“When was this?”
“Back when Higgins was in town.”
“Why is the FBI wrong? What did they miss?”
The FBI knew a lot about serial killers, but they didn’t know much about Atlantic City. Valentine had begged Banko to put him on the case a few weeks ago. Now, Banko was going to wish he had.
“He’s picking up his victims inside the casino,” Valentine explained. “We’re probably seeing him on the surveillance cameras, and not realizing it.”
“How can you be certain of that, Tony?” Doyle asked him. “Maybe he picked up one victim inside a casino, and met another in a bar, or the grocery store.”
Valentine shook his head. Doyle had missed it, and so had every other cop sitting in the room. He pushed himself out of his chair, and walked out of the room with his partner. “I need to talk to these FBI agents before they leave.”
“Sure. Just do me a favor.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t say anything to these guys you’ll later regret.”
Valentine slapped his partner on the shoulder. Doyle knew him too well.
“I’ll be on my best behavior.”
Chapter 10
Valentine searched the station house for Fuller and Romero. The cafeteria was empty, and so were the other areas where cops hung out. Finally he asked Joe at the front desk, who was still reading his paper.
“They walked out the front door five minutes ago,” the desk sergeant said.
Valentine found the agents in the visitor’s section of the parking lot, sitting in a blue Chevy with government- issued plates. They were having a conversation, and he hesitated before going to the driver’s window, and tapping the glass with his wedding ring. The window lowered, and Fuller stuck his head out.
“What can I do for you?” Fuller said.
“We need to talk about the Dresser,” Valentine said.
The agents followed him back inside. Valentine wasn’t sure what the protocol was when dealing with FBI agents, so he got Banko to join him in the meeting room. Fuller and Romero sat in the front row with their overcoats draped over their laps. Neither man had uttered a word since getting out of the Chevy, and stared at him with blank faces.
“I hope you guys aren’t easily offended,” Valentine said.
“Depends whose doing the offending,” Fuller said.
“Your victims are all hookers,” Valentine said. “These girls came here because the casino is drawing hookers from all over the northeast. The Dresser is after hookers.”
For a long moment, neither agent acknowledged him.
“How can you know that?” Romero asked.
“All three victims recently moved here,” Valentine said. “ I’m assuming you got their occupations from their parents. Well, they lied to their parents. Atlantic City has a thirty percent unemployment rate, the highest in the nation. There are no jobs for models or beauticians. The only jobs are in the casinos, or working the street.”
“That’s a pretty big leap,” Fuller said.
Valentine hesitated, then told them what he was really thinking. “I think I saw the Dresser pick up a hooker.”
The agents practically jumped out of their chairs. Valentine held up his hands like he was stopping traffic. “Let me explain. Last week, an agent of the Nevada Gaming Control Board was here talking to us about casino cheating. While we were watching a surveillance tape, I saw a strange thing. A john standing behind the table was negotiating with a Puerto Rican hooker I recognized. It felt contrived.”
“How so?” Fuller asked.
“As a rule, johns don’t come into Resorts to pick up hookers. They pick them up on the street. Hookers inside the casino charge more than street walkers. They do it because the guys have gambling money they’re willing to burn.”
“You’re saying the john on the tape came inside Resorts specifically to pick up a hooker?”
“Yes. There was something else. As they started to leave, the john fumbled with a flask in his back pocket. I thought it was liquor, and he was going to take a pull to get his courage up. But now I think it was something else.”
The agents waited expectantly. So did Banko, who leaned against the wall.
“I think it was chloroform,” Valentine said.
Fuller and Romero exchanged long glances. They appeared to be communicating by telepathy, their eyes doing all the talking. Fuller looked at Valentine again.
“We think that’s how he’s knocking them out,” the agent said.
“So I’m right.”
