Stolen Daughters (Detective Amanda Steele)

Thirty-Nine

After leaving Justin Cooper’s place, Amanda called Malone. He answered on the third ring. “Was just starting to wonder if you were going to answer.”

“What do you need?”

Malone’s sharp and pointed response surprised her. “Everything all right?” He seemed his normal self when she’d left him.

“Fine, but I’m really busy. You called me. What do you need?”

“Ah, Trent and I just finished talking to the eyewitness.” She paused, expecting him to inquire how it went and whether they obtained any good leads, but he said nothing. She updated him anyhow, then added, “I need you to reach out to a sergeant from the uniformed officers division. Canvassing officers need to know that the witness saw a man and two young women coming from the west around midnight. They might want to extend their reach a few blocks in that direction. Even branch out onto some side streets.”

“Sure. That all?”

What the heck is his issue?

“Detective?” he prompted.

She wanted to ask again if he was all right, but she knew better. “Ah, yeah. If the officers could submit their interviews to me and Trent as fast as possible, including the ones conducted with the people in the crowd, that would be great.”

“That all?”

She considered asking how he’d made out with the real estate agent but thought he would have said if he had anything. “Yeah, that’s—” And he hung up on her. She held out her phone to verify that, yes, he had, in fact, ended the call.

“What’s up?” Trent asked.

“Good question. Malone’s acting strange.” At least toward her. His reputation around the department was that he was a little gruff, all business, and matter-of-fact, but he’d never shown that side to her before now.

“He’s probably just coming to grips with the fact that Prince William County has a serial killer. Again.” Trent added the later bit, and it stamped home the sad reality. Their poor county seemed to be a ripe poaching ground for psychopaths. Then again, they were close to Washington. Politics. Politicians. She would have found her train of thought amusing if it weren’t for the fact two more people were dead, likely the young women Justin Cooper had seen.

She gestured for Trent to join her, and they started down the sidewalk, heading west. She didn’t even know what she was looking for and hoped if there was something noteworthy to the case, she’d be able to pick it out. But sometimes the relevance didn’t crystallize until later, once other factors entered in.

Her phone rang, and they stopped walking.

She expected caller ID to show Malone, that he was calling to explain why he’d been rather rude, but it showed as Unknown. “Detective Amanda Steele,” she answered.

“This is Dr. Jeffery from the Office of the Chief Medical Examiner.”

A quick look around confirmed no one else was within earshot. “One second. I’m going to put you on speaker.” Amanda pulled her phone back and could hear Jeffery talking as if she hadn’t heard Amanda. She clicked the button for speaker and then cut into Jeffery’s speech. “Can you start again, please?”

There was an audible sigh. “I heard back from the lab about the drug used on Ms. Fox. It was a lethal dosage of ketamine, or Special K as it’s called on the street.”

“It’s one of the most commonly used date-rape drugs out there,” Amanda said. Her time on the job taught her that much. “Women wake up the next morning and may not remember anything, or if they do it’s blurry and scattered.” What she didn’t verbalize was the drug also had an intoxicating effect. Her earlier suspicion—that the girls Justin Cooper saw weren’t drunk but drugged—was gaining merit.

“Well, as you know, Fox wasn’t raped, but I’d say the killer used the drug on her for two purposes. One, for sedation so that he could sever her tongue without resistance, and two, for the purpose of killing her.”

Pleasant thoughts…

“You should know, Detective, that the drug actually has a practical use as well. It’s used to treat depression and provide pain relief.”

“But varying doses would have a different effect, correct?” Amanda asked, her mind on the way evil people manipulated the drug.

“Yes.”

“Thank you.” Amanda ended the call and turned to Trent. “The girls weren’t drunk, they were drugged. Probably with Special K. Also, if we run with the assumption that the man Justin Cooper saw was our killer, then he brought the girls to 816 Clear Mountain Circle.”

“Okay, but Ted Dixon recognized Ashley Lynch, having seen her around the house on Bill Drive. Was she squatting there, or had the killer taken her there?”

“Hard to say. Chris Ingram described a girl who could have been Ashley Lynch walking with a man on Bill Drive. Taking her to five thirty-two?” She shrugged. “I don’t know. What I do know is if Lynch was drugged with ketamine like Fox, then that remains a constant in his MO. He might normally use it for its intoxicating effects but chose to switch it up with Fox.”