by Robin Mahle
“If this is what you believe must be done, then I’ll support you. Hell, this is still our investigation, in part, so I don’t see any harm if you need answers as to how you go about getting them.”
“Thank you.”
“I will warn you, be careful. This might bite you in the ass.”
“Oh, I fully expect it to, but at least I’ll find the killer.” She disappeared almost as quickly as she had arrived. Back to her desk and back to work.
With the information she’d compiled to date, she had a good idea of the type of person they were looking for. Male, mid-to-late twenties. Caucasian. And probably someone in the political arena. This someone could be after Copeland perhaps for being fired or spurned in some way. The only thing that would dispute this was if the latest victim hadn’t worked for Copeland at some point in her career. That was the first thing she needed to find out.
A database search for Meredith Bowen’s employment records was her first priority. As Kate reviewed the information, she didn’t spot any obvious connection to Copeland, a discouraging fact she hadn’t counted on. But she was confident of her approach. Perhaps she knew him as a consultant or through an outside organization and not directly. According to her research, Meredith worked for Representative Pamela Carter. That was who Kate needed to see for more insight into Meredith’s background.
Kate grabbed her things. “Vasquez, I need to head out for a while. Working on this latest victim.”
“Okay. I expect forensics to come back on Brenner as soon as this afternoon, but tomorrow at the latest. If I get it, I’ll give you a shout.”
“Appreciate it. Talk to you later.” And she was out the door, once again, wasting no time on running on her own hunches. It was what she did best.
Kate jumped on the Metro and took it all the way to the Hill. Capitol South Metro station was the next stop. Her unexpected arrival might cause distress to Mrs. Carter and Kate wasn’t sure she had heard about what happened to Meredith. If that was the case, she would have to be the one to break the news. Better her than Phelps, at any rate.
Security was tight, but after several minutes, she was allowed entry, even without an appointment. It was the one thing an FBI badge offered. People usually didn’t stop her from going where she needed to go.
A young professional woman sat at a desk in front of an office Kate assumed belonged to the congresswoman.
“Excuse me. I’m FBI Agent Reid. Might Representative Carter be available to speak with me?”
The woman appeared concerned. “Do you have an appointment?”
“I’m afraid I don’t, but it is very important I speak with her.”
“Let me see if she’s available.” She picked up the phone. “Mrs. Carter, I have an FBI Agent Reid here to see you.” Her eyes peered at Kate. “No, ma’am, she’s not on your agenda but says it’s very important she speak with you. Okay, thank you.” She ended the call. “Mrs. Carter will be out in a moment. Please have a seat.”
“Thank you.” Kate’s leg twitched while in the chair. She was wired and it was because she was on the right track. At least she had the backing of the guys in Baltimore and her own office. Without that, this would be much more difficult. However, it wasn’t going to be a walk in the park either. What Dwight said resonated. She would have to take precautions. Even meeting with Mrs. Carter, she knew would get back to Phelps. And when it did, he would take it out on her in some manner. So she’d better get what she needed before that happened.
“Agent Reid?” A woman who looked to be in her late forties wearing a conservative blue suit approached. “I’m Representative Carter. Please, come into my office.”
Kate followed her inside. “I’m very sorry I didn’t make an appointment, but I’m afraid this was urgent.”
“I’m assuming you’re here regarding the death of my top aide, Meredith Bowen.”
“Um. Yes, ma’am. I—I wasn’t sure if you had been made aware of what happened.”
“Unfortunately, yes. I received a call from the police this morning.”
“Detective Phelps?”
“Yes.”
This was a surprise, but it wouldn’t derail Kate’s efforts. “Of course. I am very sorry for your loss.”
“Thank you. It is a terrible tragedy. Meredith was a wonderful young woman with an extremely bright future ahead of her.”
“May I ask how long you had known her?”
“She came to work for me about a year ago, maybe a little more than a year.” The congresswoman smiled. “She was so eager to learn the job. We will all miss her so very much.”
“I’m sure. I don’t know if you’re aware, but I’m working with the detective on another similar investigation as well as coordination on another murder of a woman in Baltimore. All appear to have been committed by the same perpetrator.”
“Oh my God. I wasn’t aware of that. Is that why the FBI is involved?”
“Yes, ma’am. I work in the Washington Field Office under the resident BAU agent, Dwight Jameson. We were asked to assist, given that we’re dealing with multiple jurisdictions, and of course, the nature of the crimes.”
“I’m familiar with the Behavioral Analysis Unit. I’m sure you’ve seen your share of horrific crimes, Agent Reid.”
“I have. But I’d like to talk to you about Meredith. We don’t have much in the way of leads right now and are awaiting the labs, which, unfortunately, do take some time. So, rather than wait longer than necessary, I’d like to pursue a path I believe is worthwhile in helping to find her killer.”
The woman almost broke down in tears. “I’m sorry. It just feels so surreal and to hear you say that—it’s difficult.”
“I’ll try to keep this brief. I have done some preliminary work with regard to Meredith’s previous employment. I was wondering if you might be aware of her background, particularly as it relates to working for or with another member of congress.”
