Janis!” Betty jumped up and hurried out of the garage, heart suddenly in her mouth. She ran quickly down her driveway. Janis was nowhere in sight. Pooh the Labrador lay unmoving on its side in the yard, a pillow of red snow cushioning its head. Betty ran toward the dead dog, looking around at the woods next to her home, and the county road running by her house, into the night and snow surrounding her, beyond frantic now.
“Janis! JANIS!”
Betty ran for the woods, stumbling through the snow, screaming Janis’s name over and over.
Chapter Twelve
T he local profiler’s name was Simms, which immediately reminded Kane of the video game by the same name, the one where you can simulate life-forms and interactive social systems on a computer, be they animal or human. She’d played that game on her home computer while on leave after The Van Incident.
Simms didn’t come across as terribly interactive himself. A pale older detective who had unfortunately given in to the aging man’s impulse to comb-over the bare spots on his scalp, Simms would compulsively reach up and pat his hair to make sure it was in place as he briefed them. His suit was shiny with age and Simms wore suspenders instead of a belt, along with a rather ratty tie.
Kane also noticed he didn’t look them in the eye or offer to shake hands, just said his name was Simms and that he was going to try to bring them up to date. His voice was higher than she would have thought, it had a flat nasality that reminded Kane of a social studies teacher she’d had in junior high.
Gilday and Scroggins had decided earlier that they would join in on the briefing, each man telling himself that it was in the best interest of the case at hand to quickly orientate the feds and that it had nothing at all to do with the slope of Kane’s cheek or the firmness of her grip.
It was already late, after eight-thirty, the delay in Simms’s briefing yet another indication of the low regard held for them by the locals. For a moment Kane thought that Thorne wasn’t even going to sit in and listen to what Simms had to say. When Thorne noticed everyone looking at him, he calmly leaned back away from his chessboard, crossed his arms and waited for Simms to begin.
“I know that you’ve read through the files so I’ll just hit the highlights,” Simms began. “We have twenty-three victims counting Wendy Frederickson, the young girl abducted last night in York. Ages range from five to twelve, twenty of the girls were Caucasian, two Asian and one African-American. We’ve run the MO through VICAP to see if there were any cases similar in other states but so far there aren’t.
“The first victim that we know of was five year-old Katherine Fitzgerald. She was abducted in North Platte thirteen months ago by our UNSUB in the middle of the day from her own house. He was seen by the vic’s brother, who was fourteen at the time and babysitting. The brother came out of the kitchen with snacks for the two of them and there the guy is. Our UNSUB sapped the boy on the head and disappeared with the girl. Description of our perp was a tall man, dressed in black and wearing a black ski mask, similar to what the Fredericksons remember. The house was locked, both before and after. The body of the girl was never found,” Simms reached up to check his hair.
“He’s been spotted in seven of the abductions and the description is always the same, though sometimes witnesses vary the height and weight.”
“We think he likes being seen,” Gilday said.
“He probably gets off on it,” Scroggins added.
“It’s likely there was no need in the first disappearance to sap the brother, he was in the kitchen for a substantial amount of time,” Simms actually looked grateful for the troopers’ interruption. “Our USUB had significant opportunity to abduct the girl without encountering anyone. We think he waited for the kid purposefully.
“Same holds true with last night’s abduction. He’s
“Janis! JANIS!”
Betty ran for the woods, stumbling through the snow, screaming Janis’s name over and over.
Chapter Twelve
T he local profiler’s name was Simms, which immediately reminded Kane of the video game by the same name, the one where you can simulate life-forms and interactive social systems on a computer, be they animal or human. She’d played that game on her home computer while on leave after The Van Incident.
Simms didn’t come across as terribly interactive himself. A pale older detective who had unfortunately given in to the aging man’s impulse to comb-over the bare spots on his scalp, Simms would compulsively reach up and pat his hair to make sure it was in place as he briefed them. His suit was shiny with age and Simms wore suspenders instead of a belt, along with a rather ratty tie.
Kane also noticed he didn’t look them in the eye or offer to shake hands, just said his name was Simms and that he was going to try to bring them up to date. His voice was higher than she would have thought, it had a flat nasality that reminded Kane of a social studies teacher she’d had in junior high.
Gilday and Scroggins had decided earlier that they would join in on the briefing, each man telling himself that it was in the best interest of the case at hand to quickly orientate the feds and that it had nothing at all to do with the slope of Kane’s cheek or the firmness of her grip.
It was already late, after eight-thirty, the delay in Simms’s briefing yet another indication of the low regard held for them by the locals. For a moment Kane thought that Thorne wasn’t even going to sit in and listen to what Simms had to say. When Thorne noticed everyone looking at him, he calmly leaned back away from his chessboard, crossed his arms and waited for Simms to begin.
“I know that you’ve read through the files so I’ll just hit the highlights,” Simms began. “We have twenty-three victims counting Wendy Frederickson, the young girl abducted last night in York. Ages range from five to twelve, twenty of the girls were Caucasian, two Asian and one African-American. We’ve run the MO through VICAP to see if there were any cases similar in other states but so far there aren’t.
“The first victim that we know of was five year-old Katherine Fitzgerald. She was abducted in North Platte thirteen months ago by our UNSUB in the middle of the day from her own house. He was seen by the vic’s brother, who was fourteen at the time and babysitting. The brother came out of the kitchen with snacks for the two of them and there the guy is. Our UNSUB sapped the boy on the head and disappeared with the girl. Description of our perp was a tall man, dressed in black and wearing a black ski mask, similar to what the Fredericksons remember. The house was locked, both before and after. The body of the girl was never found,” Simms reached up to check his hair.
“He’s been spotted in seven of the abductions and the description is always the same, though sometimes witnesses vary the height and weight.”
“We think he likes being seen,” Gilday said.
“He probably gets off on it,” Scroggins added.
“It’s likely there was no need in the first disappearance to sap the brother, he was in the kitchen for a substantial amount of time,” Simms actually looked grateful for the troopers’ interruption. “Our USUB had significant opportunity to abduct the girl without encountering anyone. We think he waited for the kid purposefully.
“Same holds true with last night’s abduction. He’s
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