Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

U-turn at the next light. ‘We’re going to the Inner Harbor.’
    ‘Miss MacGregor?’ Paige said excitedly. ‘Kimberly?’
    ‘Apparently so.’
    ‘Are we calling BPD?’ Alec asked.
    Time to work . ‘ Not yet. I don’t want to spook her. If she’s there, we’ll call JD. But I’d like to have a few words with her first.’
    Marston, West Virginia, Thursday, December 5, 2.30 P.M.
    Joseph handed Daphne over to Ford, stunned speechless to see him there. ‘Take her to my Escalade, okay?’ he murmured to her son.
    ‘What happened down there?’ Ford asked, anguished, as his mother clung to him sobbing as if her heart would break.
    Deacon had joined them. ‘I might have known you’d bring him here,’ Joseph said.
    ‘He said he needed to be here for her,’ Deacon said. ‘He was obviously right.’
    ‘I asked you what happened, Agent Carter,’ Ford snapped. He was pale and shaking. How much of that was the cold, emotion, or the simple fact that he should still be in a damn hospital, Joseph didn’t know.
    ‘Heather was alive and coherent. That was her in the ambulance that just left. She asked me to thank you for carrying her purse and setting her free.’
    Ford nodded, tight-lipped. ‘What else?’
    Daphne had drawn a deep breath and was holding it, trying valiantly to regain control of herself. Her sobs were now silent, but her shoulders still shook from their force. Needing to comfort her, Joseph reached for her, but Ford held her tightly, unwilling to let her go. Respecting the boy’s feelings, Joseph cupped her head in his palm, applying a gentle pressure to let her know he was there. Slowly, she calmed.
    Joseph met Ford’s turbulent gaze. ‘Beckett had amassed a collection of Polaroids of his victims. They’re mounted on the wall in chronological order. Your mother’s cousin was the first picture.’ Joseph watched her shoulders stiffen, massaged her head lightly to tell her that she had nothing to fear. He’d say nothing about the Polaroid of the frightened little girl she’d been. ‘Heather was the twenty-sixth. That was very hard to look at.’
    Ford gasped. ‘Twenty . . .  Twenty-six? Oh my God.’
    ‘Why don’t you take her to my SUV, Ford? She’s shaking.’ And so are you, son .
    He handed Ford his keys so that the boy could do as he’d asked. When mother and son were in the backseat of the Escalade, Joseph turned to Deacon. ‘What the hell were you thinking, bringing him down here?’
    ‘That he needed to be here for her and she needed him.’ Deacon’s expression was like stone. ‘Haven’t you ever looked back and wished you could do something differently? Be there for someone you loved who needed you?’
    Joseph immediately thought of Jo. ‘Yes.’
    ‘So have I. And that’s why I brought him down here.’ Deacon looked away, his jaw tight. ‘What didn’t you tell him that I need to know?’
    ‘That Daphne was the second picture.’
    Deacon blanched. ‘God no.’
    ‘Yeah. It was something she couldn’t tell us all together because Ford was there. Beckett told her that she needed more time “to cook”. Yet he still put her picture on his wall like all of his other trophies. She’s wearing clothes, unlike the others. But she’s huddled in a little ball, terrified.’
    Deacon’s eyes narrowed. ‘Beckett needs to die, Joseph.’
    I know . ‘After CSU is done, we’ll have them take the photos down so that we can compare them against the missing children database. We should be able to ID at least some of the victims that way. As long as those photos are visible, the boy doesn’t set foot near the place. Got it?’
    ‘Got it. You see any sign of Kimberly or her sister?’
    ‘No. There could be more hidey holes, though. We should get the tracking dogs out here. And the cadaver dogs. Kelly’s body was found in Ohio and Daphne and Heather escaped. That leaves twenty-three victims. Assuming no one else escaped, he had to put them someplace. We might as well start with the land behind his cabin.’
    ‘Before we start digging, let’s map out the area with ground-penetrating radar. We’ll know what we’ve got and we can preserve the evidence.’
    ‘Makes sense,’ Joseph said. ‘Good thinking, Deacon.’
    ‘Can’t claim credit. Ciccotelli was telling me about it. He used GPR on a case up in Philly – a serial killer’s burial site. It’s how he met his wife. She was the archeologist who did the map. He had nine graves. We could have him beat by a