Representative Carter cocked her head slightly. “Not that I’m aware of. I’m the only House member she’s worked for and as far as I know, she hadn’t worked for any other member in the House or Senate. She was in the early stages of what could have been an amazing career.” She paused and cast her gaze toward the ceiling. “However, I do recall her mentioning a time when she worked for a newspaper. Small one, nothing major. She had graduated with a journalism degree and started down that path for a while. It’s likely she had contacts on the Hill at that time. Even with a small paper, she was incredibly resourceful and would’ve worked hard for a story. So, yes, I believe she would have known people around town.” She pulled out her desk drawer. “I was going through her things this morning, actually, and cleared out her desk. What few personal belongings she kept here, I put in my drawer to be collected by a member of her family. I found this bundle of business cards.” She handed them to Kate. “You might find something in here.”
“Thank you, Mrs. Carter. This will be extremely helpful in the investigation.”
“Please, it’s Pam. Listen, I do have to attend a meeting, but if there’s anything else I can do. Anything at all to help you, please don’t hesitate to contact me. I’ll do everything in my power to help you find whoever killed Meredith and those other poor women.”
“I can’t tell you how much I appreciate that, Pam. Thank you for this. And thank you for your time.”
She began to show Kate to the door. “You find her killer, Agent Reid. Meredith deserves justice.”
Kate nodded. “Goodbye, Pam.”
It had been a worthwhile trip to the congresswoman’s office. The bundle of cards Kate held in her hand as she sat at her desk was a physical version of the contacts in her phone, perhaps even more than that. Not many people kept business cards anymore, but Kate was lucky Meredith had.
“You’re back?” Vasquez approached. “I didn’t see you come in. How’d it go?”
“Good.” She held the cards up.
“What are those?”
“Meredith Bowen’s co
ntacts. Her boss, the congresswoman, handed them to me. She kept them in her drawer at work.”
“Well, shit. That’s good news. You find out anything else?”
“Not really, no. But I believe I’ll find something in here.”
“And if you do?”
“Then I’ll run on it alone. I haven’t talked to Phelps since this morning. I don’t know what the hell he’s doing, and right now, I don’t care. Right now, I’m going to sift through every one of these damn cards and find a path to Copeland.”
12
The forensics report on the piece of material found wedged in Tasha Brenner’s mouth had finally come. When the email appeared in her inbox, Vasquez opened it immediately. She’d been waiting on Agent Pearson in the Baltimore office to forward it. He’d given her a heads up that it was good news. Now she was about to see for herself.
Upon opening the file, she devoured the report, looking for whatever it was that was about to give them a much-needed leg up on this investigation. With three women dead, they had to get a handle on this because hell was about to be unleashed by way of the media.
“Reid, you have to see this.” Vasquez peered into the bullpen and noted she wasn’t at her desk. “Shit.” This was too good to wait and she began to hunt for her partner. Her first stop, Jameson’s office. “You see Reid anywhere?”
“No. Not in a while, why?”
“I think we might’ve gotten a break on the case and we need to get to Baltimore now.”
“Try her on her cell. I have no idea if she’s here or not. Last she told me, she was running on a lead herself.”
Vasquez already knew what that lead had been. Kate was hell bound on two things—getting to the bottom of Copeland’s involvement with these murders and exposing Phelps as a bad cop. In D.C., those were highly dangerous objectives and Vasquez feared it would throw her off the primary goal, which was to find the killer before he killed again. “I’ll call her, thanks.”
“Hey—anything I should know?”
She stopped. “Not yet. I’ll let you know if this is significant.” As she returned to the bullpen, relief swept over her. “There you are. I was just looking for you.”
“I just got back. What’s up?” Kate replied.
“We need to go to Baltimore and see Pearson. We’ve got a lead on the material left on the victim.” Before Kate could respond, Vasquez was already heading toward the elevator. She stopped and turned back. “You coming?”
“Yeah.” Kate jogged to catch up with her.
They stepped onto the elevator and Vasquez pressed the parking garage button. “You want to tell me where you were, or am I supposed to guess?”
“Chasing my tail.”
“Sounds productive.”
“Yep.”
She continued to eye Kate. “Don’t worry. I think we’ve got something here we can sink our teeth into.”
“I hope so.”
The short trip found their arrival at the Baltimore office ahead of schedule.
“Agent Pearson is finishing up a meeting. He’ll be right out,” the assistant replied.
“Thanks.” Vasquez nodded to Kate to step away from the desk. “First thing we need to do is ask him if the detective he’s working with has said anything to Phelps.”
“I agree. The longer I can hold him off, the better.”
“You really think you’re going to get something on this guy?”
“I don’t know, but he’s doing more harm than good on this investigation and if I can accomplish more without him, then I will.”
“But you haven’t yet.”
“A minor detail.”
Agent Pearson approached. “Morning, Agent Vasquez, Agent Reid. Thanks for coming over. Follow me.”
The Baltimore Field Office had been around almost as long as the WFO and housed far more agents. It also covered a larger population. Pearson continued toward his office. “Right through here. Can I get you two a coffee or water?”
