by Terry Keys
“You guys want to stop and get something to eat? I really could use a big juicy ribeye right about now. We could also use the time to hatch a plan for wrangling up Stacy and Brittany. What do you say?”
I knew Paul’s answer already. That man had never turned down a meal in his life. De Luca nodded. We’d covered as much ground as we needed to.
“One of you find us the nearest steakhouse.”
Lafitte pulled out his phone. “Longhorn Steakhouse, 15270 Crossroads Parkway, 39503. We’re about twenty five minutes away, David.”
“Longhorn it is.”
Chapter 43
We pulled into Longhorn Steakhouse, and the parking lot was jam-packed. This restaurant had some of the highest ratings in the entire state, and from the size of the crowd, I believed it. We headed inside, trying our best not to look like out-of-towners.
We were told the wait would be about fifteen minutes and I was handed a buzzer. We stood outside and recapped everything we knew this far. Right at about fifteen minutes the buzzer went off.
We went inside and a waitress took us to a table. We’d asked to be as secluded as possible so we could at least hear ourselves talk. We were seated at a table in the back of the restaurant.
“What’ll you have, sugar?” the waitress asked me.
“Water for me,” I said.
“We’ll both take water as well,” De Luca said.
I looked away, trying to hide my amusement.
“Something funny over there, David?” Lafitte said.
“Nope. Nothing at all.”
“I’m not ordering for him, David. We’d already discussed our drink preferences in the truck, wiseguy,” De Luca said.
“Hey, you don’t have to explain yourself to me,” I said, smiling.
The waitress came back with our waters, and we all ordered monster twenty-ounce steaks that none of us would finish.
“So here’s what I’m thinking. We get an undercover from back home and create a fake profile in or around where we think she’ll be next, based on travel time.”
“So you’re talking about flying this guy out here and letting him hit the road with us?” Lafitte said.
“Yes, that’s exactly what I mean. If we get cooperation from the local PD, we can use a rent house. Hell, that’s the easy part. Getting her to bite on our guy with so many options is going to be the tough part,” I said.
“Doesn’t have to be. We know which sites she’s been using. We have Fingers get rid of a few dozen accounts. Then we have him create our fake account and load it up with rape charges,” De Luca said.
“Should we have Fingers remove all of the other profiles with rape charges except our fake one?” Lafitte said.
“Don’t you think that would be a bit obvious??” De Luca said.
“Maybe. Check that. Probably. You can throw a dart in this room and hit a sex offender,” I said.
I called Wilcrest and told him about our plan. I asked him to send us the profile pics of some Houston undercovers so the team and I could decide on who we wanted. De Luca called Fingers and filled him in as well.
“Wilcrest said we only have about ten undercovers whose looks could fool Stacy. Needed to be a little rough around the edges, but not too bad,” I said.
The waitress brought out our steaks, and man did they look amazing! The grill marks were perfect, and the aroma was to die for. We dug in, and the conversation lagged as we savored every bite.
We washed it all down with a beer. Not exactly a bodybuilder’s diet, but sometimes you just gotta live a little, I told myself.
My phone’s email notification went off, and I looked down to check it. Captain Wilcrest had put together the profile pictures of the undercover officers we had available for our trap. De Luca and Lafitte glanced through them first, and both seemed to agree on an officer. I looked through them as well but didn’t offer my opinion. I had a way of taking over investigations sometimes; I knew that. This time, though, I just nodded and agreed with their choice.
“How quickly can he be here in Gulfport?” De Luca asked.
“Captain said tonight. Flight isn’t all that long. I’ll call him now and get it arranged. I’ll send the picture to Fingers, too, so he can get started,” I said.
Chapter 44
We checked into our rooms in Gulfport, same setup as before. We unloaded our gear and got settled in. I unlocked the door between our room and De Luca’s and waited for her to do the same. When the door finally opened, De Luca stood in front of me in a pair of tiny sports shorts and a bra-like thing.
“It’s called a sports bra, David,” De Luca said, shaking her head.
“I didn’t say anything,” I laughed.
I counted down from five in my head, and Lafitte joined us right on schedule.
“Can I help you, sir?” De Luca said over her shoulder as Lafitte followed me into her room.
“Just joining the team is all,” Lafitte said, his grin so wide you could almost count every tooth in his mouth.
I set my laptop on the desk, logged in, and pulled up our fake profile.
“Should we activate it now?” De Luca said.
“I think we should wait. I mean, what if she wants to meet at a bar this time instead of this cat’s house? He’ll be here in a few hours, right?” Lafitte said.
We decided to wait. I told them both to get some rest, and I waited up to head out to the airport to pick up our undercover guy, Franklin Shuppe.
I spent the time rereading the case files. I did that often to make sure I hadn’t overlooked anything. There was almost always at least one little thing that got overlooked or didn’t make sense the first go-round. This time, however, I found nothing new.
I pulled into the short-term parking lot at Gulfport-Biloxi International Airport and turned off my truck. I woke up twenty minutes later to find five text messages from Shuppe.
I gave him a call.
“Franklin, it’s Porter. Sorry I dozed off on you. Been a little sleep deprived the last few days.”
