Page 36 of Midnight Creed

“That might be true in some areas.” He opened his laptop and started tapping. “We’re dealing with places where the so-called political class doesn’t hang out. So, in other words, very few cameras.”

“There has to be something.”

“I haven’t found a captured image of either murder. A couple close, but no angle or direct view. But then, he probably knew that, right? I separated what we do have of both crime scenes from the time slots you gave me. My focus was establishing patterns, similarities, anything and everything that might overlap. Facial recognition is not helpful with scarves and hoods and dark shadows. Also, these people don’t move much. They spend a lot of time hunkered down under blankets and in makeshift tents.”

“It’s cold out, Alonzo.”

“I know. I get it. But I could barely track the victims.”

“Do we have identities on either yet?”

“I tapped into the autopsy report for the first victim, and—”

“Wait. You didn’t get anything from Detective Racine?”

“Not yet.” He shrugged. It didn’t matter to him. He could access what he needed without the formalities. Who was Maggie to argue? She’d never played well with others.

“I got the fingerprints for both victims,” Alonzo said. “I’ve already run them through all the regular databases. No hits. Which only means neither of them were in the military, had government clearance, was listed as missing or had a criminal record.

“The only other pieces of information I have are that their names were maybe Danny and Carlo. I’ll try facial recognition, but those programs don’t always like it when the only photos I’ve got are dead guys.”

His fingers were still tapping.

“I do have something, though.”

“I’m listening.”

“I put in all the information into ViCAP. Narrowed it to the last six months.”

ViCAP was the Violent Crime Apprehension Program that tracked communication between law enforcement agencies.

“You got a hit on the M.O.?” Maggie asked.

“October. Homeless guy inside a tent. Hit on the head, then stabbed. Coroner’s report listed a ball-peen hammer as a possible weapon.”

“Racine didn’t mention any of this.”

“She probably didn’t know. It was downtown Jacksonville, Florida.”

“How many miles is that from D.C.?”

“Approximately seven hundred, if you take I-95 South. About ten hours and fifteen minutes if you don’t stop for coffee and potty breaks.”

“You think it’s the same guy?”

Alonzo shrugged. She could tell he had more.

“I opened up the perimeters to include a longer stretch of time. Same details: ball-peen hammer, stab wounds, homeless. Got another hit. February of last year. Five-day window. Two homeless victims. New York City.”

“Two victims in five days? Were we ever consulted on those two?”

“Not that I can find.”

“How has no one noticed?”

“Different cities. All the victims were homeless. The murders appeared to be random. Lots of random attacks on the homeless, especially in these three cities. In New York, just two weeks before, someone shoved a homeless guy onto the subway tracks as a train was approaching.”

Maggie winced. He was right. Random crime had skyrocketed in the last several years for some of these cities. What looked like a serial killer to her could easily be lost in the wash of violent crimes.