Never Tell (Detective D.D. Warren #10)(89)

“You love this case, don’t you?” He knew as well as anyone, the larger the riddle, the bigger D.D.’s fascination.

Now, she broke into a wide smile. “Honest to God, it’s like Christmas has come early.”

—

D.D. ARRIVED TEN minutes late to work. Supervisor’s privilege, she decided. But in consideration of the fact that several of her detectives had no doubt pulled all-nighters, she arrived bearing gifts: a tray of four fancy coffee drinks with whipped cream and chocolate drizzles and peppermint pieces. Not just caffeine, but caffeine and intense amounts of sugar married together in a concoction designed to cause an immediate jolt to the central nervous system.

She set down her shoulder bag. Ditched her coat. Switched from her thick winter boots to her much sleeker black leather boots, which she’d decided to keep at the office and away from Kiko’s evil clutches. Then, picking up the tray of chocolate minty goodness, she went in search of her detectives.

She found Phil first and presented beverages. He selected the cup closest to him and, without a word, took a hit, smearing whipped cream across his upper lip.

“When I’m done with Betsy, I’m gonna marry you,” he said.

“Oh, you adore her, you big softy.”

“I adore coffee. Whipped cream. Chocolate. What is this, a liquefied brownie?”

“Entirely possible. What do I need to know?”

“Video surveillance sucks.”

“Fair enough. Walk me through it.”

Phil caught her up on the techs’ attempts to find footage of the arsonist Rocket Langley’s designated drop site. As it was located in a major urban environment, the issue wasn’t whether there were cameras, but how many cameras, where were they positioned, and were any of the captured images any good?

“Patrol collected the tapes,” Phil explained. “Tech support started skimming for content. We have a photo of Rocket, so our first goal was to see if we could capture a shot of him in the general area. Which we did.”

“Sounds promising.”

“Yes and no. Drop site is a loose brick on the side of a building. Pull brick out, leave behind money, instructions, replace brick. There’s only one camera angle that’s any good for that side of the building, however. We caught Rocket walking up the street. Full on, there’s his face square in the lens, so that was excellent. But then that camera loses him. Security footage from a local business picks him up again, standing at the wall, but from that angle we can only see the back of his head. Rocket stood there so long we honestly thought the dude was urinating. I finally drove out there at four A.M., which is how I discovered the loose brick.”

“Anything there now?”

“No.”

“Okay. So you’ve located the drop site and at least spotted Rocket in action. What time and day?”

“Wednesday morning, seven A.M.”

“And the fire was Wednesday afternoon?”

“Yeah. I think we caught him picking up the target address and down payment. So now we’re going forward to late Wednesday evening / early Thursday morning to see when he picks up his final payment. Once we have that, we have two opportunities to catch Rocket’s client—either when the suspect first leaves the address or when he drops off the final payment. It’s taking a bit, though. Footage is dark and grainy. Combine that with random people bumbling about, and there are a lot of visuals to sort through. Hell, I think I’ve already ID’d several drug buys. It’s not a quiet area.”

“Smart thinking on Rocket’s part. That much activity, his own comings and goings hardly matter.”

“The kid’s been a known firebug for most of his life. I doubt anyone in the neighborhood messes with him. Anyone who likes to burn things for sport is best left alone.”

“He’s got a reputation.”

“He has a reputation in certain circles. Word-on-the-street sort of thing. Your CI might have been on to something last night. Rocket’s hardly big-time. Meaning our shooter is either local, or Rocket already knows enough to advertise on places like the big bad web. Hell, even the mob has gone cyber. It’s sad, really. Pretty soon, the department will be staffed by virtual cops programmed to ID virtual criminals. Where’s the fun in that?”

D.D. rolled her eyes. “Given that we’re not computer programs just yet, find me video of whoever hired Rocket the arsonist. A drop box is an old-fashioned system that will hopefully get us old-fashioned results. Sooner versus later, I might add. Now, Carol and Neil?”

“In the conference room. They’ve been working on Conrad Carter’s background all night.” Phil eyed her remaining coffee. “Make sure you keep one of those for yourself. By the time they’re done, you’re gonna need it.”

—

WHEN D.D. WALKED into the room, Neil and Carol were just hanging up the department’s speakerphone. They both appeared jazzed.

D.D. handed over coffees and took a seat. “All right, what’dya got?”

“Homicide, definitely. Conrad’s parents’ vehicle was run off the road shortly after eight P.M One moment they’re driving home from a local restaurant along a well-known route, next their car is rolling down an embankment into a canal. They were dead upon impact,” Carol shook her head.

“Witnesses? Leads?” D.D. asked.