“So what’s next?” Travis asked from behind the computer screen.
Andy scratched the back of his head as he looked at the younger detective. “Well, after his alibi checked out, I went back down to the tech guys to get them to search the security camera footage from the night of the murder.”
“I thought we weren’t allowed to have cameras in the cells?” Travis inquired.
“They don’t, but I figured the perp had to get in and out of that area somehow, so he would be on cameras around the cells.” He looked at his cell phone, which was still in his hand, before placing it on the desk.
“I guess that stands to reason.” The younger detective nodded.
“This is where it gets weird, though.” Andy leaned on the desk and looked directly at Maria. “When the geek squad went through all of the footage from that night . . .” He shrugged his shoulders and sat back in his seat. “It had been wiped.”
“You have got to be fucking kidding me!” She looked slack-jawed at her partner. “How the f—”
“I know,” he cut her short. “I left them trying to see if they could somehow retrieve it. But they’re already snowed under trying to retrieve the deleted files from the security breach.” He shook his head. “I think this is what you would call,” he pointed at her, “a clusterfuck.”
“Something is very wrong here.” She frowned, trying to process the information. “This can’t be a coincidence.”
“I’m inclined to agree with you. Anyway, while the geeks are at work, I’m going to head down to forensics and see what’s happening with the Hector Tobin case. Then I’m going to go canvas the scene, see what I can find out.”
“Tobin!” She exclaimed. “He’s on the wall of shame in CACU.
“Holy Shit. Are you sure?” He asked.
“Absolutely,” she glanced at Travis, “spotted him straight away.”
“Well in that case,” he continued, “do you want to come with me?”
“No. I, err…” She glanced at Travis, then back to Andy. “I think we’re on to something here. I wouldn’t mind following this up if you can manage without me.” She gave him the puppy dog eyes look that had been very successful in the past.
“Sure. So what’s your plan?” he asked.
“Like I said, a large percentage of these phones’ last known location was from the same tower. Meaning they were all in the same area.” She tried to dumb it down for her tech-shy partner.
“What’s the location?” he asked.
She beckoned him over to a map of Orlando that was adorning a full wall of the office and pointed at a specific point. “This is the tower.”
Andy looked closely at the spot she was referring to. “Right next to the airport?”
“Exactly.” She nodded. “This makes me more concerned.”
“What are you thinking?” He continued staring at the map.
“It’s looking like they snatch the kids and fly them out. That’s the assumption we’re working on.” She looked at Andy. “Unless you have a better theory?”
“For what purpose though?” He looked skywards.
“Well, they are blue-eyed, fair-haired boys. Perhaps they’re trying to build the master race again.” She shrugged her shoulders.
“That’s a bit farfetched.” He looked across the entire map and scratched his head.
“Personally, I think with the ages of these kids, it rules out adoption,” Travis interjected, as he joined them at the wall.
“Leaving us with what?” Andy asked.
“Working on the assumption that these kids are being flown out of here? First option is the child slave trade. Second option is they’re in a pedophile ring.” He paused. “If I was a betting man, I would put my money on the pedophile ring.”
“Why not the slave trade?” Her curiosity was obvious.
“Well, these kids all look the same. No need for them to all look the same if they were in the slave trade. It doesn’t matter what they look like as long as they can work.” He began to explain his theory. “These boys are what are traditionally considered ‘good-looking.’ It may not even be a ring. It could possibly be just one guy living out a fantasy who wants a fresh supply of young boys. Once he’s had his kicks he moves the kid on and gets a new one. Hence the reason they all look similar.”
“So, what kind of a guy would we be looking for?” she asked, knowing that he was a trained profiler. That fact had come to light during their conversation on the previous night.
“Well, obviously a male, and quite well off. I would say married, with either no kids or a recent addition of a baby.” Travis walked away from the map and sat back behind Maria’s desk.
“Okay, so I get the rich part,” she said, as she made her way back to her desk. “He would need to be able to fund an operation like this. But, why the wife and no kids or a recent baby though?” Maria asked.
She was genuinely interested in this kind of thing, and had often considered taking the police profiler course herself.
“He would be married and appear to have the perfect family life. If he has no kids he’ll be trying to fill a void, expressing his fatherly love onto these kids, if you will—”
“Fatherly love? The sick bastard!” she said in disgust.
“In his head, he’ll be able to justify it,” he added.
“You said he could have had a recent addition?” Andy asked.
“Well, it could be that he has had these urges for some time and, if he has a child in the house now, he could be finding it hard to fight those urges.” He sat back in his chair.
“So, is he collecting these kids?” She was puzzled.
“No, like I said before, he could be at the top of a pedophile ring. Once he’s done with them, he passes them down, or sells them to the rest of the group.” He paused. “Of course, he could be killing them when he’s done with them, too. We just don’t know at this stage.”
“I know it’s a terrible thing, but this profiling thing is really fascinating to me.” She put her pen in her mouth and gently chomped on it.
“So, what do we do now?” Andy asked. “This is your case, Maria. How do you want to play it?”
