken the stand that he had. Guess it only took the system to kick him while he was down one more time. Now, he felt unstoppable with nothing left to lose. Mel was gone and the uphill battle to get her back would grow exhausting. Just as caring for his dying mother had.