The End - Blackbird book 7

8. something

The apartment was too small for the young mother and her four children, whose ages went from a baby to middle school. However, as soon as Aldana and Hank had a glimpse of the messy living area, they knew they were at the right place. The teaser to Gillian's shooting had been recorded right there.

"Kyle's not here," the woman said, her baby tight to her chest and a toddler clinging to her leg. "What did he do now?"

Aldana didn't even blink. "Hopefully, nothing. But we need to take a look at his things to be sure." Before the woman could argue, Cassidy handed over the search warrant. Aldana tried to soften the moment with a smile. "May we come in?"

While Aldana and Cassidy stayed with her, Hank and Banks made their way to the only bedroom. Only three small beds for the six of them, stuffed in such a way that there was hardly room to move. Finding a spot to set foot without stepping on clothes or toys was quite a challenge. Banks lingered near the door, before the open closet, while Hank dared the minefield to the last bed across the room, under the window. Somehow he made it without breaking anything or spraining his ankles. Only an undercover teddy bear huffed under his foot at his last step. Hank relocated his sole and pushed aside a couple of worn-out tees to dig out a computer that looked too new and expensive for the scenery.

Behind him, Banks crouched to study the heap of clothes on the floor by the closet. A piece of black fabric with a white design caught his attention. So he wore a latex glove to pull it out. It was a wrinkled bandana. He produced his phone and muted it to open the teaser video. He paused it when the two boys leaned to the camera and compared their bandanas with the one in his hand. When his eyes moved up to tell Hank, he had a glimpse of something that looked like a school jacket crumpled under the closest bed.

"And we have a winner," he grunted, standing up with both things.

Tanya guided Hank over the phone to give her remote access to the computer. In a couple of minutes, she had a full mirror image of all the content in the hard drive. She was completing it when Hank got a text from Cassidy.

"Hey, T, write this down. It's supposed to be Kyle's number."

At the team's office, Russell approached Tanya's desk to ask, "Did you guys find anything else?"

"Banks just found the boy's bandana and the jacket with the JEB badge."

"Good. T, Kurt, let's see what the phone and the computer can give us."

"The boy's got a lot of videos," said Kurt. "And not only porn. Look, there's a folder with a dozen files named 'SAC'."

"That could stand for 'shut a cup'," said Fred.

"A dozen?" repeated Ron. "Were there more shootings we're not aware of?"

Kurt nodded at the plasma and opened one of the files. It showed one of the boys pacing as he preached a heated speech against the police.

"That's our Joey," said Fred.

The boy covered the lower part of his face, but he didn't wear his baseball cap, nor his hood.

Russell tilted his head, studying him. "He looks sort of familiar... Kurt, can't we run a facial recognition on what we have?"

"We can always try."

"The phone's off," said Tanya, frustrated. "Can't track it."

"But bet you can get the call records," said Ron with a wink. "And where he was when he made or received each, right?"

Tanya flashed a crooked smile. "Oh, yes. It's gonna take some time, but it'll tell us some about his whereabouts."

"Maybe even where Joey and the other boy live."

"Let me help you," said Kurt. "Joey's rant can wait."