Page 69 of Now Until Forever
“Faith Blackburn?”
Fox nodded. “That’s the name she gave us as well.”
He looked back at the wall. “How do you know these women specifically are their victims? I mean, this isn’t every woman in and around Chicago who has gone missing, right?”
“That pool would be much larger, even accounting for those who fit the profile,” Fox said. “And this list stretches back nearly seventeen years. One or two, sometimes three, a year for that time.”
That meant more victims than Carlos had even assumed there would be.
“We swept social media, phone records, and conducted interviews,” Glor said. “When a woman is reported missing, we deep-dive into her life to try and find out what happened. What they post online, who they called, and what they searched for online. What the people they know have to say. All of it points in a specific direction.”
Carlos found his sister’s photo on the top row, almost to the end. He stared at Luci’s social profile picture. “The way I did, when I talked to her neighbor, and I managed to find the place where they were living.”
“We convinced the judge not to file breaking and entering charges. But that’s only because no one in the Reverence Sisters group has, as yet, complained that you infringed on their rights.”
Carlos turned to them. “What about my sister’s right to be free of them?”
“You’re assuming she considers herself to be captive against her will, rather than a willing participant in the group.” Glor lifted his chin.
Carlos shot him a look. “So you’re gonna play politics and make sure you don’t get in trouble, is that it?”
Glor studied him. “We’re going to do this right, so we can make our case and it actually sticks against this ‘Mother’ and those who keep the Sisters captive.”
Carlos didn’t want the “this is bigger than one person” speech, so he turned back to the photos and scanned each one, wondering who they were. Thinking about family members who might be missing them, worried out of their minds over their loved ones.
His gaze snagged on a blonde.
He frowned.What on earth?“I know her.”
Fox came over to stand by him. “You’ve seen one of their victims?” She reached over and tapped the photo. Basic details came up, name and age. Last known address, next of kin.
“No, that’s not it.” Carlos shook his head. “That’s not the name I know her by.”
Fox shifted her weight from one foot to the other. “Who is she?”
Carlos stared at the photo. “That’s Chicago PD Detective Raquel Maloney.”
Glor’s chair hit the wall, and Carlos glanced over in time to see him standing. “Are you serious?”
Fox shook her head. “There’s no way. We’d know if she joined the police department. We’d have had a hit on her image when we ran it while doing the workup on her.”
Carlos looked at her. “Maybe I’m wrong, then.”
They were the ones who had to do the work to confirm what he said, but Carlos didn’t think he was incorrect. There weren’t many possible explanations.
Glor came around the table. “Pull up an image of the detective, and we’ll put them side by side. Maybe it’s a coincidence. Or she has a sister who looks a lot like her, but not enough to hit on a facial recognition program and give us two hits—her real identity, and that of this officer.”
Carlos didn’t explain how he felt about coincidences. He was also not mistaken about this. It was definitely her.
Fox tapped the screen and used an FBI database to pull up a profile, DMV record, and PD personnel file for Raquel Maloney. She let out a breath. “Whoa.” She moved the two images side by side on the wall screen.
“It’s her,” Glor said. “Or this missing woman from thirteen years ago”—he tapped the missing person photo on the screen—“has an identical twin?”
Carlos stared at the two photos. “It’s her. And now she’s investigating two suspicious deaths, both with the same MO.” He didn’t want to say out loud that she could very well be thekiller, if she was some kind of plant in regular society from the Reverence Sisters.
“Ever get an odd vibe from her?” Fox asked.
“I met her once when she showed up at the Shrine after Doctor Splitfield was found dead.” Carlos shrugged. “I didn’t get a sense that something was off, and I’ve met a whole lot of cops in my life. She came across as legit.”
