Touching Evil (7 page)

“Depends on what you were hoping for, I suppose.”  The other agent halted beside him.  “A more detailed analysis of those three phones you dropped off will have to wait at least at least a day or two.  But I can tell you for sure that one of their owners lied to you about not taking any pictures.”

Cam uttered a distinctly unprofessional oath.  Kohler’s head bobbed in agreement.  Each of the kids who’d witnessed the scene at the Raccoon River had fervently denied snapping a picture while there, and when they had all three freely given up their phones as proof, he’d hoped that meant they’d been truthful.  The image, if it had been shared widely, could mean they were headed for a PR nightmare. “Which one?”

“The Samsung Galaxy s4.  Belonging to the Pals boy.  How is it these kids all have newer phones than mine?”  The man’s voice was aggrieved.  

Cam was unsympathetic.  “Because your wife clamped down on your budget for useless technological gadgetry?”

That earned him a quick grin.  “Nothing about technology is useless, my friend, but point taken.  Anyway, your little buddy activated his Snapchat app during the timeframe you described.  Took a ten-second video, which wasn’t stored on his phone, but I was able to retrieve it.  Pretty good clarity, given that it was taken at night but sick subject matter.  I can’t tell you right now who the recipient might be or whether there were multiples.   And I won’t be able to get at that task until late tomorrow afternoon, probably.”

A hot burn of anger spread through Cam’s chest.  Being lied to came with the job, but in this instance it might just turn into a media nightmare for them.  Which didn’t have him feeling charitable at all toward that little weasel, Pals.  “Tell me about this app.  You said it wasn’t in his gallery.  Does that mean he deleted it from his phone after sending it?”

“He could have, or he could have failed to save it.  Snapchat allows a user to set a time limit in which the recipients can view it.  Anywhere from one to ten seconds.  Then it supposedly disappears.”

A dull spike of tension started to hammer in Cam’s left temple.  “Supposedly?”

“Well…”  Kohler again rubbed his neck, albeit gingerly.  “There are glitches.  It takes minimal skill to retrieve a photo or video after it’s supposed to disappear.  And if a viewer doesn’t open the snap it can exist on the Snapchat server for thirty days.  There are also utilities that a viewer can use to save a sent snap without notifying the sender.”

The ramifications were clear.  “So any one of Pals’ viewers could have saved it and sent it out to their own viewers without Pals being aware of it.”

“Pretty much.”

 “Appreciate it.  Hang on to the phones.  I’ll let you know if we need more.”

“No problem.”  

Cam watched the other man amble off for a moment, his mind working furiously as he mentally switched gears.  That meeting with Gonzalez seemed even more important than ever, and she wasn’t going to be pleased with this news.  It occurred that he’d lost the last argument he’d had with her regarding media releases when she’d released Sophie’s offender profile to the public.  It had been that act, Cam was convinced, that had drawn Vance’s attention to Sophie and led to her abduction.  

Pivoting, he pulled out his own cell and called Jenna as he made his way to the area housing the interview rooms. When she answered, he wasted no time.  “Where are you on the forensic sketches with Pals and Adams?”

“I’m finishing with Spencer right now.  He’s done a terrific job.  You’ll be interested in the composite sketch that’s emerging.”

Her comment was laden with meaning, but right now there was only one aspect about Pals that concerned him.  “I’m on my way.  Keep him there.”

“You got it.  We’re in interview room four.”

Slipping the phone back in his pocket, he lengthened his stride.  The minute Pals sent those photos he’d compromised the agency’s options when it came to public dissemination of information about last night.  Before seeing Gonzalez, Cam knew he’d better be armed with the full extent of the potential damage those photos might cause.  

His mood darkened. Kohler might be in love with all new facets of technology, but there were times when it was just a major pain in the ass.

Slowing in front of interview door four, Cam gave a perfunctory rap before entering.  The first person in the room that he noted was Jason Drew, legal counsel for IPI Home Products.  The attorney was wearing a suit that Cam suspected cost more than everything in Cam’s closet combined.  The man had been at the scene last night, too. The elder Pals was apparently too busy to tend to the minor matter of his son being chased by a gun-wielding necrophiliac.  Normally the realization would have elicited a stab of empathy.  Right now, however, compassion was the last thing he was feeling toward the kid currently twisting in his seat to check out the new arrival.

