The Reckoning - BLACKBIRD book 3

13. writing on the wall

Brock erased Hanno from his focus and folded his arms. The first thing that stood up was the first boy's birth date, circled in red, with an arrow pointing at the date when the second boy had been abducted. The second boy's birth date was linked to the third abduction, and so on. Of course. That was Gillian. Hardly two days in the case and she had already connected the right dots.

He moved to the side, to take a look at the map Gillian had taped there. It had stacks forming a circle, marking the towns where the boys had been abducted. He glanced at Hanno. "Did she tell you if she had anything on their subject?" he asked.

The woman shook her head and Brock let out an exasperated sigh. She tried to apologize, but he turned to the board again. Gillian had drawn an arrow, from the center of the circle to a free spot on the board, with a quick list of details about the subject's profile. Brock snorted under his breath. Of course she was dead-on right down on it. Why hadn't they assigned her and her team to the Amber Alert, if they were in the area working on a related case? Knowing how fast the punks worked, it would've been the wiser thing to do—and he could be home, sleeping his hangover off instead of coming across her.

The phone on the long table rang and Hanno took the call on speaker.

"Agent Hanno, it's Philips. Is Agent Brockner around?"

"I'm here, what is it?"

"I was looking into what you asked me, sir, about Simmons having a son in Dennis Clayton's school, but it was a lot of information to check." Brock breathed deep at Brandon's hesitating words. "So I asked T—I mean Tanya... Sorry, Agent Lawrence to help me, and she found—"

"Let me speak to her."

Tanya's voice replaced Brandon's. "Agent Brockner, I've found a phishing email received at Dennis' school ten days ago. Once open, it installs spyware which would grant the sender remote access to the students records, including personal information as age, birth date, address and extra-curricular activities."

Brock ignored Cortez coming in. He wished Brandon could be just as efficient as Tanya to deliver the information. "Can you track the sender?"

"We're on it, sir. We're also checking the emails received at Bobby Lee's school."

Cortez shot a questioning frown at Hanno, who shrugged, her face stating she didn't have the slightest idea what they were talking about.

"Can you do that after all this time?"

"If they got it, even if they deleted the email, the malware will still be there."

"Can you check the other missing boys' schools?"

"That's next, sir."

"Did you already notified your team?"

"Yes, sir. Kurt is talking to Reg as we speak."

"Alright. Keep me up."

"Yessir."

Brock disconnected and turned to the two agents, who watched him as if he'd just been beamed down there from a flying saucer. First he addressed Cortez. "Let Simmons have a break. And remove his handcuffs. He won't remember anything if he believes he's being accused of something he didn't do. We need him to calm down."

Next he turned to Hanno, his voice gauged to carve his words in her mind. With a knife made of sharp ice. "Next time an agent offers you evidence and there are lives at the stake, don't just dismiss them." He pointed at the board behind him. "See that? This proves Dennis' abduction is not an isolated event. This is what our subject's been doing over the last years. And he's not from Somersworth. Agent Gillian's contribution saved us days of useless investigation and provided us with a detailed profile of the subject." He turned his back on them, forcing himself to cool down. After all, they weren't to blame for Gillian's intrusions in his life. Neither for Gillian being better at their job than all of them put together.

Hanno cleared her throat behind him, as to catch his attention. "Excuse me, sir, would you mind to explain us the subject's profile, so we can share it with the locals?"

Brock answered with his eyes moving over what Gillian had pinned and written there only for him to see—because she would've never done it, had she not known he was there.

"White male, mid-thirties to early forties. He's a preferential pedophile. His type is nine-year-old, blue-eyed brunette boys. Organized and patient. Dennis Clayton is his fifth victim in three years. He's single, lives alone in the Berwick rural area, has a part-time job or works from home, something related to software and/or computers. He kills the boys when they turn ten, then picks his next victim at a near-by town. You've just heard Gillian's tech. The subject steals the boy's personal information by hacking the boy's school system, then stalks him for ten days to plan how to abduct him in such a way to get at least two hours before the abduction is discovered. And then kidnaps the boy, always exactly ten days after disposing of his last captive."

"That rookie figured all that out?"

Brock's scowl made Cortez throw up his hands, about to apologize.

"That rookie is the most decorated officer the Boston PD had in the last two decades," he said, grinding every word. "And she leads a team of experts." And she's your best student, Brockner. Don't forget that.