Russell Blake - Silver Justice

At ten years old, Kennedy was frighteningly smart and quick to read people, but with a snotty smart-aleck bent.

In other words, very much like Silver had been as a child.

She supposed that the universe chose its punishments fittingly.

Realizing that she was meandering, she gathered the case file, a yellow legal tablet and her trusty iPad, and strode purposefully to the bank of conference rooms at the far end of the work area.

When she opened the door, Supervisory Special Agent Richard Gale looked up from his notebook, pushed back his chair, and stood. Silver took him in with a quick appraising glance — six, maybe six one, black wavy hair cut conservatively, lean and fit, brown eyes. A good-looking man, but Monique had oversold him. Monique found every new potentially-eligible bachelor fascinating, so Silver was hardly surprised.

“Agent Cassidy? Richard Gale from Financial Crimes.”

Richard extended a hand, which she shook firmly before pulling up a seat opposite him.

“Call me Silver. I’m glad you could make it over. I need someone who’s tuned in to the financial industry, who’s familiar with the ins and outs as well as the players. How much do you know about our task force?”

“Just what I was told. You have a serial working on a three-week calendar, apparently taking out financial players. First one a financial planner, second and third hedge fund managers, the latest, this morning’s…well, the pattern seems to fall apart there, right?”

“Yes and no. He was a financial industry software provider. But I don’t see anything obvious in terms of connections.”

“The first two had been sanctioned by the SEC. And this latest one?” Richard asked.

“We’re checking, but first round didn’t show anything. Here’s the file. Go ahead and read through it, and let me know your thoughts,” Silver said, sliding it across the table to him.

“Do you have it in electronic format? That would be way faster. Oh, and it’s Richard.”

He smiled — a kind, warm expression that extended to his eyes. She could have sworn they twinkled. She didn’t see a lot of twinkling in New York. Maybe Monique hadn’t been over-selling after all.

“Sure, but today’s notes won’t be written up for a few hours. Old-fashioned, I know, but that’s how I do it. Pen and paper, then put it in the computer.” She cocked her head. “What’s your background?”

“CPA and JD from Georgetown. Joined the Bureau at twenty-five. Been in the trenches ever since. My specialty is forensic accounting, with an emphasis on fraud. Most of my work involves Wall Street these days, with an occasional corporation thrown in for diversity.”

“Sounds like the skillset we’re lacking. My team has a lot of depth on violent crime and serials but not much on the financial end. I hope you can find something we missed.”

“Let me take a look at the file, and I’ll offer any thoughts that come up.”

“Fair enough. I’ll arrange for you to have a cubicle here while you’re part of the task force. Welcome aboard. Do you have any problem with living arrangements?”

“No. Washington set me up temporarily at one of the Bureau apartments in mid-town.”

“Good. Well, I’ll leave you to it. I need to go update the file on today’s developments. I’ll shoot it to you as soon as I’m done, then come back to see what you make of all this.” Silver rose, gathering her computer.

“I’ll want to pull all of the victims’ financial records and look for anything unusual in them — you never know what you’ll run into when you follow the money. I’ll also research their backgrounds and see if there’s something that could indicate a motive. Right now there doesn’t seem to be much.”

“It’s true. But then again, it’s early in the case.”

“Not for at least four victims.” Richard flipped open the manila file. “The Regulator, huh?”

“Doesn’t have quite the ring of The Terminator, but hey…”

“Let me get to work. Who can I ask if I need something?”

Silver considered Monique, but bit her tongue. “You can give me a buzz. My office is over on the far side, second from the left corner. Extension eighty-eight.”

“Thanks, Silver. Let’s hope something jumps out at me,” he said, nodding towards the file.

Silver involuntarily thought of Monique again, pouncing like a cougar on Richard. The image made her grin to herself. Richard appeared perplexed by the expression on her face, and she banished the thought as she turned to leave. The departure from her usual no-nonsense inner dialogue was no doubt due to stress. Eric’s broadside had thrown her, no question.

“Here’s to hoping,” she said as she let herself out, leaving Richard to digest the data.

“Looks like we have a hunter here,” Special Agent in Charge Brett Matthews said as he read the report on the latest killing. His office was in the corner, on the far side from Silver’s modest one, and he had a window, along with real wood furniture. The perks of power. Then again, he rarely got to go into the field anymore and was chained to a desk most of the time. That wasn’t for Silver. Even as a supervisor she still got to get her hands dirty, which was more her speed.

“Yes, a vigilante type. But what worries me is that he’s not sticking to the same MO. Each time he kills it’s in a different way. That’s unusual.”

“Agreed. If they’re cutters, they stick to the knife. Shooters like guns. But this guy is all over the place.”

Neither had to state the obvious out loud — that the lack of a pattern would make the killer much more difficult to catch.

Brett’s hair had gotten grayer over the last few years. The job could do that to you. As well she knew.

He tossed the manila folder onto his desk and eyed Silver. “I got you the additional resource you wanted. Maybe that will help.”

“Yes, thank you. I just met our new Financial Crimes adjunct. Seems smart. I hope he can put something together here that we’ve missed.”

“He comes highly recommended. Supposedly one of the best. Financial Crimes was reluctant to let him go, even for a short while.” Brett rose from behind his desk and moved to the window to look out over the lower East Side of Manhattan.

“That’s good to know.” Silver hesitated. “We don’t have much to go on here.”

“I got that from the file. Forty-five pages of crime scene descriptions and victim backgrounds but not a lot of meat on the bone. This isn’t going to get solved easily, is it?”

Silver didn’t say anything.

“Just our luck that this kind of nutjob had to show up on our beat. Couldn’t have been in California, where most of the crazies go to play.” Brett turned to face her. “So what’s the next step?”

“By the book. Daily meetings, wait for forensics to come up with anything we can use, pore over any security footage, interview witnesses. But I agree that this one will be more difficult than the usual freeway slasher. All we can do is keep gathering evidence and pray for a break,” Silver said.

“Prayer has proved a lousy strategy for case management.”

“I know. But we don’t have anything solid right now, so all we can do is stick to the routine until something pops up.”

“All right. Thanks for the update. See to it that I get regular status reports. I’ll run interference with the press and the city. You don’t really need them in your hair.”

“I appreciate that, sir.”

Silver stood at the head of the table in the crowded conference room, the day having sped by in a whirlwind. After glancing around to silence the murmured discussion, she introduced Richard to the task force.

Seth launched into a review of the case then mopped his brow and sighed before drawing his conclusions.