Hear No Evil - Chapter 43

“Hey Bobby it’s me. We just spoke with Rosemary White. She wasn’t able to give us much information about the guy that took her, she was blindfolded most of the time. All she could say was that he was tall, longish hair and probably left handed. She does recall two of the women from her speech class but never actually met them. She said she heard Barbara Casey mention them along with a boy named Mark. Has Tara finished the background check on Barbara Casey yet? Okay, tell her to get on it as priority. Ms Casey told Sue and I that she had no idea why three of the girls were pulled from her classes but our information says otherwise. Yeah we are on our way in now. Bye Crash.”

As they approached the car, Jack stopped when he felt Sue take his hand to stop him. He turned to look at her and could see the questions in her eyes.

“Jack, you don’t think that Ms Casey could be involved in any of this do you?” She asked him quietly.

Taking her other hand in his and squeezing gently, he knew that he wouldn’t be able to lie to her, no matter how much he wanted to spare her feelings.

“I honestly don’t know Sue. It looks like she lied to us about not knowing why the girls were taken out of her class and there must be a reason for that. I think she may have been protecting the boy but for what reason I don’t know. The question is, why lie about it now?”

Jack watched as Sue nodded her understanding and climbed into the car. He let out a long sigh and walked around to his side. He hated it when cases got personal for Sue. Her instincts about people were usually correct but when cases involved people that she knew and cared about, she tended to let her personal feelings get the better of her. He just hoped that this case wasn’t going to prove too much for her. They still had one missing women and he knew that they needed Sue’s help to find them.

oOo

Half an hour later, Jack and Sue walked into the bullpen. As soon as they entered everything went quiet. Sue looked at Jack, picking up on the change in mood despite not being able to hear the silence in the room. Jack furrowed his brow at her and looked at Bobby. He knew his best friend too well to know that the look on his face did not mean good news.

“What’s going on Crash?” Jack asked as he felt Sue slide her hand into his.
“This came through a little over five minutes ago. It’s an e-mail that appears to have been sent to the central FBI mailbox but somehow ended up in Tara’s inbox. It’s not good mate.”

Jack watched as Bobby approached and handed him a piece of paper. As soon as he saw the images his blood turned to ice and he felt the colour drain from his face, his hand instinctively tightening around Sue’s. The wording on the e-mail was simple “SHE IS NEXT.” Attached to the e-mail were pictures of Sue and Jack at the fairground.

“Jack? What is it Jack?” He heard Sue ask.

He turned to look at her and tentatively handed her the e-mail. She raised a hand to her mouth when she read it and saw the picture, realising where and when the pictures had been taken.

“He was following us Jack. He was at the fairground. What does this mean?”
“It means that we are not taking any chances. You are going into a safe house until we can catch this guy.”

Half expecting her to object, he was surprised when she just nodded at the same time as Tara shouted and waved to get everyone’s attention.

“Guys, I think I may have something. Jack, you mentioned that Rosemary saw Barbara Casey mention the name Mark when discussing the first two women?” Jack nodded. “Well, I ran a check on Ms Casey and she came back clean. However, the same cannot be said for her son. Marcus Joseph Price was released from prison six months ago. He has served fifteen years for a serious sexual assault on several young girls ranging from eight to fourteen. He would have been seventeen at the time Sue was seeing Miss Casey.”
“That’s why she never did anything about it back then. She knew that it was her son and she lied to protect him. Bobby, I want you to arrange to get Ms Casey here asap. We need to see her again and ask her more specific questions about her lovely son. Tara, see if you can find any more information, current address, parole officer anything that could tell us where he is. D, Myles check the CCTV footage from the swim club and cinema, see if anyone who looks like Marcus Price can be seen in the area around the time the women disappeared.”

As Jack was about to tell Lucy what he wanted her to do, he felt Sue touch his upper arm and he turned to face her. The look on her face was one of determination.

“Jack, I think I know a way that we can get him.”