“What else is new?” she said.
“Being you is a good thing,” he said. He walked over, poured himself a cup of coffee, and said, “There is some advantage in you getting in early. At least there is coffee.”
“Not necessarily,” she said. “Depends on how much I drink before you drag your sorry ass in.”
When he returned with his coffee and sat down at his desk, she got up and refilled hers. As she hit her desk again, the others started to file in. She studied their faces; Andy and Owen looked like they had had very bad nights. Lilliana was bright and chipper, as always.
Kate sat back down, when Colby walked in and called a meeting. “Look, people. We need to get onto this missing child mess,” he said. “We need answers before the press crucifies us.” He stopped, looked down at Kate. “Do you have any update on the other cases?”
“Only in that Reese found two more,” she said in a quiet voice. “The adult DB we picked up yesterday has a similar mark on the wrist.”
At that, the rest of the room stilled. “The same mark?”
“Close enough,” she confirmed. “It’s more faded, so it’s harder to see, but the coroner showed it to us. Rodney was there with me,” she said, turning to look at her assigned sidekick.
Rodney nodded. “It appears to be so, yes.”
“They are all exactly the same?”
She turned to Colby and shrugged. “No,” she said. “Not exactly. They are at the base, and then some of them have an extra line or two on them.”
“Have any idea what that means?”
“Not yet,” she said. “But I will.”
“He’s actively connected to how many other children’s cases?”
“We have found nine unsolved,” she said. “Reese is still looking.”
“Sounds like there might be a whole lot of cases we can close then,” Owen said. “Providing we actually solve these.”
She turned to him and frowned. “Not unless we have DNA that convicts him.”
“But that’s the connection,” he protested, with his hand out. “What else are you looking for?”
“I’m not looking for anything,” she said. “I’m open to seeing whatever the evidence shows us.”
“Are you thinking someone else is involved?” Colby asked.
She hesitated, knowing all eyes were on her. “Yes,” she finally said. “I don’t know exactly how to explain it.”
“Oh, here we go, the cop with the gut,” Owen snapped.
Surprisingly Rodney defended her.
“Look,” Rodney said. “We’ve all had opportunities when our guts overruled our brain,” he said. “If she thinks something more is to it, then let her keep digging.”
“Sure, but we have other cases too,” Owen said. “This sounds like he’s good for a lot of these.”
“Like our victim from this morning. Finding out he’s a registered pedophile opens the suspect list,” she said. “Do we really not want to know about any other cases he might have been connected to?”
“Not to mention we can’t close them, just assuming he’s responsible to make it easy,” Rodney continued. “Vancouver has hundreds of registered pedophiles. Any number of them could be involved.”
“I was looking for somebody to help fill in the details,” she said quietly. “The one I’m thinking of works in the Cold Case Division.”
Colby stared at her for a moment and nodded slowly. “We need to know,” he said. “Bring in whoever you think can help. Make it a priority.”
She gave a clipped nod. “Will do, sir.”