“I have a few more at home.”
“Ben, I’m losing patience.” Shanks pointed to the chair and the teen sat back down. “What are you holding back? Wait. Don’t tell me. Let me guess. Because I can be a detective too. You have files that are related to Ellen’s murder. But for some reason only known to you, you left those at home.” When the kid looked at the ceiling, Shanks said, “Why are you keeping those from me? Is it because you don’t trust me or is it because you think I’m incompetent?”
“No and no.” Ben looked down. “I didn’t want to get you involved until I knew more.”
“I’m already involved, Ben.”
“You’re involved but I’m committed—”
“Stop that, Ben.”
“Sam, it’s like that joke about eggs and bacon. The chicken is involved; the pig is committed.”
“Ben, what other cases do you have that are similar to Ellen’s? And no bullshit. I’m tired.”
“Jeez, Sam, don’t get so angry.”
Shanks took in a deep breath and let it out. “I’m not angry.” Of course he was. He forced himself to smile, kept his pen poised on his notebook. “How about if we start with names, Ben.”
“Julia Rehnquist and Jamey Moore.”
“Spell them.” When Ben did, Shanks said, “Tell me about the first one—Julia Rehnquist.”
“Happened a year and a half after Ellen, December nineteenth. She was sixteen, abducted from Berkeley, and found in Mount Diablo State Park in California.”
“How long have you known about her?”
“The body was discovered this past summer . . . like right before school started. That’s when I found out.”
“So, tell me what you know about it.”
Ben sipped his coffee. “Just what I can pull up from the computer. I tried to see if there was any physical evidence like a print or a DNA profile, but the newspapers were sketchy. I checked on the homicide bulletins . . . nothing much came up. But I do know where she was found. I just wanted to find out a little more before I told you about it. I didn’t want to look like an idiot or a crazy person.”
“Idiot no, crazy person a little more likely.” A pause. “Tell me about the second girl, Jamey Moore.”
“I just found out about her two weeks ago. That’s when I knew I had to come in to talk to you.”
“So why didn’t you do it then?”
“I wanted to give Katie Doogan one more shot before I concentrated on anyone else.”
“Well, you succeeded. Tell me about Jamey Moore.”
“She was from Knoxville. She disappeared on September twenty-first. Her body was found in the Smoky Mountains two weeks ago, near Cosby, Tennessee.”
“So, you’ve known about it for two weeks.”
“Yes. She’s a little different, Sam. She wasn’t an innocent. She had a history of being a runaway. I’m interested in her because the date of her abduction is close to the autumnal equinox. She may be part of the pattern.”
“You have pictures of them? The girls?”
“In my files. Just what I printed from the local papers.”
Shanks looked at his watch. “It’s getting dark. Did you bike here?”
“Yeah.”
“Okay. This is what you’re going to do. Are you listening, Ben?”
“I’m right here.”
“You are going to call up your mother and tell her that I’m taking you out to dinner. After we eat, I’ll stow your bike in my van, I’ll take you home, and I’ll pick up the files, and then you’re finished doing snoop work. Do you have any problem with any of that?”
“No.”
“Good.” Shanks focused on the boy’s eyes. “I suppose you have a host of reasons why those cases are similar to Ellen’s case.”
“The age, the physical appearance, the circumstances, where they were buried, and now the date of the abductions.” Ben fidgeted. “Since I told you about the files, could you call up the primary detective on the Rehnquist case and get some details?”
“Blimey, young lad, I never thought about that.” The kid looked abashed. Shanks shook his head. “I’ll call as soon as I look up the case so I know what I’m talking about.”
“When are you going to do that?”
“I’m planning on doing it right now unless you want to eat at four fifteen.”
“So . . . like what do I do while you look up the cases?”
“You can call your mother and tell her that I’m taking you out to dinner.”
“Can I come with you to look at the cases? I promise I won’t read over your shoulder.”
Without answering, Shanks got up and Ben followed. After Shanks shut the door to his office, he said, “Sit down and be quiet. If I have any questions, I’ll ask you.”
“Can I call my mother?”
“Yeah, go ahead.” Shanks entered “Julia Rehnquist” into the search program on the computer. The information was basic: sixteen-year-old girl found buried in a rectangular grave in Mount Diablo in Contra Costa, California, near Danville. She was last seen out for a jog on December nineteenth of last year. She appeared to have been abducted in broad daylight. Anyone with information should call the Berkeley PD at the following number and ask for Derek Whitecliffe or the Danville PD. Shanks wrote down the digits and the name of the primary. There was also a picture of the girl. Shanks did notice physical similarities to Ellen and Katie—not sisters, but maybe they could have been cousins.
Next was Jamey Moore. She was seventeen, a runaway, and went missing on September 21 of this year. The body was found buried in a rectangular three-foot-by-four-foot-by-four-foot grave. Anyone with information, etc. He took down the number and the name of the primary detective—Jack Bonet. He also printed out the picture. She appeared a little older and a little harder, but she was definitely from the same mold.
Shanks turned off the computer. Ben said, “Any luck?”
“Got the names of the primary detectives.”
“Derek Whitecliffe in Berkeley. I don’t know about the other one.”
“Jack Bonet in Knoxville.”
“Are you going to call them?”
“Yes. I do think you’re onto something.” Ben’s grin was immediate. Shanks said, “I shouldn’t be telling you this, but I will anyway. Albuquerque retrieved some biological evidence from Katie Doogan. It will take a while to process. It might be smart to wait until we have something concrete like a DNA match between Katie Doogan and Ellen. Once we get a connection, we can start thinking about a serial killer. And once we have a serial killer, we can start linking up the dates. The more information we have, the easier it will be to get other police agencies to cooperate and be excited.”
“So, you’re not going to call them?”
“Of course I’m going to call them. But first, let me do my homework, Vicks.”
“I hear you, Sam. But what if there’s already DNA from Julia Rehnquist? Since you have DNA from Ellen, can’t we just see if there’s a match? Like what about CODIS?”
“That’s for matching DNA to known perps.”
“Surely there is some file where you can match DNA to DNA.”