Kane drummed his fingers on the steering wheel and considered her plan. “I gather you want to find the two remaining men in the pedophile ring but how will this lead us to the killer? They could have kidnapped a dozen girls over the last ten years.”
“If we find just one of them, we could use them as bait.” Jenna smiled. “If the vigilante is coming for them, we’ll catch her in the act.”
“Okay, I guess we have no choice. Right now the vigilante is all smoke and mirrors but I suggest we keep a close eye on, Harper, Booval and McCarthy as our three prime suspects. Where do you want to start looking for these men?” He sighed. “We can’t set up a sting operation by pretending to be a young girl in one of a thousand possible chat rooms. We’ll be stepping all over a possible FBI investigation and it would take too long. Predators are cautious—they would have groomed the girls for months. They might kidnap a girl but they are unlikely to risk meeting a girl they’ve just met online. They are aware of the traps. By the time we lure one, the vigilante will have killed the other two in the ring. Plus, we might end up with a man from another county. These men travel miles to meet up with kids.”
“One of the FBI agents mentioned much the same to me on the phone the other day. We do have one lead to follow up, though. Zoe and Jane mentioned a spider tattoo; we’ll start there.” Jenna snapped her book shut. “I’ll make some calls and get permission to re-interview Zoe. I’ll talk to the parents of both girls and see if they have alibis for the time of death of both victims so we can rule them out.” She flicked him a glance. “Take your lunch break now and I’ll go when you get back.”
Kane smiled at her. “I’ll call you if I find out anything interesting.” He pulled up outside the sheriff’s office.
“See that you do.” Jenna slipped from the seat and strolled to the office without a backward glance.
Kane headed down to Aunt Betty’s Café for lunch but food was the last thing on his mind. In the space of three days, they had found two kidnapped girls and the same number of dead men. They had no suspects to arrest for the kidnapping crimes, as according to the girls, the dead men had acted alone, but they needed to find at least two other men involved in molesting the girls. It will be like finding a needle in a haystack.
He walked into the café, took his favorite seat by the window, then ordered his lunch from Susie Hartwig. Sipping his coffee, he mulled over the suspects and possible scenarios. The killer or killers knew the molesters’ identities, which meant at one time the men involved had not been as careful as they were now. His mind wandered to his meeting with the Booval brothers. Although as mad as rabid dogs about their sister’s ordeal, her kidnapper, Macgregor, had spent time in jail for the crime. They had no apparent motive to hunt down the other men unless they had reason to believe they had been involved in taking their sister. Had she told anyone?
A child going through the ordeal of kidnapping would be in shock and might not remember details. Angelique could well have identified Macgregor as her kidnapper and years later recognized two of the clowns working with her brothers as the other men involved. Maybe she did not want to go through another trial or believed that too much time had passed since her kidnapping to bring the other men to justice. If she had informed her brothers, it was feasible for them to take the law into their own hands to save their sister from reliving the events.
Who else on his list of suspects had a motive? Could Lizzy Harper’s father tie in with this case? From what her mother told him, at least one other man was involved and the timeline fit. He would need to look deeper to find the answers.
He understood how predators worked on kids’ minds. The lies they told went way past telling the child their parents had died. The kidnapper often threatened to kill the kid’s family if they escaped, and if the molester held the kid for months or years, that type of programming would be difficult to break. What would happen if one of these kids came face to face with their captor as an adult? Would they suffer a flashback then plot revenge?
He pulled out his cellphone and accessed the case files. He meticulously read everything on the kidnapping and murder cases. Nothing seemed to overlap although he needed to locate Stewart James Macgregor, the man who had kidnapped Angelique Booval. As the court had sealed Angelique’s file, he would like to speak to her as well in case she had overheard the mention of other men. If he presented the facts to her as an adult, she might cooperate. Then again, she could have been the first girl the men had kidnapped and might have escaped before the other victims became involved.
He turned his attention to the dwindling list of suspects and wondered if Rowley had discovered similar cases in any of the other towns. Adam Stickler’s alibi had checked out, so he deleted him from his list of suspects then considered the women living in town who had suffered abuse as kids. Lizzy Harper and her mother went to the top of his list. A mother and daughter seeking revenge was a distinct possibility, especially as they moved around the area frequently. He would need to speak to the schoolteacher, Pattie McCarthy, and with Jenna busy, he would have to take the rookie, Paula Bradford, with him. If Miss McCarthy had a problem with men, having a female deputy along might be of assistance.
