Chapter Twelve
Juliana rode with Thomas, of course. She’s already called the Agency and listed him officially as a consultant on the case. It wasn’t really necessary as the Wardens could contribute to any case they felt fell under their purview, but it would keep Ben from thinking Thomas was there to take over.
Taft and Jeremiah were in the SUV directly behind them. Four marked police cars brought up the rear. Anyone who saw their procession would know they were serious and that was the point. She wanted to make a statement, to announce their presence. After all, they could have taken a portal to the property but then the neighbors wouldn’t know there was a show to watch. If they didn’t find anything on the property to connect Gregory George to the crimes, maybe one of the neighbors would talk. At this point, she would take any help she could get.
They arrived at the farm and drove up the long, curved drive, dust swirling in their wake. Thomas parked when they reached the end of the gravel. Juliana stepped out of the car and surveyed her surroundings. At the end of the drive to the left was a nondescript, low-profile ranch house. A large barn and stable stood on the right about a hundred yards away from the main house. A curtain moved in one of the front windows.
The group gathered around her. “I want a lead in each location. Jeremiah and I will take the house. Thomas, take a couple of the officers and search the barn. Taft, you take a team to the stables. Look for anywhere he could have hidden the children, trap doors and the like, then come help us at the house. It will take the longest to search. Don’t go in until I signal or you’ll be fried by the wards. There’s a ward breaker on standby if we need them.”
The teams split to head to their respective locations. Juliana pounded on the front door. “This is the Agency. Open up.”
The door opened half a second later, telling her they’d been waiting for the knock. A small woman stood on the other side of the open door. When she scowled but didn’t say anything Juliana handed her the warrant.
“Mrs. George, I’m Realm Walker Norris with the Agency. As you can see, we have a warrant to search the property and all buildings on it. Is your son at home?”
“Why don’t you people just leave my boy alone? He hasn’t done anything wrong. Every time something happens, you all come up bothering Greg. Can’t you just let him live his life?”
“That’s enough, Carol.” A lean man came to stand behind her. Exhaustion and grief lined his face. He took the warrant from her hand. “Go sit at the kitchen table.” Amazingly, the woman complied with little effort on her husband’s part. He watched her move deeper into the house and scanned the paper in his hand. “Figured we’d be seeing y’all when those kids started disappearing. Surprised it took this long actually. Give me a minute and I’ll shut down the wards.”
When he’d completed the process, Juliana turned on her gift to scan the house and other buildings. All three were free of magic. She waved her hand through the air above her head in a circular motion as she shut down her gift. The other two teams moved into their assigned buildings.
“Thank you for your cooperation, Mr. George. If you and your wife would sit at the kitchen table while we go through the house, we’ll try to disturb as little as possible.”
“Name’s Jeff and I know what my boy is and I know what he ain’t. He didn’t kill those kids, Walker.” With that, he turned and headed for the kitchen to join his wife at the table. She hoped for their sake that Jeff George was correct and his son wasn’t a serial killer and kidnapper. For the children who were already missing, she hoped he was. Jeremiah and she both snapped on a pair of gloves. The two officers that stayed with them waited for orders.
“Is Gregory home?” Juliana asked again.
Mr. George shook his head. “He’s working, but he’s on his way home. I called and told him you were here.”
Well, that would save them the trouble of picking him up later, she guessed. Provided he didn’t take the opportunity to take off. Then they might never find him. “Which room is his?”
“Down the hall, second door on the left.”
She motioned for Jeremiah to stay where he could keep an eye on them and turned to the officers who had followed them in. “Go out and sweep the grounds. Report anything suspicious.” They nodded and went back outside. They could have helped her search the house, but they’d have plenty of help to do that before long. Plus, she liked to take the initial look with her own eyes. Wanted to see everything as it was before it had been disturbed.
