Page 16 of Three Girls Gone (Detective Amanda Steele #14)

THIRTEEN

Amanda watched Katherine’s Mercedes following them in the side mirror as Trent drove them back to Central.

The plan was they’d set Katherine up in the conference room while they filled Malone in and petitioned for Katherine’s collaboration.

The conversation wasn’t one Amanda looked forward to, but necessary.

If there was even a slim chance Katherine’s knowledge could help bring this person down, they needed her on the team.

On the way, Amanda called CSI Blair and got a number for CSIs Vanessa Stuart and Ruth Keller, who were assigned to the Tanner residence.

She tried Keller first and landed in her voicemail.

Next, she punched in Stuart’s digits. Another recorded greeting, but she left a message there, exasperated.

“Investigator Stuart, this is Detective Steele. Please call me with an update on the Tanner residence.” She hung up and turned to Trent, shook her head. “Neither of them is answering.”

“They could still be working.”

“Taking their sweet time then.” She added their names and numbers to her contacts, so she’d identify them when they called back .

“Better thorough than speedy.”

“Somewhere in the middle would be ideal.”

They went into the station, escorted Katherine to the conference room, and carried on to Malone’s office. Amanda knocked on the doorframe, and he looked up from his desk and flipped his readers off his nose.

Amanda sat down. So here goes… She laid everything out, the note in the hem, the connection to the Gilbert case and Katherine, stopping short of requesting that Katherine be brought in to help.

Malone’s cheeks flamed red. “What the heck is she thinking?”

For him, heck was the equivalent of the F-word. “It’s clear this person wants someone to blame, Sarge.” Amanda stepped up to Katherine’s defense. “Whether it was her or another detective poking around, we’d likely be in the same place.”

“Except you can’t know that. She’s a civilian. This is an NYPD case from twelve years ago.”

If Malone was looped in on the full picture, he might show more understanding and compassion. Trent looked over at her. “There’s something else,” she said and admitted they spoke to Katherine before coming here.

“Are you kidding me?”

Amanda shrank in her chair. “She’s willing to help.”

Malone’s face darkened. “Why should that matter? I can’t authorize that. Have her hand over the names and step away.”

“As Amanda was getting to, boss—” Trent was shut down by a sharp look from Malone.

“Let me guess. Her familiarity with the case could be an asset? But I don’t care if she has a lot to offer.

She’s a civilian . How can I possibly justify bringing her in to work on an active investigation in an official capacity?

Especially one in which a killer threatened further victims if she keeps poking around. ”

Amanda questioned the source of his issue. Was it as simple as he said, or was it influenced by Chief Buchanan’s hold over him? But she’d use Malone’s “blue” code against him. It was also what he’d said when Katherine was abducted. “What happened to once a cop, always a cop?”

“Don’t test me, Steele.”

He’d pulled out her surname. It might be time to back off, but she was worked up to defend Katherine as one mother to another.

An injustice had been inflicted on her, as it had with Amanda’s family.

“I’m sure we can assume the threat extends to anyone who tries to stop him.

This guy can’t be stupid enough to think we’ll ignore his crimes and let him get away with them.

Katherine can help us, boss. She has contacts and knows this case inside out. ”

Malone settled back in his chair, dangling his readers between his thumb and index finger of his left hand. “Fine, I’ll talk with her, but that’s all I can promise.”

“All I’m asking. For now.” She smiled at him when he drilled her with a serious expression. But she could afford to push things with him a bit. Malone had been a friend of her father’s for decades and around her family all her life.

They joined Katherine in the conference room.

“Katherine,” Malone said as a way of greeting.

“Sergeant Malone,” she responded.

“I’d ask how you’re doing, but since I understand you’re in the loop, there’s no point.” Malone sat at the head of the table, putting Katherine on his right.

Amanda and Trent sat next to each other on his left.

“I’m not sure how much you know.” Katherine looked at Amanda.

She shook her head, and Katherine put her gaze back on Malone.

“I know you’ve been investigating an NYPD case since you left there. How you’re no longer employed as a cop, yet you insist on acting like you are? ”

“I have nothing to say to that,” Katherine said at a low volume.

