Crush - Alan Jacobson [37]
Vail shielded her eyes from the glare of the sun, which was breaking through the clouds. “I have a feeling there are more. Looks like this guy’s been operating in the area for a while. That means he’s comfortable here. Knows his way around, works here, lives here.”
“So the question is,” Dixon said, “where’s his base of operation?”
“That’s a loaded question. We’d need at least an hour to answer it in theory, and a few more victims to answer it in practice.”
Dixon pulled out her car keys. “So for now, we just keep adding to the profile.”
Vail nodded. “Exactly.”
Their phones buzzed simultaneously. Vail pulled her BlackBerry: a text from Brix. They were to report back now to the task force op center.
Lugo turned toward his vehicle. “See you two in fifteen.”
EIGHTEEN
Vail followed Dixon and Lugo into the conference room the Major Crimes task force was currently occupying. A number of suited guests were standing in front of the whiteboard. Redmond Brix was conducting class, gesturing to the group of bureaucrat-looking officials.
“Who are these people?” Vail whispered to Dixon.
Dixon turned her back to Brix and said, “Let’s put it this way. They’re not friendlies.”
Brix looked past the shoulder of one of his guests and locked on Vail and Dixon. Lugo had already taken his seat.
Vail felt the coolness of Brix’s look, even across the room. She and Dixon made their way to the front of the room. Each of the guests turned to face Vail. The men glanced at Dixon—men could never help but look at a beautiful woman—but their gazes returned to Vail. She felt as if she had done something wrong and was facing her accusers.
“This is Roxxann Dixon, investigator with the DA’s office, and Special Agent Karen Vail, FBI,” Brix said. He gestured to the suits and said, “And this is Mayor Prisco, Board of Supervisors president Zimbrowski, and Timothy Nance, District Director for Congressman Emmanuel Church.”
Vail absorbed this information, hoping she hadn’t contorted her face too badly; she wasn’t one to effectively mask her emotions, particularly when it came to bureaucrats and politicians. Trying to behave, she shook each of their hands with a firm greeting.
“This is a pretty impressive showing,” Vail said.
“This is a pretty important case,” Timothy Nance said.
Politically, Vail mused. This is a pretty important case politically.
Brix consulted his watch, then spread both hands. “Why don’t we take our seats, get started.” He held up a sheaf of papers. “I had our names and contact numbers typed up and hole punched. I also had copies made of the autopsy report on Victoria Cameron. Take one of each and pass it on.”
The politicos sat in chairs placed in the front of the room, off to the side. Sheriff Stan Owens walked in, clapped hands with the mayor, said something to Zimbrowski and Nance, then took a seat beside them. Vail sat where she had earlier, at the midpoint of the oblong table, to Brix’s right, who stood at the head. Dixon was beside Vail, followed by Lugo at the far end, facing Brix. Scott Fuller perched himself on the other side, opposite Vail and slightly to her left.
“Everyone’s been introduced to our guests,” Brix said, “so let’s move on. We have a number of follow-ups to cover, but first, let’s hear about this new vic.”
“That’s mine,” Lugo said. He took the papers making the rounds and peeled off a copy of each document as he spoke. “Lived and worked in Vallejo, killed three years ago. Body dumped in an upper class South Vallejo neighborhood. Nothing to go on, case unsolved.”
“Severed breasts and second right toenail removed postmortem,” Vail said. “That provides us with linkage to Victoria Cameron and the unidentified vic from the excavation site. So that gives him three victims that we know of, and there are going to be more.”
“You know that how?” This from the board of supervisors president, Zimbrowski.
“From my years of experience studying serial killers,” Vail said firmly.
“Whoa,” Nance said, leaning forward in his seat. He looked at the room’s door, as if to make sure it