Ten Plagues

“Buddy and Murray could be in their apartments right now. Sunday afternoon is really quiet at the mission.” Paul narrowed his eyes and looked at the picture of Murray behind the steering wheel. “And as far as I know, none of those men owns or drives a car. So I don’t know where that one came from.”

The whole group turned to the picture.

“Did we get the plate number?” Higgins asked.

“I’ve got a photo of it pulling up. I’ll get the make and model from the picture and run it,” one of the agents said.

“Good.” Higgins turned his grim expression on Paul. “We want to know everyone pictured here. Do I dare to hope you know all of them as well as you know these five?”

“I probably know less about most of them.”

Higgins groaned. “Great. Give us what you’ve got. We’ll run it down, put the pictures through our face recognition program. It’ll take awhile.”

“Look, I don’t run background checks or take prints from the homeless people who come in to get a meal.”

“Well maybe you ought to start.” Higgins turned away. “Now what have we got from forensics?”

Paul was real tempted to keep arguing with Higgins. But he kept his mouth shut by sheer force.

“No DNA evidence.” Dr. Schaefer shoved a stack of file folders onto the desk near the front of the room. “Everything I’ve got is here and I made a copy for each of you. The short version is, there was no DNA on the victim’s body. Not surprising, considering the fountain.

“I’ve got the specifics of the wounds and cause of death in a file for each of you, so you can run the details through NCIC for a similar MO. As far as searching the apartments, where it appears the girls were taken, there are so many stray hairs in both LaToya’s and Juanita’s homes, we can’t begin to identify them all. Apparently these ladies had wide circles of friends, and we’ve found a dozen or more people for both of them who admit to being in their house. Sorting through all of that would take months and not put us one bit closer to the killers.”

“And we don’t have months.” Paul glanced at his watch.

“Detective Collins and I have theorized the frogs. We informed you of that, right?” Higgins nodded. “I’ve got ten teams who are staking out every park, fountain, and mud hole within a mile of the mission. We can’t know if Pravus will stay close when he dumps the body, but Dyson thinks it’s a probability.”

“You think he brought Juanita alive to that fountain, don’t you, Dr. Schaefer?” Paul asked the ME.

“Yes. She hadn’t been dead long when she went in the water. It’s my considered opinion that he killed her there.”

“So he’s not ‘dumping a body.’“ Paul couldn’t be cool while Higgins callously discussed the mission and LaToya. “He’s bringing LaToya, who is at this point still a kidnap victim, to the place he plans to kill her. If we cover every possible place, we have a chance to save her.”

“I know.” Higgins’s hazel eyes flashed with irritation. “Everyone who’s standing guard knows.”

“Just make sure they do.” Paul had led a lot of cases. He knew how to run an investigation every bit as well as Higgins. “If you get sloppy, then LaToya dies, Higgins.”

“I don’t get sloppy.” Higgins bristled and squared off against Paul.

“I think you do. I think talking about a body being dumped is you being sloppy enough to get someone killed.”

Everyone in the room froze. Even Paul was shocked at the command in his voice. He remembered this. The ability to take charge. The sweet taste of power.

“Get it straight, all of you.” His eyes swept the room. “We go out tonight with a plan to save this young woman. If any of you can’t remember your job, I’ll be glad to replace you with someone who knows what they’re doing.”

Higgins’s brows arched nearly to his stupid, stylish black hair.

Paul knew when he said it he had no clout to get anyone replaced. But then maybe he did. He could go to the press. He knew how to get his hands on a TV camera and a microphone. It was a skill he’d developed to an art form back in the day.

“Are we done here?” Keren asked.

Was she on his side? Or was she still taking orders from Higgins? Paul trusted her as a cop, but suddenly he didn’t trust her at all as a woman. A woman who had kissed him pretty enthusiastically a few times. Would Keren flirt with him or kiss him to stay close to the mission?

When Paul was a cop, he’d never done that, but the opportunity had never come up. He’d been ruthless when it came to solving a case. Would he have stooped low enough to feign an attraction to a woman if it would have added to his solve rate? He knew he would, even as a married man.

“Stay here and tell me what you know about the rest of these people, Morris.” Higgins jerked his head toward the door. “The rest of you can get to work.”

It didn’t take long. Higgins seemed to respect Paul more when he acted like an arrogant jerk. So they worked well together, getting what Paul knew about the men on the bulletin board.

“We’ll let you know if we have trouble finding those men.” Higgins nodded to the door, clearly telling Paul to get out.