“Thank you. Send photos after you get settled in.”
“I will. Goodbye, Jon.”
He ended the call and let out another yell. When he’d first become a cop, knowing a suspect’s nickname had been a useless piece of information. Now, because of the information superhighway, it was a powerful tool to tracking down a suspect.
He got on the internet. Because he was a member of Team Adam, he had access to many law enforcement agencies’ criminal databases, including those housed in the Florida Department of Law Enforcement’s headquarters in Tallahassee. The FDLE databases were called specialty databases, and included nicknames, descriptions of tattoos, and other identifying features of the 1.7 million citizens who’d been incarcerated in Florida’s prisons.
The nickname database was a powerful tool. Many criminals used aliases, and as a result, made it difficult for the police to track them down, especially if the police only had the criminal’s real name to work with. Nicknames were different. Once a criminal was given a nickname, it usually stayed with him for the rest of his life.
The nickname site had been updated, the colors in patriotic red, white, and blue. He entered the name Butter into the search engine, and hit “Enter.” A second later a mug shot appeared, along with a physical description, criminal history, and last known address.
Devin “Butter” Highnote, five foot eight, 170 pounds, mud-brown eyes, brown hair, a native of Saint Petersburg, Florida, with a rap sheet dating back twenty years, including arrests for armed robbery and attempted murder.
He leaned back in his chair and shut his eyes. The pieces of the puzzle were starting to come together. Dexter Hudson and Devin Highnote were in Saint Petersburg, preparing to abduct another victim. Highnote was also a native of Saint Petersburg, which wasn’t a coincidence. The next victim was connected to Butter through one of his crimes.
He needed help, and called Nicki. She got to school early for band practice, and he hoped to catch her before classes began. Voice mail picked up, and he left a message.
Nicki was as passionate about catching criminals as her aunt, and sixty seconds later, she called back. “Hey, Jon! I saw the YouTube video. You took those bikers to school!”
“It wasn’t me,” he said solemnly.
“Right,” she said, laughing.
“I’m serious, Nicki. It wasn’t me, even though you and I know otherwise. If any of your classmates bring it up, you need to tell them that. Understood?”
“You bet.”
“I have an assignment for your CSI class. If you pull this off, you’ll help me break this case wide open. Think you can talk your teacher into it?”
“Sure. What do you want us to do?”
“I need you to run a background check on an ex-convict named Devin Highnote from Saint Petersburg. Devin was an inmate in Raiford Prison not that long ago. I need your class to find out why he was sent there.”
“That shouldn’t be too hard. Is he one of the kidnappers?”
“I believe he is. Call me once you find something.”
He said goodbye. Having a class of bright high school kids helping him was a real bonus, and he made a mental note to do something special for them once the investigation was over. He put his laptop under his arm and headed for the door.
Going downstairs, he entered the hotel’s business center, and connected the laptop wirelessly to the laser printer that guests could use free of charge. Moments later, two copies of Devin Highnote’s information spit out of the printer. One copy for him, the second for Beth. His cell phone rang, and he saw that it was her.
“I was just thinking of you,” he answered.
“I’m ten minutes from your hotel. Are you still there?”
“I’m in the lobby.”
“Stay there. We need to talk. You’re back on the case.”
“I thought I was persona non grata.”
“Not anymore. My boss had a stroke this morning, and is in the hospital. He never put the order to stay away from you in writing, so I’m home free.”
“Let me return the favor. Dexter Hudson’s new partner is an ex-con named Devin Highnote, and he’s from Saint Petersburg. I’m close to figuring out who their next victim will be. If we get lucky, we might catch them in the act.”
“How can you know who their next victim is?”
“She’s a witness from one of Highnote’s previous crimes. I’ll explain when you get here.”
“Meet me in the valet area in front of the hotel. I need coffee.”
He trotted up the stairwell to his room, and deposited his laptop in the wall safe. Then he ran back downstairs and went outside to wait. His heart was racing, and not just from the exertion. He was about to break the case open. Very soon, the victims he’d seen on the video in Echo’s apartment would be free, and home with their loved ones.
He knew of no greater feeling in the world.
Chapter 29
The tables were taken at the Starbucks near his hotel, so they sat in Daniels’s vehicle and sipped their steaming brews. He’d handed her the sheet of information about Highnote when he’d gotten into the car, and she still hadn’t looked at it. That wasn’t like Beth, and he sensed that something was amiss.
“Am I on the case again, or not?” he asked.
“You are, but first we need some ground rules,” she said.
“And why is that?”
“My team mutinied over my decision to bring you on board the first time. They think you’re a walking time bomb, and that your behavior puts their careers in jeopardy. I can’t let that happen again.”
He sipped his brew and said nothing. Daniels and her team had been spinning their wheels for a month while innocent women were getting snatched all over Florida. So what if he broke the rules every once in a while? When it came to saving people’s lives, the only report card that mattered was getting the victim back alive.
“From now on, I want you talk to me before you make a move,” she said. “You have to be totally transparent. Think you can do that?”
He nearly said no. He’d bent the rules in the navy, as a cop, and as a private investigator, and didn’t see himself changing at this stage in the game. But he needed Beth’s help if he was going to break this open, so he told a lie.
“Of course,” he said.
“Glad to hear it.” The sheet on Highnote lay on the seat between them. She picked it up and started to read. “Tell me how this guy fits in.”
“Devin Highnote is one of Dexter’s recruits from Raiford Prison. The next victim will be connected to him.”
“Connected how?”
“If my theory is correct, the next victim will be someone who testified against Highnote at his trial. That’s the thread that connects the victims. They all witnessed crimes, and testified against the men who committed them. You’ve heard the expression, ‘No good deed goes unpunished’? Well, being abducted is their punishment.”
“So the victims are being punished for being Good Samaritans.”
“That’s right.”
“If your theory is correct, then one of the victims helped send your brother in prison. Do you know which one it was?”
He nodded solemnly. “I do. It was Elsie Tanner. She was visiting Fort Lauderdale and witnessed the robbery Logan was involved in, and she later testified at his trial. I didn’t make the connection at first because her name is actually Lisa Catherine, not Elsie.”
The memory was painful, and she let a moment pass before speaking again.
“Was that Dexter’s recruitment pitch?” she asked. “Join my gang, and I’ll help you get revenge on the person that put you away?”
“That’s part of the pitch.”
“What’s the rest?”