Page 84 of The Advocate’s Ultimatum

“Does it matter?” Gene replied.

Latham shrugged. “Sometimes.”

JP spoke. “It’s on the arm of a teenage girl who might be the victim of an abduction that happened ten years ago. Whether she is or not, she has a lot of problems, and we aim to help her.”

Latham looked at it again. “Those sons-a-bitches. Why can’t they leave the kids alone?”

“Are you talking about someone specific?” JP pressed. “Does this mean something to you?”

“I just hate the ones who hurt kids.” Latham took another look. “It’s trying to be something,” he said finally.

JP leaned forward. “Do you recognize it?”

Latham set down the paper. “It ain’t anything I’ve seen run.”

“Nothing close?” JP asked.

Latham shook his head. “Some of the pieces are familiar,” he said. “But not when you look at the whole thing.”

“Could it be someone trying to copy something?” Gene asked.

Latham looked at him. “Maybe, but if you’re copying, you usually get closer than that.”

JP frowned. “So, what is it? Any ideas?”

Latham rocked back in his chair. “Feels personal,” he said. “Marks like this usually mean something to a group. It could be a mark of a cult, but it’s not one I’ve seen. It could also be a gang symbol, but I don’t think so. There’s not many I haven’t seen.”

JP glanced at Gene, then back at Latham. “Did you ever see anything similar used inside?”

“No,” he said. “Not as a set. I’ve seen lines, curves, and hooks, sure, but not put together like that.”

“If someone had this on them in here,” JP said, “what would the other inmates think?”

“They’d ask what it means,” Latham said.

“And if there’s no answer?”

The prisoner gave a humorless smile. “Then it belongs to whoever put it there. Sorry, but that’s all I’ve got.”

Gene picked up the paper. “We appreciate it.”

Latham stood. “I owed you one. Now we’re even. Just be careful what you’re chasing.”

Chapter 32

Saturday afternoon

Sabre closed the file and sat back in her office chair. Across from her, Ethan Vale tapped his pen against the table, then set it down. “Well,” he said, “we have a theory. No. We have a direction.”

Sabre lifted her eyes. “We know she was protecting someone.”

“That part works.”

“Then we build from that.”

Vale shook his head. “How? We don’t know who she was protecting.”

He stood, paced a step, then turned back. “We’re asking a judge to believe she used lethal force to protect another person. That requires specifics, immediacy, and credibility. We have none of those.”