Chapter 29
At her desk at the office, Jane winced and pulled the phone away while he finished chewing. “What the heck are you eating? Pop Rocks?”
“Corn Nuts. My weakness. Wait. You can get your hands on Pop Rocks? Where? Tell me.”
“How are you even still alive with your diet?”
“A great mystery of the universe, Jane.”
She chuckled. To be honest, she missed working with him on the special task force she’d once been assigned.
Not that she disliked her current job. She loved being an FBI agent and enjoyed SSA Grimshaw as her boss.
But the autonomy on the task force under Lionel Gambol’s loose guidance had been so hands-off as to feel like independent contracting.
Jane liked reporting to someone else so long as they let her lead the hunt.
The case. Not hunt, the case. Bah. She was letting her uncle influence her again. Just being around him turned her into a die-hard wannabe mercenary.
He’d called her last night to go over safety protocols and to remind her that Kaminski was a slippery SOB. Which was supposed to make Jane afraid of her own shadow, she guessed.
She’d told Uncle Chris she’d be careful, like always, then promised to meet him and Raine for dinner later in the week.
With any luck, she’d be too busy and have to cancel. She loved her uncle dearly, but when he and her cousin got together, Jane was usually too busy playing referee to enjoy herself.
She tucked her cellphone against her shoulder, typing on her keyboard as she made notes. “So our guy is worth a lot of money and clean on paper.”
“The IRS loves him. So does the media. He’s got a bunch of awards from several different charities and even the governor, who he worked for before switching over to the good senator.”
“By all accounts, do Louis and his boss get along?”
“Like twenty peas in a pod.”
“Er, okay.”
“My knowledge of peas is limited.” Diego crunched again. “So the guy is missing. It’s been how many days now?”
Jane checked her calendar. “Four. Well, more like three.”
“And no one’s reported him. I say that, not asking that, because I’ve searched for any mention of him being missing and can’t find anything.”
“Hmm. It’s been enough time that his absence should have been mentioned.”
“Yet the guy’s boss has said nothing. Why do you think that is?”
“Because he’s up to his eyeballs in this mess.”
“This mess? What mess exactly? Because you’ve been a little sparse on the deets.”
“Forget I mentioned it.” Jane paused in her typing. She had nothing to tie a missing senator’s aide to the Kaminski/Rook connection. For all she knew, the guy was on a bender. He’d been kidnapped by some rando in the city. Maybe he was shacked up with some girlfriend or boyfriend no one knew about.
What made her think Louis Miller’s absence had anything to do with Rook?
Yet she couldn’t ignore her gut feeling. Or Matthew’s.
“You get any hits on that name I gave you before?” She lowered her voice and looked around, pleased to be alone at her desk. Jenn and Sandy, who normally sat near her, were absent. “The chess piece?”
Meaning Rook, of course.
“Yeah, oddly enough. Only in spots on the dark web, though. It’s been pinging all over the place. Like a pinball in an old timey machine.”
“Oh?”
“Bumper here, flipper there. Ding, ding, ding.”
“Diego.”
“Oh, sorry. I was just thinking about how much fun those arcade games are. There’s this place in Denver that—”
“Diego, focus.”
He cleared his throat. “Right. So your pinball guy is reportedly involved in some shady dealings. I think he issued a warning to some idiot. He posted pictures of a family in Kirkland he had killed. Jane, it’s gruesome.”
“Do you have details for me?”
“I just emailed you the info. You’ve been warned. Someone butchered the entire family then positioned them around the dining table like they’re dolls. The kids weren’t even school age yet. Who does that?”
“Someone who needs to be put away.”
“Seriously.” Diego cleared his throat. “So yeah. Chess Piece sent a warning, apparently.”
“What’s the family’s name?”
“I’m not sure. I only know it happened in Kirkland because he intentionally geotagged it. I haven’t seen anything pop up on law enforcement channels. So I don’t think anyone knows yet.”
Jane had a gut feeling. “Wait. Today’s Monday.”
“All day, even in this time zone. That’s, uh, one hour later than yours.”
“Right. But my killer strikes on Mondays. By Wednesdays, we find the bodies.”
“Well, I saw them early then. Lucky me.”
“Diego, did they have a dog, do you know?”
“Yeah. It’s weird, but the dog, a cute collie, looks fine.
She’s standing next to the dining table of the damned.
I think the killer took the dog because captioned under that pic, he wrote, ‘Don’t worry.
The dog never dies.’ I’m not sure if that’s supposed to be funny.
But after what he did to the kids and their parents…
I’m not laughing. Jane, none of this makes sense. ”
“No, it doesn’t.” Jane thought about it. “Did you get anything on that list of names I sent you?”
“Aside from them all being uber rich and connected? No, sorry.”
“Thanks for trying.” She paused. “Wait. Can you do me a favor?”
“Sure. But make it quick. The natives here are getting restless.”
“See if any of Louis Miller’s family resides in Kirkland.”
“Oh. Gotcha.”
She heard typing, then muttered voices.
“Um, Jane? I’m getting looks from the guys in the office, so I might not be able to answer right away, but I’ll definitely get back to you on Miller.” In a louder voice, he added, “They get pretty jealous if I share my time. Needy Feds out here in Colorado. They can’t do anything without me.”
A possible link to Louis was thin, but it wouldn’t hurt to look into him.
She heard complaints behind Diego and shook her head. “You’re just making friends all over the place, aren’t you?”
He snickered. “Always.”
“Thanks again. Any idea if or when you’re coming back this way?”
“Why? What have you heard? Is Rapp putting the team back together?”
“I have no idea. I was curious if you knew anything.”
“No one tells me anything, Jane. That’s why I have to snoop. I mean, why I used to snoop. I’m clean now. Totally on the level. Everything’s legit. Gotta go.” He hung up.
Jane opened the files he’d sent, stunned to see pictures of a family that looked eerily similar to the murdered ones she’d already visited in Seattle. She wished she could find the family in Kirkland right now, but she was already too late to save them.
As Diego had said, the family had been butchered and positioned around their dining room table.
And she knew the dog, though alive, would be missing.