He dropped some bills on the table then strolled back to the office. Glad to see Rowley fully in control, he sat down in his cubicle and planned his afternoon. If Angelique Booval was living with her parents in Blackwater, he would speak to Jenna later and maybe they could arrange to visit Angelique. His mind went to Jenna. With another murder, he worried about her PTSD flashbacks. If he could take her mind off the case for an hour or so, it would help, and he wondered if she would accept an invitation to dinner. Perhaps if he tied up as many loose ends as possible this afternoon, he could try to convince her to put work aside for an hour. Yes, dinner would be a good idea for a start. She had to eat. I will take her to the Cattleman’s Hotel. I’ll need to book a table.
He put that on his to-do list and, flipping open his notepad, found the number of the Clean as a Wink cleaning service and called them. When he identified himself, the person on the end of the line informed him where to find the Harpers that afternoon. He jotted down the details then went online to look up Pattie McCarthy’s address. As Rowley suspected, she lived on School Road close to Stanton Forest. He took down the details then pushed to his feet and scanned the office for Bradford. He strolled to her desk and cleared his throat. “I’m going to interview a suspect.” He stared into her big startled eyes and wondered how she would cope in a crisis if he scared her by speaking to her. He offered her a comforting smile. “I want you to ride shotgun.”
“Yes, sir.” Bradford gave him a curt nod, collected her things, and followed him to his SUV. “May I ask what case?”
Kane slid behind the wheel, waited for her to buckle up then took off down the road, lights flashing to disperse the crowd. People strolling around as if jaywalking was legal leaped back onto the sidewalk and glared at him. Once off the main street he flicked her a glance. “The murders. We have a theory that a vigilante is murdering a group of pedophiles. The killer could be taking revenge on the men who abused her as a child or it could be a family member of an abused child.”
“What do we have on the pedophile ring?”
“Not much. We believe there was a group of at least four men involved, and going on the fact they kept one of the girls for eight years, we must assume the group has been active for some time. Nothing came to light from an FBI investigation into child exploitation last year after we arrested a man for child pornography. I believe these men are very smart or not hanging around chat rooms or other online forums long enough for the FBI to notice them. I think considering the time between the cases, they slipped through the net.”
“How could that be possible with an ongoing FBI investigation?”
“Lack of boots on the ground.” Kane grimaced. “Last count there were 346 listed sex offenders in Montana alone, which are their main priority. They have a grading system as to how dangerous they are considered. There are probably thousands of predators they haven’t detected yet.” He sighed. “I wondered how many kids went missing over the last ten years so contacted the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children and they told me approximately 800,000 children are reported missing each year. That’s about 2,000 per week.” He looked at her startled expression. “Yeah, horrific but true.”
“That’s terrible. What about Zoe?” Bradford looked shocked. “Didn’t anyone look for her?”
Kane shook his head. “Not here, she went missing from Helena. The Blackwater records listed Jane Stickler as a runaway. I did find one local case involving Angelique Booval and investigated by the Blackwater sheriff. It led to the arrest of Stu Macgregor; he is on the register as a low-risk pedophile. The other one involved Lizzy Harper, who killed her father for molesting her.”
“Okay. What do I need to know about the suspects we are interviewing?”
“They are women who suffered abuse in the last fifteen years. The first is Pattie McCarthy, a schoolteacher.” Kane flicked her a glance. “I found a note on her case. It seemed the sheriff at the time was convinced she was m
aking up a story to get attention. He failed to follow up with a medical examination. It was a botched investigation from the start. I want to know if anything really happened.”
“So you need me along as a woman not as your deputy.” Bradford gave him a disappointed look and dropped her gaze to her hands.
“As the women involved have issues with men, I want Miss McCarthy to feel comfortable during the interview.” Slightly annoyed, he cleared his throat. “As my deputy, it will be your responsibility to ask her the questions. It is unlikely she will speak to me about such a sensitive issue.”
“What do you want me to ask her?”
“First of all, ask her whereabouts between Monday through to last night. Then lead into questions about her complaint, when it occurred, how many men were involved. Does she remember any names at all?” He glanced over to see her writing in her notebook. “Tell her we found two kidnapped girls this week and we’re investigating similar cases to see if they’re linked. Ease into the questions. I want you to wear your earbud and mic, so I can hear you. Then if I think of anything else to ask her, I’ll contact you.”