He looked at Connor, then Marsh. “I came bearing news of my own. We may have an inside way to get us the identity of Henry’s son.” Luke repeated what the district attorney had passed on. “Once he’s identified, if we can connect him to having talked to Sykes, the case for a search warrant gets a lot stronger.”
“I don’t think he got rid of the knife,” Marsh remarked, “not when he took the trouble to bring it to both scenes. That knife means something to him for some reason for him to have held on to it after that tip broke off and to have chosen it for the crimes. We’ll get enough for the search warrant, and we’ll find the knife.”
“I want in on that interview, Chief,” Connor requested.
Luke looked at Marsh.
“Yes.”
Luke nodded. “Your lead on the case, it’s your interview if you want it. But if he’s quick to lawyer up you’re going to be facing a dry well to sort back through and prove he was the one doing the killings.”
“If he lawyers up rather than confesses, we’ll still make the case. There will be some trace of him at the scenes. The sweat stains they haven’t identified from the bathrooms, a couple of the unidentified trace hair fibers. You can’t swing a knife like he did for that long and not leave a trace of yourself behind.”
Luke looked at the clock. “Noon tomorrow. It may be a long day once we have news, so get some sleep today. That’s an order.”
Connor smiled. “Yes, sir.”
Marsh just nodded, but Luke would take it as a promise. “Good job tracking this back. Get me the raw notes, and I’ll push for the wiretaps. And I think I’m going to enjoy waking up the editor in chief for this request. Marie will be okay with staying put another day?” he asked Connor, aware plans had been to take Marie to the safe house Nathan had offered as a long-term place for Amy and Marie to stay.
“She’ll stay at Daniel’s another day. Amy?”
“She’s with Sam today. He thinks he may have identified the two guys who had been tailing her since Minnesota; they’ve apparently been asking questions about her around town and asking them of people more inclined to call Sam than answer the questions. Sam wanted to get a visual confirmation from Amy before he pays the two men a visit.”
“Who are they?”
“A couple guys from New York who were around during the days Greg was working for Richard Wise. They’ll be after the cash, I’m guessing.”
“Any idea how they got onto Amy’s location in Minnesota?”
“None, and I doubt Sam asks when he walks up to their table at a restaurant and suggests this town is a dangerous place for them to remain.”
“That’s not going to eliminate the trouble they represent. They’ll be back.”
“Once Sam has their faces and names confirmed, it won’t matter. They won’t be able to go anywhere in this town without Sam knowing about it, and that kind of pressure will end their search for Amy.”
Luke hoped Amy confirmed they were indeed the two men who had tailed her on and off since Minnesota-it would be another problem contained. If he couldn’t remove the danger she faced, then containing it was the next best option.
He got to his feet. “Get your notes together I can use for the wiretap warrants. If the lab has success with that blood sample, we’re going to have a busy day tomorrow.”
They nodded, and he headed back to his office to place a call to the newspaper editor.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
“CHIEF.”
The head of the lab was in his doorway, and he was closing the door behind him.
Luke hung up on the mayor. “What do you have?”
“Henry Benton’s son-DNA came back with a match in the database. Kevin Sykes. The reporter isn’t talking to Henry’s son; the reporter is Henry’s son.”
Luke scanned the sheet of paper to see it in black and white as he strode back to his door to pull it open. He stepped out into the outer office. “Margaret!”
She was halfway across the office toward the elevator and immediately turned.
“Connor and Marsh, as fast as you can find them. Then get me the deputy chief.” He looked back at his lab chief and smiled. “Tell me where you want that meal, and you and your wife are eating at the best restaurant in town tonight.”
“Sargetti’s.”
“Done.” Luke flipped around the phone on Margaret’s desk and punched in the number of the SWAT commander.
Luke eased into the cluster of officers a block away from Sykes’ home. SWAT had deployed to give them a quiet look at the house from all angles. “Someone tell me this guy is at home.”
The SWAT communications officer listening in to the radio traffic shook his head. “Sorry, Chief, everything inside is too quiet and his car is not here. Thermal doesn’t show a heat source big enough to be a person.”
“The newspaper office downtown?”
Marsh shook his head. “He’s not there. The deputy chief just sent enough officers into the newspaper’s offices to walk the pit aisles and into every restroom and break room before the editor in chief could protest our arrival and toss us out, and they confirm that Sykes is not at the office. We’ve got men watching every entrance to that building if he does show up. He’s on the street somewhere.”
“We put him as being Henry’s son and doing two murders; he’s not going to be sitting idly waiting for us to show up and arrest him. Anyone else we need to worry about him going after with a knife right now? Daniel? Marie?” Luke asked.
“Covered. Amy too. And we’ve got officers at the Benton estate and the Benton Group offices as another layer of precaution. Where else?” Marsh replied.
“We don’t know enough about Sykes, his parents, places he vacations, friends. Find those facts and assume he’ll be trying to slip away and leave town. We need his phone records.”
“An officer is standing at the shoulder of the employee running them as we speak.”
“Chief, there are lots of calls to a number over on Barry Road,” the officer handling retrieving Sykes’ phone records called in. “I’m looking back sixty days. The calls start a day before the murders and have been steady since then, most between 2 and 4 a.m. This isn’t some sweetheart he’s calling, not in that area of town. And it’s incredibly close to where that Lincoln was found parked: two, three blocks north.”
“He was calling our New York shooter and selling previews of his next day’s news article?” Connor suggested.
Luke nodded. “We need something else as a match before we send SWAT to knock down a door. Review the phone-tip lines for sightings in that area, get a photo spread together, and put a couple plainclothes on the street showing it around. I don’t want a visible cop presence in the area until we are ready to seal the area and go knock on a door. What time was the most recent call?”
“Three this morning.”
“Yes, I think Sykes just led us to our shooter, and he was at that number this morning. Watch the details, people, and the security. Let’s get this guy on the first try. Marsh, Connor-you’re with me. I want a long-distance look at that building while we get the facts in place to go breaking down another door.”
The SWAT team began to reassemble, and officers stationed to watch Sykes’ home for his possible return fanned out. Luke began to feel hope that this was coming to a close. “Connor, you drive. I remember the last time I offered the keys to Marsh.”
His officer smiled but took the key ring.
They would find Sykes by day’s end, Luke thought, if only because he had too visible a face to hide. People thought reporters were someone to notice. And to get the shooter the same day-it would be sweet. Change
