Desperation in Death (In Death #55)(60)

“So many,” he said at length.

“I believe more, Commander, but these are highest probability generated by Peabody and myself, and Feeney’s team in EDD. All fit the pattern, including three types of victims within the age range eleven to thirteen. I’ve begun, and Peabody is continuing, to factor in others between the ages of six and ten.

“Geographically,” she began, but he held up a hand.

“Let me get some coffee, and first tell me where we are on the second girl you believe escaped.”

“Sir, the canvass in the area of the witness’s stall turned up two shopkeepers who ID’d Dorian Gregg, from sightings last December. Both were sure of the ID, and reasonably sure of the time frame. December, prior to Christmas. We’ve yet to find anyone who’s seen her since then. We’re still canvassing.”

“And the LEOs in Freehold?”

“Are on watch for her. But she won’t go back there.”

He got his coffee. “Dr. Mira?”

“I agree with the lieutenant on that. She has nothing there. She may have found a way out of New York between the time she escaped and we identified her and put out the alert to transportation stations, but that would be awfully quick work even for a bright young girl.”

“If Mina had a plan,” Eve added, “it would have been to get to the police and/or contact her parents. Dorian Gregg wouldn’t do either. Possibly, last resort, but she has no reason to trust either her mother or the authorities.”

“You’re putting a lot of weight into the stand she got away because of the planted blood.”

“Yes, sir. If they recaptured her, she remained a valuable product, but on the loose, she’s a liability. Smarter to discredit and implicate the liability, especially one with a history of trouble and some violent behavior while you continue to hunt for her. Find her, sell her off cheap, or eliminate her.”

Eve paused.

“Which they might have done,” she said. “She’s smart, and she’s been on the streets before, but these people are organized and experienced, and very well funded. They had several hours’ head start on us in the hunt.”

“And knowing all that, you want to continue to deploy the manpower to canvass.”

“Yes, sir.”

He nodded. “I agree. I read her file, and your report. She’s had a raw, rough life. You should know Truman’s been terminated from her position at CPS.”

Now he sat. “Geographically?”

“Geographically,” Eve repeated, and brought him fully up to date.

He stopped her several times, questioned, consulting Mira for opinions. And when Eve finished, sat back with a second cup of coffee.

“Authorizing and running this e-op would be easier with the FBI already on board.”

“Possibly, Commander, but we’ve got the best on it, and we have movement. I’d like the next thirty-six hours to refine it. I would also request we go through Agent Teasdale. She’s not only proved capable, but she knows the team we’d have working that area. It’s not for credit for the bust, sir.”

“I know that very well. Why another thirty-six?”

“For the chance to find Dorian Gregg, that’s primary. An opportunity to find her, to gain her trust before the bureaucracy crowds in. We may get more cooperation from her if we offer her a choice.”

“A choice of what?”

“The foster system, or a place in An Didean.”

As Whitney’s eyebrows lifted, Mira smiled.

“Very good,” Mira murmured. “Very good. First, a choice gives her some personal power, and second—you don’t believe for a minute she’ll go for the system. The school offers some freedom, some boundaries, of course, but a way out of the cycle she’s been trapped in.”

“The feds may not have that choice to give, or may not want to offer it. I think I could convince Teasdale on it, but she wouldn’t have the full authority, as I see it, to give that the green.”

“So you’d preempt them, make a deal with her, which we can use to block—or attempt to block—other avenues. You have to find her first.”

“Yes, sir, and if we don’t in the next thirty-six, the odds are we won’t, at least not before this auction. But there are a lot of lives at stake. If we find her, any information she has leads us to this organization, the location of many of the faces on these boards. We shut it down without alerting any other locations, any other sellers, buyers. And we follow through with the e-op, with the feds, to break the backs.

“Mina Cabot remains central. I want the person who ended her life. If I can get the person who abducted her, the people who held her, the ones funding it and profiting from it, that’s gravy. But it’s fine with me if the feds take them down. I’m still looking for a child killer, and I’m hoping we find Dorian Gregg alive, and she points the finger.”

“All right. We’ll see where you are in twenty-four. If your progress justifies it, you’ll get the thirty-six, and I’ll authorize the op. I need to be kept tightly in the loop on that.”

“You will be, sir, and thank you.”

He rose. “Find the girl, Dallas.” He looked back at the board. “Let’s find all the girls.”