“Amanda and Trent seem to think you can help find Hailey’s killer.”

“And Julie Gilbert’s,” Katherine amended.

“Go on.” Malone sat back and clasped his hands.

Katherine filled Malone in on what she’d shared with Amanda and Trent. When she finished, Malone leaned forward, his elbows on the table, and his arms crossed.

“Huh. So you’re saying we find the photographer, we find the killer?” Malone said.

“That’s the running theory. And we think this person ID’d Dickson.”

“All right, well, you said he messaged through an online contact form. Digital always leaves a trail.”

Katherine inched forward on her chair, matching Malone’s posture. “I’m limited in what I can do. I tried emailing the address provided, as the form asks for one, but it bounced back as undeliverable.”

“We can take this to Detective Jacob Briggs with Digital Forensics. If anyone can track the sender’s location, it’s him,” Amanda said.

“That’s a great idea, Amanda,” Katherine piped in.

“It could work,” Malone admitted, with far less enthusiasm. “And I think that’s our strongest starting point before we invest too much time digging into all the people associated with the pageant and different venues.”

“Here’s the thing—” Katherine stopped talking when Malone let out a huff.

“Fine, go ahead. Say what you were going to say. I have a feeling I know what it’s going to be already.”

“I’m not sure if Amanda has spoken to you yet or?—”

“Oh, she’s spoken to me, and I’m not sure where I stand yet. She’s convinced your familiarity with the Gilbert case will be integral to solving the Tanner murder.”

Katherine remained silent, and from Amanda’s knowledge of the sergeant that had been a wise choice.

“If, and I mean if you’re to help us, there can’t be any sleuthing around on your own. Any new intel is to be reported immediately, and you will share everything there is about the Gilbert investigation.”

“Yes, of course.”

“Most of it still in that storage shed?” Malone asked her.

“Between there and my laptop.”

“I will be upfront though. I’m not sure how comfortable I am bringing you in on this, Katherine,” Malone told her. “I think it’s best we stick to legal channels here. We should talk with your former partner. What was his name again?”

“The one who worked the Gilbert case with me is long gone, but my last detective partner was Mickey Fritz,” Katherine said.

“Well, he or someone at the NYPD needs to know what’s happened here and the link to Julie Gilbert.”

“I don’t disagree, but Julie’s case is taking up space in cold storage,” Katherine put out in a level tone. “No one is actively looking for her killer. That’s why?—”

Amanda shook her head for Katherine to stop.

First, she slipped up by referring to the case as Julie’s not Gilbert’s.

She might as well have screamed it was personal.

Second, alluding to incompetence among the NYPD would never work with Malone.

He was true blue to the core and refused to see any wrongdoing in his fellow officers of the law without solid evidence.

“Why what, Katherine? Please continue,” Malone prompted, though Amanda saw it as a test.

Katherine straightened her posture. “Someone has to look out for her. ”

“Yes, well, I’m concerned someone should be looking out for you. I want to get a twenty-four-hour protective detail on you.”

“No,” Katherine said.

“Excuse me?” Malone pushed back. “He clearly has an issue with you. He came here from New York City because of you. Protection detail isn’t an option.”

“Fine.” The single word left Katherine’s lips with exasperation not acceptance. “Does that mean I can help?”

Amanda saw Katherine at the losing end of this conversation and stepped in. “Maybe if you knew why this case is so important to Katherine…” She looked at her friend.

Katherine took a deep breath and let out, “Julie’s murder is personal to me,” on a labored exhale.

Malone became stock-still. “Which I’ve gathered. Care to tell me why?”

Katherine laid it all out, then added, “Maybe that can help you understand why I can’t stop. Why I won’t stop.”

“I feel for what you’ve been through. I really do.

But are you saying you plan to keep working on this case, regardless of whether we rope you in or not?

If so, you do realize I could arrest you for interfering with a police investigation?

” Malone strummed his fingers on the table, squinting and huffing a bit.

“We all know how urgent it is we get this guy,” Amanda wedged in with some finesse.

“We have pressure from the media, the police chief… There’s a lot of work here, and we never bank our efforts on one thing.

