Murder in the Forest, Chapter 28
Meanwhile, back at the motel, the agents had eaten dinner and were going about private business before bedtime. Hotchner called his girlfriend, trying to iron out the differences which had seen him come to work angry on the previous Monday. Unfortunately, because so much of her pique was due to his working unpredictable schedules and often working nights when a case required that, he made little headway, and was discouraged when he hung up. He concluded that they were at an impasse, and the girl had been ragging on him for some time, trying to get him to accept her demands in various areas. He decided to dump her, but to wait until the case was closed and he'd returned to Quantico. He was feeling rather low when Rossi knocked on his door.
"Oh, hi, Dave. Come in," he said. "You're just in time with that bottle. Jennifer and I went at it again and I think our relationship is over." He explained the reason for his gloom and Rossi nodded, getting glasses from the bathroom and pouring them each a good slug of The Glenlivet.
"Here, Aaron. Scotch cures all, or at least a little. I saw this coming when she started trying to 'reform' you a couple of months ago. One of the things that I hate about most American women is that they want to run the show and try to manipulate men. I've been through three divorces, and the hours we work were a factor in all. But the manipulation and mother-in-law factors were there, too. If I get married again, maybe it'll be to an Oriental gal who's had the epicanthal fold removed from her eyelids. They look pretty good that way, and they seem less inclined to think they should be in charge in a marriage. Or, maybe I'll risk a European one. I saved back issues of, Playboy from back when they ran those issues with The Girls of Finland and other countries. Maybe I should get those out and peruse them and see which nationalities I should try to select from."
Hotchner laughed. "Well, don't choose the Girls of Albania, Cuba, Venezuela, China, or Russia. They've got some hotties and they may be more obedient and supportive than US women, but if you fool around with them, it'll probably fuck your security clearance. Maybe Czechs are okay now, and they have some real lookers. Seems about half of the famous models who aren't Brazilian these days are Czech. Not sure about Danes. Are they really melancholy? What do you know about Finns and Swedes? They might be okay and they have a lot of blondes. Icelandics often look as good as any and their last names are easy to remember. They all end in 'dotter ', meaning 'daughter' of whoever their dad's name is. But many are alcoholics and I bet some do drugs, too."
Rossi nodded. "I read that. A friend in the Air Force said that he's found a lot of Canadian girls eager to marry an American and move here. But they might be too much like American girls except that they say, 'eh' more often. Eh?" He laughed.
"Yeah, "Hotchner agreed. "But I'll probably try another American. I think I'll just avoid those from the northern states, where Political Correctness and feminism are so rampant.
"Look: do you have any feel for where this case is going? I told Morgan to call Garcia tonight and see if she can find any property owned by Bamka or his pal that we haven't found out about. And to research any other remote properties that aren't occupied. These bastards who took the girls have to have someplace where they're holding them. They aren't just camping out."
Rossi agreed, but noted the case of Elizabeth Smart, whose aging hippie captors did in fact live under rustic conditions. "And back in the 1960's, some nut in Pennsylvania grabbed a girl and dragged her off into the winter woods. She was recovered and he was killed before cops ever found out his final plans. But, yeah, they probably have some cave or house where the girls are being kept. Did you petition the Federal judge in Seattle to let us raid the Miller place and anywhere else that realtor owns or has control of"?
"Yeah. I asked the SAC in Seattle to file the request. We should know by midmorning if the judge approved it. But he has maybe 55 properties listed and a few not on the market. Even if we concentrate on those not listed for sale now, that's 12 houses where they could have those girls. Ford is checking utility bills to see if it looks like any are running water and air conditioning. If so, those will have to take priority. I'd like to see receipts from those two guys' grocery and drug purchases. If they're buying non-male items, that'd be more evidence. But I don't even know where they shop, and if we ask for receipts, the stores would go nuts trying to pick them out unless they paid with credit cards. Garcia is already looking for their total credit purchases. "
Rossi thought. "We could get FBI surveillance planes to fly around and see if there's any sign of life at the most suspicious houses. They'd need to stay high enough to avoid being obvious and couldn't swing by any one house much. Grant Ford can probably lead us onto the grounds of any that look good, and we can use binoculars or spotting scopes to see any activity. At night, they'd need lights, too. We'll find them, Aaron. I just hope they don't realize that we're looking so thoroughly. If they suspect us, they'll kill those girls and bury them far off and deep!"
Hotchner agreed. "We'll see what the judges issue warrants for and go from there. And I will request the SAC to send a plane or two by the more logical places, once we have a complete list of all their real estate holdings. Until we have that, anything we do may just backfire or be ineffective."
They went back to discussing women and after an hour called it a night. But Hotchner felt better for having talked it over with Rossi. Friends were good to have.