“I know this is a long shot, but I want to send Travis over to the airport to see if he can locate those phones.” She looked at him for confirmation. He nodded his approval.
“I’ll chase up the geeks and Palmer on my way to canvas Tobin’s neighborhood if you want,” the senior detective offered.
“That would be great,” she agreed. “I think this theory is our best so far. I’m going to go through the flight manifests for the times that the phones went dead, and also try to find any connection between our dead guys and the airport.”
“Good thinking. I’ll use that line of inquiry on Tobin’s family and if I get time, Seaton’s family, too.” He nodded.
“Great. If either of you find anything, or if you need backup, call me,” she ordered.
Travis shut down the computer and stood up while Andy went to his desk and retrieved some files before he headed out of the office.
“I’ll call you later,” he said, as he waved his hand in the air and left.
Travis straightened the files they had brought up from the CACU and he, too, headed for the door.
“Let me know how it goes,” she said to him.
“Will do.” He smiled.
She looked thoughtful. “Hey!” she shouted after him, and grinned as he turned around. “In fact, you can tell me at my place tonight. You bring the pizza.”
“Yes, ma’am.” Travis smiled broadly and did a mock salute.
***
After leaving Homicide, Andy went straight to the tech department, but to no avail. They were frantically trying to retrieve the files that had been deleted and trace the CCTV footage. Unable to get any satisfactory answers, he proceeded to Forensics, where he met with Palmer. But they, too, were working flat out to get answers. He left with no more information than earlier.
He wa
s in his car heading to interview the Seaton family, a task he was not looking forward to. He was fairly certain there would be a hostile environment waiting for him which, he conceded, was understandable, owing to the fact that their loved one had been murdered in police custody, and now a cop was asking them questions. He was working out in his head how to handle the situation when his phone rang. He looked at the screen, ‘Regan.’
“Good morning, sir.” The awkward silence on the other end of the line made Andy very nervous. “What’s wrong, boss?”
“Where are you, Andy?” the lieutenant said abruptly.
“I’m on my way to interview the Seaton family, sir,” he answered in an official tone, considering his superior’s curtness.
“You need to get your ass back here, immediately!” he snapped.
“Is there something wrong, boss?” Andy hesitantly asked.
“You bet your ass there’s something wrong.” He paused. “I’ve just had a call from Palmer. He’s found a ballistics match for the Surin shooting, and I’ve told him to double check his findings.” He went silent.
The detective waited for a moment. Nothing, just silence. “Lieutenant? Are you still there?”
“There’s no easy way to say this…” He paused again. “The ballistics report shows a ninety-seven percent match for a police-registered service weapon.”
“A service weapon?” he exclaimed. “Whose weapon is it?”
“You’re not going to like this. It’s registered to Maria Hernandez. Now get back here,” he growled. The line went dead.
The Genesis Chamber
Chapter 27
Palmer was waiting in Regan’s office when Andy walked in. The two men looked up at him as he entered. He slammed the door behind him.
“You have got this wrong!” He burst into a tirade, pointing his finger straight at Palmer. “I don’t care what the report says, this is bullshit!”
Regan stood up behind his desk. “Detective Cooper!” he shouted. “Calm yourself down right now!”
But it wasn’t going to make any difference. Andy was furious, and he wasn’t done berating the poor CSI just yet.
“You’ve made a mistake. No way is Hernandez involved,” he said through clenched teeth.
“Detective, I won’t tell you again, back off,” Regan ordered.
Still visibly angry and sneering at Palmer, Andy took a few deep breaths, put his hands behind his head, and interlocked his fingers. He managed to calm himself a little.
“Sorry, sir.” He dropped his hands down by his side and looked at Palmer. “CSI Palmer, I apologize.”
Palmer nodded at him. “Look, I don’t want to be the bearer of bad news. Protocol dictates that I should report this to Internal Affairs, but I brought it to the lieutenant first.” He looked down at his shaking hands. “I don’t want to get Maria in trouble; I’m just doing my job.”
“I know, Palmer. I’m very sorry.” He sighed and placed one hand on his hip and gestured a calming motion with his other. “I just can’t accept that Hernandez would be in any way accountable for this.”
He knew the guy was only doing his job, and he also knew it was only a matter of hours at the most before Internal Affairs was involved, and Maria would be instantly suspended. Plus, with the murder of Seaton, a suspect she had brought in, she could be in serious trouble if they found the slightest reason to charge her.
“How long have we got before you have to notify Internal Affairs?” He looked at the CSI.
“Palmer is taking the rest of the afternoon off,” Regan answered.
“What? I am?” Palmer looked surprised.
“Yes, you’re taking the rest of the day off because you’re not feeling well.” Regan spoke slowly and nodded his head with each word to make sure that Palmer was following his intent.
“Oh, that’s right.” He coughed an over-elaborate cough. “I feel terrible! Probably one of those twenty-four-hour bugs.” He looked at Regan, who nodded to confirm his diagnosis. “Yeah, I should be back at work tomorrow at 9:00 a.m.” It was more of a question than a statement.
