Trouble with a Badge by Delores Fossen Page B

concerned that he’d withheld possibly critical evidence for hours. Alexa hoped the killer was still checking into that chat room so Jericho could try to contact him.
    And find him.
    Of course, she doubted the Moonlight Strangler would just give her his location, but he might let something slip. That was a big might, but mights were the only thing they had when it came to the killer.
    â€œHow did you find me?” Alexa asked. “How did you find the house where I was supposed to be staying?”
    Scottie froze. For just a second. “I didn’t find you, exactly. But rather I found Tasha. I knew she was about to deliver the baby, so I got in touch with hospitals, looking for someone who matched her description.”
    â€œI’m betting that involved hackers,” Alexa said, and she filled in the blanks. “So, you managed to locate Tasha, saw me with her and then what? You didn’t follow me to the house, because I didn’t go there.”
    â€œNo, but I got some photos of you. Asked around the area, and when I learned your name, or rather your fake name, I got your address, went to the house to talk to you. That’s when I found the letter.”
    â€œWhen you saw that the letter was from the Moonlight Strangler, why didn’t you turn it over to the cops?” Levi asked.
    â€œIt slipped my mind.” Scottie lifted his chin, a defiant pose challenging Levi to argue with that.
    â€œArrest him,” Levi told Mack.
    And Mack moved to do exactly that. He holstered his gun and took out some handcuffs.
    â€œWhat?” Scottie howled. “This is absurd, an abuse of power. Why the hell are you arresting me?”
    â€œTheft and withholding evidence,” Levi quickly supplied.
    Scottie’s face tightened so much it turned red. “You can’t do this!”
    â€œAlready doing it,” Mack assured him.
    â€œAre you even trying to find Tasha?” Scottie snarled while Mack slapped some handcuffs on him. “Mendoza could have—”
    â€œHe’s dead,” Levi interrupted.
    Scottie made a flustered sound. “That loan shark then, Perryman.”
    That got Alexa’s attention. “What do you know about him?”
    â€œThat he’s a bad man capable of doing bad things. You should be arresting him, not me.”
    Levi shook his head. “I don’t have probable cause to arrest him. Can’t say the same for you, though.” He motioned for Mack to get moving.
    â€œI demand a phone call.” Scottie was still shouting when Mack led him away toward lockup. “That’s the law and you can’t deny me. I want to call my lawyers. So help me God, I’ll have all your badges.”
    â€œGood luck with that,” Levi said before looking at Mack. “Read him his rights and let him make his one phone call.”
    That meant Scottie’s lawyers would be there in no time. Probably less than an hour. Still, for that hour Scottie wouldn’t be out planning another attack.
    â€œDid you find the chat room?” Levi asked. Both Alexa and he went to the desk where Jericho had his attention fixed on the computer screen.
    â€œIt’s cyberspace for sickos.” Jericho turned the laptop screen so they could see it.
    Alexa only had to read the first post to realize what Jericho had said was true. The poster who identified himself as ColdMan was looking to buy a corpse.
    She cringed. “I’m surprised the site hasn’t already been shut down.”
    â€œIt will be,” Jericho assured her. “But I just sent a message to the FBI to ask them to monitor it and check through the old messages to see if there’s anything about the Moonlight Strangler. Nothing obvious stands out to me.”
    Alexa thought about that a moment. “Maybe he wanted me to post something first. If so, he could be checking it.”
    Jericho nodded. “I’ll let the FBI take the lead on this. They can create