Chapter 13
“Do you have any idea why a citizen sent you this email and not us?” Special Agent Miln sat at Peter’s desk, which was pushed up against Krystal’s.
At least the man wasn’t trying to hover over her using some weird power play. She hated when Feds did that—usually the men. Krystal leaned back in her chair, choosing her wording carefully. “I’m a local and you guys are outsiders. It makes sense that this anonymous tip came to one of us.”
“But why you specifically?”
She lifted a shoulder, still choosing her words with care. “I’ve been in the news recently.”
“Oh right. The serial killer thing.” Miln nodded almost absently, then glanced back at his laptop.
He and his partner had moved out to the main bullpen where everyone else was after Krystal had forwarded the anonymous email she’d received.
“This is enough detail to get a warrant, especially with the pictures.”
Miln was in his forties, an average-looking white guy, something she was sure he’d used to his advantage in cases. He seemed unassuming, but she knew better than most that looks could be deceiving. You never really knew what someone was hiding behind their mask.
They’d all learned that the hard way recently.
Krystal hadn’t realized Micah would be including pictures in the email, but he’d attached some. One of a woman—no name, and her head was tilted down so no solid picture of her face—leaving the note for the Feds, and a couple other drone shots.
“Any idea why someone would turn in somebody like this?”
“Other than kidnapping being wrong?” she said dryly.
The agent snorted softly. “I mean, why not just call or come tell us directly?”
“Not everyone likes cops.” Which couldn’t be news to the Feds.
“And if this individual is involved in illegal activities themselves…” She trailed off.
“There’re a dozen reasons I can think of off the top of my head why someone wouldn’t want to get tangled with the cops, let alone the FBI, but still want to do the right thing.
” And she was done with all these questions. “So, you guys getting a warrant?”
“Oh yeah, this is more than enough. We’re just waiting on HRT. Their plane should be landing in the next hour.”
She nodded, then leaned forward, ready to get back to work. “Good stuff.”
“You want to ride along for the takedown?” Miln asked.
Surprised, she paused and looked at the guy. “Seriously?”
He lifted a shoulder. “We appreciate the tip. You can’t really do much—this will be HRT’s show on the ground. But you’re welcome to come along if you’d like.”
“Ah, thanks. Can I bring Levitz with me?” Her normal partner, Peter, was out sick today, but she had a feeling Levitz would want to see this.
“Sure. You two can ride with me and Lee.”
She managed to keep her expression neutral, but this was exciting—and her boys might even think it was cool. She was fairly certain everything she did was the opposite of that in their eyes, but a mom could hope.
***
“It’s weird that someone sent that email to you directly,” Levitz murmured as he and Krystal sat in the back of the FBI’s SUV.
The two special agents had gotten out to join the rest of their team as they waited for the go-ahead to infiltrate the property.
They had drones overhead making sure no one got wind of their HRT crew moving in, and from what she’d seen on the live video a few minutes ago, it didn’t seem like they were going to have an issue.
SWAT was a little annoyed that they didn’t get to take part in this, but the Feds were in charge and they wanted their own people handling the infiltration.
If everything went smoothly, the kidnapped Maeve Morrow could go home to her family, who were currently waiting at the sheriff’s station. “Why’s it weird?” she asked.
“First, that they didn’t use the general tip line, and second…the Feds can’t trace the original message at all.”
She lifted a shoulder, keeping her expression nonchalant. “I guess it’s a little weird but people around here know and trust me. Not my fault that you haven’t built up that kind of rapport with people.” She kept her tone light, mostly joking.
“I didn’t mean it like that. I guess it just surprised me that they couldn’t trace it.”
She knew she couldn’t play that off too hard, so she nodded. “It is a little odd, but if it’s coming from someone involved in illegal things…” She trailed off, was glad when Levitz nodded.
“Yeah, true enough.”
“You’re just jealous they didn’t message you directly. And you’re welcome for the invite… They’re coming back,” she murmured.
Special Agents Miln and Lee slid into the front seats, their body language wired.
“HRT is moving in now,” Miln murmured, holding up a small tablet that showed the live body cam from one of the agents.
Or that was what Krystal guessed. The movements were jerky and chaotic and she felt herself getting nauseous as she tried to watch. Finally she looked away, caught Lee’s eye.
Lee was a petite Asian woman possibly in her forties. She half smiled at Krystal. “Right? I can’t watch the feeds either.”
She smiled back, glad for another female presence. It was relatively rare to get to work with other women in an investigative capacity where she was, but that seemed to be changing. Slowly.
The interior of the SUV was quiet, the feed muted, but a few minutes later, both agents’ phones buzzed.
Miln kicked the SUV into drive and they headed out, following a handful of matching black SUVs down a dusty gravel path that led to Betty Anne Kendrick’s homestead.
Krystal knew the older woman, hoped her nephew wasn’t involved in the kidnapping and had just been renting the place. Two agents had been sent to Wrightsville Beach to pick him up simultaneously with this raid.
If he knew anything, she had a feeling he would flip quickly.
Once Miln parked, he and Lee got out of the vehicle. And since they didn’t tell her and Levitz to stay put, she nodded at him. “Come on,” she whispered, even though it was just the two of them.
Levitz didn’t have to be told twice.
They both got out but hung back, watching as the HRT team marched out man after man in cuffs. After a few minutes she wondered where Ilena was—and where Maeve Morrow was.
Oh god. Her stomach tightened. If the kidnappers had killed the kidnap victim…things were going to go very poorly for Clover’s friend. There was no coming back from that.
Lee strode toward them, her expression tight. Even with her sunglasses on, Krystal could tell something was wrong.
“She’s not here,” Lee said.
It took a millisecond for Krystal to realize Lee meant the Morrow woman. “Shit.”
“But it looks like she was. Or someone was. That tip you got was good. They were keeping someone in that bedroom chained up. The chain is long enough to reach the attached bathroom.” She shook her head in disgust. “We’re taking DNA samples now.
” Lee’s jaw was tight as she looked back at the organized chaos of the scene.
“Did they find anything else? Drugs, something to get these guys to talk?” Because if they’d moved Morrow, time wasn’t on law enforcement’s side.
If the current kidnapper had her somewhere and thought his partners would talk, they might just kill her and cut their losses.
She really hoped Clover’s friend wasn’t involved in moving Morrow.
“Cocaine mostly, and a lot of weapons. First one who flips will get the deal. You know how it is. I was just hoping we’d be able to give the family good news.”
“Yeah, I was too.” They didn’t deal with kidnappings on the scale the Feds did, but she knew how awful it was to bring back bad news to a family. “Any blood or anything?”
“No, thankfully. And no sign of the woman from the photos. No women at all here.”
Huh. Krystal couldn’t tell them about Ilena’s identity, not without getting into a shitload of trouble or having to answer a lot of questions. But she could find another way to feed that information to the Feds as soon as she got out of here.
Once she was alone, she texted Micah. Pizza at my place tonight, don’t be late!