He had the grace to flush, but his eyes remained angry. “We’re doing everything in our power, everything that can possibly be done. And the chief agrees with me; why call in the FBI when we don’t have so much as a piece of conclusive evidence for them to fucking investigate?”
“Listen to me. You’re a hunter-think about it. What’s the logical thing to do when you’re after a particular kind of animal? You look for experienced hunters. When you have a bear problem, you damned well find somebody who knows how to hunt bears.”
“Cops hunt criminals. And-hey, surprise!-we catch them too.”
Maggie deliberately dropped her voice to a conversational tone, unthreatening, even unemotional. “Yes, you do. But this isn’t just another criminal, Luke-that’s where you’re misjudging the situation. This is an animal, a human monster going to inhuman extremes to hide his evil face even from his dying victims. And when you go after a monster, you need somebody who knows how to hunt them.”
“Like the FBI.”
“No, like a very specialized unit within the FBI.” She allowed her voice to sharpen. “A group of highly skilled, trained, and dedicated people who don’t care what the headlines read after they’ve done their job and gone. They don’t care who gets the political points. All they care about is putting monsters in cages where they belong.”
Again, Drummond flushed slightly, this time at the biting comment about his political aspirations, but all he said was “I’ve never heard of this specialized unit.”
“No, you probably haven’t. Like I said, they don’t seek publicity-the opposite, if anything.” She watched that sink in, and added, “But if you’ll check back through the law-enforcement agency bulletins the Bureau sends out, I’m sure you’ll find them mentioned a few times. They’re the Special Crimes Unit-SCU. Formed to assist local law enforcement to handle unusually challenging violent crimes. Their success record is quite impressive. They have a mandate never to interfere with local law enforcement, only to advise and provide support and assistance-when requested to do so.”
“How come you know so much about them?”
“Someone I know nearly joined that unit a couple of years ago.” She shrugged. “What I can tell you is that they’re good, Luke. They’re very, very good.”
“I still don’t see what they could do that we can’t,” Drummond muttered.
Maggie knew he was going to give in-however grudgingly-so she kept her response matter-of-fact. “Like I said, they’ve hunted monsters before; maybe they’ll have a take on this the rest of us would never think of. But even if they don’t, the murder of Samantha Mitchell raises the stakes, doesn’t it, Luke? People are going to be asking what more you’re doing to stop a sadistic rapist who has now become a brutal murderer. Call these expert monster hunters in, and you’ve got an answer for them.”
“Shit.” He leaned back in his chair until it creaked, scowling.
“You know it’s the right thing to do. Even more, it’s the smart thing to do. Luke, a few days ago you asked me to try harder to give you a picture of this monster. Now I’m telling you that I can’t do it alone. I can’t do it just by talking to blinded victims. I need help. I need people who can help me to understand the way he thinks.”
“Is that why you’re so cozy with Garrett these days?” he asked sourly.
Ignoring the implication, she said, “As a matter of fact, John decided a few days ago that if you couldn’t use the resources of this FBI unit, then maybe he could. You know how determined he is to find the man who attacked his sister, whatever it takes. He happens to have a friend in the unit, and the friend is here in Seattle along with his partner, on their own time and off the books. We have them to thank for how quickly Samantha Mitchell’s body was found.”
She had been reasonably sure that last would keep him from exploding, and she was right. But she nevertheless didn’t give him time to start sputtering.
“Nobody’s stepping on your authority, Luke, and all of us have only one goal in mind. We just want to stop this monster before he kills again. Give us all the tools we need to do that. Be a smart politician as well as a smart cop and call the unit in officially. Give Andy the okay to open up the investigation to them. I promise you won’t regret it.”
“I’d better not,” he growled. “Send him in.”
Maggie didn’t allow a shadow of triumph to show and didn’t waste time leaving the office. The bullpen was less busy than usual at this late hour, but she was still aware of considerable covert attention as she made her way to Andy’s desk, where he and John waited. Not that she was surprised by the interest-Drummond’s voice had rattled the windows, so it had undoubtedly been heard out here.
“He wants you,” she told Andy. “He’ll probably bluster a bit, but bottom line you’ll get the okay to bring Quentin and Kendra in officially.”
“Did you have to promise your first child?” Andy asked dryly as he rose.
“No. But I may be pouring brimstone out of my shoes tonight.”
He grinned at her, then headed for Drummond’s office.
“Well done,” John said. “Here-sit down.” He decided not to add that she looked very tired and he was worried about her.
She did, taking the other visitor’s chair. “I think I’d almost rather interview a dozen witnesses than argue with Luke. He’s about as bullheaded as they come.”
John smiled faintly. “You convinced him. That’s the important thing.”
“Let’s hope so.” She smiled in return. “Are Quentin and Kendra likely to be up?”
“Oh, yeah, they’re both night owls, especially during an ongoing investigation. Are you sure enough of Drummond to call them in right now?”
Maggie nodded. “I don’t think we have any time to lose, do you?”
John reached for the phone.
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 7
By the time they were all assembled in the conference room, it was after midnight. Drummond had left for home some time before, saying he’d meet “those agents” the following day, and many of the detectives who had been working on the investigation were also absent, either off duty and home or else out doing what they could to find the latest missing woman, Tara Jameson.
So it was what had become the core of the police investigative team-Andy, Scott, and Jennifer-who were introduced to Quentin and Kendra. And they wasted no time in getting to work.
Quentin prowled around studying the photos, sketches, and descriptions pinned to the bulletin board, while Kendra reported that their search of every available database for similar crimes going back more than six months had turned up nothing even remotely close anywhere in the country, indicating that he had indeed begun attacking women only six months ago.
“But there’s this,” Quentin said, tapping one of the bulletin boards. “Absolutely amazing. Who took the intuitive leap and dug these up?”
Andy nodded to Scott and Jennifer. “They did.”
Scott explained their thinking about a rapist with a too-developed ritual.
When he was finished, Quentin was the first to speak, saying thoughtfully, “You colored outside the lines when you were a kid, didn’t you?”
Scott stared at him for a moment, then caught the twinkle in the agent’s eyes and grinned reluctantly. “Well, yeah.”
“I’m not surprised. Very creative and intuitive thinking. And it is a perfectly rational explanation given the facts as we know them. Copycats are getting depressingly common these days. So maybe the guy did decide to borrow someone else’s ritual and used a series of old, unsolved crimes to learn from.”
John glanced at Maggie, but she was listening gravely and showed no inclination to interrupt. And he wasn’t about to. Even if she was right in her incredible claim that they were dealing with an evil mind reborn, John didn’t see how that knowledge could do anything except confuse the investigation. Assuming it was even believed.