Page 73 of Lost Lake
“So we have a killer on the loose who is unpredictable and highly motivated to avoid capture,” Mina stated. “And he could have a small child in tow.”
“Exactly,” Jude said. “And I hate to say this, but at some point, she could become a liability he isn’t willing to entertain keeping alive any longer.”
The room became absolutely quiet and no one looked like they were going to speak.
Gabe couldn’t stand the quiet. What Jude had said was probably the truth, but Gabe couldn’t sit there and dwell on it. He had to move on. “Hayden’s other algorithms are for individual background information on Kenna, Mason, and his daughter. So far, Kenna is who she says she is. No surprises.”
“Also, now that we know Mason had a phone,” Jude said, “Hayden will try to get the call log.”
El looked at her boss. “I’ll give you his number. Can you make a formal warrant request?”
Mina nodded. “Anything else on Mason? Like social media?”
“Hayden confirmed Mason didn’t have any social media accounts,” Gabe said. “Not unusual for a former police officer. He didn’t locate accounts for other electronic devices either.”
“His daughter said he had a tablet,” El said. “But he rarely used it except for email.”
Jude nodded. “We’ve been checking library computers, and we canvassed the neighbors. Libraries were a dead end, as were neighbors. Our dog walker is the only one who even knew Mason’s name. One did say they saw him pull out of his driveway towing a travel trailer a few days before he died, but they weren’t certain of the day.”
“That’s right,” El said. “His daughter confirmed he usually stayed in that trailer at the lake house, but as you know, it wasn’t there.”
“Why?” Mina asked. “Did the killer take it? Did Mason move it somewhere, and if so, why? Could be very important questions to answer.”
“Other than putting out an alert on it, which I did after the interview,” El said, “I’m open to suggestions on how we could find it.”
“Notify the public,” Ulrich said. “Put up fliers. Contact the newspapers, etcetera.”
Mina looked at her admin. “Can you handle that?”
The petite young woman smiled. “I’ll get right on it after the meeting.”
Jude cleared his throat. “One last thing I want to update everyone on. Hayden worked on the potential boyfriend picture found at Kenna’s house yesterday. There isn’t enough of a face for his facial recognition tools to work. He did say Nick at the Veritas Center had better equipment and might produce a different result, so he forwarded the information to Nick.”
Mina stood. “We don’t have any strong leads, and many of our early leads have dried up. Could be time to go back to square one. Rebuild a minute-by-minute timeline. Since people often remember new details, reinterview family, friends, witnesses. Look for inconsistencies in statements that no longer line up. Reassess whether the case is truly an abduction or something else.”
“I can get started on that,” Ulrich said.
Mina gave a thumbs up to her detective then peered at Jude. “Could you work on a behavioral and psychological profile of Kenna James, including an analysis of her habits, routines, online behavior? Look at possible offender types, opportunistic versus targeted for this crime.”
One swift nod was all Jude offered. Everyone fell silent and continued to stare at him.
El cleared her throat. “Our biggest win right now would be to get those phone records we’ve requested. Tracking people’s last phone calls or texts can provide major leads.”
“Then let’s get out of here, people, and get this done.” Mina looked around the table, pausing longer on Jude than the others.
El had no idea what was going on with him, but he must’ve had a bad experience in the past and didn’t want to put himself out there with a detailed profile. She wanted to respect that. Especially since she was going through the same thing, but Lucy needed him, and as the lead investigative officer, El would have to find a way to get him to come through for the sweet little girl.
The drive to Howard Mason’s place had been quiet and introspective for the first ten minutes, but Gabe had a bunch of questions he wanted to ask El before they arrived. No time like the present.
He glanced at her, posture perfect as she sat behind the wheel. “What do you think the guy in the black van meant when he said, ‘We need her to come through for us, and you’re gonna make sure that happens’?”
“We can speculate all we want, but the statement’s too vague to draw a solid conclusion.” Her answer had come quickly, as if she’d thought it through already.
Gabe wasn’t ready to let it go. “You’re probably right, but let’s say this is related to Kenna. That she’s the one who had to come through for him. What could he even be talking about?”
She flashed a quick look at him. “I know you don’t want to believe the rumors of her involvement in drug trafficking, but if she was involved, he could’ve been alluding to that.”
She was right. He didn’t want to think that. “If that’s true, and I’m saying it’s doubtful, the daycare director had to be involved too or she would’ve reported him to us.”
