Chapter 30
“Everyone ready?” Sam glanced side-to-side at the others as they gathered around the computer. The four of them were scrunched together on the end of the bed, facing the computer on the desk.
“Hit it,” Dean said.
Sam reached out and clicked on the icon to join the meeting. A moment later, a window opened, showing over half a dozen people sitting around a conference table.
“Hello.” A dark-haired man in a police polo raised a hand and offered them a polite smile. “I’m Sheriff Archer. Call me Seb. Let’s do a quick round of introductions, yes?”
Sam nodded. “I’m Sam. This is Audra Ridley, Dean Adler, and Max Carson.” He pointed to each of them in turn.
“Nice to meet you all,” Seb said. “I’m just going to go around the room.” He started on his left. “My wife, London; my chief deputy, Jace Travers; our medical examiner, Dr. Alex Randall; our chief forensic scientist, Katie Mitchum-Randall; my brother, Thomas Archer and his wife, Rayna; and finally their son, Mason.”
“That’s quite the party,” Max said. “I don’t think we were expecting so many people.” He glanced at the others, a brow raised.
Sam agreed. Especially the family members. He understood why the sheriff’s wife was there. If she was the girlfriend, she was one of Marsters’ victims. But the others?
“Yes, well, this case had far-reaching implications for our area,” Seb said. “Can you elaborate more on why you’re asking about Marsters?”
“Sheriff, Sam told me he gave you a basic overview of what’s going on,” Audra said. “I’ve been undercover with Liam Brogan’s operation for almost two years, in one capacity or another. We were on the cusp of taking him down when someone tried to kill me and killed my handler, Theo Anderson. Long story short, I lost trust in him and in my agency, so I contacted an old friend.” She gestured to Sam.
“He said he’s your boyfriend.”
Sam’s neck reddened. He probably should have gone with friend. He glanced at her and shrugged.
Her mouth lifted and a light entered her eyes. She looked at the camera. “I suppose he is now. But that’s immaterial. I trust him, and that’s what I needed. What I didn’t know was he had deep resources. With those, we’ve figured out that whoever murdered Theo and tried to kill me didn’t do so because I was too close to bringing Brogan down. It’s mafia adjacent, if you will.”
“Okay.” The blond man named Jace sat forward. “What does that have to do with our serial killer?”
“Honestly? Maybe nothing.”
The group on the screen all looked at each other.
“We need an in for a new operative—me—into Brogan’s organization, since Audra’s been compromised,” Max said. “Over the course of the last few days, we think we might have found an opening, but we need more information.”
Audra took over for him. “The evening of the attempt on my life, Brogan and I met with Simon and Geoffrey Powell. They run a wholesale company here in Las Vegas. The purpose of the meeting was to discuss them becoming a distributor for Liam’s businesses. We didn’t do much discussing, though. It was an informal dinner meeting. I think he was feeling them out. What we’ve discovered about the brothers since is that they have some drug convictions and are from the same area of Nevada as Ryan Marsters.”
“Which is what led you to us,” Seb surmised.
“Yes,” Audra said. “One of Sam’s contacts has a contact with someone in the FBI. The Powells are under investigation for drug trafficking, but what put them on the feds’ radar was their association with Marsters. Do you know anything about them that we can use to get Max in? The idea is to put him into competition with the Powells.”
Seb and his group all shared a look.
A pit formed in Sam’s stomach. It was a heavy look that went through that room.
“What do you know about the Marsters case?” Seb asked.
“Basically, what we heard on the news,” Dean said. “We checked out a few news articles this morning after Sam talked to you.”
“Did you read the ones about the human trafficking ring?” Thomas Archer spoke up, a hardness to his voice.
Sam sat straighter, the pit getting deeper. “It was mentioned, yes.”
“I remember the Powells’ names,” Seb said. “The initial case was just Marsters. He killed several women in our area and kidnapped London. It wasn’t until later that we found out he had ties to a child trafficking ring. The Powells came up in conjunction with that investigation.”
“How so?” Audra asked. “Were they trafficking children?” Her face hardened.
“We’re not sure,” Seb said. “The Paulsons—the traffickers—had some documentation of their connections with other businesses and individuals. We found the Powells’ names listed with a phone number. The FBI wasn’t able to find anything else to connect them to the case, though. Based on their past history, we think they supplied the Paulsons with drugs to keep the kids compliant, but we could never prove it.”
“What if they took the kids away too?” The young blond man named Mason asked. All eyes in the conference room swung toward him. He glanced at Rayna, uncertainty in his eyes.
She laid a hand on his forearm.
“What do you mean?” Thomas asked.
“The kids who were too old for the Paulsons’ clientele. They didn’t just vanish. And Seb, you never found their bodies. So, what happened to them?”
Seb stared at him for a long moment, a crease between his eyebrows. “You think the Powells took them?”
Mason lifted a shoulder. “It makes sense. What if they gave the Paulsons drugs, and the Paulsons gave them to those of us who had served our purpose?”
Sam sucked in a breath, his eyes widening at the man’s phrasing.
“Well, damn,” Seb said. He looked at the camera. “Ms. Ridley, you might have stumbled on something worse than the mafia.”
She pursed her lips and looked at Sam. He raised a brow, seeing in her eyes that she didn’t like that idea. He didn’t either. Human traffickers were the worst scum out there. “Aud, is it possible Brogan was dealing in the flesh trade?”
She drew in a breath and tipped her head, chewing on the corner of her mouth. “Regular, run-of-the-mill prostitution, sure. But the kind of human trafficking they’re talking about? Buying and selling sex slaves? I’m not sure. I never saw evidence of it.”
“Okay,” Seb said. “Let me reach out to a few of my FBI contacts in the Vegas area. See if I can get more information on their investigation.”
“Is Special Agent Dominick Moran on that list?”
“He is. Why?”
“Do you trust him?”
Seb leaned forward. “There a reason I shouldn’t?”
“No. I’m just asking. After Theo’s betrayal, I didn’t know if there were others involved. It took over a week before I decided to trust my boss. I contacted Moran once about the new evidence. I haven’t spoken to him since.”
“Moran is solid,” Seb said. “We went to the academy together, and we’ve worked on several cases. So, I would say, yes. Trust him.”
“Okay. We’ll loop him in.”
“Good. I’ll talk to my other federal contacts. See if they know anything useful.”
“Seb.” Dr. Randall interrupted them. “Whoever you talk to, you might want to tell them to dig deeper into the Powells’ lives before they moved to Vegas. If they’re dealing in people, it might have started in Elko County.”
“Ryan mentioned his father abused his stepsister,” London said. “Maybe there were others before her.”
“I’m so glad that man is dead,” Katie said. “And that the Paulsons will never see the light of day again.”
“We all are,” Thomas said. His gaze flicked to his son.
Sam agreed. The world was a better place without people like Ryan Marsters.
Seb turned back to the camera. “Keep us informed on what you find. We’ll do the same.”
Sam nodded once. “We will. Thank you for the information.” He glanced at his friends. “I think we have a place to start now.”
“You’re welcome. I hope you get what you’re after.”