Obsession in Death(41)

She brought up the second message.

“Getting pushy with this one,” Baxter murmured, and got Eve’s raised eyebrows. “The first one’s sick, too, but it’s more matter-of-fact. Justice, blah blah, and she f*cked with you, I f*cked with her. The second one pushes it more – strikes me as more demanding.”

“Wants acknowledgment.” That came quietly from Santiago. “Your acknowledgment, Dallas. You don’t give it, he’ll kill somebody else to show you more devotion. You do give it, he’ll kill somebody else because you rewarded him.”

She’d come to the same conclusion herself. Crazy rock, meet bloody hard place.

“Can’t take yourself out of it,” Jenkinson considered. “Insult to him if you did it voluntarily; insult to you if Whitney pulled you. Anybody been messing with you, boss? More than usual?”

“No. I’ve gone around that circle. Best chance is through the correspondence, and straight cop work. Knocking on doors, interviews, what the vics might tell us.”

She paused again, dropped the biggest weight. “Highest probability with known factors is the UNSUB is in law enforcement or support, or wants to be.”

She didn’t get curses, anger, even disgust, but a kind of silent and bitter acceptance. Yeah, she had a good, solid division.

“We can cross the correspondence with people who tried for the cops and washed out. We can take that.” Santiago looked at Carmichael.

“Yeah,” Carmichael agreed. “Santiago and I can work that.”

“Trueheart and I can look for cross on retired law enforcement, or law enforcement terminated for cause.” Baxter looked at his young, still-in-uniform aide.

“Sure. Um, Lieutenant?”

“Officer.”

“He uses the word ‘justice’ a lot. If, going over correspondence, we look for somebody who didn’t get justice – or feels that way. Maybe a vic or a connection to a vic, and Bastwick got the alleged perpetrator off, or cut the time, made a deal. And maybe this Ledo played a minor part. Sold illegals to the individual who got off, or to the vic or the UNSUB. It’s possible illegals plays some role in whatever’s set the UNSUB off.”

“Always thinking,” Baxter said, not without pride.

“That’s an angle we’re looking at, and you’re not wrong to bring it up,” Eve told Trueheart. “Problem is, it’ll be like looking for the crazy needle in a stack of needles. And nobody say ‘haystack,’” she warned. “Because that’s just stupid. I’ve run basic cross-searches for anyone connected to the two vics. So far, I got zip. If there’s a connection, it’s going to be nebulous at best.”

“We got that one.” Reineke nodded at Jenkinson.

“You’re on an active investigation,” Eve began.

“All respect, boss, but that’s bullshit. We know how to juggle,” Jenkinson reminded her. “Everybody in this room’s been on the job long enough they can juggle standing on one foot with one eye closed. Just like everybody knows if it’s a cop doing this, or somebody attached to the cops – well, it doesn’t make two people more dead or less dead, but it means the sooner we shut it down the less crap’s going to fly on the department. And you, LT.”

“I can take care of my own flying crap.”

After a moment of silence, Reineke puffed out a breath. “He’s trying not to say bullshit to you twice in the same briefing, so I will. That’s bullshit, boss.”

Baxter shook his head. “You want to get this done?” he asked Reineke, Jenkinson. “Use some smarts. You can handle your own crap, Dallas, but while you are, some’s bound to splatter on this division, on us. So we put in the time, and we minimize that. And maybe save a life because there’s nothing up there that says he doesn’t have another lined up.”

“I shoulda thought of that,” Jenkinson muttered. “I shoulda had that one ready.”

“You’re a slick one, Baxter.”

He just grinned at Eve. “Slick and shiny. All the ladies like me that way.”

“Juggle then – but nobody shuffles an active to the back for this. How old were those kids who got sliced up, Jenkinson?”

His eyes went cool and flat. “Fifteen and seventeen. Brothers.”

“They’re your priority.”

“You got that, Dallas. We won’t be dropping any of the balls we got in the air.”

“Peabody, see that everyone gets the necessary data.”

“Yes, sir.”

“If necessary, you can speak with Feeney and/or McNab for e-work, Mira for profiling or shrink shit. If you need a consult with the lab, Dickhead only, unless you run it by me. The lid’s going to blow on this, but the push on that isn’t going to come from this division. I don’t have to tell you, but I’m going to. If and when you’re approached by the media – or any f*cking body – your line is it’s not your case, ask Lieutenant Dallas. Last… Slick and Shiny Baxter?”

“Yo.”

“The flying crap stops with me. It’s why I get paid the slightly less pathetic bucks than you. But… your help and your willingness to offer it – all of you – is appreciated and valued. Dismissed.”

As they rose, Jenkinson got to his feet, cleared his throat. “Nobody f*cks with our LT. Deal with it,” he told Dallas, then walked out.