Baltimore 03 - Did You Miss Me?

noted. What else do we know?’
    ‘Kimberly MacGregor may have set Ford up,’ Deacon said, registering surprise around the table. ‘She had a felony record for theft. SA Montgomery dealt her down. And her younger sister went missing last night. Out of Philly.’
    This sent up a flurry of exclamations. ‘That changes things,’ Hyatt said.
    ‘And underscores Deacon’s question on the timing of the abduction,’ Bo added.
    Deacon looked satisfied, but wisely said nothing.
    Joseph frowned as a fact clicked in his mind. ‘Dr Brodie, did that Pennsylvania trooper’s theft report have an address?’
    Brodie checked her phone. ‘Email says . . .’ She looked up. ‘Broomall, PA.’
    Deacon’s fingers were flying over his phone. ‘Google says it’s just outside Philly.’
    ‘Not a coincidence,’ JD said. ‘How long have Kim and Ford been dating?’
    Joseph checked his phone again and smiled. His father had come through. The email was short. Screen shots you asked for are attached . Ford met Kim at a frat party in early September . Let me know if you need anything else . Love, Dad .
    ‘They met in September at a frat party,’ Joseph said. ‘Daphne knew about her, but had never met her. I’ve got his Facebook posts here. We’ll read through those, and ask around the dorm, see if any of the students can add any detail. Let’s search Kim’s dorm room top to bottom. We need to know everything about her. Let’s talk possible places they could hide Ford, Kimberly, and her sister. I think the Millhouses have him, but not at their principal properties. Where else might they hide him?’
    ‘If they haven’t already killed them,’ Brodie said quietly. ‘They’ve shown themselves to be ruthless and capricious. They have a taste for revenge. And they’ve made no ransom demands. Why wouldn’t they kill them?’
    Why indeed? ‘Then we’d better hurry,’ Joseph said. ‘The search of the Millhouses’ primary address and their business turned up nothing. JD, can you search for any other properties owned by the Millhouses and their relatives?’
    JD nodded. ‘Did we get their computers?’
    ‘Yes, but they’re encrypted, unfortunately. IT’s working on breaking into their network so check with them. Deacon, give a call to the trooper who reported his weapons stolen. Find out if he knew Kimberly. And pull up her felony conviction. She stole some jewelry, right? Find out how she took it.’
    ‘Her arrest report said she was with a cleaning service,’ Deacon said. ‘But I’ll get more info on her employment history. I may need to drive up to Philly.’
    ‘Plan on it. I’ll go with you if I can. I want to talk to MacGregor’s parents. Bo, can you coordinate with the Philly field office? We’ll need to interview witnesses ourselves. And we need to be plugged into the investigation into the little sister’s kidnapping.’
    ‘Consider it done.’
    ‘JD, you’ve also got the dorm. Talk to Ford’s roommate and Kim’s too. I want to know everything about them, especially Kimberly. I want to know who she hangs out with and where. If she set Ford up, she knows the abductor, so uncover any connection she has to Millhouse or his family. And if you find anything involving the little MacGregor girl, call me right away.’
    ‘Okay. I can go to Philly with Novak if I need to dig more.’
    ‘No, the rest of us can travel. You stay close to home. I hear your wife’s about to deliver.’ Joseph lifted a brow. ‘Ruby Gomez said she’s “big as a goddamn house”.’
    ‘Lucy’ll love that,’ JD said dryly. ‘I appreciate not leaving town. Lucy will too.’
    ‘No problem. Moving on to Isaac Zacharias. We have to wait on the new ME to figure cause of death, since it wasn’t the slice across his throat. Quartermaine’s thinking Zacharias was drugged. Probably a mixture, something that would have knocked him down fast, kept him down while Ford and Kimberly were carted off. Given that Zacharias was a surprise, he thinks the killer gave him Ford’s dose.’
    ‘Which was strong enough to kill a two-hundred-pound cop.’ Bo frowned. ‘Was he trying to kill Ford, too?’
    ‘That assumes the drug mixture was the cause of death,’ Joseph said. ‘But it’s a good question. If he meant to kill Ford all along, then why didn’t he?’
    ‘Assuming that he hasn’t,’ Brodie said gravely.
    ‘Which I am, until I know otherwise,’ Joseph replied firmly. ‘There was no weapon found at the scene, but we