Lorie O - Strong, Sleek and Sinful

Carl walked out of the bedroom, offering words of support and asking if Eileen and her husband had considered counseling for dealing with the loss of their daughter. Perry let Carl console Eileen and studied the contents of the desk while the computer booted up. His instructions were to remove the hard drive and return to the station, but he wanted to search the computer for what he could find before doing that.

He stood, walking over to the briefcase Carl had placed on Kathleen’s bed, and pulled out a ziplock bag and gloves. Then returning to the computer, Perry gently removed the pictures that had been taped around the monitor, pictures of Kathleen and her friends, different poses, different friends. A few of them were class pictures. Either way, they created a profile on her, helping him know who her group of friends were.

He went through the programs on her computer, took a look at the list of songs that were on it, and opened a few files that seemed to be nothing more than homework assignments.

“Find anything?” Carl entered the room. “Mrs. Long is downstairs if we need her.”

“Nothing yet,” Perry said, closing the ziplock bag and handing it to Carl as he slid back into the chair in front of the computer.

“She gave me a list of pet names, birth dates, anything she could think of to help us with passwords.” Carl didn’t bother handing the list to Perry but pulled out another bag and slipped the paper inside.

When they took the hard drive down to the station, passwords wouldn’t be an issue. They could crack into any password-protected program once they hooked the hard drive up to the computers there.

Perry clicked on Yahoo! Messenger, knowing it was his nieces’ preferred chat program. The long, slender box appeared on the screen, Kathleen’s screen name and her password already saved into it.

“We’re in luck,” he said, and Carl moved to his side. “We find a screen name with Pete, or Peter, and we might have to add pornography charges to kidnapping, rape, and murder.”

“Do you think Kathleen is connected to the other girls who’ve disappeared?”

“I’d bet my life on it,” Perry muttered, and watched as Kathleen’s buddy list appeared. He scrolled down a long list of screen names and then back up again. Not one of them used any form of the name Peter.

“Maybe she talked to him on AOL,” Carl suggested.

Perry was already on it, although he said nothing. While signing onto AOL, which also had the password saved, he went through Yahoo! Messenger again, hitting the preferences and changing her settings so that the actual screen names were displayed instead of each person’s name. Still, there was nothing. It was the same with AOL. Not one screen name came close to Peter.

“Maybe she used another screen name,” Perry mused out loud.

“They’ll be able to tell down at the station. Ready for me to pull out the hard drive?” Carl reached into the briefcase and slid a screwdriver out of the side pocket.

No, Perry wasn’t ready. He wanted to tear into the computer himself and not turn it over to Rad, who in turn would probably ship it out to Kansas City’s larger police department or, worse yet, the FBI field office. Since this wasn’t officially his case, he would have to sift through red tape just to learn what they found.

“One more minute.” He clicked the drop-down box on AOL to view the other screen names. Then flipping open his notebook, he jotted down the names. “How many brothers and sisters does she have?”

“Just a younger brother.”

Perry guessed the screen names on AOL all belonged to family members. More than likely, the account holder was Eileen or her husband and they would authorize any new screen names. Since there were only four names, Perry doubted Kathleen used AOL for a lot of chatting.

He looked through the programs on the computer, pulled up IE, and then typed in: MySpace . This time the password wasn’t saved. Doing the same with Facebook, he ran into the same snag. And there was no way to tell what other names she might have on Yahoo! Messenger. Frustrated, he stood and let Carl do his thing. “There’s a connection here. I know there is.”

He thought about how Dani showed Kylie the way people chatted using Web sites.

“Your hunches are usually right.” Carl stepped around him and then unscrewed the back of the tower.

Perry wished Rad felt the same way. He was a damn good cop, one of the best on their force. And it wasn’t bragging rights that allowed him to say that. The facts spoke for themselves. In his years on duty, he’d brought in more criminals, solved more cases, than any other man, or woman, in his department. Yet for some reason, Rad wouldn’t assign the case to him. That in itself bugged the crap out of him, too.

Dani and Kylie’s conversation kept popping into his head as well. There were other ways to talk online. He wanted to be the one figuring this out and not some IT geek.

When they arrived back at the station, Perry headed straight for Rad’s office, keeping the hard drive in his possession. Rad looked tired when he glanced up from paperwork and gestured for Perry to enter.

“I got something to show you,” Perry said, closing the door to the Chief’s office. He swore Rad’s expression turned wary as he leaned back and watched Perry approach. “Remember those Web sites I showed you last week?”

“Yeah.” Rad leaned forward on his desk, resting his elbows over paperwork, and plopped his chin in his hands. “What about them?”

“Take a look at this.” Perry opened his file and pulled out the printed page and then slid a picture of Kathleen Long out next to it.

“Son of a bitch,” Rad hissed.

“Yup. A match.”

Rad let out a loud sigh and leaned back, keeping his focus glued to the two pictures and not saying anything for a minute.

“Did you get her hard drive?”

“Yeah, it’s right here.” He pulled out the ziplock bag and held up the black hard drive. “Where are you sending it?”

Rad focused on him with intense gray eyes that today looked more tired than usual. Reaching across his desk, he took the hard drive from Perry. “I’m sending it over to the FBI field office.”

Perry blew out his frustration. “Rad, give me this case. You know I can work alongside the FBI. We’ve done it before.”

“Yup, we have.” Rad set the hard drive on the side of his desk. “I thought you wanted the Peter case.”

“It’s the same case.”

Rad raised one eyebrow. “You’ve got proof that Kathleen Long was pursued by Peter?”

“Not yet. I couldn’t dig into her hard drive at her house other than glimpsing at where she’d saved her password.”

“And you didn’t see anything?”

Perry shook his head, frustrated. “Give me the case. I can prove their connections, or learn who kidnapped Kathleen Long.”

Rad slid the hard drive across his desk toward Perry. “The case is yours,” he said, but then pointed a finger at Perry. “Keep Carl with you when you’re doing your investigating. Promise me you won’t spend one minute on this case without him by your side.”

Perry grabbed the hard drive and stood, turning toward the door. “No problem,” he said, getting the hell out of Rad’s office before he changed his mind.

“Flynn!”

Perry turned, studying Rad’s hard gaze as the Chief stood slowly. “I’m serious about this. Watch your ass, Flynn. You hear me?”

Perry rested his hand on the doorknob, hearing the Chief loud and clear but not liking his tone. “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

“You’re a good cop.”

“I’m a damn good cop.”

Rad nodded. “Keep it that way. Don’t fuck me over.”

Perry let go of the doorknob and walked toward Rad’s desk, squaring off with the large man who stood opposite it. “You mind telling me what you’re trying to say?”