it.
Nick asked, 'Any chance this is just a do-gooder, snatching her up to keep her safe?'
'Hell, Nick,' Jeffrey said. 'I don't know.'
'None of your primaries drives a black Thunderbird?'
'No,' Jeffrey said. They'd checked the vehicles of everyone even remotely involved in the case, then spread it out to include all of Grant. No one in the county had an old Ford Thunderbird registered to him.
'In the meantime,' Nick said. 'What can I do ya for?'
'Purity,' Jeffrey said. 'Tell me what that means in relation to pedophiles.'
'No idea,' Nick said. 'I can beep it through the computers and let you know.'
'I'd appreciate that.'
'Your lady was on the phone with me earlier talking about purity,' Nick told him. 'That castration case, right?'
'Right,' Jeffrey said.
'Well, I'll tell you,' Nick began, 'this castration has a religious angle to it most times. They do it to make sure the girl stays a virgin.'
'We know she wasn't that.'
'Hell, no,' Nick agreed. 'From what I heard, she'd been around the block more than a time or two.'
Jeffrey tried to let this slide off his back, but Nick's characterization of the child was a little harsh even for him. Law enforcement people tended to be as tough as they could about this kind of thing, and Jeffrey was no exception. Had he not killed the little girl in question, Jeffrey might have laughed. As it was, he could only say, 'I've got a name for you to run through the computer.'
'Shoot,' Nick said.
'Arthur Prynne,' Jeffrey said, then spelled out the name of the man he had almost beaten that morning behind Possum's store.
Nick mumbled something, obviously writing down the name. 'What is that, Polish, or something?'
'I've got no idea,' Jeffrey said. 'He's got a tattoo like the one I sent you.'
'What am I looking for?'
'He was cruising a day-care center when I happened upon him.'
'Can't really arrest him for that,' Nick said, though they both knew this was obvious.
'He's got a computer at home. Probably hooks up with other pedophiles that way,' Jeffrey said. 'Said he was a girl-lover.'
'Man,' Nick sighed. 'I really hate that phrase.'
'We could do a search here at the station, but to tell you the truth, Nick, I don't think any of us knows how to find that kind of thing.'
'Feds have got a whole squad on it. Having a name makes it a priority. Maybe they can squeeze this guy and get him to flip?'
'Very possible,' Jeffrey said. 'He didn't have much of a spine when I interviewed him. I can see him turning in some of his friends to save his hide.'
'Interviewed him, huh?' Nick chuckled. 'He know you were a cop at the time?'
Jeffrey smiled. Nick was a lot of things, but he was not stupid. 'Let's say we had a conversation and leave it at that.'
Nick laughed again. 'How fast you want me to do this?'
'Really fast,' Jeffrey said, not wanting the responsibility if Prynne turned out to be less innocent than he seemed.
'I'll put it through to the Alabama boys, pronto,' Nick said. Then, 'We just caught something over in Augusta that might interest you.'
'What's that?'
' Augusta cops busted this guy at his hotel on coke distribution. They kind of stumbled across a bunch of magazines that weren't exactly legal.'
'Pornography?' Jeffrey guessed.
'Kiddy porn,' Nick confirmed. 'There was some freaky shit.'
'In Augusta?' Jeffrey asked, surprised that he did not know about this. Augusta was pretty close to Grant, and they tended to swap information with the cops there just to keep everyone in the loop.
'We're sitting on it,' Nick said. 'Trying to pull down the big guys.'
'The perp's turning state's evidence?' Jeffrey asked.
'Flipped faster than a two-dollar whore,' Nick told him. 'And, before you ask, he doesn't know anything about a black Thunderbird or a missing little girl.'
'You sure?'
'Sure as two fists can be.'
Jeffrey frowned, though he was hardly in a position to feel superior. 'Thanks for checking.'
'No offense, Chief, but you better hope she's not with one of these guys. They trade kids like you and me used to trade baseball cards.'
'I know that,' Jeffrey said, but the truth was, he didn't want to. Thinking about Lacey Patterson being trapped with someone like Prynne made Jeffrey sick.
'Anyway,' Nick sighed, 'there's supposed to be a delivery tonight or tomorrow. Evidently, Augusta is the distribution point for the Southeast.'
'I can't believe they're still printing that shit when you can get it for free on the Internet.'
'You can trace through the Internet if you know what you're doing,' Nick reminded him. 'You want me to give you a holler when it's going down?'
'You've got my cell number, right?'
'Yep,' Nick said. 'You think this Prynne freak is active?''
'No,' Jeffrey said, because his impression had been that Arthur Prynne was the kind of pedophile who was content to look at pictures and not act on his fantasies. 'I don't know how long that'll last, though.'
Nick asked, 'He gonna be expecting a knock on his door?'
'I think he has been all his life,' Jeffrey said, looking up to see Lena standing in the doorway. 'I've gotta go, Nick. Call me back when you get something on that bust, okay?'
'Will do, Chief.'
They hung up, and Jeffrey motioned Lena in, surprised by the way she looked. Her eyes were bloodshot, the way people tend to get when they've been crying for long periods of time. Her nose was red and there were dark circles under her eyes.
'Wanna talk about it?' Jeffrey asked, indicating one of the chairs across from his desk.
She gave him a puzzled look, like she didn't understand. She asked, 'Any word on Lacey?'
'Nothing,' he said. 'Have you set up that appointment we talked about?'
