“Exactly. Redden didn’t want to muddy the case and asked for another team of detectives be assigned. However, I asked for the best, and your captain stated that we couldn’t have it both ways.”
Jo smirked. “That’s because my team is the best at ferreting out the real culprits.” She raised her gaze to Redden’s. “Isn’t that right, Redden?”
He huffed, grudgingly tipping his head.
“And after you get the information from our security company, I’ll be cleared to work it. Right?”
“That’s our plan,” FBI Barbie said when Redden remained stubbornly silent.
“See, what Redden probably didn’t tell you is I’m the one that discovered Sharon worked for one of the major drug cartels. My team flipped that witch for information, and if I’m not mistaken, she’s in WITSEC even now. I give her a few years before she screws up and gets her throat slit.” Jo pointed to the other agent. “You, however, don’t give me a creepy vibe. So I’ll deal with you, what’s your name?”
The female agent arched her plucked brow. “Colbert. Melanie Colbert.”
Jo added the name in place of FBI Barbie. However, if the woman turned out to be a stick in the mud Agent Colbert would get the nickname FBI Barbie permanently.
“And you two came down here for this kid?” Jo pushed the photos back to Melanie. “I’d look at his girlfriend. I don’t see her wanting to spend any time in jail, so she’d be one to clean up loose ends because Karma would’ve gotten Zach to cave eventually.”
“It’s not her.” Melanie took another picture out and slid it Jo’s way.
Amy, the other teenage bully, was in a recliner that matched Zach’s. Instead of a hoodie, she wore a purple and white yoga outfit that showed more skin than Jo was comfortable seeing. What looked like stab wounds riddled the girl’s body. Melanie picked up the picture and stacked it with the rest into a neat pile and pushed them into the file under her elbow. It was too bad the pictures weren’t up close so Jo could see the wounds, but she could check on those later. She liked reading the facts before the photos.
“Obviously not the girlfriend. Then who is it?”
“A serial killer. International as we’ve received confirmed hits in Japan, Thailand, Norway, the Netherlands, Germany, and England.”
Interesting. Jo straightened in her chair. “This the first one in the States?”
Melanie and Redden exchanged a glance laden with information before she turned her onyx gaze back to Jo. “No.”
“Alabama?”
“One in Georgia and these two in Alabama. Two in Canada, and one we’re still waiting on confirmation about in Michigan.”
“That all of them?” Jo scratched the back of her neck, trying to fit the pieces together.
“That we know of, yes.”
“It doesn’t make sense. Serial killers stick to their geographic locations. They don’t travel all over the place killing strangers.” Jo dredged up everything she could remember in the courses she took about serial killers. They didn’t get a lot of them in Alabama.
“You’d be correct. We want to bring you and your team on to help us get what information we can from Georgia and the family here.” Redden leaned against the wall next to the mirror.
It made sense why Captain Walker had pushed for Jo and Sullivan to handle the case. Between Karma and her partner Maker transferring in from Georgia and Jo and Sullivan’s connection with the Alabama victims, they had their bases covered in two states.
Decision made, Jo stood. “We’ll work with Redden, but I’ll want time to look at all the information.”
“You have until tomorrow.” Melanie and Redden headed for the door.
“Why tomorrow?” Jo preferred making sure she didn’t miss even the smallest of details before hunting someone with this high of a body count.
“Because Interpol arrives and they’ll want answers,” Redden answered before closing the door.
Chapter 4
Jo took her filled coffee cup and headed towards the door of the break room where the walls were filled with most wanted, gun safety, and cookie sales sheets for officers who had families. She signed up for two boxes of cookies and left the break room. Meandering through the bullpen, she greeted a couple of uniforms filling out reports, tossed a bird at Jones and Brown just for form, and smiled at the captain’s admin as she passed her to reach her goal of the nice conference room.
A large cherrywood table took up the center with a whiteboard and fancy phone that allowed the captain to have officers here while also conferencing in whomever was in the field. Fifteen leather captain chairs surrounded the table, the darker cream on the walls and the gray carpet gave the room more of an executive look than the other conference rooms. The captain used it to meet with other division heads. He also used it when the mayor and chief of police came down to the ‘trenches.’ Under the window that captured the Birmingham City skyline was a long credenza, and at the back of the room were bookcases filled with books on law and police code. There was even a section on tort law which Jo had found while waiting for a meeting to begin.
Being the first one in the room, she took her normal seat. Not quite the middle but with a good view of the bullpen and most important, her back to the wall.
It wasn’t long before the room filled with Redden, Colbert, and a man dressed in a dark gray suit with a skinny tie. Jo assumed he was the Interpol agent.
“Jo,” Sullivan greeted, as bleary-eyed as Jo was from spending what had been left of the night reading all the files.
She didn’t get through half of them before crawling in the bed to sleep at two this morning. All so she could be on time for their nine o’clock meeting.
“Sullivan.” Jo tipped her head at her partner as he claimed the seat next to her.
A few seconds later, Jo nudged
