Chain Links
Dani hung up the phone and let out a breath. This case had just gotten a lot more complicated. She wasn't sure which infuriated her more; the fact that a child was missing and had been exploited or that the other detectives hadn't followed proper procedure. LAPD didn't need any major negative press right now. Crews watched his partner's facial expressions change from annoyance to anger. Rhonda sat staring grumpily at Dani's desk.
"How soon were you supposed to have that warrant?" Dani asked.
"The judge said he'd have it ready by two," Dave replied. Charlie checked his watch and stood up.
"Let's go," he said.
"Hold on, Crews. We're not going anywhere until the Feds show up," Dani reminded him.
"I'm sure they won't mind, Reese. Besides, the more information we have to give them, the sooner we solve the case," Charlie argued back. Dani let out a breath but grabbed her jacket. The other three detectives followed suit and they headed down to the parking lot. All four crammed into Charlie's car. He maneuvered the car through LA midday traffic and arrived at the court house. Rhonda climbed out and went in to grab the warrant from the judge.
"What's the scope?" Dani asked as the other detective climbed in.
"The whole apartment, his computer, phone records," Rhonda answered. Just then Reese's cell began to ring. She picked it up.
"Reese," she said.
"Yes Sir, we have the warrant. We're on our way there now," she continued.
"No we won't do anything until you and your people arrive," she assured the caller and hung up.
"We wait for the Feds to show before we go in," she said. Charlie put the car in drive and headed back onto the street. The car was silent as they made the journey to Vaughn's apartment. They wouldn't have to wait long before executing the warrant. Two large black SUVs pulled up just as they did.
"Detective Reese?" one of the men asked and Dani nodded.
"Let's get this sick bastard," he said. Dani couldn't help but smile and handed him the search warrant. With that they headed into the building and up to the third floor.
"So do we think he hid the boy?" one of the Feds asked.
"He wouldn't have kept him here," Dave said.
"Why not?" the Fed asked.
"Because it's too high risk. He would have kept him somewhere secluded, out of the way that no one would see," the detective continued.
"Still…he may have left a clue as to where the boy might be," Charlie interjected. They moved into the apartment and split up. Charlie looked around the bedroom and began picking through Frances' closet. He had some shabby looking dress shirts and some wrinkled slacks. As he moved towards the night stand, he saw a leather-bound book. Donning gloves, he picked it up and flipped it open. Today's date was circled with red pen. It had a time and address listed.
"Hey Reese," he called. Dani walked into the room and peered over her partner's shoulder.
"That's a few blocks from where we found him," she commented, noting the address.
"And about half an hour before we got the call," Charlie said.
"So whoever he was going to see probably attacked him," Dani concluded.
"Sounds like our victim might be more of a victim than a perp," Charlie mused. The pair wandered into the sitting area to find Rhonda sifting through mail correspondence.
"Hey, can we get a computer tech down here to take a look at his computer?" Dave asked one of the Federal agents. He nodded and sat down.
"How convenient," the detective muttered.
"We found this in his room," Charlie said, handing it to a man with an evidence bag.
"Whoever he went to meet today is our attacker," Dani added.
"Well I've got some bills here for some pretty false sounding companies. I'll run them against known false billing agencies for kiddie porn sites," Rhonda said.
"This guy is smart. He's got two passwords to log on to the system," the computer tech grumbled.
Charlie walked behind the agent and looked at the system. The password box had spaces for seven characters. His brow knit together as he tried to think of possible passwords Frances could have used.
"Can I try?" Charlie asked. The tech nodded and let Charlie sit down. Dani had to turn away to keep from laughing. Certainly Charlie had gotten better with technology since his release from Pelican Bay, but he wasn't the most computer savvy in the department. Charlie looked around the desk and picked up the mouse pad and through some files. Next he moved through the drawers until he found something in the very back of the drawer to his left. He looked at it for a minute before looking back at the screen. He began to type n-o-v-2-0-0-5 into the password box. He hit enter and the screen cleared, bringing him to second screen. He had seven more characters. Charlie checked the key he'd found and typed in j-u-l-2-0-0-6. He hit enter a second time and the desktop came up.
"What do you think the passwords meant?" Dave asked.
"November 2005, the date he went to prison. July 2006, the date he got out," Charlie answered with a faraway look in his eyes. He could understand Frances' tie to these dates. Charlie stood to let the tech begin combing through the computer.
"I'll see what I can find here," the tech said and began clicking through the files on the computer.
"Looks like we've got some kid porn on here labeled 'auction 2007'," he said and opened up Vaughn's email. It loaded automatically, displaying several SPAM messages as well as some other solicitations that he assumed were child porn related.
"Anything in his email?" Dani demanded. The tech began opening up subfolders within the inbox and let out a guttural sound.
"You're going to want to see this," he said. All four detectives crammed behind the desk to look at the file. It was also labeled 'auction 2007'. He had the window set to display the text of the message. It read "See you Thursday at ten thirty sharp. Don't forget the money."
"I don't think this guy kidnapped Noah," Dani breathed.
"I think he was going to buy him," Charlie said, finishing Dani's thought.