Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

could be hiding behind any one of about a thousand trees. So could Beckett. We’ve got a BOLO on this area, but these are Beckett’s woods. I’m sure he can slip through unseen. It’s making me very nervous.’
    ‘Got it,’ Deacon called, jogging back to where Joseph stood. ‘We’ve got about a twenty by twenty area of cell phone coverage, so we have to stay put.’ He held out his computer for Joseph to see. ‘Meet Doug.’
    ‘Wow,’ Joseph said, studying a sketch so vivid that he half expected Doug to speak. He noted the signature in the corner. ‘T. Ciccotelli. Any relation?’
    ‘My brother, Tino. He did his first police sketches on the victims of the burial site we found. Now he’s in demand all up and down the east coast. When he showed the little girl who witnessed the murder this sketch, she balled up in a fetal position again. So, sadly, we’re reasonably sure it’s close to how he looked – that night anyway.’
    ‘How’s your brother?’ Deacon asked. ‘Sending a little girl back into shock can’t be easy on a guy.’
    ‘He’s okay,’ Ciccotelli said, but he didn’t sound so sure about it. ‘It’s hard on him. Especially when they’re kids. Call me when it’s safe for Sophie to come down. She’ll have her team waiting.’
    Joseph ended the call and Deacon raised his brows in question. ‘His wife’s coming down to map it out for us, but I won’t allow it until we clear these woods of threats. Take your laptop around and show everyone the picture. I want every Fed, cop, EMT, and state trooper on the premises to know who we’re looking for. Thanks, Deacon.’
    Joseph looked around him again, feeling edgy. He’s here . I know he’s—
    His cell phone rang. Brodie . Joseph’s pulse kicked up as he answered. ‘Carter.’
    ‘It’s Brodie. I’m here with JD.’
    Something’s happened , Joseph thought. He could hear it in her voice despite the crappy connection. I’m ready for some good news . ‘What do you have?’
    ‘A name,’ she said with satisfaction. ‘Mitchell Douglas Roberts. I’ve emailed you a photo. He’s five-nine and utterly average.’
    Joseph couldn’t stop the grin from taking over his face. Sketches were great, but photos trumped any day. ‘ Yes . Email it to Deacon, he’s got better reception out here. How did you find him?’
    Brodie sounded like she was grinning too. ‘The third person on the drugstore’s list of people they’d carded for superglue hadn’t opened it yet and we got lucky. It was the one Doug tried to buy and we lifted prints off the cardboard package. Mitchell Douglas Roberts, AKA Doug, was arrested for possession of heroin with intent to distribute six years ago and did three years at North Branch. Last known address was in Miami.’
    ‘We checked him against the database,’ JD said. ‘Father is deceased, mother is Jane Lynch, also deceased. Jane was later remarried – to Hal Lynch. You were right about Hal, Joseph.’
    It didn’t make him happy, though . ‘ Daphne and I figured Hal was the connection. Jane accused her of having an affair with Hal. Daphne tried to tell her it wasn’t true, but she wouldn’t listen. She died the next day. Suicide according to the check Paige ran. So Hal is Doug’s stepfather.’
    ‘Which explains a lot. A son would hate the “other woman” who caused his mother’s suicide,’ Brodie said. ‘Hal was Daphne’s bodyguard. A wife could build all kinds of scenarios about a relationship like that.’
    ‘Seems like Hal has two other sons,’ Joseph said. ‘Paige found one son listed – Matthew, age twenty-five. But Daphne remembers Jane having a five-year-old with her the night she accused her. The boy would be thirteen now.’
    ‘I’ve got the report from Jane’s suicide,’ JD told him. ‘She was found by her five-year-old son, Cole Lynch. God. Poor kid.’
    ‘Hell,’ Joseph said, rubbing his forehead. ‘That ratchets up the emotion even more. The superglue Mitch was buying was for his kid brother’s science project. With the mother dead, Mitch must be the boy’s caregiver. Knowing his brother had found the mother’s body?’ He sighed. ‘JD, were you able to match Mitchell Roberts to any of the properties you’ve been investigating? Now that we know who he is, we need to find where he lives. He could have Kimberly and his sister there.’
    ‘Not yet,’ JD said. ‘We’ll keep looking.’
    ‘If the boy had a science project for school, he has to be registered