She eased the door to the bedroom open, uncertain what she’d find. What did a serial killer’s room look like anyway? What she didn’t expect to see was a room so neat and plain. A twin bed stood along one wall. It was so neatly made, she wouldn’t have been surprised to find hospital corners on the sheets if she checked. Only one picture adorned the wall, a black-and-white image of a tree in a snow-covered field.
There was nothing personal here, nothing that indicated this room was lived in. She moved into the room and started with that neatly made bed. Yep, she was right, hospital corners. She lifted the mattress and found a couple of skin mags. Her lip curled but she ignored them and lifted the box springs. A quick inspection revealed nothing hidden in the frame but a small bag of weed. She took it out and tossed it on the bed. It was enough to book him on, but not enough to hold him. He’d probably get a fine at most.
She moved from the bed to the dresser, opening each drawer and moving aside the contents to search. In addition, she ran her hands under each one searching for anything that shouldn’t be there. Finding nothing, she then pulled them out and checked behind them. Still nothing.
Next, she grabbed the chair that sat next to the bed. She took it to the closet and stepped up on the seat. She ran her hands over the blankets and pillows on the shelf. Tucked between them she found a shoebox. She pulled it off the shelf and opened it. Here were the personal touches that should have been on display around the room. Photographs and old letters filled the box. She flipped through the contents, finding mostly pictures of him as a teenager and old school pictures of his friends. The letters ranged from birthday cards from a grandmother to love notes from a girlfriend folded in intricate patterns. Nothing there to connect him to the children.
“He’s here,” Jeremiah called from the front room.
“Be right there.”
She sat the box back on the shelf and inspected the ceiling for any kind of attic access. Nothing. She hopped off the chair just as she heard the front door slam open.
“What the hell you think you’re doin’ in my house?” came the shout from what could only be Gregory George.
She stepped from the room to find Jeremiah with his arms crossed over his chest. He frowned at the man in question. “I suggest you drop the attitude and sit your ass down. We’ve got a warrant.”
“And what are you going to do if I don’t sit? You gonna make me? That’s harassment.” George leaned forward to get in Jeremiah’s face, which was a feat considering George wasn’t any taller than his mother. He was five foot seven at the most.
“No,” Jeremiah said with a smile as he looked up and saw Juliana standing in the hallway. “She will.”
George turned and looked her over from head to toe. “You think some damned cunt is going to make me do anything I don’t want to do? Think again.”
A gasp came from the table where his parents still sat. There were few insults that Juliana hated more than that one. Still, she ignored him and his folks and looked at Jeremiah. “Bedroom’s clean. Mostly.”
“Don’t you ignore me. I want to know what the hell you think you’re doing here.”
Her eyes flicked back to their suspect. She took a moment to really look at him. The tidiness of the bedroom did not match the man in front of her. Dirt stained his face and colored his hands. His hair was months overdue for a cut and his beard was unkempt and wild. He wore a red flannel shirt open over brown overalls. Fury marred his features. “Answer me, cunt.”
She strode forward and got in his space, because he wasn’t the type of man to back away from a woman. Even one as pissed as her. “We’re searching, Mr. George. Because we have a
search
warrant. And we will continue until we are done searching. Now, you can either shut up and sit at that table as Agent Grace suggested or we can arrest you right now and complete the search without you on the premises.”
“I—”
She leaned forward farther. “One more word, Mr. George. Just one more word.” It wasn’t necessary for her to complete the threat; the menace radiating off her was enough to convey the idea.
The front door opened but she didn’t look to see who entered. She kept her eyes locked on the man in front of her waiting for him to make his decision. He’d already proven he was stupid; she just wasn’t certain how stupid.
“I suggest you do as the lady says.” Thomas’s voice was a low rumble that held enough anger to make hers seem like an idle threat.
George turned to look at Thomas and her eyes followed. His presence filled the room. It was obvious he didn’t like walking in on her going toe to toe with a suspect. Two uniformed officers stood behind him, just inside the door.
George grumbled under his breath and then dropped into a chair at the table with his parents. His mother was sniffling and wiping her eyes.
