Chapter 52: There Has to be a Way

Rebecca

We were stuck, dead in the water, up the proverbial creek without a paddle. I'd been going over and over the images Jimmy had shown me. The working hypothesis was still that the killer liked young, athletic, naughty girls. The gaping hole in that hypothesis had been Amanda Watkins; now I knew the truth, thanks to Jimmy I finally had the confirmation I needed to pin the sex button on my killer. Unfortunately, I couldn't use it as there was no supporting evidence of any kind. No real, physical evidence I could wave around and point to, and without a bona fide lead I couldn't take the investigation down that path. Frank Watkins was my problem. I was convinced Samantha knew something. Irene Watkins probably knew more but if what I suspected were true, then I doubted that anything could get her to talk. It was a circular puzzle. With Irene's knowledge I could probably lock the husband in a pit somewhere but unless or until he was safely locked away, she would never talk. At six, Rachel would be of no help, which left me back with Samantha as my only possible source; if I could only get her to talk... but how? It seemed like an impossible situation.

The higher ups in Washington had been turning the heat up on Rod to come up with some answers. You know what they say about things rolling down hill... I needed a break and I needed it bad. I needed to get that girl alone so I could talk to her. Yeah, in my dreams.

Whoa! Back up! What did you just... ? Maybe that was the answer. Could he do it? I checked my watch, 11:30am; damn I wouldn't even be able to ask him for hours. Then I had a thought. I was not sure just how safe my office phone was at the moment. Rod can be a little overprotective at times and between his curiosity over Bob, and his fears about my source, I wouldn't put it past him to have it tapped. I placed a quick call to the deli on the corner and posted myself as out to lunch. As soon as I was out of the building I called Bob on my cell phone. Ah, the joys of having a secure cell phone. I knew of about three people who may be able to tap it without setting up shop in a cell tower and waiting for me to route a call through it. Dillon would never consider it, not my phone anyway, Jesus Escobar-Ortiz was behind bars and Paul was my partner. Okay, that didn't make him one hundred percent safe but I doubt if Rod would ask him for fear he might tell me. Bob's number began ringing. I didn't expect him to answer since he was in class, but I knew he kept the phone in his desk drawer and checked it for messages before break and lunch, and once again after his last class.

"Bob, it's Rebecca. I need to talk to Jimmy, it's not an emergency but it'll keep me up tonight if I don't talk to him sooner. Ask him to give me a call as soon as he can. Thanks."

I hung up and thought some more about what I had in mind. I don't know how I got all the way to the deli and back without walking into someone. I was just walking into my office again when my cell phone went off. "Please let it be him." I prayed before answering, "Hampton."

"Rebecca, it's Jimmy, Bob said you needed something."

I mouthed a silent thank you to God, before I answered. Hey, I prayed, and it was him, maybe it was him anyway but then again, it never hurts to give the Big Guy his due. "Hey Jimmy, thanks for calling back. It's nothing serious, just an idea I had. Are you somewhere you can talk?"

"Yes."

"I'm pretty much dead in the water. I don't have anything concrete I can use to tie the girls' sex lives to the killer's profile. We have confirmation of McKenzie and Pena, but old man Watkins is stonewalling. I think the sister would talk if I could get her alone but there's no way he's going to let that happen. Even then it's just a piece of the puzzle. I don't know that it's really going to help move the case along, but something about all this bugs me and I had a thought. Do you think you can, what do you call it, "bridge" her?"

The line was quiet for a time before he answered, "I don't know. I've never intentionally bridged a stranger before. It's almost always someone I've met."

A little ray of hope, and I jumped on it, "Almost always?"

"Well, besides you I can only think of one other time I've seen someone I don't already know."

"Who was that?"

"I still don't know."

"Oh. In my case you had help. Do you think someone is 'helping' with this other one?"

"No, I don't think so, it's totally different."

"So it's possible?"

Again the line was silent for a few seconds. "I just don't know. But let's assume that it will work, what do you have in mind."