We’d be at a disadvantage without Katherine’s knowledge of the Gilbert case.

Trent and I would need to read all the files, pull backgrounds, contact everyone.

Katherine has relationships with some of these people already. ”

“I hate to say this, but possibly with the killer,” Malone said.

Katherine squared her posture. “Fair enough, but no one knows this case like me.”

“Not to mention the workload on me and Amanda just with the Tanner case,” Trent added to the defense.

“We’d need to familiarize ourselves with the Gilbert investigation before we could even look for similarities or cross-reference names.

And that’s assuming this person isn’t operating under an alias these days. ”

“I get it. There’s a lot of work,” Malone grumbled. After a few beats, he turned to Amanda. “We might not run into his name for a while yet. If we do. We could be looking at a stranger to this family, an intruder in the Tanner home. Do we have an answer on that yet?”

“I had to leave a message with the CSIs,” she told him, while trying to bury her frustration that they hadn’t yet returned her call.

“They were dispatched there late this morning”—Malone consulted his watch—“and it’s after four in the afternoon. What could be taking them so long?”

“No idea,” she admitted.

“Well, if you don’t hear before five, let me know and I’ll make a call,” Malone told her.

“Sounds good.”

“All right, Katherine, here’s the thing,” Malone started. “From an official standpoint, I don’t want you anywhere near this, but if you could be available for consulting?—”

“You couldn’t stop me.”

“As you made quite clear,” Malone said. “Amanda and Trent, I want your focus on the Tanner case. On the upside, for this guy to take another victim and call out Katherine, he’s emotionally compromised.

That means he’s bound to have screwed up somewhere along the way.

Go over every bit of Hailey’s life and see what you can uncover.

Then, we’ll be in a better position to spot any connections to Gilbert and put a name on this guy. ”

“You got it, boss,” Amanda said. “Do you want me to get Detective Briggs from Digital on tracking the sender of that contact form?”

“Yeah, that’s fine. You have a solid working relationship there. As for this list of names you’ve gathered,” Malone started, turning toward Katherine, “I think male costume designers would be the best place to start.”

“We still need to confirm if the stitch looked professional or not, though that might not even matter. If I were a professional seam— Seamstress for a woman, but what is it for a guy?” Trent looked around, and Katherine stepped up.

“Just call them costume designers because they do it all,” Katherine said. “They come up with the concept and make it happen.”

“Well, I doubt judging the sewing job will get us anywhere,” Trent said. “A professional could have done a shoddy job to cover his work.”

“The only thing I worry about is you spoke to those people back in the fall too, didn’t you?” Malone asked Katherine.

“I did, but I could approach things from another angle,” she said.

Malone gestured for her to explain.

“Instead of speaking directly with them, I could call their employers from the time. It could give me a read on them without concern I’d be contacting the killer himself.”

“And tipping them off,” Malone added.

“Exactly.”

“Does this mean she’s cleared to help?” Amanda asked. “As you just said, you want Trent and I to dig into Hailey’s world. That means our time will be quite full just following up leads and talking with people associated with her case.”

Malone rubbed his short, groomed beard. The noise of his fingernails scratching his whiskers was the only sound in the room. “I couldn’t pay you, Katherine. There is no way that is in the budget. ”

“I don’t need money,” she rushed out. “I just want to get this guy and put him behind bars where he belongs.”

“I’m not sure if there’s an available desk for you to use,” Malone said.

“She can use mine whenever I’m not here,” Amanda offered.

Malone narrowed his eyes at her before turning back to Katherine. “That’s settled, and I’ll get you a login for the computer. But before you help in any official capacity, I will need to clear this by the police chief.” With that, Malone got up and left the room.

“You’re in.” Amanda smiled at Katherine.

“I’m not celebrating just yet, and it seems like it would be rather… distasteful if I did. We are talking about a repeat killer who targets young girls.” Katherine’s eyes blanked over.

“Nothing wrong with being happy you’re on the team that’s going to bring him down. We’re going to find this guy, Kat,” Amanda told her friend.

“We better. No ordinary person has the stomach for killing a child, let alone sexually assaulting them. There’s no telling what else he’s capable of.”