The Competition - [22]

“I’ve seen a lot of search warrants in my time,” he said. “This one’s a hands-down winner for the most well-written-”

“Thanks, I-”

“And skinniest excuse for probable cause I’ve ever seen. I’d ask if you were kidding me with this, but I know why you took a shot at it and I don’t blame you. The problem is, this warrant’s so thin, it’ll be my ass if those parents decide to file a beef. And anything you find will get tossed out so fast it’ll put a hole in the wall. I’m sorry, Rachel.”

No sorrier than I was. I trudged back upstairs to my office to drop off the case file and noticed that Toni’s door was open. I missed her. Since picking up the school shooting, I hadn’t even had the chance to call. Toni was glued to her computer screen. I knocked on the door frame. “Hey, Twan. What’s new?”

“Huh. You tell me.” She peered at me. “The way you look, it ain’t good. Come sit, catch me up.”

I did.

When I finished, Toni drummed her fingers on the desk, then asked, “Have you considered bringing a shrink in on this?” I looked at her. She held up a hand. “I know, you’re not a fan. Me either. But strange times call for strange measures. You need to make sure Otis is your guy, and you need to identify your second shooter. And you’re in a bad time crunch-”

“The worst-”

“You can’t be talking to all three thousand kids in that school with your killers flying around out there. You’ve got to narrow down your search. Only way I can think of is to get some idea of who you’re looking for, what type of kid. You need someone who can help you figure out the teenage brain-”

“The twisted teenage brain,” I said.

Toni nodded. “Even harder.”

She had a point. We’d never tracked killers like these before. And we definitely needed to pull out all the stops. Having a shrink on board couldn’t hurt. Toni helped me put together a list of psychologists we liked-or at least didn’t hate. “Thanks, Tone. Gotta run. Bailey’s waiting for me at the station and I’ve got to check these names out-”

Toni waved her hand. “Go, go. I’m here if you need me. Call when you come up for air.”

I went back to my office, did some research, and winnowed our list down to three names, then headed to Eric’s office. I told him I was considering bringing in a psychologist. “What do you think?”

“It won’t hurt. And it’d be good PR. Shows the public we’re doing everything we can.” He sighed. “Jeez, I sound like Vanderhorn.”

“If it makes you feel any better, I thought the same thing.” I handed over the list of names. “Anybody you like?”

Eric read the list. “They’re all good. I’ve got one more you might want to check out. Ran into her when I was in juvy.”

I took down the name and headed for the station at a fast trot.

When I got there, Bailey was standing at her desk, tapping her watch. “You’re half an hour late and we’ve got a boatload of-”

I put up a hand. “Hold your fire. I haven’t exactly been lying around in my fat pants with a spoon and a can of frosting.” I told her about J.D.’s no-go on the search warrant and my plan to bring a shrink on board.

Bailey gave me an incredulous look. “A shrink?”

“Actually, two shrinks. Eric liked my idea of Dr. Malloy, and he suggested Dr. Shelby.”

“Dr. Malloy sounds familiar. Didn’t he testify in that pedophile case last year?”

“Yep,” I said. It was a case involving seven victims who’d been molested by a summer camp counselor. Not one of them had reported the crime, and when police first questioned them, five denied it. The jury was falling for the defense claim that the police coerced the kids into saying they’d been molested-until Dr. Malloy showed up.

“But does he have experience with teen freaks?”

“That I don’t know.” But how many shrinks could there be who had firsthand experiences with psychos like these?

“What did Eric say about Dr. Shelby?”

“She’s a child psychologist too, but she’s got more hands-on experience with juvenile offenders. And she’s done studies on Columbine and some of the other school shootings.”

Bailey nodded. “Sounds like a good team. How fast can you get them on board?”

“I’ll call them right now. How fast they’ll come is another matter.” In my experience, forensic psychologists-at least the good ones-were usually overbooked. I dialed Dr. Malloy’s number, expecting to hear that at best he might be able to fit us in sometime next week.

But I’d underestimated the powerful pull of this case. Not the media-whore factor-in fact, both doctors demanded that their names not be released to the press. I mean the desire-to-help factor. They agreed to drop everything for this case simply because they wanted to help us find the shooters. In this job it’s easy to forget that there are people like that in the world.

I asked them to meet us at the station as soon as they could. They said they were on their way.

12

“Got coffee?” I asked. I’d been up since five thirty, and my engine was starting to sputter.

“I’ll see if I can snag some of Graden’s. The shit we’ve got probably had dinosaurs stuck in it. In the meantime, check this out.” She handed me a large manila envelope. Inside, I found the blowup of the taller gunman’s wrist. When Bailey came back with two steaming mugs, I held it up. “What the hell is that? A dagger through a rose? A spider? A screwed-up iron cross? I can’t believe this is the best they can do.” I’d hoped this picture would give us a solid lead on the second shooter.