“Look what you did. You made your mother cry,” Juliana chastised. “Why don’t you quit being a dick and cooperate?”
“I don’t have to do nothin’, you c—”
Thomas pointed one long finger at their suspect. “Don’t. Just don’t.”
George snapped his mouth shut but continued to fume.
Thomas watched a moment longer then turned to her. “It was an easy search. We didn’t find anything. Where do you want us now?”
“You’re with me,” she said instantly, her face heating as he smiled. She pointed at the officers behind him. “You two are on the family. If he gives you any shit, just arrest his ass.”
“What’s the charge?” they asked.
“Possession.” The only reason she hadn’t already arrested him was she hoped to add murder and kidnapping to that. She also wanted him on scene in case she came across something that needed immediate answers. “Jeremiah, we’re going to the basement. You take the other bedroom.”
“Gregory, you promised,” the mother all but wailed. The noise grated on Juliana’s nerves. She’d be glad to be away from the woman.
“They’re lying. They didn’t find nothin’.” George scowled at her.
“Did you really think we wouldn’t check the box springs?” she asked and had the enjoyment of watching that scowl slip just a little bit. “And those magazines, Gregory. For shame.”
She left him at the mercy of his mother and headed into the basement.
“You’re evil,” Thomas whispered in her ear as she flipped on the light for the basement. She managed to suppress the shiver that threatened at the feel of his breath on her skin. Instead, she succeeded in merely smiling and heading down the stairs. Thomas followed her, their feet thudding on the wooden steps. Shelves full of boxes lined one wall. She sighed. It would take them forever to go through all this.
* * *
Thomas wrapped his hand around the back of her neck and gave her a little squeeze. “It’s not as bad as it looks. If he’s been getting into one of these boxes repeatedly, we’ll be able to tell. Odds are he wouldn’t go to the trouble. Let’s have a look around.”
She leaned into his hand then turned and grinned at him. “In that case you get the boxes. I’ll get the rest.”
He tilted his head back and laughed. “All right,
Joya
. I’ll take the boxes.”
There was a thin layer of dust that made it easy to see none of them had been moved in a while. Still he checked every section, feeling between boxes to see if something had been hidden. He also inspected the boxes themselves to see if there was any evidence of them being opened and resealed.
“Over here,” Juliana called. He turned to find her stretching to reach something on top of the ductwork. She’d found a small step stool somewhere and it rocked under her feet. He hurried over and placed his hands around her waist to steady her. “Got it.”
He released her and stepped back so she could get down. She had a book with a burgundy cover clasped in her hand. It looked like an album of some sort. She wiped the remnants of dust and cobwebs off with her sleeve, though most of it appeared to have accumulated from the area around it, not from disuse.
“I caught a glimpse of it from across the room.” She opened the book to reveal dozens of newspaper articles pasted inside. There were several about George’s original trial and subsequent release. These gave way to articles about missing children. Some of them the children on this case. And finally, the articles on the murders. Juliana flipped through slowly at first and then more quickly—back and forth through the book as she scanned all the pages. “Thomas, some of these are on the kids we just found out about. And they’re original clippings.” She pointed at a couple of the articles.
It appeared they may have found their Thief and this would all come to an end. And finally, his mate would be able to relax. To dream about something other than missing children. But he knew better than to put too much weight behind the evidence. Until the man was actually locked up and children quit disappearing, the case wasn’t over. “Sounds like enough to take him in to me.”
“I hope to all the gods he’s the son of a bitch we’ve been looking for.” She closed the book with a gentle hand and headed up the stairs.
Chapter Thirteen
Without saying a word, Juliana walked over and sat the book on the kitchen table. George’s face fell and his arms unfolded. He looked between her and the album. Color flooded his face and he clenched and unclenched his hands. “Gregory George, you are under arrest for possession and suspicion of kidnapping and murder.”
