Chapter 18
The largest conference room held all three task force leaders and their data specialists, as well as the complete teams for major crimes and counterterror. The head of the table was held by the director and to his right sat AD Shire.
“Okay, I want to know where we are with this potential dumpster fire of a serial killer thing?” the director demanded. “Is there any truth behind it?”
Leah Frayer leaned forward, giving Steve a nod as she did so. Immediately the large wall monitor lit up with a listing of the suspicious deaths.
“Sir, I’m afraid it is very likely legitimate.
Statistically, it is highly improbable for this many deaths to occur in such a short period for one class of people.
Second, we have been able to reach out to local law enforcement in several of the bee sting cases.
Family members administered epi-pens in two cases without significant results.
This alone is unusual, but in both cases, the epi-pens were disbursed by the victims’ local pharmacies.
Both pharmacies had temporary help during those time frames.
Next, we looked at the other deaths and were able to rapidly pull the listings of their pharmacies.
Each of them had visiting pharmacists as well.
Same people both times, a husband and wife. ”
A pair of pictures jumped onto the screen.
“Zeke and Viola Penrod. Both licensed pharmacists, Zeke retired two years ago from a big pharmacy chain. Viola retired three years ago from their local hospital in their hometown of Cottington, Connecticut. They sold their home right after Zeke retired, and bought an RV. They now follow a yearly migration pattern around the country, working as temp pharmacists along the way. Also, Zeke served in the Army in signal intelligence and Viola was in the Navy.”
“You’re telling me that we have the most politically damaging serial killer spree in history, the mass murder of state and federal representatives, judges, and elected officials, which no one knew about, and we already have prime suspects?” Director Brown asked, brows up in astonishment.
“Yes. The trick will be gathering enough evidence to charge them,” Frayer said.
“There were no other indications of this spree from any source?” the director asked, glancing at AD Shire, who didn’t look up from her tablet.
“None that any of us are aware of sir,” Frayer said with a glance at the AD.
“And our teen prodigy just picked it out of thin air?” Director Brown asked.
Nobody said anything for a moment, then Carmine spoke up. “Sir, Cassie told me she is a little obsessive about reading various news sites. She said she regularly looks at as many as ten different news aggregation sites. When something piques her interest, she digs deeper.”
“When did she confide this, Agent Carmine?”
“About an hour ago, sir. She asked what she could watch in her suite and when I mentioned news in addition to several streaming services, she got excited.”
“Sir, Cassie was raised to gather intelligence,” Dr. Chen said. “It is likely an addiction.”
“Ah, nice segue, Doctor. Tell us about our guest.”
“Highly intelligent—highly, with an extraordinary memory and extreme pattern recognition skills. She’s very disciplined and very efficient, with very strong executive functioning.
I can’t tell you how much training she has, but given her father’s career and accomplishments, I would guess she is far more capable than any normal eighteen-year-old. ”
“It’s more than just her father,” Director Brown said. “I have it on excellent authority that she could basically skip her way through basic infantry training and could possibly make the cut to attend Ranger School.”
“I’ve been told she could fly one of our Blackhawks in an emergency,” Agent Steele added.
“Oh, come on!” AD Shire suddenly protested. “This is absurd.”
“No, Shire, it’s not,” Director Brown said.
“Her godfather is the Command Sergeant of the Regiment for the 75th Rangers, William Jackson. If she makes a call to Fort Benning, the switchboard will put her through to any officer she asks for on the standing order of the base commander. This girl is like no informant any of us have ever met.”
“Sir, I have it on good authority that she has a team name, given by the men and women of Fort Benning: Hellcat,” Steele said.
“Hmm. Makes me wonder what she did to earn that moniker. Also, it begs the question: Where is she now?”
“Sir, she just signed out of her genealogy account,” Red said, looking down at her tablet.
“You gave her internet access?” AD Shire asked in a frosty tone.
“I gave her a conditioned access to just that site,” Red said. “She is researching common ancestors to backtrack to her mother. And she now has a hit. A distant match uploaded a family tree with connections to her.” The computer expert waved her tablet. “I’m watching her while we meet.”
“Okay. We have the biggest case of anyone’s career.
The suspects have been handed to us. We need to gather the evidence on this case with white gloves, and we need to do it fast. Pull out all the stops,” Director Brown said.
“I need to brief the White House in the next two hours, and I want as much progress as we can get before I do. Major Crimes leads on this, but all of you need to back them up. And we still have the New York attacker case to solve. Where do we stand with that?”
“We have all five attackers in custody and are interrogating them. I have a sub-team working on the origins of the weapons, explosives, and military gear they used,” Frayer answered.
“Okay, Sherman, your team needs to step up and assist Major Crimes on that case. Counterterror will assist on the pharmacists.
“Also, as I said, this is a career-maker. However, if anyone leaks word of this outside this facility, it will be a definitive career ender. You will earn the enmity of the Bureau and the White House.”
There was a moment of silence, then Dr. Chen turned.
“Red, you said Cassie signed out of her account. What’s she doing now?”
“Sitting in my chair, staring at the door to this conference area,” Red said. “My best guess is she wants to delve further into her mother’s origins.”
“Help her with that, Red,” the director said. “You will be needed to help with the pharmacists, but I think knowing more about Hellcat is a close secondary objective.”