“It’s okay, detective. I’ve only been waiting ten minutes. My bags took longer than I expected, hoss.”
Hoss?
“I’m parked in T3. You anywhere close to that?”
“Actually, I am. Be there in two shakes, partner.”
This guy was as country as they come. Hoss? Partner? Did Wilcrest get this guy from the undercover program or an FFA group? As he strode toward me, I gave him the once-over. He was unshaven and stood about six five if I was guessing. His jeans and plaid shirt made me feel like I was watching an old rerun of Dukes of Hazzard. He wore a baseball cap turned backward with a fishhook on the bill. I could also tell he was a gym rat, which made me like him even more.
“How long you been on the force?” I asked as we pulled out of the parking lot.
“Three years, sir. Hope to be a legend like you someday, if all goes well.”
I really liked this guy. And helping me apprehend Stacy and Brittany would look good in his file.
“The girls I’m after—”
“I know, sir; I read all the files on the flight over. I’m ready.”
“I believe that, Franklin. Don’t for one minute think those pretty faces won’t hesitate to end your life, because they will. You had to kill anyone on duty? You even fired your weapon in the line of duty?”
“No, sir, neither. But I won’t hesitate. I’ve killed about a hundred deer and twice as many hogs. Does that count?”
I laughed. “Not exactly, but it’s a start.”
I’d gotten Franklin a room on the other side of ours. I left him to get settled and called it a night.
Chapter 45
I woke up covered in a cold sweat. My heart was pounding so hard that I could feel the blood racing through my veins. I sat up and looked around the room. The clock read 3:30 a.m. I looked over at Lafitte who was out like a rock. I wasn’t a big dreamer; in fact, I couldn’t even remember the last dream I’d had. This one was a nightmare. I hadn’t eve
n had time to really process the idea that Stacy was indeed pregnant—and it was mine. How was I going to manage raising a kid who was conceived under those circumstances? What would I tell him or her about its mother and what she truly was? How could Miranda be loving to this child? I was wrong; nightmare didn’t do it justice. Catastrophe summed it up better.
I got up and chugged a bottle of water. I wiped the sweat off my face and changed shirts. I still had a few hours of sleep time left, and I dearly needed it. I climbed back into bed and hoped the outcome would be different this time.
I woke up earlier than Lafitte and unlocked the door between our room and De Luca’s. I spent some time searching the net to see if our girls had struck again, but it appeared they hadn’t.
Maybe they were changing their pattern, or maybe they hadn’t come this direction at all. We were kind of flying blind on hunches.
Franklin sent me a text message letting me know he was up. I sent him to the front desk to round up breakfast for the group.
Five minutes later, De Luca joined me in our room. I guess she’d heard me stirring around. She pointed to Lafitte and shook her head. “You just gonna let him sleep all day?”
“It’s only six thirty and I’m not asleep, if you must know,” Lafitte said.
“Never a dull moment with you two,” I said.
“So what do you think about our guy?” De Luca said.
“I think he’s perfect for the job, and he seems like a nice kid, too.”
We heard a knock at the door.
“Got my hands full. Couldn’t grab any coffee, partner,” Franklin said as I held the door for him.
Franklin sat down the breakfast and went through some introductions with Lafitte and De Luca.
“It’s okay. Lafitte and I will go down and grab some. Come on, princess. Let’s go,” De Luca said.
Lafitte groaned but he got up and followed her. I wouldn’t have expected anything less from him.
____________________
“You always bust up guys you like this way?” Lafitte said as they headed for the lobby.
“Who said I like you?”
“Still playing hard to get, huh?”
“Just grab the door so we can get the coffee, Casanova.”
“On a serious note, how do you think David is holding up? You know he wants to be home with Miranda and the girls right now.”
“Well, you know him better than I do. I’m sure he’d rather be home with his family. But even more than that, he knows they’ll never be safe unless he catches these two,” De Luca said.
“Then let’s make sure we get the job done.”
Chapter 46
Paul and De Luca returned with the coffees and the four of us ate breakfast. I told them I’d looked online for news about the girls, but was unable to find anything.
“They sure have been quiet,” Lafitte said.
“Yeah, I know. A few days now and not a peep. Maybe they went to Mexico,” I said. I was joking, but who knows with those two?
I’d made a call to the Gulfport PD, letting them know we were in town and asking them to keep me in the loop if another murder turned up. As I downed the last drop of my coffee, my phone rang.
“Detective Porter? Captain Alstead, Gulfport PD. A pig farmer came across a couple bodies this morning. It don’t fit the MO of the girls you’re tracking, but we could use a little help getting started.”
“Send me the address. We’ll drive over and take a look.”
It wasn’t the call I was hoping for, but we really didn’t have much going on. We were waiting until midafternoon to launch Franklin’s fake profile.
I explained the situation to the others, and the four of us piled in my truck and followed my GPS to the crime scene. I wondered how often a town like this even had a murder case. The more I thought about it, the more curious I became.
“Lafitte, Google the murder and crime rate of Gulfport,” I said.
“Okay. Give me a minute.”
“What are you thinking, Porter?” De Luca asked.