She motioned for one of the uniforms to take him into custody and turned away. She ignored the venom he spewed at her back. Thomas was not so inclined. She put both hands on his chest and pushed him backward as he tried to head past her to the table. He frowned down at her. “It’s not worth it,” she told him and she meant it. George could call her anything he wanted. All that mattered is that he might be the Thief and they could save those children.
The only thing that bothered her was they had yet to find any place where he might have hidden them. If he was their perp, where were the kids?
They shoved him into the back of a squad car to take him to the fifth precinct. It was closer than the Agency and it was also where Leo happened to be, as they were questioning the other suspects. Their car and Taft’s SUV followed the marked car all the way to the precinct.
When they arrived, Thomas hopped out without saying a word. Nor did he come around and open her door. Not that she needed him to; it was just out of character for him. In fact, he usually got annoyed when she didn’t allow him to do it. Instead, he made a beeline for the police car holding their suspect and yanked him out of the backseat.
Her lips twisted in a smile as she climbed out of the car and made her way to them. George opened his mouth as she approached and Thomas shook him by his grip on the handcuffs. Their prisoner grimaced. “You say one word to her and you’ll have a whole new understanding of police brutality.”
“You can’t do that,” George said. “That’s illegal.”
“Watch me.” With that, Thomas shoved him along in front as they walked into the station. Juliana stayed right behind and the other two brought up the rear. The noise in the station died down as they escorted him through the building to an empty interrogation room. Officers stopped to stare as they walked past, each of them knowing that this might be the man they’d all been looking for.
After they’d placed him at the table in the room, they left a uniform to keep an eye on him. Juliana, Thomas, Jeremiah, Taft and Leo all gathered in the viewing room next door.
* * *
Juliana watched the suspect through the window and Thomas watched her, waiting for her to declare the next step. She turned and leaned against the sill. “I want Taft to handle the interrogation.”
Surprise straightened Thomas’s spine. He’d expected her to handle the questioning herself or, failing that, to send him in. Even Jeremiah would be a better choice than the detective. Everyone in the room outranked him. Never mind the fact that Juliana had never worked with him before. She had no knowledge of his abilities. Whereas, she knew the rest of them, had watched them work. Knew of their capabilities. Why was she putting so much faith in this untried detective?
She must have seen the look on his face because she shook her head and explained. “He made it very clear at his house that he does not like women. Or maybe just me. Regardless, nothing is going to be accomplished by me going in there except him being even more defensive and pissed off than he already is.” She waved a hand through the air. “And Thomas, no offense, but I’m pretty sure threatening the suspect with brutality is not the best way to begin a trusting relationship with him. We need someone he might actually talk to. Taft is the only one besides Leo he didn’t interact with at the house. And Leo’s talents lie elsewhere.”
“Can you handle it, Detective?” Thomas asked quietly. He wasn’t about to let his mate’s investigation get screwed because this man bungled the interrogation.
“Yeah. I can handle it, Warden.” The detective bit off every word.
“You better get to it then, Taft,” Juliana said before Thomas could reply. He let it go in deference to her being in charge of the case. That didn’t mean he still wasn’t irritated with the man’s arrogance and attitude. “Leo’s going in with you.”
“I don’t need any help.”
Juliana kept her eyes locked with his. “I wasn’t asking if you did. I was telling you that Leo’s with you.”
Thomas loved when she got bossy and domineering. As long as it wasn’t directed at him, it was incredibly attractive.
The detective muttered and scowled. “Come on then.” He stepped through the door, waiting until Leo was with him before walking into the room next door.
Juliana grabbed a stool from along one wall and placed it in front of the window. Thomas moved up behind her and smiled when she leaned back against him. He resisted the urge to wrap an arm around her torso. Barely. He put his hands in his pockets to keep from touching her.
* * *
Thomas was warm against her back and she allowed herself to just enjoy it. She kept her eyes on what was going on in the other room. Leo stood in a corner trying to remain out of sight. He wanted the man to forget he was there, something that wasn’t going to happen if George could see him.
Taft took the chair opposite the suspect so his back was to the viewing room. “I’m Detective Taft.”
