Chapter Thirty-Four

The rain over downtown LA had gotten heavier, the sky darker. The drumming of raindrops against the windows of the Police Administration Building sounded like a steamroller driving over endless sheets of industrial bubble wrap, but inside the UVC Unit's office, as Hunter put down the phone, the silence seemed absolute. For several long seconds, no one said a word, but all eyes were settled on the list of torture injuries that Terry Wilford had suffered.

Captain Blake was the first to speak.

‘Just to confirm that we're all on the same page here.' She rounded Hunter's desk to face the picture board again. ‘This is no crazy, once-in-a-lifetime coincidence, right? I mean – the injuries that Victim Two suffered during his torture phase being a carbon copy of the ones that he inflicted onto his own son years ago didn't just happen by chance, did it?'

‘We all know that in our world,' Garcia said, gesturing first at their office then at the Robbery Homicide floor just outside their door, ‘these kinds of coincidences simply don't exist, Captain.' He walked over to the picture board to join her.

‘So this is the killer's motive.' Captain Blake phrased it as a conclusion, not a question. ‘He's going after parents who used to abuse their kids, and he's paying them back in kind and with dividends. We're chasing another goddamn vigilante here.'

‘Maybe,' Hunter said, his eyes moving to the phone on his desk, as if he were waiting for another call.

‘Maybe?' the captain asked, her surprised gaze pinging to Garcia. ‘Isn't it obvious?'

‘Right now, Captain,' Garcia replied. ‘We have a small problem with that vigilante theory.'

‘Which is?'

Garcia indicated the first half of the board. ‘Shaun Daniels. According to the info we have on him, he was never married… never had a kid. No steady girlfriend either. If this killer is going after parents who were violent toward their kids, he doesn't fit the victim profile… not at the moment.'

‘At the moment?' Captain Blake looked truly confused.

‘The info sheet we have on Shaun Daniels,' Hunter took over, ‘is a very basic one. Research gathered it almost three weeks ago after we met with Dr. Hove about the inconsistencies found during his post-mortem.' He indicated on the sheet. ‘Officially, he was never married—'

‘But he might've lived with someone,' Captain Blake quickly caught up.

‘That's what we're hoping for,' Hunter confirmed. ‘After we found those photos in Terry Wilford's apartment earlier today, even before speaking to his son, Carlos and I discussed that same exact "vigilante" theory, Captain. We had no real idea of how long it would take us to get in touch with Joe, but neither of us wanted to wait.' He checked his watch. ‘So on our way back to the PAB, about two hours ago, I called Shannon at Research with new instructions. They're already trying to find all they can on Shaun Daniels's love life. Maybe he wasn't always a loner. Maybe he did have a partner at some point… someone who had a kid.'

Captain Blake's attention moved back to the board, particularly to the list of pre-death injuries that Shaun Daniels's post-mortem examination had revealed.

‘If we're right about this,' she said. ‘If this killer really is mimicking the violence that parents inflicted on their kids, judging by the list of injuries that we have here, then we're talking about severely violent parents. If that's the case, keeping that sort of violence completely under the radar is almost impossible. Someone must know something.'

‘If someone does,' Garcia offered, ‘Research will find them.'