“I’ll see what I can do.”
Then he turns on his heel and continues toward the group gathered under the bright lights up ahead.
Kate waits for me to catch up.
“Thanks,” she states simply, falling into step beside me.
I shrug it off.
“Your point was valid.”
Then I put a hand in the small of her back and change the subject.
“It’ll be an ugly scene.”
The look she spears me with in response to my warning is hard as she moves away from my touch.
“Don’t worry on my account. I’ve seen my share of those.”
A good reminder not to underestimate this woman. She may be sweet sighs and soft curves in bed, but out here she’s all business.
Opal
Holy shit.
If possible, the up-close images displayed on the large overhead screen in the Lexington FBI’s situation room are even more disturbing than the actual scene itself. I already had a problem keeping a straight face there.
I was at a safe distance and only got glimpses of Krebs’s body, which was mangled and deformed from the fall, but these shots are up close, showing every single one of his extensive injuries.
Not the least of which was his almost pulverized head.
The reason the FBI’s Lexington Field Office was picked for a briefing was because it’s central, and large enough to house the many different agencies now involved.
I was frankly surprised GEM was invited to sit in. I’m not sure whether it was at the CARD team’s suggestion or if Jacob managed to pull some strings, but here we are. Pearl isn’t here—she’s cooped up in an office in Louisville with FBI techs—but Onyx is, sitting a couple of chairs down from me.
It sounds like we’re to be part of an official, two-tiered task force.
The CARD unit, with GEM’s support, is to concentrate on locating and recovering the missing children, while the Lexington FBI—with support and the resources of the main FBI offices in Louisville—along with the various local law enforcement agencies, will focus on the criminal aspect of the investigation. Of course, the objectives will overlap in places, which is why Matt and SAC Greg Walker will be in continuous contact.
We’ve been listening to Matt relaying the early findings of the Estill County coroner, who was able to take away from the state of Krebs’s body, which had been in full rigor, his death occurred at least fourteen, but possibly as long as twenty hours prior.
FBI agents confirmed a substantial amount of blood near the trail and found a tree branch in the underbrush nearby with evidence to suggest it was used as a club to bash Krebs’s head in.
It’s clear an accidental death is off the table.
“Homicide,” SAC Walker confirms. “That makes two, that we know of anyway. The second one is Georgia Braxton, whose body was found last week on the banks of the Kentucky River in Woodford County. Let’s make sure that count doesn’t go up.
“We have a forensics team going over the property near Irvine and the house in Hardin County, and we’re centralizing any and all evidence collected at the FBI lab in Louisville. Josh Kendrick, aka Mason Kramer, is our number one focus at this point. A profile of him—courtesy of Jacob Branch of GEM—is attached to your handouts. This morning we exercised a warrant on his house in Lanark and are in the process of assessing what we have in terms of useful evidence. Agent Driver and myself will be responsible for distributing any new information that becomes available to our respective teams.”
The burly, older man shoves his glasses back up his nose and with a serious expression scans the room.
“I’m sure I don’t need to point out the urgency of this case or the need to be discreet in our investigation. However, there are children missing, which always makes for a juicy front-page story. Already, this morning, our team at the Lanark house had to chase off a nosy reporter. Frankly, I’m surprised there haven’t been news vans parked outside The Youth Center yet, but I guess we’ve been lucky so far. The less media involvement, the more efficiently we can do our job.”
“By chance were you able to get the name of the reporter?” I find myself asking, instantly regretting it when every eye in the situation room turns my way.
Walker peers at me over his dark-rimmed glasses, holding my eyes long enough to have me squirm in my seat before he pulls a notebook from his inside jacket pocket, flipping through the pages.
“Lee Remington,” he finally says, his eyes coming back to me. “A freelance reporter. Any particular reason you’re asking?”
I glance over at Mitch, who nods at me and I turn back to Walker.
“When we spoke with Krebs’s ex-wife, Cassandra Hogan, yesterday, she mentioned being accosted by a reporter about Krebs’s involvement with The Youth Center.”
That seems to ramp up the interest.
“You don’t say?” Walker comments.
I’m grateful when Mitch takes over.
“She was upset and blew the guy off. Krebs apparently had a bit of a history with young girls, and Ms. Hogan was forced to sign an NDA as part of their divorce to get custody of her children. She wasn’t happy to find out he was involved with a youth center and decided to break the agreement when she discovered why we were there. All she was able to tell us about the reporter is she thought his first name was Lee.”
“I think we need to have a word with Remington,” Walker states. “I’d like to know why he is sniffing around.”
SIXTEEN
Opal
“I need a laptop.”
I feel Mitch’s eyes on me.
“You can use mine when we get to the hotel.”
Right. His hotel, where the remnants of my belongings are. At least I’ll be able to put on some clean clothes, maybe use his bathroom for the quick shower I desperately need. After last night’s activities in Mitch’s bed and this morning’s trek in the hills, I’m starting to smell rank.
If I had my truck, I could whip home, check my desktop, use my own bathroom, and take a moment to gather my thoughts. So much has happened, I feel I need a moment to process it all and decide where to go from here. But, to my knowledge my Silverado hasn’t been found yet, and until I ask Jacob to get me that rental, I’ll have to contend with driving around with Mitch.
Not that it’s a hardship, necessarily, but after last night the man is even more of a distraction, and if I want to find those kids, I’ll need to keep my wits about me.
Also, I don’t want Mitch looking over my shoulder when I try to dig up information on Lee Remington. SAC Walker was clear when he said he’d be looking into Remington’s interest in The Youth Center himself when I offered to do it, but I’m used to doing things myself and on my own timeline.
Remington has to know something that prompted him to start looking into the center and Krebs in particular. I want to know what that is. Maybe he talked to one of the kids at some point. I should get in touch with Brian too, see if the reporter approached him at any time.
However, Mitch is a federal agent, he’s going to want to play this by the book when I feel the need to go off-script. We’re no closer to knowing where those missing children are than we were before, and God knows what they are being put through while we are juggling proper procedure and respecting jurisdiction.