“TBD. I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.”
Jacob nodded over the phone. “You have a deal. Within reason, of course.”
“Within your reason or mine?”
“Mine.”
“Fuck it. I’ll take it. It’s not every day that a solid with the Department comes along.”
Jacob could hear Zac clicking away at his computer and he moved over to his open laptop, ready to take notes if he had to.
“What do you have so far, so that we don’t double up?”
Jacob recounted everything that he had on all three of the victims in as much detail as possible, including the details of the personal interviews he had conducted.
He eventually ended with the anonymity group meeting and the fact that they were waiting until Saturday morning to meet at the coffee shop and, if luck was on their side, run into the remaining women and hope that they could spill some light on what exactly the three murder victims had become entangled in that had wound up getting them killed. “It’s a long shot that any of them know anything, but we’re up the creek on this one and it seems to be our only lead.”
“Not bad at all for someone using the Department’s resources,” Zac said, and Jacob braced for the ribbing that was likely forthcoming. “But I’ll meet your anonymity group and raise you the fictional name of the HAK’s wife and how Selma Holt got involved.”
“How did you come by that information?” Jacob asked, more curious than angry. He knew that Zac’s sources were likely shady but that didn’t stop him from wondering.
“Surprisingly, both were above the table…relatively.”
Jacob sighed. “Shoot.”
“HAK’s wife goes by the name Valkyrie at the anonymity group. I’ve managed to trace a few pictures of her from a member of the group, but apparently, none of them know her real name and she only ever attends the Saturday morning meetings. My girl inside only got the pictures to me two days ago. They’re candid but clear. They were taken from an event that they held a few months ago, but she hasn’t managed to get anything else valuable yet. At least, nothing that suggests who Valkyrie is. I’m hoping that once I’ve identified her, I’ll know who her sleaze-bag husband is. But…my contact is ghosting me.”
“She’s scared of someone?”
“I couldn’t lie to her. She knows that three girls from her group have been murdered…”
“I don’t need to tell you to watch her back, Zac.”
“No. You don’t.”
Feeling guilty for having even said that much, Jake barreled on. “So, you also think that the fact that Veronica Tally tried to help this…Valkyrie woman is somehow related to why she died.”
“I do. Statistically, a girl of Veronica Tally’s upbringing, social circle, and habits wouldn’t have two run-ins with violent crime so close together, if in her entire life at all.”
“I agree. But what about the other two? How do they tie in?”
“I’m thinking that the girls found out who HAK was and tried to either get Valkyrie out or maybe tried to expose him somehow.”
“We already know that the asshole’s a wife-beater and has violent tendencies. His wife was in an anonymity group for battered women.”
“Yep and judging by Valkyrie’s get-up in the pictures that I sourced, she’s married to someone with a lot of green.”
“Maybe someone in a position of power?” Jacob suggested.
“My thoughts exactly.”
“So? Suspect number one is a mysterious, abusive husband who the girls labeled HAK? That’s all you have? I had that info, Murph.”
Zac grunted over the phone and Jacob couldn’t help but grin. Maybe his friend hadn’t changed that much after all.
“Yeah, but you didn’t have Valkyrie or her photograph and you don’t have what I’m about to dish you on Selma Holt.”
“Okay…”
“Jordan Holt’s DNA test came back.”
“Please, tell me you did not swab that kid?”
“I did not swab that kid,” Zac said, clearly evading the truth.
“Fuck, Zac. That’s a solid line.”
“I didn’t! I may have sweet-talked a certain social worker into disclosing confidential information, but that’s it. I swear. I…kinda hit it off with the kid.”
“What?” Zac Murphy did not like children—that much he knew to be true,—and he certainly did not ‘hit it off’ with any. Ever. Kids were a solid no with Zac.
“Yeah. I mean…he’s a cool little dude. So fucking brave. And that social worker…Holy shit, dude. Smoke. Show.”
“Kimi Kripps?” Jacob asked, frowning. It wasn’t like Kimi to be sidetracked by a sweet talker, especially one as blatant as Zac.
Unless she’s deliberately leading him on. The thought left him grinning. He’d bet anything that Kripps was playing Zac to get to the bottom of Selma Holt’s murder. For a small moment, he considered telling his friend, but then shut his jaw with an audible snap. It would probably be good for Zac to get schooled by a smart woman again.
“Anyway,” Zac continued, oblivious to Jacob’s train of thought, “DNA does not lie.”
“And?”
“Viktor Molktov.”
“Fuck off.” Jacob gripped the phone tighter in his hand as he tried to bank the rush of fury at the memory of the man who he and Zac had put behind bars nine years ago. They’d busted an illegal drug operation and apprehended Molktov, the obvious leader of the illicit business.
“Do not fuck with me. Molktov is Jordan Holt’s father?” he asked, not quite sure if he fully believed his friend.
“Yeah, it took me a few days to come to terms with it too.” Zac fell quiet on the phone.
Jacob thought back to the kid, thought back to the piercing brown eyes and thick, chocolate hair. I mean, apples and trees came to mind now that he had the information, but hopefully, Jordan Holt shared more of Selma’s DNA than Viktor’s. “So, what? Is Viktor involved from Pelican Bay?”
“Hell no! That asshole hasn’t seen sunlight in a decade.”
Jacob knew that it was probably true. Pelican Bay State Prison was the only supermax facility in California, and inmates were in solitary for twenty-four hours a day, three-sixty-five.
A part of him felt dread at the idea of human beings living like that—until he remembered interviewing the survivors of Viktor’s drug ring. Until he remembered the things that they’d told him, the things that Viktor had made them do.
The fucker deserved everything that he got.
“Selma wasn’t…involved in the operation?”
“Not that I’ve been able to trace. But I think that she was almost certainly raped by Molktov, or simply didn’t realize what he was, and then once she did, didn’t want anyone to know who Jordan’s dad was.”
“Smart.”
“Yeah, we both know that solitary confinement doesn’t stop these guys from communicating….God, Jake, if Viktor finds out that he has a son…”
“It won’t come to that,” Jacob said firmly, choosing to believe that information like that could never get back to Pelican Bay. He had to focus on one problem at a time and, at least for now, that problem was stopping a serial killer.