Chasing Evil (Circle of Evil) (15 page)

He scanned the room’s somber-faced occupants. “You’ve heard about another possible victim in Edina. When we were up there coordinating with the chief of police on the case, Dr. Channing pointed us toward a potential witness. With his help, Agent Turner drew a forensic sketch of a person of interest in this case. We’re using the FaceVACS system to compare the sketch to mugshot databases.”

It helped to try to discuss the events dispassionately. To reach for some distance so logic would be unclouded by emotion. But Cam knew the effort would be beyond him. Judging from the expressions of his colleagues, he wasn’t alone in that.

“We’ve got a seven-year-old boy living in the condo unit east of Channing’s who saw this vehicle in front of her home two days ago mid-afternoon.” At this cue, Jenna switched to the next photo, which depicted the first in a series of sketches she’d done with Carter. “It’s mid-size cargo panel van. Probably fewer than ten years old since he noted no rust. Other than the color, it’s a match for the one on the security footage of the Edina bank when Van Wheton was snatched. This van had signage on the side, either painted or a magnet.”

The next slide showed the logo and words that had so delighted Carter:

Dr. Pane

For all your glass needs

Painless repair for home, auto, buildings, equipment

Next to the words was a cartoon-faced four-paned window with stick arms and legs, a stethoscope hanging from its neck. Cam wasn’t surprised they hadn’t gotten more description of the vehicle from the boy. He was a kid, after all. But he’d provided a detailed recollection of the logo and sign, and that might be prove to be enough.

“A neighbor across the street also remembers a dark-colored van parked in the spot, although she could provide no further details about it or its driver. Dr. Channing has the second from the end unit on the street, with a small backyard that’s bordered on all sides by adjacent yards.”

Jenna flipped to a diagram of the back of Sophie’s condo. “We found the back door on her unit unsecured by the alarm system while the other exits remained connected. He probably took her out the back way. There’s no fence between her yard and the neighbor to the east, a six-foot wooden fence around the yard to the west,” he pointed to each in turn, “and a black chain link surrounding the yard directly behind her. That leaves these two paths for his escape.” He used a laser pointer to indicate each way around the link fence.

“We think she may have been injected with something prior to her abduction. If the intent of the injection was to immobilize her, he carried her out. Possibly wrapped in the comforter taken off her bed. So his shortest route would be this way.” He traced a trail to the west from the end of her back yard.

“Beyond the house on that corner and across the street is a cul-de-sac with guest parking. We haven’t found any residents there who noticed a dark-colored van in the area last night. We still have a contingent of DMPD officers canvassing the area, showing the sketches of the Minnesotan man and the van. Maybe we’ll get lucky. A crime team has finished with Dr. Channing’s condo and is now focused on the most likely path taken once the abductor left the house.”

Cam turned to Tommy. “Agent Franks has been chasing down the glass company lead.” Stepping aside, he let the other man take over at the mike.

“Dr. Pane is a real company, with its main office in Des Moines with branches in Waukee, Ankeny and Urbandale,” Franks began. Jenna flashed a PowerPoint slide with the logo sketch and the company’s logo side by side. “The description given by the boy is a good match for the actual logo. But the company uses yellow vans, not blue, and the owner can find no record of a service call to Dr. Channing’s home. Nor do they have a record of doing business with her in the past. We’re currently going through their employee list, past and present, and cross checking the names for criminal histories. We’re also looking into properties owned by them in all four locales.”

Cam had scrutinized the company himself. They’d been in business fifteen years and he’d found no serious public complaints lodged against them. But that didn’t mean there wasn’t a rogue employee in their midst. Or someone outside the company with access to their properties.

He tamped down the fear and impatience that throttled through him. Emotion could dull instinct, blind him to facts. He was going to need every ounce of logic he could summon to catch this bastard before Sophie was…

…raped…

…murdered…

By sheer force of reason he shoved aside the inner voice that could drag him into a useless raging abyss. The best way to help Sophie now was to remain as objective as possible.

