facts support you keeping the lead,” the chief said, flashing one of his rare smiles. “But I need results. So think of my decision as fluid. Understood?”
“Understood, sir.” Maddie turned toward the door. The chief’s words brought her up short.
“Sergeant, I’m assuming you’ve considered requesting a profiler from the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit?”
“The Behavior Analysis Unit, sir.”
“Whatever.”
“Yes, I have.”
Chief Layton’s dark eyes poked like thumbtacks. “Do it. Today. I don’t like those glory-grabbing sons and daughters of bitches, but they are the experts at this sort of thing. Get them involved pronto. And don’t forget Mayor Jensen’s press conference at City Hall this afternoon. Two-thirty.”
“I didn’t know anything about it.”
“Him and me and you. Be there. We need to tell the city something after that friend of yours shot off her mouth. We’ll announce a hotline on the case. You can use Archie on that.”
“Good idea, sir.”
The chief’s jowls pulsed while he fixed his eyes on her with what Brackett once described as the chief’s, I’m-ready-to-rip-off-your-balls-and-watch-you-eat-them stare.
Maddie briefly wondered how her mother would have her say that in lady talk.
“Did you have anything to do with this Carson broad getting the inside scoop?”
“No sir.” Maddie clenched the palms of her hands. “Carson called me last night after she got off the air. She wants me to meet her for lunch today.”
“I assume you turned her down and were none too polite about it?”
“Actually, Sir, I figured I’d go.” Maddie shifted to a sort of parade-rest stance. “In the long view, she made a good public argument for us getting more homicide detectives. In the short view, she knows more and I’d like to find out where she got the information.”
His eyes narrowed. “What else could she have?”
“That the victims had their faces skinned and breasts removed. I hope to make a deal so she won’t use that in a second Katie Carson Special Report.”
“Make the offer.” The chief ran his hand over his private flight deck. “I’ll okay Officer Martin joining your squad. If you need more manpower as it unfolds, see Lieutenant Harrison.”
Maddie had landed the burning plane on the deck of the carrier and she was still behind the throttle, at least for now. Then the chief closed the meeting with all the warmth of a lynch mob.
“Sergeant, this one’s a career maker, or breaker. Get me?”
Chapter 15
Lincoln Rogers was a top FBI profiler at the Bureau’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and their Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resource Center (CASMIRC). Linc had been Maddie’s instructor two years earlier when she had taken profile training for law enforcement officers at the FBI Academy on the U.S. Marine Base at Quantico, Virginia.
Most local cops didn’t cotton to the FBI. The way Maddie saw it, the friction was rooted in jealousy over the Feebs seemingly unlimited budget, but mostly it was the Bureau’s penchant for being pushy and domineering. It was true that she had met some arrogant pricks in the FBI, but, hey, she’d met a few here in her own department. And that didn’t count the women who lacked the anatomical equipment, but otherwise qualified. And for the moment, that subgroup included Katie Carson.
Lincoln Rogers had taught Maddie that murder scenes told a lot about serial killers. These meticulous killers carefully orchestrated what would be left behind and how it would be arranged. The scene was their private world and they revealed extreme cupidity in its control. Maddie already had some ideas, but she knew Linc would see things she had not.
The Beholder clearly wanted to demonstrate he could take his time stealing these women’s beauty. And what conclusion should be drawn from the fact that while he stripped them of our society’s central symbol of feminine sexuality, he neither took nor touched their
“Understood, sir.” Maddie turned toward the door. The chief’s words brought her up short.
“Sergeant, I’m assuming you’ve considered requesting a profiler from the FBI Behavioral Sciences Unit?”
“The Behavior Analysis Unit, sir.”
“Whatever.”
“Yes, I have.”
Chief Layton’s dark eyes poked like thumbtacks. “Do it. Today. I don’t like those glory-grabbing sons and daughters of bitches, but they are the experts at this sort of thing. Get them involved pronto. And don’t forget Mayor Jensen’s press conference at City Hall this afternoon. Two-thirty.”
“I didn’t know anything about it.”
“Him and me and you. Be there. We need to tell the city something after that friend of yours shot off her mouth. We’ll announce a hotline on the case. You can use Archie on that.”
“Good idea, sir.”
The chief’s jowls pulsed while he fixed his eyes on her with what Brackett once described as the chief’s, I’m-ready-to-rip-off-your-balls-and-watch-you-eat-them stare.
Maddie briefly wondered how her mother would have her say that in lady talk.
“Did you have anything to do with this Carson broad getting the inside scoop?”
“No sir.” Maddie clenched the palms of her hands. “Carson called me last night after she got off the air. She wants me to meet her for lunch today.”
“I assume you turned her down and were none too polite about it?”
“Actually, Sir, I figured I’d go.” Maddie shifted to a sort of parade-rest stance. “In the long view, she made a good public argument for us getting more homicide detectives. In the short view, she knows more and I’d like to find out where she got the information.”
His eyes narrowed. “What else could she have?”
“That the victims had their faces skinned and breasts removed. I hope to make a deal so she won’t use that in a second Katie Carson Special Report.”
“Make the offer.” The chief ran his hand over his private flight deck. “I’ll okay Officer Martin joining your squad. If you need more manpower as it unfolds, see Lieutenant Harrison.”
Maddie had landed the burning plane on the deck of the carrier and she was still behind the throttle, at least for now. Then the chief closed the meeting with all the warmth of a lynch mob.
“Sergeant, this one’s a career maker, or breaker. Get me?”
Chapter 15
Lincoln Rogers was a top FBI profiler at the Bureau’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and their Child Abduction and Serial Murder Investigative Resource Center (CASMIRC). Linc had been Maddie’s instructor two years earlier when she had taken profile training for law enforcement officers at the FBI Academy on the U.S. Marine Base at Quantico, Virginia.
Most local cops didn’t cotton to the FBI. The way Maddie saw it, the friction was rooted in jealousy over the Feebs seemingly unlimited budget, but mostly it was the Bureau’s penchant for being pushy and domineering. It was true that she had met some arrogant pricks in the FBI, but, hey, she’d met a few here in her own department. And that didn’t count the women who lacked the anatomical equipment, but otherwise qualified. And for the moment, that subgroup included Katie Carson.
Lincoln Rogers had taught Maddie that murder scenes told a lot about serial killers. These meticulous killers carefully orchestrated what would be left behind and how it would be arranged. The scene was their private world and they revealed extreme cupidity in its control. Maddie already had some ideas, but she knew Linc would see things she had not.
The Beholder clearly wanted to demonstrate he could take his time stealing these women’s beauty. And what conclusion should be drawn from the fact that while he stripped them of our society’s central symbol of feminine sexuality, he neither took nor touched their
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