Three Libras - BLACKBIRD book 4

5. mates

Just like Gillian said, Carson's address was actually a parking lot, so Fred and Ron came back as empty-handed as they'd left. Russell came back a while later, serious and silent.

Tanya kept hacking security cameras over the whole block. Those at the building's entrance couldn't get a clear shot of the car, when Carson and his partner pulled over to drop Betty's body. But the girl was determined to get one. Kurt took a tour on social networks and police records to make a list of Carson's known associates, then he pulled everything he found on their background. So the team sat to go through those files, hoping to find the submissive subject before it was time to go to Carson's job.

Brock sat to work with them, sharing gallons of coffee as the night crawled away. Gillian didn't come back with Russell, nor later, and he knew they wouldn't like him asking her whereabouts. So he didn't. She was getting ready to go to a wake thanks to him. She was right about it, in the end. The fact of burying friends instead of a spouse didn't make it any easier.

When the first agents arrived to start their working day, and Cooper clicked by on her way to her office without even a glance at the team's office, Brock closed the folder he was reading and headed to the restroom.

While he washed his face with cold water, he relived in a flash his fear last night, when he thought Gillian had been shot. He just couldn't help it. Even being so mad at her, he couldn't bear the idea of Gillian getting hurt.

He recalled her in the rain, blood all over her, maybe even crying. Giving voice to her only real reproach to him so far, in such a way that nobody else would hear her. And a heartbeat later, while he still tried to take in the situation, she was already handling it. Yet, as soon as the poster boy arrived, she directed him to Brock and stepped back. More crumbs—who was she talking to over the phone? Who, for her to try to conceal it from him?

He threw the paper towel to the bin and went back to the team's office. He knew his mind would keep tracking Gillian's crumbs until the whole picture emerged.

Right now, it was time to arrest Carson.

Only Aldana stayed with him and the techs at the office. The rest of them left to meet Banks on their way to Carson's job. He would've wanted to join them. But the call from DC would come through at any moment, and he wanted to be there when it did.

The search through Carson's associates didn't pay off. No-one fit the submissive profile. The second subject wasn't in their list. Kurt wasn't any luckier at finding Carson's real home address, where they were sure they'd find some kind of evidence to tie him to the murders.

Then Tanya jumped to her feet and faced Brock and Aldana with a triumphant smile. "Got'im!"

She turned on the plasma for them to see her computer's screen. She'd gotten two captions from security feeds. One of them registered the scene from the corner, and it showed a car stopped a couple of feet away from the curb. The passenger door was open, and a man stood on the street by it. He had a gun and at that exact moment, he was shooting a fallen form at his feet on the street.

"That's gotta be the submissive," said Tanya. "Because he's shorter than Carson."

Then she showed them the other caption, taken from another angle. The car was driving away and the light fell on the driver's face. Tanya replaced it with an enhanced copy and compared it on screen with Carson's mugshot.

"And that's him. Dot by dot."

"We can use that," said Aldana. She glanced at Brock.

He nodded. "At least we have him on the spot. We can use that to question him. Anything on the car?"

Kurt shook his head. "Pure cliché. The plate belongs to a vehicle reported stolen a week ago, but the model doesn't match, it's a white pickup."

"What about Carson's prison records?" Brock asked. "Any visit that stands out?"

"I'm on them right now, sir," Tanya replied.

Russell called from Banks' precinct. They had Carson, but Taylor and Banks couldn't get anything from him.

"He's too used to be bullied in an interrogation room. He stated he would only speak to you and kept his mouth shut."

"Let him sweat until we get something on his partner. We should talk to Suffolk staff, and see if they remember anything useful about Carson's season there."

"I'll ask Fred and Ron to do it."

Brock disconnected with a glance at the wall clock. Eight-thirty. How much longer until they called to pull him off the case?

The prison guards remembered Carson, but not whether he'd made any friends while doing his time.

"You know nobody likes sexual offenders," said one of the guards. "And he wasn't exactly a charmer."

"Maybe a younger inmate?" asked Ron. "Somebody who didn't really belong here. Other inmates would pick on him on daily basis."

The guards traded a thoughtful look.

"Wait, there was this kid... You gotta remember him, guys," another guard said. He turned to Ron and Fred. "They called him Mary Jane, so get the picture. I think he was the only one I ever saw talking to Carson."

"Carson protected him?" asked Fred.

"Yeah. He got in a couple of fights for him. A man died. After that, nobody messed with them again."

* * *

Fred texted the name to Tanya on their way out of the prison. Aldana called them back a few minutes later, with Russell also online from the precinct.

"This could be our subject, lads," she said. "T has his record right here."

The girl read from her screen. "Thomas Ledger, twenty-two, also local. He and his mother were regulars at the ER thanks to his father. He was also bullied at school all the time."

Ron stopped at a red light and he traded a puzzled look with Fred. "Then how come he went down for family battery?"

Aldana replied with a smile in her voice. "That was the one time he tried to defend his mother. He engaged his father, and dear Mr. Ledger pressed charges against his own son. He'd fallen from a ladder the day before, because he was too drunk to keep the balance, and accused Tommy for those lesions."

Fred scoffed. "Nice dad."

"He was released six months ago," said Tanya. "And visited Carson in prison every week ever since."

"What did they tell you about them?" asked Brock.

"Carson saved his life several times," replied Ron. "They say Ledger followed Carson around like a puppy."

"The incident when Carson stabbed the inmate, it happened defending Tommy," said Fred.

Aldana looked up at Brock. He saw a spark in her eyes that reminded him so much of Gillian. He couldn't help recalling her once more in the rain, by the dying woman.

"He fits the profile," he said.

Tanya raised a hand, like a child in the classroom. "And they work for the same construction subcontractor!"

"See you all at the precinct," said Brock.

"I'm texting you his home address, sir," said Tanya.

"And get us an arrest order, T."

Aldana and Brock headed out when Cooper showed at the door, wearing her best scowl.

"Agent Brockner. A world."

He turned to Aldana. "You go. I'll meet you there."