It was the least of the insurmountable tasks he was faced with.

“How can you be certain Dr. Channing’s abduction is tied to the case you’re working?” The question came from Story County Sheriff Dumont. He sat near the back of the crowded room, flanked by Beckett Maxwell and Pat Grogan, the sheriff from Warren County.

Cam stepped forward to take the question. “We can’t,” he said flatly. “But it’s a reasonable assumption. We think ours is the only forensic case she was currently working on.” He nodded toward a DCI agent sitting in the front row. “After the warrants came through, Agent Loring spent the better part of the afternoon going through her computer and files in her home office. We’re still waiting on a warrant to examine those in her downtown office, as well. Loring will continue to focus on past cases Dr. Channing consulted on, and check on offenders she helped put away.”

“That’s a lot of scumbags to look at,” Beckett Maxwell put in. There was a murmur of agreement in the room.

“It is. We’ll cross-reference them to the same type of offender we’re searching for in the investigation of the bodies. The sketch of the man in the Edina park will be submitted into databases At the same time we’re also concentrating on the Dr. Pane lead. If Channing’s disappearance is flagged as priority…” He met Gonzalez’s gaze from her seat near the back, and she inclined her head slightly. “Correction, since it
has
been flagged a priority, I expect feedback from the lab on the trace evidence within days.”

He refused to contemplate what days might mean to Sophia’s well being.

“Beckett, any report on the surveillance on Gary Price’s place?”

Maxwell stood, shaking his head morosely. “Wish I had something to share. There have been a few vehicles in and out, which might account for the repair business he claims to have going. No cargo vans. We’ve only got someone on the place part time, though. Got a deputy out there eight hours at a stretch, alternating days and nights, and a sheriff who takes a few hours after duty.” There was an answering chuckle from Dumont. “I did finish the cross-check on the offender list for my county and that should be on your desk. Nothing popped on that, either, but elimination is part of the process. Had a couple judicial emergencies in the county that’s slowed getting Jerry Price before a judge on the weapons charge.” He sat down and Cam gave him a nod of thanks.

“In the meantime, we have a tentative identification of one more victim as Alyssa Wentworth, from Sioux Falls.” A picture of the victim take in happier times was flashed on the screen behind him. “When the news of Van Wheton’s disappearance went national, her case detective contacted us. He recognized the sketch Jenna had done of Wentworth.” Cam had juggled that call this afternoon while still at Sophie’s condo. “He’d been on vacation while we were following up with similar cases on ViCAP, but he’ll make sure we have DNA samples inside a week.”

He waited for Jenna to flip to a slide showing a map with each of the cemetery locations bearing a red flag with a number. “We’ve been able to firm up the sequence of when the bodies were buried. That narrows the time between the legitimate burials and the body dumps. In your briefing report you’ll find a copy of the suspect sketch Agent Turner composed with the help of a witness in Edina, and an image of the van used to abduct Courtney Van Wheton.” Similar copies would be sent to law enforcement agencies throughout the state and the bordering regions.

“We have no positive proof that Van Wheton is linked to the our ongoing investigation, but the details surrounding her disappearance suggest that she is. Agents Beachum and Robbins will head up the comparison of surveillance footage available for each of the identified victims and Van Wheton. Samuels and Patrick have been canvassing the areas surrounding each of the rural cemeteries for neighbors who might have seen something suspicious.”

He glanced Jenna’s direction. “Agent Turner has been putting together a comprehensive list of the caretakers and volunteers in each of the rural cemeteries and cross-referencing them for criminal history and links to any of the ID’d victims. I’m pulling traffic camera images on southbound highways from the Minnesota border to see if we can get a glimpse of the van that abducted Van Wheton.”

“What’s our timeline here, Cam?”

He sent a quizzical glance at Brody Robbins, the youngest agent on the case. He was one of the additional agents added to the case by Gonzalez while Cam was in Minneapolis. The man was already looking like he regretted his question. But since he had the case leader’s attention, he barreled on. “I mean, I’ve read the case file but I don’t have it memorized. Dr. Channing…if she was taken by this UNSUB…how much time….?”

