interviews with theater employees that night stated that no one remembered seeing her pay for a movie. A current picture was shown to all theater employees. No one recognized her.
Then there was Sally Wright, whose dad had saved her life. Perry reread the interview that he’d gone over several times already, along with the other files he’d just browsed through. Sally confirmed the boy she was supposed to meet was Peter. He was a junior attending a high school in Overland Park, a town ten minutes away from Mission Hills. Although there were three Peters living in Overland Park who were juniors, the officer who’d interviewed each boy stated in the report that none of the boys knew Sally and they hadn’t been chatting online with any girl who lived in Mission Hills.
Perry scrubbed his head with his fingers, reading the interviews with the Peters in Overland Park again. One of them was one hell of a good liar. Either that or whoever Peter was, he wasn’t a junior in Overland Park.
The doors outside the “pit” opened and loud voices echoed off the walls. Barker and her partner, Richey, headed down the hallway toward the holding stall with several unique-looking characters, probably prostitutes, judging by the skimpy clothing on the two teenage girls who teetered on their incredibly high heels. The boy with them ranted the usual mantra about how they had picked him up by mistake.
Barker glanced his way and winked, holding the arm of one of the teenage girls, who also looked his way.
“Why couldn’t we get picked up by a cop who looks like him?” the teenager asked Barker.
Lt. Ann Richey brought up the rear, rolling her eyes at him and grinning. He didn’t return the smile. Instead he turned his attention to the screen. There were people in the world who lived with others continually dropping comments, either crude or meant as sincere praise, that let that person know they were sexually appealing, good- looking, eye candy. Perry had lived with comments like that most of his life, and as he sat there thinking about it, he realized he didn’t usually bat an eye.
Nor did he give much thought to getting a date-if he wanted one. Maybe he did in his earlier days. Today dating didn’t enter his mind, whether it was because most women seemed to be the same no matter how they looked or it had become more work than it was worth to cut through the red tape for a piece of ass, he wasn’t sure. If there was quality in a lady, to get her to believe he was more than a piece of ass was too much work. The whole single, dating, “he’s one hot piece of eye candy” thing got old ages ago.
But what if a person never lived life like that? Maybe they married young and never played the field. Or possibly they weren’t physically appealing and so were never pursued. Their desire for that pursuit or for companionship wouldn’t be any less.
Stretching his legs under his desk, he stared at the files, imagining an individual who craved attention, ached to be noticed, flirted with, and desired. The Internet would offer that means for satisfaction.
And if that wasn’t enough?
“Penny for your thoughts,” Ann said, and moved behind his chair.
Perry wasn’t sure when she reached his desk. When she started massaging his shoulders he didn’t flinch but moved to close the file he’d been reading.
“Trying to piece together the puzzle on those teenage disappearances.” Ann didn’t make it a question.
She was one of those ladies who weren’t attractive but didn’t realize it. She flirted easily and was outgoing, sometimes even friendly. Like most on the force, though, she was out for herself, although he hadn’t known her to step on too many toes in the few years he’d worked with her.
“Yeah, I guess.” Perry closed out the program on his computer, leaning forward and away from her touch.
Ann took her hands off him and moved to sit on the edge of his desk. Her dark hair held on to a few red highlights and he guessed that when she was younger it was a lot redder. The way it curled, she was probably accused more than once of being Little Orphan Annie. She crossed her muscular arms over her chest, causing what breasts she had to press against her uniform.
“I think we’re dealing with the same perp on each of those cases, if you ask me.” She chewed her lower lip and her gaze shifted over his face, making it look as though she sought his approval of her statement. “I mean, don’t you think? All of them got out of the house and went to meet some guy who was talking to them on the computer.”
“Not Olivia Brown,” Perry pointed out. “She was out shopping with friends.”
“The archives on her computer were loaded with chats she’d been having with a boy named Pete.”
“That’s not in the report.” Perry leaned forward, reaching for his mouse. “Who told you that?”
“Stan went over to the Browns’, right?” Goddard asked.
Ann turned around to acknowledge Goddard when Jane walked in. “That little fucking brat has an attorney already posting bail for him,” she said, scowling as she joined Ann.
“Where the hell did he get money for a lawyer?” Ann asked, then turned to Perry. “And yeah. Stan told me about her archives. It’s the same song and dance as the other girls.”
“Apparently he’s got a rich daddy.” Jane stood next to Ann, facing Perry, and crossed her arms, matching Ann’s pose. “We brainstorming on the missing girls?” she asked.
“Just comparing notes,” Perry offered. “Anything else not on file going on with these cases?”
“It’s not your case,” Goddard reminded him.
“It’s no one’s case,” Perry pointed out, keeping it cool. If there was more info running around, he wanted to hear it. “But we’ve got a serious situation going on here. If there are any other similarities, we all need to know about them and keep our eyes open.”
“Since we’re doing the open communication thing here,” Jane said. “Did Rad stop by anyone else’s house this weekend?”
“He went by your house, too?” Goddard asked, lowering his voice.
“He pay you a visit, Perry?” Ann asked.
“Yup. Sure did.” Perry scrubbed his hair with his hand and stared at his computer screen. “I’m sure we’ll find out why,” he added, and although he was as curious as the rest of them as to why the Chief had paid each of them house calls, he wanted to keep the conversation on the teenage girls.
“It was weird,” Ann mused before he could pick their brains further on the girls. “He was way too obvious about wanting to see what I was doing on my computer. I teased him about getting rusty with his detective skills and he got all bent out of shape.”
Perry stared at her, focusing on one dark curl that twisted down the middle of her forehead. Rad was at his computer, too, when he returned to his den after getting a beer. Turning his attention to his monitor, he remembered the Chief asking him about who he was chatting with.
“Maybe he was just trying to find out who knew how to chat online.” Goddard laughed.
Perry looked at Goddard, musing over the possibility. Rad wouldn’t give a rat’s ass about chatting online. But it was a very big issue with this case. What if Rad was taking on this case himself?
Perry scowled, staring across the room but not focusing on anything while he pondered the possibility. It pissed him off. This was a big case, high profile. That wasn’t why he had asked for it. Perry had seen the pattern and wanted the creep off the streets. Every day he was allowed to chat with girls online was one more day that a teenager might lose her life. Rad didn’t strike Perry as a media chaser. He wasn’t out to earn brownie points. But if he took this case himself, that meant he didn’t feel anyone in his department was competent enough to handle it.
That possibility irritated Perry even more. Everyone chatted around him, allowing the conversation to jump from topic to topic. Perry didn’t pay any attention to any of them and it didn’t appear to bother them that he ignored their bantering and jokes. He wanted to know why Rad had taken the case, and he wanted to know why the Chief felt no one else could handle it. Perry wasn’t a conceited man, but damn it to hell. He could find the perp faster than Rad could. And maybe it was time to prove that he could, in spite of not being specifically assigned the case.
If anyone said good-bye when he stood and left the “pit,” he didn’t notice. Heading out to the copy room, Perry used the computer in there to pull up the files on Brown, Wright, and even Maura Reynolds, who had disappeared three months before. Her case matched the profile of the other two. He copied their files and then headed home. It was time to do some snooping online, and for that he’d use his own computer. The only way to catch this guy was to play in the perp’s territory.
While at it, he would figure out what Rad was all about. But the more he pondered that matter, the more determined he got to dig deep into this case and show the Chief he was the man for the job.
