Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

have?’
    ‘A lot,’ Deacon said. ‘But I’ll give you the top four – Kimberly MacGregor’s parents have been trying to reach her since yesterday evening. Seems Kimberly’s fourteen-year-old sister, Pamela, is missing. Philly PD put out an AMBER at ten last night.’
    Joseph truly hadn’t seen that coming. ‘So it is about the girl?’
    ‘Maybe. Second item – Kimberly has a record. Felony theft. She was cleaning houses and helped herself to a diamond ring. Guess who the prosecutor was?’
    Joseph’s heart sank. ‘Not Daphne.’
    ‘Yep,’ Deacon said. ‘Didn’t she recognize the girl?’
    ‘She probably would have, but Kimberly didn’t want Ford to introduce them. He told his mother about her, but asked for a little space.’
    ‘Hm. Shouldn’t the bodyguard have checked her out?’ Deacon asked.
    ‘Somebody in Maynard’s organization definitely should’ve, since Ford was their responsibility to protect. That Maynard didn’t mention that Kim had a record, especially given the connection to Daphne, makes me think that he didn’t know.’
    ‘I totally stand on my “Not much of a bodyguard” statement from before.’
    Joseph sighed. ‘I’m actually inclined to agree with you. Whether Maynard’s group didn’t bother to check or somebody did check and somehow fucked it up, I don’t know. But they should have had that information. Not knowing might have cost Isaac Zacharias his life.’ What a waste . ‘What’s the third item?’
    ‘We dumped Ford’s and Kimberly’s cell phones. Kim got a text at seven last night.’
    Joseph checked his notes. ‘She told Ford about the movie about fifteen minutes later, according to Ford’s Facebook post.’
    ‘How’d you get access to his Facebook page? I couldn’t guess his password.’
    ‘I didn’t. One of the other interns at my father’s company is Ford’s Facebook friend. He showed the post to my father this morning when Ford failed to pick him up for work. Ford posted that he wished Kim had given him more notice about the movie, because he had to bail on plans to watch the hockey game on TV with the guys.’
    ‘The text to Kimberly’s cell came with a large data attachment.’
    ‘A photo,’ Joseph murmured. ‘Of her abducted sister, maybe?’
    ‘That’d be my guess.’
    ‘Hell, she set Ford up. What’s number four?’
    ‘Ford’s cell phone record showed a text was sent to his mother at ten this morning.’
    Joseph frowned. ‘ This morning? Are you sure? What the hell?’
    ‘I’m sure. There’s been no other activity on either phone, Ford’s or Kimberly’s. Both phones are turned off, not responding to pings.’
    Joseph’s neck tensed. ‘Did you get a location on that last text?’
    ‘Yes. I’m there now. It’s an alley a few blocks from the courthouse. Nobody here but me. I texted you the address.’
    ‘Why didn’t you tell me that one first?’ Joseph demanded, exasperated.
    ‘The facts flowed more logically my way. Should I wait for you?’
    ‘No!’ Joseph barked, then took a breath, calmed his voice. ‘No. Start searching.’
    ‘Good, because that’s what I did. I found a backpack and that’s it. No ID.’
    ‘I’ll be there as soon as I can.’ Joseph hung up and re-joined the others. ‘We have another missing person – Kimberly’s younger sister. Dr Brodie, I need a taser fire scenario that assumes Kimberly knew the abduction would occur.’
    Brodie’s face fell. ‘Don’t tell me she set him up.’
    ‘For the missing sister,’ Ruby murmured.
    ‘Possibly,’ Joseph said. ‘Probably. Dr Quartermaine, if you could provide an analysis of any drugs in the victim’s system as soon as possible, I’d appreciate it.’
    ‘You think Zacharias was using?’ Ruby asked.
    ‘No, I think that’s how the attacker kept him down.’ Joseph needed to get to Novak, but the scene was cooking in his mind and he needed to get it straight. ‘He planned to hit Ford first, but the taser would have kept him down for thirty seconds at the outside.’
    Tasers used by police didn’t incapacitate as long as those used by civilians. Police needed the suspect quiet only long enough to cuff him. Civilians needed time to escape.
    ‘Based on his firing skill,’ Brodie said, ‘I’d assume that the attacker knew this.’
    ‘Agreed. He needed something to knock Ford out that acted fast – before the taser effects wore off – and lasted for as long as it took to transport them.’
    ‘Not many things act that fast