“Yes, I think a twenty-four-hour bug looks like the illness we’ve got here. Obviously I would imagine the first thing you’ll do tomorrow when you return is check in with me to see if you missed anything that may need reporting to our good friends at Internal Affairs?” Regan led him.
“Yes, sir, that’s exactly what I’ll do.” He coughed a loud and obviously fake cough again. “I’d better get going home and get tucked into bed.”
“See you in the morning,” said the lieutenant.
“Get well soon, buddy,” Andy added. Palmer turned to leave and as he reached the door he said, “Hey, Palmer. Thanks, I owe you one.”
Palmer coughed again. “I have no idea what you’re talking about.” He winked at the detective and left the office.
Andy turned his attention back to Regan. “How the hell do I get her out of this?”
“Quickly is all I can suggest.” He picked up a file and tossed it to him. “It’s a positive match, Andy. I’m not sure you can help her on this.”
Andy sat down and started to read through the report. It was pretty damning evidence, but he continued. Suddenly he was hit with a thought.
“She didn’t do this,” he said, snapping his head up to look at his superior.
“So you keep saying, and I’m inclined to agree with you. But, IA will need a little more convincing. They might even need some proof,” he said cynically.
“I have the proof.” The detective stood up, then stopped. The realization that clearing Maria would implicate his brother left him momentarily confused.
Regan looked at him with expectation. “Come on, I’m waiting. What’s your proof?”
“The night Surin was shot, Maria didn’t have her gun.” He looked down at his feet. “It… it was in a safe.” He paused. “In my brother’s house.”
Regan stared at him, open-mouthed. “Are you fucking kidding me?”
“Wish I was, sir.” He rubbed his forehead. “I put it in there myself.”
“Well, this just gets better and better.” Regan shook his head. “Clear your partner and implicate your brother. This is a big day for you, Cooper.”
“I can’t see Chris doing anything like this,” he said, shaking his head. “He literally doesn’t like getting his hands dirty. There has to be an explanation.”
“Well, we need to come up with one ASAP.” Regan leaned over his desk.
Andy took a moment to think. “Chris has a state-of-the-art security system, so maybe he caught something on camera,” he said with some excitement. “I’ll head over and talk to him, see if I can look at the footage from that night.”
“Okay.” The lieutenant sat back in his chair. Then he stood up abruptly. “I think I’d better come with you on this.” He stopped. “Just in case it comes down to a question of the investigation’s integrity, it’s best if I’m involved.”
“That makes sense, sir.” He nodded. “We can go over to AppTech now. The head security guy there can access Chris’s home system from there.”
Regan grabbed his gun from his desk drawer. He checked the chamber and holstered it. “Let’s make a move.”
***
Reagan and Andy walked into AppTech and were greeted by Sinclair.
“Good Morning, John. This is my lieutenant, Regan.” He gestured towards his superior. “We’re here to see Chris.”
“Good morning, gentlemen.” He shook hands with the lieutenant, then started pressing buttons on his keyboard. “Mr. Cooper is in his office, sir. I’ll inform him that you’re here.”
“No need, John. In fact, would you be able to take us up?” Andy asked. “We need your help on something.”
“Really?” His voice rose, and Andy could detect the excitement in his voice. He quickly filled out two name badges and handed them over. “Follow me, gentlemen.” He pressed some more buttons and picked up a tablet before guiding them to the elevators. “Can I ask what you
need my assistance with?”
“We’ll explain once we’re with Chris,” the detective answered.
***
Ding. They exited the elevator, and Sinclair led the way to Chris’s office. He knocked, then entered without waiting for a formal invitation. “Sorry to disturb you, sir, but you have visitors.”
Chris was alone in the office, which suited Andy; he didn’t want to have the forthcoming conversation in front of Jen. His brother sat behind his desk with his face buried in the computer screen. When he popped his head up, the detective noted how tired his sibling looked.
“Heeeyyyy!” He smiled broadly as he got up and walked around the desk to greet them. “Lieutenant Regan, nice to see you outside of your office.” He shook the superior officer’s hand, then hugged his brother. “Please, take a seat.” He guided them to the sofa. “Can I get you some refreshments? Coffee? Something a little stronger?”
“Sure, coffee, cream with no sugar for me please, bro,” Andy requested, as he took his seat.
“And how about you, Lieutenant?” Chris inquired.
“Coffee, black, no sugar. Thanks, Christopher.” Regan nodded and sat next to the detective.
“Fine.” He turned to Sinclair. “Can you sort the drinks out for our guests, please, John? And I’ll have one of my herbal teas.” The security expert nodded, and went to the coffee machine to prepare the drinks. “Now, what can I do for you?”
“We have an awkward situation,” Andy started.
“Actually, it’s quite a serious situation,” the lieutenant corrected him.
“Ooh, sounds ominous,” Chris said as he sat forward, leaning his elbows on his knees and clasping his hands together. Sinclair returned with the drinks and gradually distributed them on the coffee table in front of each of the meeting attendees. “Thank you, John, that’ll be all.”
“Yes, Mr. Cooper.” He nodded and turned to leave.
“Actually, we need him to stay.” Regan waved his hand to stop him.
The Genesis Chamber Page 21
