A slow smile spread Asa’s full lips, and he dipped his chin in an oddly respectful gesture. “I’m aware.”
“Unless you guys plan on getting less cryptic,” I griped and crunched, “we might as well get to work.”
The password on my computer of choice was the same one Clay always used, which was all kinds of bad. These laptops contained data that could rock the human world if one was discovered and hacked. As far as passwords go, 123ABC was downright pathetic. That prompted me to ask, “Is this one yours?”
“What’s mine is yours.” He laughed when my eyebrows slammed down. “It’s new, okay? It’s for you.”
Now that he mentioned it, it did have that new circuit board smell.
“What were you guys looking at before Colby interrupted?”
“Maps.” Asa turned his laptop around, which already had a tab open with three red dots pinned to a digital map of the area. “The crime scenes are within twenty-five miles of one another.”
“You think the killer is local?” I went through the motions of setting up the laptop how I liked it. “There’s another common thread, right? The properties where the victims have been found are off logging roads. The areas are in the process of being clear-cut.”
“That fits with him being local.” Clay left his laptop shut. “He could be scouting locations on the job.”
Done futzing, I asked, “How many logging companies operate within a fifty-mile radius of Asheville?”
“A lot.” Clay snorted as he peeked over Asa’s shoulder. “A quick search pulls up twenty-five.”
“So, we find out which companies had contracts for each kill site, get a copy of their employee rosters, and see if we have any matches.” For companies, employees, or hopefully both. “Are the Kellies still in research?”
“They’ll be glued to screens until they die,” Clay said fondly. “And love every minute of it.”
Arthur Kelley and Kelly Angelo—aka the Kellies—were the Black Hat research team.
Arthur was an old-as-dirt vampire, Kelly was a fledgling gargoyle, and they were as head over heels with the job as most folks were for their mates. With their light sleep schedules, the pair worked pretty much around the clock. Neither were allowed outside the Black Hat compound. The security feeds allowed the two a view of the changing world without risking human lives by releasing them into it.
“Do we have video of the scene?” I wasn’t up to speed on current procedure. “Or is that old school?”
“First on scene films it,” Clay confirmed. “We have vest cams now too, but the director nixed them for this case.”
“I’ll put in a request.” Asa clicked a few keys. “We’ll have it in the morning.”
“He didn’t want to risk a leak.” Smart move on his part. “One video is easier to suppress than ten.”
“That supports our concerns that the killer will take his, to borrow from Rue, art public.” Asa frowned. “I wonder if there’s a secondary reason for the director’s precautions within the Bureau.”
“An inside man?” Clay tilted his head. “I wouldn’t rule it out.”
“The Silver Stag files were sealed as soon as we realized we had a serial killer,” I recalled. “An agent back then might have heard gossip around the office. Now, aside from the personal notes of those involved, it would require express permission from the director to access that case.”
The question wasn’t if one of our fellow agents was capable of committing this Stag-worthy crime spree. That answer was a resounding yes. But if it was one of our own, then why wait a decade? Why the Stag?
“For now,” I decided, “I’m going to chalk the director’s behavior up to an overabundance of caution.”
“You don’t like the idea of sizing a fellow agent for a noose?”
Glancing up from the screen, I found Asa watching me with steady intent. “Not particularly.”
Most of us had done the crime and the time. Punishment ought to end at some point, in my opinion. But Black Hat was a lot like the mob. Marty was right about one thing. The only sure way to leave the Bureau for good was in a pine box.
“We’re veering off track.” Clay rapped his knuckles on the table. “Logging companies are a good place to start. The Kellies can have that information to us first thing. We’ll follow that lead from there.”
I could have contacted the Kellies myself, but I wasn’t ready to talk without hexing them yet.
They sniffed out intel for agents working cases, yeah, but that was a drop in the bucket of their duties.