Tick Tock (Michael Bennett 4)

We’d just been notified by security downstairs that the women had arrived, when a tall, gawky woman with a striking resemblance to Caroline Kennedy came into the squad room and headed directly to my desk. Her name was Jessica Cook, and instead of American royalty, she was the cybergeek cop assigned to the task force from the Computer Crimes Unit.

“Mike, Emily, I think I got something on the John Jay lead already,” she said. “A nibble, at least. Come and check this out.”

We rushed with her across the hallway to Computer Crimes and into her closet-size cubicle. Tacked to the wall above her monitor beside a South Park calendar was a crayon drawing of a racing cop car with the words NYPD MOM on the door.

“I’ve been busy hitting deeper and deeper serial-killer fan sites ever since I started impersonating some of the names from the David Berkowitz correspondence,” Jessica said as we stood in front of her screen. “The worst by far is this feed called DankDungeonNYC. I just got this instant message from a new friend who calls himself Manacle Max after I mentioned I was a John Jay grad.”

I read off the screen.

John Jay? U must know the Collector then. What an admirable freak. Always wants the worst. Always pays top dollar.

“This is incredible,” Emily said.

“Type in something like ‘I haven’t seen the Collector in years. What’s he up to these days?’ ” I said.

Jessica put it in and hit enter.

The message spat back a moment later

After he was fired u mean? Nothing was the last I heard, the lucky prick. I wish I was independently wealthy. Enough about him. Let’s meet. U said u have atrocious homicide scene shots? So do I. I’ll show u mine. U show me urs. LOL!.

“Fired? He worked there!” Emily cried. “He was an employee or a professor at John Jay. Has to be!”

“NYPD Mom to the rescue,” I said, giving Jessica a high five.

Chapter 66

BEYOND ENTHUSED FOR THE FIRST TIME since the case began, I sped with Emily back to the squad room. When we turned the corner, the elevator door at the end of the hallway opened.

A wiry male uniform from the HQ security detail downstairs exited with a tall, white woman and a squat Hispanic woman in tow. Both women looked tired and lost, completely grim-faced. I didn’t have to read their visitor badges to know they were Mrs. Cavuto and Mrs. Morales.

Emily ushered them into one of the interview rooms as I ran and poked my head into my boss’s office.

“Computer Crimes just pulled a lead off a serial killer site that’s making John Jay look even better,” I called to her. “Some freak let it be known that some other rich freak who liked to collect sick, bloody crime-related shit was working there at some point but got fired. No name yet, but we’re about to sit down with the mothers of the two victims to see if they can fill us in.”

“What are you waiting for?” Miriam said, lifting her phone. “Get into that interview room and start pumping. I’ll tell Brown to start scouring the staff rolls for people who got canned.”

I turned off my phone as I entered the interview room, where Emily sat with the distraught mothers. Attractive, stylish, blond Mrs. Cavuto looked like she was taking the loss of her four-year-old daughter fairly well until you picked up on her extremely glassy eyes and sloppily applied makeup. Stocky, in a striped MTA uniform shirt, Mrs. Morales just looked like she wanted to hit someone.

As I sat, I could see from Emily’s face that something very good was up.

“Mrs. Morales, please tell my partner what you just told me,” Emily said.

“Alicia and I actually know each other,” Mrs. Morales said, patting Mrs. Cavuto on the elbow. “Back in the nineties, we took a night class together at John Jay.”

I shot Emily a look, squashing the urge to give her a high five. They’d been in the same class! This really was the connection we’d been gunning for! We’d struck absolute gold!

“Not only that, but our teacher was a sick, slimy weirdo. His name was Berger. Professor Berger.”

“Berger,” I said. “Are you sure?”

“Positive,” Mrs. Morales said, nodding.

“It’s true,” Mrs. Cavuto said, quietly looking up at me with her empty blue eyes.

I thought of something then.

“His name wasn’t Lawrence, was it? Lawrence Berger?” I asked.