“No, thank you. I’m fine.” Kate sat down.
“Me too.”
As Pearson continued inside, he returned to his desk. “Okay, so I know Agent Vasquez has viewed the report on the fabric. What are your thoughts, Agent Reid?”
“Well, I think it’ll be important that we discover if the fabric matches what was found on the other victims. It’s not a leap to assume it does. And, because time is of the essence here, I suggest we work on finding out where the fabric came from. Narrowing down a location is also critical.”
“I’m already ahead of you on that one.” Pearson typed on his keyboard for a moment. “Based on the forensics, the remnant came from an1800 thread count bedsheet and the word written with a high-end brand of red lipstick.”
“No DNA?”
“Just the victim’s. We can still pursue the origins of the bedsheet remnant. And that’s what I’ve been working on.” He continued to type. “But wait, it gets better. This wasn’t just any bedsheet. It’s extremely high quality.”
“This person has money?” Vasquez asked.
“I don’t know about that. What I think is that we need to find the manufacturer, because I’d seriously consider the possibility that the remnant came from a luxury hotel.”
“Couldn’t it also have been from someone’s house or even a retailer?”
“We can safely rule that out because the report indicated it had been washed with an industrial-type of detergent. I got a report on the chemical composition and with some digging, I discovered that detergent was made by a company called Sunburst Chemicals.”
“Is that where we’re going?” Vasquez asked.
“Yep. Let’s get a client list from them and go from there.”
With his head down, staring at the file in his hand, Nick continued toward Quinn’s office. Upon reaching his destination, he noticed the door was open, but the office was empty. “Damn.”
“You looking for me?” Quinn appeared next to him and made his way inside.
“Yeah. You got a second? I had a chance to review the profile you put together on the New York case.”
“Sure. Come in and have a seat.” Quinn perched on the edge of his desk while Nick sat down. “What do you think?”
“I think this is great work. I definitely believe this will get us on the right track.”
“Thank you. Look, I know this has been an adjustment—for all of us, but I hope you know that we are a good team and it just takes time to feel each other out.”
“I get that and I have no problem with it. It’s clear the three of you understand one another and are all on the same page.”
“Good. And we want you to be on that same page too.”
“Agreed. I assume the others have seen this?”
“No.” Quinn pushed off his desk and walked toward his chair. “I thought you should see it first.”
Nick began to nod both an approval and an acknowledgement for Quinn’s consideration. “I see no reason to delay your research. Let’ get it distributed and see if we can find this man.” Nick began to rise. “I’ll let you get back to it.”
“You came here just to give me the nod of approval? You could’ve just as easily emailed me.”
Nick turned awkward for a moment. “I could’ve, but I think it’s important we share facetime. How else are we going to gain a full understanding of each other?”
“I see your point. But I assume this will be brought up in the meeting this afternoon before we head to the New York field office?”
“Of course. Like I said, though, I’m a firm believer in discussing matters face to face. I’d like us to get to the point where we can finish each other’s sentences, if you catch my drift.”
“I do. I’d like that too, Scarborough. Since you’re here, I might as well update you on my progress with the applicants.”
Nick’s brows raised. “Oh?” He wasn’t good at the whole sheepish thing—never had been. And it seemed Quinn wasn’t buying it either.
“I think I’d like Agen
t Reid to come in and spend some time with me, when she can.”
“She’s working a case with the Baltimore office and local police in DC and Baltimore. I can’t say when she’d be available.”
“I’ll give her a shout. Have her shoot over some dates, hopefully in the next week, that might work for her.”
“Sounds good. Appreciate the update.” Nick disappeared.
Quinn folded his arms and peered into the corridor. While he appreciated his boss’ approach to team building, he was under no impression that Scarborough was there for any other reason than to check on whether or not Reid was still in the running. If this was what it was going to be like, perhaps he’d made the wrong call to bring her in again. Unfortunately, the only way to know for sure was to do just that. He was aware of the investigation placed before Agent Reid and he was anxious to discuss her findings to date. Her previous report revealed a great deal of aptitude on her part.
With his cell phone in hand, he made the call. “Hello again, it’s Quinn. Did I catch you at a bad time?”
“A little. I’m sorry, but I’m right in the middle of chasing something down.”
“Don’t be sorry. It’s your job. Listen, I won’t keep you. Just wanted to know if you had a few minutes to meet here this week?”
“Of course. I’m in Baltimore right now. I could actually meet you this evening when I return. How late will you be in the office?”
“How about we meet for dinner?”
“Sure. That’d be great. I’ll be back around 7, maybe a little earlier. Depends on what we find.”
“Great. We’ll pencil in 7:30 at Monroe’s on 6th Street.”
“Perfect. Thank you for the call. I’ll see you tonight.” Kate slid her phone back into her pocket.
“Who was that?” Vasquez asked.
“Agent Quinn at BAU Headquarters.”
“Yeah, I know Quinn is at Headquarters. What did he want?”
“Wants to meet for dinner.”
“That’s a good sign.”