I shook my head. “I’m not really sure. We’ve been here almost two days. The town seems really slow paced.”
“You aren’t going to believe this,” Paul said. “You ready? Point zero one.”
My hunch was right—Gulfport was not the murder capital of the world. In fact, the citizens of Gulfport just didn’t commit crimes, for the most part. It was too early to draw any conclusions here, but I already had a sneaking suspicion about these two newly discovered bodies.
We climbed out of my truck and headed toward the taped-off area where a group of local officers awaited.
“Detective Porter? Captain Alstead.”
I stuck out my hand, introduced myself, and asked him what they had so far.
“Well, two John Does. ME says they’ve probably been here two days or so.”
“Why John Does? No IDs?” De Luca said.
“Both men were found naked here in this field. The farmer’s dog brought back a piece of a hand, and the farmer came over to check it out.”
“You guys already questioned the farmer, I presume?” I asked.
“I’ve lived here my whole life, detective. I’ve known Clive as long as I can remember. He and his wife, Ellie, wouldn’t hurt a fly. We won’t be able to match dental records or check fingerprints, either. All gone—every tooth pulled, every print burned off.”
“You guys thinking what I’m thinking?” I said.
“Yes,” De Luca and Lafitte said together.
“We have to find out who these guys are. I’d bet my life the two girls we’re chasing did this. They pulled their teeth and burned off their fingertips to slow us down. Same with leaving the bodies here. They’ve gotten a two-day jump on us now, and we still have work to do here. It’ll take hours just to ID them,” I said.
Of course this was all a hunch, but my gut said it was a correct one. Folks here just weren’t killing people, much less pulling out teeth so the bodies couldn’t be easily identified.
“Did you scan the bodies for any kind of military chip?”
“No, sir, but we can once we get them down to the coroner,” Captain Alstead said.
“Let’s get them moved ASAP, captain. Give me a call when they start the autopsies.”
“Autopsies? These boys were shot in the head. Hell, even a blind woman could see that.”
“With all due respect, sir, gunshot wound to the head may not be the cause of death. Could be another ploy to slow us down and throw us off the trail. Please order the autopsies.”
The four of us climbed back into my pickup. I didn’t need the autopsy results or the names of these men to know who’d done it. But where the hell were they now?
“David, if they’re still traveling on I-10, we just have to up our hours-traveled and expand our search area some. This doesn’t take our fake profile trap out of play,” Lafitte said.
“You and De Luca start looking a hundred miles out, based on this two-day gap they’ve created. And contact Fingers. Get him working on killing those other profiles and highlighting ours. Franklin and I will go to the coroner’s office and wait on the autopsy reports.”
“Hey, Franklin, do you have a name you’d like us to use for your profile?” De Luca asked.
“Well, Franklin’s kinda stuffy, and I am a hillbilly at heart. Should’ve been named Buck or Bo or something. Hey, that’s it—Bo Brown. I go by BB.”
“Perfect,” De Luca said. “Nice to meet ya, Bo.”
I dropped the pair off at the motel so they could get busy figuring out where the girls might be. Franklin and I headed for the coroner’s office.
“You really think it’s them, sir?” Franklin said as we made our way through town.
“Yes, I believe it’s them. All the signs point to it.”
We arrived at the coroner’s office and Alstead took us back.
“So here’s what we got. I put a rush on these autopsies. Had to call in a favor. We don’t have all those fanc
y gadgets like you big cities. Really don’t have a reason to, I reckon. So we’ll start with cause of death. You were right; they didn’t die of a gunshot wound to the head. They were both poisoned. Their blood alcohol content was five times the legal limit,” Alstead said.
“That’s good. What else do you know?” I said.
“Well, I think we’ve identified ’em both, too. Bubba and Claude Jenkins. Brothers. Claude must have spent some time in the military; he had a chip implant. Had some of my officers’ check out his social media activity. Then we compared pics of the other vic until we found a match.”
“You didn’t recognize them? You said you knew everyone here.”
“These boys are not from Gulfport. Town nearby called Long Beach is where they’re from. But it’s them for sure.”
“Thank you, Captain Alstead. If I need anything else can I call you?”
“Sure thing, and thanks for your help today. I think we can take it from here.”
Chapter 47
When we left the coroner’s office, I called De Luca to fill her in.
“We’re about ten minutes out. Call Fingers and have him start profiling the Jenkins brothers. I want to know everything there is to know about them, starting with the obvious: are they convicted rapists? Were you and Lafitte able to zero in on a new search zone and get Franklin’s profile going?”
“Yes, yes, and yes, sir. We can go over the details when you get here.”
I drove way too fast, ignoring all the long yellow lights and a couple red ones. It looked like we’d finally gotten another break, and I wanted to jump all over it. When we reached the motel, I slammed the truck in park and we ran inside. Paul was rattling out the details before the door closed behind us.
“So, both were convicted rapists with multiple charges. Claude was actually kicked out of the military due to a rape case. We have the Franklin profile going, and we have a new search zone. De Luca and I think we should travel to Jacksonville. It’s the end of the road for I-10 unless we head north or south,” Lafitte said.
