The Darkness of Evil (Karen Vail #7)(68)

With that, she turned and walked briskly toward the exit.

VAIL HAD JUST SLID onto the Honda’s cold leather seat when her phone vibrated. It was Curtis.

“Got a line on Gaines. Kubiak came clean while a Detective Linscombe with West Virginia State Police was booking him at the county jail. Could be good intel.”

“Where are you?”

“About to leave the command center. Meet me there. I’ll wait for you.”

Curtis was sharing a coffee with Tarkoff, Ramos, and Walters when Vail arrived. She walked over and filled her travel mug. “Where’s Hurdle?”

“On his way over,” Tarkoff said, rolling his chair to the left to give Vail some room.

She dumped a packet of sugar in the java and stirred it. “So what’d Kubiak give us?

“Gaines’s got a house in Lake Ridge.”

“Lake Ridge,” Vail said. “You serious?”

“Not like it sounds,” Curtis said. “Best we could tell, it’s abandoned. Owners nearly went belly up during the housing crunch. They negotiated a deal with the bank and kept the place, but the wife has cancer so they’re living with one of their kids in Ohio while she gets treatment at the Cleveland Clinic’s cancer center. House has been empty for about eleven months.”

“He’s squatting in a vacant house?” Vail asked.

“Free rent, nice place. What could be bad?”

She moved over to the computer by the side wall and sat down. “We have an aerial?”

Ramos worked the keyboard and brought up a satellite image.

“What do we know about Gaines?” she asked as she studied the screen.

Tarkoff pulled his handgun from a locked drawer and holstered it. “Not exactly a model citizen. Did three years for assault when he was twenty-one. Some drug-related offenses in ’07, charges dropped. Couple of drunk and disorderlies, another assault—charges dropped again. Picked up for soliciting, paid a fine. And a dom vio eighteen months ago,” he said, referring to a domestic violence complaint.

“What are you thinking?” Curtis asked.

Vail pulled her gaze away from the monitor. “Just that we don’t know what to expect. We’re only going there to do a knock and talk. Sit him down, see if he’ll answer some questions. But—”

The door to the command center opened and Hurdle and Morrison entered.

Vail looked again at the satellite imagery. “It’s a big house. I think we should all go. Gives us numbers without overkill.”

“Talk about overkill,” Walters said. “You’re just going to question the guy. About Marcks, not something he himself’s done wrong.”

“Marcks could be there.”

Walters squinted. “Not likely. We’ve got an undercover sitting on his house. Gaines’s there. No sign of Marcks.”

“How long has our guy been there?”

Tarkoff checked his watch. “About ninety minutes.”

“Do I have to state the obvious?” Vail turned to Hurdle. “He could’ve gotten there before our undercover set up shop.”

Hurdle bent over the countertop and peered at the screen, examining the bird’s-eye view of the neighborhood. “This cul-de-sac off Wainscott? What’s the problem?”

Vail put the lid on her coffee mug and leaned back against the wall of the RV. “We need more men than just me and Curtis. Even if we’re confident Marcks isn’t there, it’s a big house in a heavily wooded area. Gaines could easily slip out the back. He gets away, we may never find him.”

“You think he’s gonna try to run?” Hurdle pulled his gaze away from the computer. “Why?”

“Gut instinct,” Vail said. “Really depends on whether or not he’s involved with Marcks. But even if he’s not, this is a guy who’s had some run-ins with law enforcement. He’s living in a house that doesn’t belong to him. He sees us coming, yeah, I think his predisposition is gonna be to take off. He’s not going to hang around to answer questions.”

“I’m with Vail,” Ramos said.

Hurdle mulled that over, then said, “Okay, the seven of us go. We’ll treat him like a hostile.”

Walters glanced over at the screen. “Any firearms-related offenses?”

“Nothing in the system.” Tarkoff shrugged. “Doesn’t mean much, if you ask me.”

“I agree,” Hurdle said. “Wear your vests.”

They took two cars and half an hour later they were sitting at the mouth of the cul-de-sac, a few houses away from Gaines’s location.

“Nice homes,” Morrison said. “Three or four thousand square feet, probably half a mil apiece. Maybe they’ve got another vacant place nearby?” He saw Vail’s look and gave her a half grin. “Just saying—wouldn’t mind spending a weekend, or a month or two, here.”

Vail removed her Glock and got out of the vehicle, joining Hurdle at the front bumper of his sedan. “How about you and Walters deploy around back while I go up and knock? Woman, less threatening. Curtis and Rambo can take up positions by those trees about ten and fifteen yards from the door, Morrison and Tarkoff can take the sides of the house in case he jumps out one of the first-floor windows.”

“I like it.” Hurdle nodded at the men. “You heard Vail. Let’s do it.”