"I want to talk to Samantha, that's her sister, about Amanda's sex life. We both know there was some serious shit going on. I need a reason to point the investigation in that direction, even if it ends up not helping with this case; I want a reason to look into what is going on. There are still two girls living in that house, they could be in danger. I want..."

He cut me off. "Stop. You don't need to explain further. I saw what her father was doing to her. It didn't look forced but it didn't look voluntary either. Inevitable is more like it. I'll help any way I can. How do you want to approach it?"

"I'm not really sure; everything rides on you being able to do it, but I figured it was the best shot we had."

"Okay then, we'll assume I can do it. Give some thought to how you want to approach her. I think we need to ask Bob about this, if she is being abused then we have to be very, very careful with what we do or say to her. I'll talk to Shannon and Allison and see if they have any ideas. They're a lot closer to her age so they may be able to see things we don't. I'll gather everybody in Bob's office for a little brainstorming session."

"Jimmy, I specialize in sex crimes, you don't need to explain the dangers to me. And while he is a professional, I probably know more about this than Bob does. Don't get me wrong, I don't have a problem consulting with him or having him in on what we are doing, but... well, I'm sure you know what I'm saying. The rest sounds good but can we go to the beach instead?"

He laughed and said, "I thought we were supposed to be working? I don't know if Bob is ready for you in a bathing suit yet. We may not get much out of him?" He laughed some more. "Wow, I never knew you could actually hear someone blush before." There was more laughter.

Damn him, he was right, I'd felt the heat start creeping up my neck and into my face as soon as he mentioned it. "Smart ass. You know, one of these days I'm not going to need you any more and we're going to have a little talk, just the two of us. What I was thinking was that maybe when we were done I could leave and you could spend some time playing with Amy."

He was still laughing but it was tapering off. "Yeah, sure you were."

I couldn't keep a chuckle out of my voice, "Yeah, see you tonight." Then I said more seriously, "Thanks, Jimmy."

"You don't need to thank me, Rebecca. You know I'll do whatever I can to help. And even if it's not going to help this case, those girls have gone through enough already losing a sister, he should be protecting them, not..."

It was my turn to cut him off, "Yeah, I know, I feel the same way. See you tonight."

I hung up and sat contemplating our options. Jimmy was right; if what I suspected was true, we had to be careful not to hurt the girl we were trying to help.

Jimmy

I put the phone away and went in search of Bob. I had been in the grassy area out by the gym. It wasn't empty but there weren't too many people, just enough that no one was going to be paying much attention to me. As I started to walk away something hit me in the back. I turned to find a large guy jogging towards me, following his gaze I saw the football that had hit me.

"Sorry about that," he offered. "You'd think a quarterback would have a little more control."

I looked beyond him to see Brad Russell watching the scene unfold. I picked up the ball and handed it back to the player coming towards me, "You're Neskie aren't you? Uhm, let me think, outside linebacker, but you also play fullback."

I could see the mixture of shock and gratification settle into his eyes. Nothing boosts the ego like a little unexpected recognition. I held out my hand. "Edward Matthews. Weren't you up for All-League?" I said, as I handed him the ball.

"Pat Neskie," he replied as he shook my hand. "I had a shot at League MVP too, but when the guy you're up against is on a winning team and you're not, it's hard to get the nod. They couldn't very well give me All-League when Conroy's team beat us both times we played them. Sorry about the stray shot."

"Don't worry about it, kind of explains why our offense fell apart at the end of the season."

He laughed and said, "Nice to meet you, Edward. See you around."

He jogged back over to where Brad was standing and handed them the ball, I guess he repeated my comment because suddenly Brad was staring daggers at me. I saw his eyes flick to my left, following his gaze I saw one of the goonies standing with a group of girls, talking and keeping an eye on the field. If she hadn't been there I think Brad may have tried to do something. I looked him in the eye, nodded, and walked away. I swear I could hear his teeth grind.