Page 87 of Devoted in Death

“His mother contacted her, and no. Anyone else?”

“We’re his crew.” He looked at his friends again. “We’re his crew, you know? We were pissed. We were all pissed he ditched us. What can we do? We can troll for him.”

She didn’t see the point in it, but didn’t see one in trying to stop them, either.

“That’s her voice on here.” She secured the ’link in her pocket for now. “‘Hey, cutie.’ Bitch. Right there in the loading zone. I know it. About halfway between his place and where he was going.”

“Wrong place, wrong time,” Roarke said, and rubbed a hand on her back.

“That’s worked for them so far, but their luck’s going to change. We’ll get something off the damn cam, and we’ve got her voice on this shitty pocket ’link. We know almost to the minute when he was grabbed, and, goddamn it, they’re close. They’re close by.”

Legwork, she decided, and as they walked back ordered up droids and uniforms to knock on doors along that stretch of Seventh.

She’d get started on the loading zone feed, get McNab ready to boost anything they hit on there—and add more boost to the voice on the ’link.

It would be some wild luck to hit a voiceprint match, but they were due.

In the car again, she pulled out her own ’link.

“Who are you tagging at this hour?”

“Carmichael. She and Santiago can get started.”

“Eve, it’s still shy of five in the morning there.”

“Why?”

“Well, the magic elephant who carries the wide dish of the planet on its massive back moves ponderously on its daily trek around the sun.”

“Oh, bite me.” But the image he’d painted made as much sense to her as the scientific one. She decided to give her detectives another thirty minutes in the rack.

“No plan. Just like the other two in New York. There couldn’t have been a plan, couldn’t have been a specific target. So what prompted them to go hunting last night? One, they’ve already killed Campbell. Ahead of schedule, or she just gave out on them unexpectedly. And they didn’t get enough of a rush from it.”

“They’d dump her body quickly, wouldn’t they, in that eventuality. You’ll likely find her soon after the sun’s up.”

“No point keeping her. Might be they went to dump her, and here comes a new one, right into their lap. But why not wait to do the dump until later? Barely midnight—it’s early for a dump, less risk in another hour or two.”

“Part of the rush? That risk?”

“Yeah, maybe. Let’s raise the bar a little. So maybe. Second scenario, they decided to grab the next before they finish her. They’ve got a place, they’re where they want to be. Room for another? Got room, so why not have the next in the batter’s box?”

“Or...”

“A duet.” She nodded. “Two at once. We can’t know for sure, not for sure, they haven’t done that before along the way. We’ve profiled it one at a time, and it’s most likely, but we can’t be sure they haven’t pulled a twofer.”

“With two, you could use one to terrify the other. Or you could each have your own, work in tandem.”

“A lot of ugly possibilities. Until we find Jayla Campbell’s body, we’re going with the scenario they took a second, purposefully. Maybe impulsively. The loading zone wasn’t smart. But, if they haven’t lived in an urban area, they might not be aware of the cams on those.”

“It’s likely many who do and don’t own a vehicle or drive aren’t aware. And even many who own and do may not think of it. You have to drive onto the grid to activate the cam, and they’re notorious crap.”

He gave her a half smile. “I’ve lived in urban areas, and often needed a handy spot to... park. I should add, Lieutenant, that jamming one of those grid cams? Child’s play.”

“Let’s hope neither of them played the same games you did as a kid.”

Traffic thickened as they made their way uptown, with maxibuses blatting and farting along with their load of late shifts coming off, early shift going on. And the sky trams hauled more.

A few cabs zipped—most who worked the early and late shifts couldn’t afford cabs. But there would be those heading out to catch a shuttle, or a high-level LC on the way home after a profitable night.