Free Doom with a View by Victoria Laurie Page B

with specific focus on the Ohio State campus. I want you to pay close attention to anyone who was perhaps acting suspicious around Kyle Newhouse who might also have been big enough to overpower him. Agents Walters and Stillwell, I’m assigning you the task of going deeper into the three abductees’ past. You’re looking for any possible connection that might link them. Continue to discreetly ask family and friends until you hit on a likely connection.
    “Also, as I understand it, we still need access to two of the kids’ laptops. I know you’ve had remote access to their blogs and MySpace pages, but we need to search through their hard drives and maybe we can locate a specific Web site or online video game they frequented. You’ll need to do a thorough profile of each individual, where they shopped, where they ate, if they belonged to a gym, or had any special memberships. I want travel records of each individual in the past year. Let’s see if perhaps they all visited a specific location for spring break, and maybe that’s our missing link.”
    My radar buzzed and I made sure to nod my head vigorously. Gaston noticed and asked, “Something about what I just said feel right to you, Ms. Cooper?”
    “Yes,” I said. “I really like that spring-break idea. You might be on to something there, sir.”
    Gaston gave me a crooked smile and continued. “Agent Harrison, I am sending you back to Michigan. I want to reinterview Bianca Lovelace’s family, as she was our first victim. You will take Ms. Cooper and Ms. Fusco with you, and please allow them to participate.”
    Out of the corner of my eye I could see Harrison’s head snap up and his posture stiffen. Candice seemed to notice too, because she smiled broadly at him. When he glared back at her, I was actually surprised that she resisted the urge to stick out her tongue and say, “Na-ner, na-ner, naaaa-ner!”
    Gaston continued, ignoring the unspoken argument traveling back and forth across the table. “Ms. Cooper, I sincerely appreciate your participation in this investigation. I would like you to personally call me after you meet with Bianca’s family and inform me of any further impressions you might hit on. However, as you know, this is a particularly delicate situation. I would prefer that you not share your abilities or your impression that Bianca has died with her family. We would like to wait for solid evidence confirming her condition one way or another before we upset her family.”
    “Of course, sir,” I said.
    “And I would also like to reemphasize the point not to discuss the other missing teens with the Lovelaces. Again, the longer we can work this case without causing a panic, the better it works in our favor.”
    “I understand, sir,” I said.And then another thought occurred to me and I checked my radar. “But, one more thing I’d like to mention, if I may?”
    “Of course,” he said.
    “There will be one more victim.”
    The room became very quiet and I could feel all eyes focus on me. “Do you have a sense of when?” Gaston asked.
    “Soon, sir,” I said quietly. “Very soon. And I also believe that Leslie is almost out of time as well. I’d give her no more than a month—tops.”
    Gaston sighed heavily and motioned to the group. “You heard her, gentlemen. Let’s get to work.”
    Everyone got up from the table at once and began to file out the door. Harrison was the first to exit, his fury palpable. Gaston motioned to Candice and me to hang back while everyone else left. When we were alone, he closed the door and began to speak in soft tones. “I’m sorry to have to pair you with Agent Harrison,” he began. “But my hands are tied here.”
    I understood that Gaston meant that the internal politics made it very difficult to exclude Harrison from the case. Something that, I suspected, didn’t sit well with the SAC. “It’s fine, sir, really,” Candice said with a smirk. My sense was that she was relishing the opportunity