“That’s true, so it’s your job to make sure you’re not.” And, with that, he turned and walked out.
She groaned and turned to face Rodney, but he was grinning at her. “It’s not funny,” she muttered. “We could be wasting a ton of time on this, all because of Simon’s text.”
“This is what opened up as a lead,” he reminded her. “We move on it because that’s what’s there in front of us.”
“In front of us, yes, but, if we kept looking in other directions, more shit could show up there too.”
“Well, we’ll make phone calls and handle every one of these other people on this list.”
At that, Owen hopped up to join them. “Give me a bunch of them. I’ll run them down. At least I can get the stories as clear as I can, but I’m with you. I really do think this guy has a type.”
“Two isn’t a type,” she warned.
“No, but this one is the same age category, same demographic, also young and vulnerable. Easy to pick up, easy to grab.”
“And that’s the sad part,” Kate noted. “If that’s all it takes to entice this guy, that means most of Vancouver is his type. Something is majorly screwed up if that’s the case.”
Rodney nodded, then he looked over at the girls’ photos and said, “I got a feeling about this.”
She stared at the board, her heart sinking, and added quietly, “Yeah, so do I.”
“We need to talk to the girlfriend, her parents, her bosses, coworkers, anything we have,” Rodney stated. “But most of all, we need to talk to the boyfriend.”
“It won’t be him, you know,” Kate stated.
“Maybe not,” Rodney acknowledged, “but this serial killer likes to leave possible suspects in nice neat little packages, so I wouldn’t be at all surprised if that’s how this will look, once it starts playing out, while setting up the parolee.”
“But you don’t think it’s him, do you?” Owen asked Kate.
“Not necessarily, but I won’t make that judgment now,” she said. “Yet I won’t be at all surprised if things start lining up against Rick.” She grabbed her wallet and keys and looked over at Rodney. “You staying here to run this down, or are you coming with me?”
“Oh, I’m coming with you,” he replied. “Life has been much more exciting around here since you showed up on the job.”
She rolled her eyes and snapped, “Feel free to take over the excitement part anytime.”
“Nope,” he said, “this is good.”
“You’re driving, right?”
“Why is that?” he asked.
“No car.”
“Ah, not a problem.”
And they carried on their customary banter down to the parking lot and out to his vehicle. As they hopped in, he asked, “You got an address for me?”
“Yeah, the girlfriend first.”
“Is she home?”
“We’ll find out.” Kate was already busy dialing. When a woman’s voice answered, Kate explained who she was.
“Oh my God,” the young woman replied. “Did you find Chelice?”
“Not yet,” Kate answered, “but that’s why we need to talk to you.”
“I have no idea where she is,” she wailed. “She was so upset, and she and her boyfriend were having a hell of a time. And I know she just wanted to take off, but I just don’t think she would have.”