He sent a questioning gaze to Jenna, who had risen from her seat next to Spencer and approached him with a sheet in her hand.  “All done.  Spencer’s been a trooper.”  She handed the composite sketch to Cam and he glanced at it, familiarity striking him with the force of a blow.

The subject in the sketch had some significant differences from the one Jenna had done with a witness in Edina, the one Cam had shown to Jonah last night.  This man wasn’t wearing a hat, and his dark hair was shorter.  The features weren’t arranged in a pleasant mask this time, but twisted in rage.  However, the nose was the same, as was the slightly narrowed jaw and the mouth that Sophie had dubbed ‘sensitive’.

After studying the drawing for a moment he handed it back to Jenna, careful to keep his face expressionless.  He rounded the table then, nodding to the attorney.  “Mr. Drew.  Spencer.  I want to thank you both for being here.”

Drew made a point of looking at his watch.  “Spencer has been quite cooperative, but he needs to get to school.  I assume I’m free to leave with him?”

“In a minute.  I just have a couple follow-up questions.  That okay with you, Spencer?”

The kid started a little as Cam turned his attention to him, but never glanced at the attorney before shrugging.  “Sure.  I guess.”

Drawing out the chair beside Drew, Cam sank into it to face the boy.  “We’ve still got your cell, but I’m working on getting that back to you as soon as possible.”  He offered a smile he was far from feeling.  “Guessing a teenager feels lost without his phone these days, even if it’s just for a few days.”

Another shrug.  “I can just activate my old one.”

“Good.  Glad we won’t be putting you out.  I can probably get that phone back to you sooner if you come clean about what you did with it last night before you ran back to your car.”

That had the kid’s head jerking up, a flare of guilt in his eyes.  Drew’s voice was controlled.  “Are you accusing my client of a crime, Agent Prescott?”

“Just an omission.”  Cam never looked in the attorney’s direction.  His attention was focused on Spencer.  “I asked if you had used the phone while you were watching that man.  You said you hadn’t.  Cyber forensics says otherwise.  You took a short video.  You used the Snapchat app and transmitted it.  Good clarity, I’m told.”

A look of incredulity on his face, Pals blurted out, “You can’t trace anything on Snapchat!  The pictures disappear.”

“Spencer!”  The attorney’s expression was thunderous.  “Not another word.”

Cam switched his focus to the lawyer.  “He’s not being charged with anything, but he gave misleading information that might have bearing on this case.  I don’t think you want him to further obstruct our investigation.”

“That’s bull, Mr. Drew.  They can’t access anything that goes out…”

“Quiet,” the man snapped.  His gaze never left Cam’s.  “I want your word that his involvement is ended after this.  That includes no misdemeanor or false reporting charges.”

“You have it.  All I want is an answer to the question so I can act accordingly.”

After a long moment, the attorney nodded and switched his attention to Spencer.  “Whom did you send the pictures to?”

The kid slouched in his chair, clearly disgusted with the proceedings.  “I don’t know.”

“We can find out.”  Cam made sure none of his frustration was apparent in his tone.  “It’ll take another day or two but forensics can trace the recipients of your messages.  You tell me now, it’ll build up some good will.  Make up for lying about it in the first place.”

“I mean, I’m not sure.  All my contacts are grouped and I sent it out to some friends.”

“How many in the group?” Drew asked.

“I don’t…”  With a quick glance toward Cam, the kid backtracked.  “I’m just saying I can’t be sure without looking at my phone and counting.  Not many, I know that.  I’m guessing…thirty or so?”

*  *  *  *

Cam knocked at the SAC’s closed door, a sense of urgency riding him.  He was taken aback, however, when Major Crimes Unit Assistant Director Paul Miller opened the door.  

“Sir.”  It didn’t take much guessing to figure what had brought the man from his office at DCI headquarters to the agents’ field office.  Gazing past the man he could see Gonzalez behind her desk, her expression inscrutable as always.  “I can come back.”

“No, come in.  We were just discussing your case.”  Miller stood aside and waved him to a chair, demand implicit in the gesture.  Feeling like a fly settling on a spider’s web, Cam walked past the man, sitting in one of the two chairs facing the SAC’s desk.

