Chapter 31 Kyle #2
“Wait a minute,” Hayes said. “I saw her, too.” He peered over the top of his laptop at me. “We didn’t want to tell you while you were... But we’ve found compromising videos of at least three other women from the time before he was dating Cami.”
“And, apparently, during,” I said.
“I’m running facial recognition on still shots of the other women,” Pasco said, “but I bet we’ll learn they all work in veterinary medicine.”
“We knew the drug rings would be targeting vets,” Kat said. “But I wouldn’t have guessed Riker’s blackmail scheme would be the way they’d do it.”
“Or maybe it’s just Riker’s way,” I said. “A special kind of evil.”
“The question is whether he only has victims,” Lang said, “or whether he’s found some accomplices who can keep him in a steady supply of animal sedatives and anesthetics so he can scale up his operation.”
“However he did it, I think we can pinpoint when,” Kat said. “Look at the timing of his break-up with Cami. I checked his phone records, and he suddenly stopped contacting her.”
“Because she broke up with him,” I said.
Kat shook her head, sorting through a stack of print-outs.
“No. Here it is. After they started dating and up until the break-in at her office, he contacted her nearly every day. After the break-in, he went dark for four days. But what if the break-in wasn’t the impetus for ghosting her?
What if he’d found his supplier? Then she sent him a text about meeting at the Thirsty Horse and he agreed, probably because he was worried she’d discovered the drug theft. ”
“By that time, he’d found the BBD,” Hayes said. “The bigger, better drug supplier.”
“He never used the recordings against Cami because he didn’t need to,” I said. “He’d found another source to either coerce or pay off. He only threatened Cami with blackmail when she confronted him, to make her back off.”
Kat furrowed her brow as she stared at her screen. “This looks like legwork to me, the kind you do when you’re at the beginning of an operation. He’s just getting started.”
“In an attempt to get Anson’s attention.” Lang shook his head. “It keeps coming back to that damn cult. There’s a lot of cross-over between our investigation and the FBI drug case. Are you still okay with us keeping the kompromat files from the FBI?”
Kat shrugged. “X is fighting a turf war, I’m miffed about them breaking into Riker’s house without coordinating with us—yes, I do remember two wrongs don’t make a right, but still—and we’re all mad as hell that they screwed us over last night and let Riker escape.
Not to mention, everything we’ve just surmised is merely conjecture at this point, so we can’t prove that any of it impacts their drug case. ”
“Sounds like we owe them none of it,” Pasco said. “Everyone, send me the videos of the other women and I’ll make those recordings disappear, too.”
My phone alarm buzzed. “I have to leave to pick up Cami in fifteen minutes. I’ll bring her back here so we can finish.”
“No need,” Kat said. “Open those last few videos on your list. If Cami’s not on them, give them to me and I’ll finish checking them for other evidence. Then you can pick up Cami and Bella and go home.”
Wheeler stood and stretched. “Or I could pick her up. I’ve finished my list, so I’ve earned a break.” He grinned. “And I hear the women in that office like to flirt.”
“You’ve caused enough trouble for one twenty-four-hour period,” Kat said. “I’m happy to share my remaining files with you, then we’ll all be able to go home sooner.”
“I’ve at least earned the last blueberry yogurt.” Wheeler clapped me on the back as he walked past, on his way to the kitchen.
“Good luck with that,” I said.
He shook his head at me. “Bastard.”
I checked the last three videos. Not sex tapes of Cami or anyone else. I marked them on my thumb drive and handed it to Kat.
“Anyone notice what we didn’t find?” Lang asked.
I knew where he was going with this. “Kompromat on the general’s son. But did we really expect the son to be stupid enough to deal with a low-life like Riker?”
Kat folded her hands together, deep in thought. “No, but Riker’s apprenticing with someone. He’s not just setting up a drug ring. He’s learning the ropes on kompromat.”
“If there’s a lead to the person training him in these files, I’ll find it,” Pasco promised. He rubbed his hand over his eyes, looking exhausted. “But it might not be any time soon.”
“If we round up Riker, maybe he’ll tell us himself,” I said. “I heard a rumor once that HEAT has connections with organizations running black sites.”
“Not the way we operate,” Kat said, not appreciating my dark humor.
“Sorry, I guess that wasn’t very funny.” I stood. “On that note, I’ll get the hell out of here. Kat, walk out with me?”
I waved goodnight to the rest of the team, and left the conference room with her. I leaned against the wall beside the exit. “How do you assess Cami’s threat level with Riker on the loose?”
She sighed. “He’s also on the run and on the radar of nationwide law enforcement. You know I can’t say for certain, but if I had to guess, I’d say she’s slightly more at risk than the general population, but a hell of a lot less than many.”
I rubbed the back of my neck. It was so damn tight. “I think it’s time to relieve her of protective custody.”
“Everything okay between you two?”
“Never better,” I said. “And I’d like to keep it that way.”
“I’ll defer to your judgment, Rogers, and hers. She should be cautious, though, until we catch him.”
“I’ll remind her,” I said. Regularly. Incessantly. Until she was sick of hearing my voice telling her to remain on high alert, and probably still after that. Protective custody or not, I wouldn’t stop worrying about Cami until Scott Riker was behind bars.
And if I concentrated hard enough on that, it would help me ignore the thought of her leaving my house to go home, because every time it crossed my mind, the pain of letting her go tightened around my heart.