“And I give a shit because?” George slouched in his seat, tipping the chair back.
“You know we found the book.”
“Yeah, so?”
“Yeah so? That’s the best you can do?” Taft mocked.
George shrugged. “They interest me is all, those stories. Ain’t no crime in that.”
“What kind of sick bastard is interested in kids getting kidnapped and killed?” Taft asked, voicing her own thoughts.
George gave a small smile. “You’re interested in it, ain’t ya? Besides everyone needs a hobby. Mine’s collecting crime stories from the paper that I find interesting.”
Taft smacked the table with both of his hands causing her to jump. “We know what you’ve done. Just come clean and tell us the details.”
“I told you. I ain’t done nothing.”
“That’s not what I think. I think you missed stealing little kids, that you get off on it, so as soon as you got out you started doing it again.” Taft pounded on the table again.
“I never took no kids. I was exonerated.” George over pronounced the last word as if he wasn’t entirely sure of its usage.
“You weren’t exonerated. You got off on a technicality.” Taft paced the length of the room. “No, you missed taking those kids so you started up again. Only this time, no one would buy them from you, you having such a public reputation and all. So you started killing them.”
George leaned forward. “I’m telling you, I didn’t take no damn kids. You don’t know what the hell you’re talking about.”
Taft sat back down. “Oh, see, I think I do. You took them, you hid them and then you killed them. And you clipped those articles out of the paper and made yourself a scrapbook because you get off on it.”
“You’re wrong, I didn’t do it.” George’s voice took on a panicked edge. “I can prove I didn’t do it.”
Juliana leaned forward, laid her hand against the glass.
“Prove it, how?” Taft asked.
“I’m always at home or at work. Check with my boss, if I weren’t at work, I was home with my folks. Just ask them.”
Taft snorted. “Your parents aren’t exactly what I call a reliable alibi.”
Juliana rapped on the window with her knuckles. Taft glanced over his shoulder, then turned back to George. “I’ll be back in a minute,” he said. Taft and Leo came back into the viewing room. She got off the stool and faced them.
“So what do you think?” she asked Leo.
He shrugged. “There were so many lies flying around in there I couldn’t begin to tell you. Every time he denied taking the children it was a lie, but he could have been talking about the ones from the other case. And the detective’s questions were worded poorly. He kept saying he knew when he knows nothing of the sort, he’s guessing, so those all registered as lies as well. If we asked more specific questions, I could maybe get a better read.”
“All right, go back in and try again. Ask specific questions about specific children.”
Taft grunted but stormed out of the room without saying anything. Leo gave her a little smile and followed after him. She watched as they reentered the interrogation room.
They resumed their original positions, Taft in the chair and Leo leaning against the wall in the corner.
“All right, let’s try this again,” Taft said. “Do you have any knowledge of the kidnappings and murders that have been attributed to the individual known as the Thief?”
George leaned forward in his chair. “No.”
Leo shook his head though it could have been to indicate a lie or a crappy question. Of course George had knowledge of the crimes; he kept a scrapbook of them.
“Did you take the twins from the New Hope mall?” Taft asked.
Juliana leaned forward.
“No,” George answered.
Leo looked at the mirror and nodded once. Shit, that meant he was telling the truth.
“Did you take Cassie Richards from the swing set at her school?”
There was a knock at the door of the interrogation room just as George was preparing to answer. The door opened, and a tall man in a dark suit stepped in followed by one of the uniforms. “You’re done, Taft,” the cop said.
“Who the hell is he?” Taft asked.
“I’m Mr. George’s attorney. And if you’d excuse me, I’d like to be alone with my client.”
The uniform escorted George out to one of the attorney rooms. “Shit,” Juliana said and hopped off her stool.
Taft and Leo came back into the room. “Sorry, Jules,” Leo said with a shrug. “Nothing we can do if he’s lawyered up.”
