Mike gave us a head tip when we walked in.
“Jesse, Frank. So what do we know?”
Frank gave them the rundown. “We have a missing nineteen-year-old girl. Jesse and I were here yesterday, and there was a rug right there.” He pointed at the void on the living room floor.
“Okay, what else?”
“Blood on the kitchen countertop and a messed-up bedroom, like a struggle occurred there.”
I added my two cents. “And fibers from a rope or twine that’s stuck on the bedposts.”
Danny raised his brows. “So she was tied up?”
“It appears that way.”
“Anything else you want us to check out besides the obvious dusting for prints and spraying Luminol?”
“Yep, follow me.” Frank led the boys down the back stairs to the parking area. “There are fresh tire tracks here, yet neither tenant owns a car. See where the dirt is roughed up? I’m thinking he backed in but made several attempts until the vehicle was right at the door. My theory is he rolled up Gina in that missing rug and tossed her in the trunk.”
Mike looked puzzled. “And the downstairs neighbor didn’t hear anything?”
I took my turn. “She works second shift and wasn’t home.”
He smirked. “Why do crooks always get lucky?”
Frank swore again. “Yeah, well, that bastard’s luck is about to run out. Anyway, we need you to make plaster casts of the tire prints too.”
“Not a problem. Anything else?”
“Is it too much to ask for a viable print?”
Mike huffed. “I’ll do my best, but like most killers, he was probably gloved or isn’t in the system.”
We left the boys to it and returned to the apartment, where Jackson and Miller were waiting.
“We’ll get started on the knock and talks unless there’s something else, Detective McCord.”
I waved them on. “Nope, go ahead and look for other doorbell cameras along the way. Talk to everyone in a two-block perimeter of this residence.” I watched as Frank paced. “You know you can put that anger to better use.”
Frank shrugged. “We have to wait for Tory to show up, anyway. After that, we’re out of here. With the description we have from Beth, it shouldn’t be too hard to find that prick leaving the subway stations.”
“Speaking of, why don’t you give Henry a call and see if he has anything yet.”
Frank fished deep into his pocket for his phone. “Not the worst idea.”
As I stared out the window at the distant downtown skyline, I wondered where on earth Gina could be. The possibilities were endless, and finding her would take a miracle—if she was still alive.
I got Frank’s attention when he hung up the phone. “What’s the word?”
“He said there were a few possibilities, but from a distance, and because it was night, they weren’t one hundred percent sure it was the same man. I gave him Beth’s description, and they’re going to compare the screen grabs again.”
I was optimistic. At least it was something. A slow-moving car was headed our way as I returned my focus to the window. “I bet that’s Tory coming up the street. Let’s go see if it’s her, and then we’ll take off.”
Frank led the way as we walked out to the porch. The car was already parked along the curb and Tory was rounding its front end with her briefcase in hand.
When she reached us, Frank patted her shoulder. “We really appreciate your quick response.”
“Not a problem, guys. Show me the way.”
I knocked on Beth’s door again, and she welcomed us in. After the introductions, I asked Tory to email me the sketch when it was complete, then Frank and I headed to the precinct.
I called Jackson as Frank drove. “Hey, it’s Jesse. We’re on our way back to the station, but let me know if anything shakes out with the neighbors.” I hung up and closed my eyes. My mind was filled with doubts that the sketch would be enough. A side view wasn’t nearly as good as a facial composite would have been, and even though it was a long shot, it was all we had to work with.
When I felt my stomach churning, I realized it was three o’clock. “Where the hell did the day go? No wonder I’m hungry. We missed lunch and then some.”
“Yeah, I guess we did.” Frank turned in at a fast-food restaurant and pulled up to the menu board. “What do you want?”
“Grab me a number five with an iced tea.” I reached in my pocket and pulled out a twenty then waved it at Frank, but he ignored it.
“We’ll have two number fives with iced tea on both.” He raised his hip and took out his wallet. “I got it, Jesse. You can pay next time.”
“Thanks, pal.”
We ate in silence as Frank continued south. With full stomachs, we could put in a few more hours of work without needing cafeteria breaks. I was excited to talk to Henry and see if they’d made better progress with the description of the perp that Frank gave him.
Frank stormed into the bullpen at three thirty and approached Henry. He, Tony, and Shawn had been searching the subway footage for the same person exiting either the train or the station after the victims did.
“Well?” Frank said, a bit too harshly for my liking.
I knew he was agitated, but the guys were doing their best with what they had to work with. I noticed the sour looks on everyone’s faces. “Mills, take a breath and let them go over what they have or don’t have. Impatience won’t help anything.”
Frank dropped to his chair and rubbed his head. “Sorry, guys. It’s just that we haven’t had the opportunity to save anyone’s life. That maniac kills them, and then we get the call after the fact. Gina could still be alive, and we have to do everything in our power to find her.”
I turned to Henry. “What have we got, Johnson?”
“Likely the same man at Callie and Diana’s locations, but because it was night, we can’t make out his face. The height, weight, and hair length are all on target, just no identifiable facial features.”
Frank slapped his desk. “What about Brad and Manny?”
“We have no idea when the killer took the subway, so we haven’t found him on the footage.”
“Then maybe yesterday. Frank and I arrived at Gina’s apartment around one o’clock. We stayed for about a half hour and left. The neighbor downstairs said the man showed up about ten minutes later.”
“So check the Blue Line footage that stops at Grand and Halstead starting around noon?” Henry asked.
“It’s something, and it’s during the daylight hours, plus we know what he was wearing yesterday—a gray hoodie and jeans.”
“Okay, I’ll have the CTA send over yesterday’s footage from Grand Avenue.”
That was our best chance of finding the killer—and now kidnapper. Seeing him during the day, and in clothing that Beth had described, would be a slam dunk if he actually took the train and got off at the Grand Avenue stop.
As we waited, I looked through the folder of notes I had gathered on Leslie’s murder. The conversations we had with the Lone Stallion employees went nowhere, we couldn’t talk to Brad or Manny since they were both dead, and it was doubtful that they had been acquainted with the killer, anyway. I thought about the footage we’d watched from the hair salon of the person who’d followed Callie but knew it wouldn’t show any more now than it did then. There was no reason to drive there and watch it again. The person we saw was nothing more than a figure in the night without a single identifiable feature.
Damn it. We couldn’t even tell if it was a man or woman.
“The CTA footage just came in if you want to watch it with me, Jesse,” Henry said.
Frank leapt from his chair. “I do.”
“I will too. The more eyes watching it, the better.” I scooted my guest chair over to his desk, and Frank did the same.
“Ready?” Henry looked from me to Frank before clicking on the link.
Frank snickered. “I’ve been ready to cuff that killer for damn near a week.”