His question trailed off, but the agent’s meaning was clear enough.

“Now that we have ID on a few of the victims, as well as their approximate time of deaths we can be certain that the offender keeps each of them for weeks at a time. Based on what we know at this point, the window ranges from three to five weeks.”

Cam tried to make the words sound encouraging. But there was nothing encouraging about the mental picture that emerged of Sophie at the hands of a sexual sadist for weeks. “Obviously, in the case of Van Wheton and Channing alike, time is of the essence.”

Gonzalez rose and headed toward the exit. After opening the door she met his gaze, made a slight motion with her head, and left.

Cam shoved the assignment papers to Franks. “Agent Franks will finish passing out your assignments. Until the briefing same time tomorrow, I want to be updated by each team of agents every two hours. Just a brief report of progress sent by email. If it’s pressing, call me.”

He strode out of the room, and down the hall, already dreading the upcoming meeting with Maria. Unless she had news for him, a one-on-one with the woman would serve no purpose. And it just might torch the powder keg of resentment that had been building inside him ever since he learned she’d released that profile to the public, practically on the heels of their last meeting.

Because he didn’t trust his simmering temper, Cam took the length of the journey to try to tamp it down and tuck it away. Only when he felt he had himself firmly in check did he give a cursory knock on Maria’s office door. Pushed it open.

“Judge Cooper contacted me with some concerns about the scope of the warrant on Channing’s downtown office,” she began without preamble. She looked up at him from her seat behind her desk and made an impatient gesture for him to sit. “Because of patient confidentiality, the judge is reluctant to open her client files unless we can show reason to believe one of them may be behind her disappearance.”

“Damn Judge Brennan’s retirement.” Cam bit off the words in frustration. “Cooper can be a pain-in the-ass to deal with, but I knew Butler was on vacation. Since Channing’s life is endangered, I’d think the exigent circumstances would be convincing enough.”

“Cooper is new. He’s still overly cautious.”

Which had Cam mentally relegating the judge to the bottom of the list the next time a warrant was needed. He took a moment to think. “What’s the name of that psychologist who took over Sophie’s practice?” Memory supplied it a moment later. “Redlow. We found the information in Sophie’s files today. Tell the judge we have no objection to Redlow being present at the search. When it comes to patient files the psychologist can do the reading, and just give us the information that might pertain to the questions we pose regarding patient likelihood for violence.”

“You’re okay with that?”

“No, it’s ridiculous. But I want to get in her office tomorrow at the latest.” The search wasn’t all that pressing. He doubted Sophie had kept duplicate copies of her private forensic consultation business at her office downtown, but he wanted to be thorough. Ex-offenders she’d profiled likely posed a much higher risk to her than anyone she’d counseled, and they’d found those files on her home computer.

“All right. Rewrite the request with the new scope and parameters.” She eyed him shrewdly.

He hadn’t sat down. He was much too wired for that. But giving way to the energy coursing through him by pacing her office would be too telling. So he leaned against one of the uncomfortable wooden chairs she kept for visitors, his fingers clenched on the top of it.

“How you doing?”

He thought he detected the barest tinge of sympathy in her tone. It raised his hackles like nails on a chalkboard. “Just fine, Maria. How you doing?”

Her dark eyes narrowed. Cam noticed for the first time the circles beneath them. He couldn’t summon a shred of concern for that.

“Don’t try that tone with me, Cam. I
know
you. We’ve worked together for years. And I heard you gave your prints for elimination purposes at Channing’s apartment today.”

“I was first on the scene.”

“The criminalist said you told her you’d been there socially.” Her gaze skewered him, as if trying to read his mind. “Since when did you get
social
with Sophia Channing?”

Something inside him froze. He hadn’t even considered that his former relationship with Sophie would automatically exclude him from tracking her abductor. And if the abductor happened to be the same man who’d raped and murdered six women already, that exclusion would mean Cam was off the case altogether.