She clenched her teeth and worked the muscle in her jaw. “All right. Check with his job. Compare his schedule to our time line. Shred his alibi and find me somewhere he could be keeping those kids.”
“I just got a text from the tech guys,” Jeremiah piped up. “They want us to swing by.”
“Did they find something on Oliver’s hard drive?”
“They didn’t say, but I don’t know why else they’d be asking for us.”
She looked at Taft and Leo. “You two get to work on that alibi. We’re going to the Agency and then we’ll all meet at the hotel.”
Thomas stayed a step behind Juliana and the elemental as they walked through the halls of the Agency. This was her territory, her place. The turned down a short hall and she opened an unmarked door. “What have you got for me, boys?”
Two men turned their chairs to face the door instead of the large computer monitor they’d been examining. “Hey, Norris. You’re going to love us for this one. It took a while, but we managed to salvage some of the data.”
“Let me see it.”
One of the men punched several keys on a keyboard on the table. An image popped up and filled the monitor. A small girl rocked back and forth on one of the swings. Juliana sucked in a breath. “That’s our girl, but this isn’t the day of the kidnapping. Her hair was down that day. Here it’s in a ponytail.”
The man glanced over his shoulder at them. “Wait for it.”
Several moments later, the camera zoomed in on the child. This went beyond images picked up on a security camera. The ghoul had been actively watching the girl.
“How much of this have you got?” the elemental asked.
“A couple of hours. He really had a thing for that kid.”
“What about the day of the kidnapping?” Juliana asked.
The techs both shook their heads. “We recovered a lot of data, but we haven’t been able to get anything from the day of. I just think it’s not there to retrieve.”
“That makes sense,” Thomas said and his bride looked at him. “Are you going to turn on a camera to record yourself committing a crime?”
She fisted her hand at her side. “We need to find that ghoul.”
* * *
An hour later, they were back in the ballroom. The techs would keep looking for more data despite their belief that it wasn’t there. And Taft and Leo were working on getting George’s schedule from his employer. Meanwhile, she had other things to worry about. She tossed the paper on the table with the ad faceup. “If we’re wrong about Gregory George, that’s where our perp will be tomorrow. There will be too much temptation for him not to be. I want a full squadron of police and agents there. Thomas, if they’re available and willing I’d like the Wardens’ help as well.”
“They’ll help,” he said with a nod.
“Don’t you have to check with someone?” Taft asked.
Thomas just looked at him.
“I’ll start getting things in order with the precinct for that area,” Taft said after a moment when he realized Thomas wasn’t going to say anything.
“And I’ll call Ben, see what we can get lined up,” Jeremiah said. He handed her a small stack of papers. “That’s the M.E.’s report on Kelson.”
“Oh, thanks,” she said, and got instantly distracted flipping through the report.
“Kelson?” Thomas asked.
She pointed to the appropriate section on the boards and he went over to examine them. She watched from the corner of her eye as he moved from that section to the next and then to the next. Like the twins, Sam Kelson had died by suffocation but there was no outward sign of how it had taken place. No bruising around the nose or mouth or on the throat. Nothing inhaled into the lungs. When they’d found the body, all of the teeth had been removed.
Eyes, teeth, skin. Was he trying to piece together a whole body? Juliana frowned and put the report on the table beside her. She looked between the pictures of the four dead children. There was something there, something big that she was missing. Finally, she walked over and took the twins pictures off the board, followed by Sam Kelson and Timothy Pruett.
She laid them side by side on the table and grabbed a marker from the mug beside her. She tapped it against her chin as she examined the photos again. First the twins, with their ethereal fae beauty. Pale, white-blond hair and pale skin and those brown eyes looking out at her. She circled the eyes in both pictures. Next, Sam Kelson with his red hair and sharp-toothed grin. She circled the smile. Finally Timothy Pruett. It was a school picture. His dark hair was a mess and he had glasses perched on the end of his nose. His arms were just barely visible below the sleeves of his T-shirt. Fish scales decorated the skin there. She circled it.