He wasn’t given to paranoia but he had a healthy sense of self-preservation and Miller’s involvement in this investigation had all his instincts screaming.  Cam had been serving in California on a multi-agency drug task force when the former assistant director of MCU had suffered career suicide.  Miller had been named in his stead, and the man had always been a little too concerned about public relations to suit Cam.  Given the recent twist in this case, however, there was real cause for worry.

“How long will it take for the internal review on Boggs and Franks to be conducted?” he started when Miller had re-seated himself.

Miller frowned at him.  “Just concern yourself with the investigation, Agent.  I’ll manage the personnel matters.”

“With all due respect, sir, I need to know how long I’m going to be down two agents on the task force.”  The assistant director exchanged a glance with Gonzalez.  “I can’t afford to wait days—or weeks—to be fully staffed again.”

“The agents have already submitted reports of the events.  We can probably have Franks’ hearing conducted late afternoon.  Tomorrow morning at the latest.”  He gave a shrug.  “Boggs isn’t going anywhere for a while, so his can wait.”

The timeline was quicker than Cam had expected.  And unfortunately, no one could be certain at this point how soon Boggs would have a medical discharge allowing him to resume his duties.  “I’ve just come from re-interviewing one of the witnesses to the sexual assault last night.  Cyber crimes did a preliminary check and discovered one of the kids took a video on his camera phone.  He sent it to a group of friends that he believes numbers around thirty recipients.”  

Miller’s face visibly grayed at the news.  “God, this gets worse by the minute.”  He took out a handkerchief to mop his balding dome.  “Multiply thirty kids who all might’ve sent it out to thirty more…  Has anyone seen TV?  It could already be on the morning news.”

“We need to prepare a statement about the events of last night and get it out to the media sooner, rather than later.”  He was aware of Gonzalez’s sharp look.  The words were a first, coming from him.  But he was not unmindful of the nightmare ahead of them if the investigation became dogged with sensationalism.  “In the meantime, I’ve directed Spencer Pals to make a list of people that may be on that list and I’ll request that Cyber Crimes cross check the group.  Agent Turner can contact each of the individuals on the list the boy is making. If the video hasn’t been made public yet, maybe we can prevent it from happening.”  Jenna would be free for the task after the sketch session with Trina Adams was completed.  The last thing he wanted was for family of the victim discovered last night to stumble across that video online.

Miller nodded.  “That’s the best we can hope for, I suppose.  I’ll take care of the press release myself.  Maria, I’d appreciate you making yourself available for the news conference.”

“Within the hour we’ll have our third composite drawing of the man seen on the riverbank, if you decide you want to release them.”

The assistant director switched his attention to Cam.  “Have copies of the sketches sent to me.  How soon before you can determine whether the same man attempted to kill Dr. Channing last night?”

“I’ve got someone on the way to go over the security footage as we speak.  We’ll know shortly.”

Miller nodded decisively.  “I’ll arrange for the news conference as soon as possible, but the focus will be on the man seen by the teenagers without mentioning the attempt on Channing’s life.  I believe Maria has already discussed with you her intention of continuing Dr. Channing’s consultation on this case.  She believes, and I concur, that Channing’s input can help us narrow our focus on Vance’s accomplice.”

It was easy to see that he was outnumbered in his feelings about that action, so Cam reserved his argument for the scope of Sophie’s involvement.  He shifted in his chair looking for a more comfortable spot.  There wasn’t one.  “I can have complete case files at Dr. Channing’s disposal,” he began.  “Her involvement can be done safely in a controlled setting, with an agent at her side at all times…”

He stopped when he noted the meaningful look exchanged between Gonzalez and Miller.  “I’ve spoken to Dr. Channing again since I left her this morning,” Maria began.  “And although I have a few reservations about her idea, I think it has some merit.”

“She wants to fake her death,” Cam stressed.  He looked at Miller.  “It would involve deceiving the public.”

“A deception that is forgivable if it leads to her safety.”  Cam’s stomach clenched at the other man’s reply.  “Dr. Channing is probably safer right now than she has been since her abduction.  If Vance and his accomplice believe she’s dead, she doesn’t have to work in a controlled environment, although certainly I believe we should continue to offer protection.  With the right precautions in place, she could move around freely, conduct interviews, and attend scenes.”