Chapter Twenty-Four
“Put an APB out on his truck,” Lieutenant Huang directed. “You’re lucky, Agnew, and don’t think you’re off the hook. Your shenanigans aren’t appreciated.” Mark stood with his back to the closed door of Lieutenant Huang’s corner office. A pen hung from Huang’s clenched teeth.
“I knew the guy was a freak,” Mark said.
He’d worked for Lieutenant Huang when he’d foiled the Charles Maynor case.
He knew Huang would be hard on him when he admitted he’d entered Roland’s apartment, but he was willing to take the heat.
No one else trusted Mark’s instincts, but Mark did, and that was enough.
Huang ripped the pen from his mouth. “You don’t know shit. All you know is he’s got some obsession with Marissa Greer. Greer—his sister.” Huang picked up one of the files, and leafed through it. “Damn.” He shook his head.
“Whaddaya’ think?”
“I know about this guy, Greer. A Detective had his eye on him for a while, a few years back.”
“See?” Mark snipped.
“No, I don’t see. Greer hasn’t made one wrong move in all the years he’s been here.”
“Look at this shit.” Mark pulled a folder out of the box that was sitting on Huang’s desk. “It’s all here—foster homes, abuse, obsession. The guy’s a freak.”
“Abuse?”
“Well, it’s not specifically spelled out as such, but yeah, I think so. They removed her from the foster home due to, ‘Inappropriate obsession by Roland Greer.’” He paused, raising his eyebrows. “Inappropriate obsession. We all know what that means.”
Huang grabbed the folder from Agnew’s hands. “Lemme see that.” He perused the file. “There’s nothing here. Sounds like he was a clingy kid. So what? So he tracked her down, he grabbed a kid, what else ya’ got?”
Mark tore through more of the folders, tossing them on the table. “Look, he threw a rock through her window.”
“A distraught kid, hardly a felon.”
Mark flipped the pages, pushing the file toward Lieutenant Huang.
“Look,” he said, poking his finger on the page.
“Found Roland Greer in the bed of Marissa Greer. Found Roland Greer holding Marissa, Marissa crying. Roland Greer withdrawn from Marissa’s bed again.
” He pointed to the page again. “It’s all here.
The guy’s a freak, I’m telling you. Probably raped his sister and that’s why they moved her. ”
Huang sighed. “You’re reading a lot into this.” He looked through the file. “This shit was years ago, Agnew. I hope you’re not wasting my time.”
“What about the shrine—those photos?”
“No law against having photos, until he does something. Peeping Tom? Abduction? Stalking? Indecent behavior? Give me something concrete.”
Mark knocked the box with his fist. “Damnit, detective. This guy’s trash, and I know it.”
“Like you knew about Charles Maynor?”
Mark’s stance softened. He wiped his hand down his face and turned his back to Lieutenant Huang. That was seven years ago, and his inability to see through the perp’s guise still hung over his head like a dark cloud.
Mark turned back to face Lieutenant Huang, whose dark eyes narrowed. “Detective,” he said in a softer tone, “this shrine, these newspaper clippings…there’s something more here. He’s left town. I’ll bet that other detective will want to know about this.”
“No one’s contacting anyone outside of this precinct until we have something concrete.
You can’t just go off accusing someone. Besides, we handle our own issues.
Greer has no PFA. There’s no reason he has to stay in town.
And you don’t even know if he’s left town.
” Lieutenant Huang stared at Mark in silence, then said, “He’s just a guy who had a PFA years ago, Mark.
This is your hunch, and you’re already in deep shit for entering his place of residence. ”
“But—”
Lieutenant Huang interrupted him and sat behind his desk. “We’ll run the APB, see where he is. If it looks like there might be trouble, we’ll deal with it then.” Huang cleared his throat. “If there is an issue, FBI will take over, crossing state lines. You know the drill.”
“Agnew, come back in here,” Lieutenant Huang’s voice boomed through his open door a little while later.
“Yeah, boss?”
Lieutenant Huang’s desk was now covered with Marissa Greer’s files. “His twin,” he said, tapping one of the olive green accordion folders. “No word on the vehicle yet.”
Mark sat across from Lieutenant Huang, waiting for more.
Lieutenant Huang shuffled the folders. “Mark, this whole thing is fucked up.” He shook his head. “According to this,” he pushed the folders toward Mark, “they never spelled out anything inappropriate, just a…an obsession.”
“What about the PFA? I researched and—”
“Yeah, I got it. I know. He grabbed her. He was a kid. There’s nothing on him since he’s been an adult. Not even so much as a speeding ticket. I’m afraid you might be way off base.”
“The shrine—”
“I’m not saying it ain’t weird.” He eyed the folders again. “This guy is supremely weird, but they haven’t found his car, and no one’s been reported missing. Marissa Greer’s identity was changed years ago. I’ve got Storenson looking into that.”
Mark looked at the mess of files. There was more. Something nagged at him. “I’m sure it’s something. I can feel it.”
“Mark, take it easy. This feels weird, but we’ve got nothing. You broke into a guy’s apartment.”
“I had probable cause.”
“Because he didn’t show up for work? Cut the shit.”
Mark looked away. He pushed himself up from the chair and grabbed the doorknob. “I’ll find this guy, and when I do, you’ll be thankful I’m on this force.”
“For your sake, I hope you’re right.”