The Darker Side

one of the website itself.'

'Someone will make the connection with the Reid name soon,'

James observes. 'Not to mention his threat to kill a child. This is going to hit the news.'

The anxious feeling in the pit of my stomach widens into a chasm.

'This is going to turn into a shit storm,' I say. 'We need to try and get ahead of it.' I begin pacing, talking out loud to organize my thoughts. 'The media is going to splash the story and then we're going to start getting calls from all over about the victims. The fact that he's kept himself hidden until now probably means that most of his victims are unsolved disappearances. That's potentially a lot of families that will be clamoring for confirmation.'

'Good Lord,' Callie says, now really seeing the truth of what I'm saying. 'Those poor people will be crawling out of the woodwork.'

'Them and the crazies,' Alan observes.

High-profile murders, particularly those that garner media attention, call forth the loonies like throwing meat in front of a hungry dog. People line up to confess. The more unusual the crime, the longer the line. I rub my forehead, still pacing.

'We need to get the clips pulled,' I say.

'Yes,' Callie agrees.

'Wait a moment,' James says, and begins typing in website addresses, one after the other, each in a new browser window. He leans back after a moment, shaking his head. 'I thought so.'

'What?' I ask.

'The key term here is viral, ' he replies. 'User-tube is the most popular site for the sharing of video clips, but it's far from the only one. I typed in the URLs for ten others. See for yourself.'

We all lean forward as he cycles through the various browser windows he's opened. Each one is filled with rows of video-clip thumbnails.

'This is . . . ?' I ask.

He nods. 'The Preacher's clips. Re-posted by users to other similar websites around the world.' A shrug. 'The feeding frenzy starts a lot faster on the Web.'

Alan rubs his face with both hands. 'Holy fuuuuuuck.'

'So what?' I ask. 'You're telling me it doesn't matter if we get them pulled from user-tube?'

'No. User-tube is the most popular video-sharing site on the Internet. Getting them pulled will make an immediate difference, but it won't stop them from spreading. It'll only lessen their visibility.'

'How's that?' Alan asks.

James shrugs. 'The clips are everywhere now, including people's hard drives. They'll be burned onto CDs and DVDs, viewers will e-mail them to each other, share them on forums and newsgroups. There are a ton of video- sharing sites that are run outside the U.S. Most won't listen to a word we say. Even some of the ones run from within the states will resist removing the clips without a court order. Then there's the hierarchy of user-tube itself. All the content is user provided. For every clip we pull, someone else will probably repost it, in the name of free speech or voyeurism. It's the perfect medium for the Preacher, really.'

Alan throws up his hands in disgust. 'What the fuck should we do, then?'

'Get them pulled. We'll have Computer Crimes liaise with usertube and monitor any attempts by the Preacher to post future clips. They'll intercept them and let us know. We'll also have Computer Crimes contact the other video-sharing sites that we know will be cooperative. Beyond that . . .' He shakes his head. 'The main thing you have to understand and accept is this: the clips are out there. That ship has sailed. Families are going to see them and there's nothing we can do about that.'

I stare at him for a moment, blinking. 'I have to call the AD,' I say.

'We're going to need additional personnel.'

James nods. 'A task force.'

'Yes.'

Alan groans. 'Great. Bunch of newbies tripping over their own feet and trying to steal my desk.'

'We'll use them primarily to field the phones and to help collate information. Following up any leads--and the primary investigation--

remains with us.'

'They do the grunt work, we get the glory.' Callie nods her approval. 'I like it.'

'First things first,' I tell them. 'We need to watch these clips. He told us the names of Dexter and Rosemary. Maybe he followed the same formula throughout. We need to make a list and then start searching the databases for similar crimes nationwide.'

'Look for commonalities of location,' James provides. 'Hopefully he'll give us some clues in that regard that will help us identify the victims and narrow down our geographical target area.' He looks at me.

'We're going to end up sending this victim list out to local police municipalities. If we can reduce the radius, it will help.'

'Good thinking. Divide up the clips. I'll take the last set and start viewing once I've called AD Jones and Rosario Reid.'

Alan grimaces. 'Think she knew? About what her son had done to that kid Jacob?'

I feel tired and rumpled and half put together and far, far too electrified at the same time.

'No. Let's get to work.'

24

'SWEET JESUS,' AD JONES SWEARS AND THEN FALLS SILENT. I wait him out. 'This is going to be everywhere,' he says.

'Already is, sir.'

I had called him on his cell phone. It's always on.

'Do we have any idea at all who the kid he's promised to kill might be?'

'No, sir.'

More silence.

'Have you spoken to Rosario?'

'Not yet, sir. I called you first. But I will.'

'This is going to be hard on them.' He sighs. 'I suppose you want a task force?'

'We're going to need the extra manpower, sir. Once this gets out past the Internet, to the mainstream media, the families are going to need a number to call. If we can't prevent the media from doing its thing--and we can't--then we can use it to our benefit.'

'Agreed. You'll need someone who's done this kind of thing before, who can hit the ground running.'

'Any ideas?'

'There's an agent working in public affairs who's run a phone bank before. Jezebel Smith.'

'Jezebel? Really?'

'Yeah, I know. The religious references are running wild on this one. She's been on the job for about eight years and she's a selfstarter. We used her on the '07 terror scare. People were calling in sightings of al Qaeda from a hundred miles around. Total bullshit and a waste of time, but she did a good job of sorting out the wheat from the chaff.'

'At least she's not a newbie. I imagine the agents we use to man the phones will be a bunch of greenie- weenies?'

' 'Fraid so. What else do you need?'

'Do you want me to call the Director?'

'Yeah, but I won't make you do it. I'll deal with him and I'll make sure he knows to call me and not you. We'll need his resources to help deal with the media.'

'Thanks.'

'Better get rolling, Smoky. I'll round up Agent Smith when I get in and send her to see you. Should be within the next hour. Call Rosario Reid.'

'Yes, sir.'

He hangs up and I take a moment to procrastinate. I don't want to call Rosario, I really don't. I hate having