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Chapter 74
After I watched the DC cops cart away Jeremy Pugh, I walked from the National Mall back to my hotel. I’d just orchestrated the arrest of a dangerous criminal. I had acted as liaison between the NYPD and the DC police. And yet I was not in the mood I had expected.
Instead of feeling upbeat and positive, all I could think was how few suspects I had in Emily Parker’s murder. And that’s why I was in DC. Not to clear an NYPD assault case. I hadn’t realized when I first considered Jeremy Pugh as a suspect that he would end up wasting so much of my time and energy. But that’s the way things generally happen in major investigations.
Now I was determined to look at both Michelle Luna’s and Emily Parker’s murders as somehow connected. That meant I was going to focus a little more on Michelle Luna’s murder. And I had an idea what I was going to do.
As soon as I got back to my room, I called the tech investigative division of the NYPD. I tried not to be like some of the dinosaur cops, or, as the young guys called us, Detectivesaurus Rex. I was prepared to move with the times. And that meant embracing new technologies.
I knew cops who bragged about shunning technology and doing things “old school.” That’s fine to say, but it never helps an investigation. As the world speeds up and adopts the latest technology for even simple things, cops have to do the same thing. Luckily, I don’t have to be an expert in emerging technologies. All I have to do is be aware of these new trends. There are always experts I can turn to.
This time I was going to focus on cell phone technology. It’s amazing what a cell phone can do. It’s also amazing how a cell phone can be tracked. Real criminals, professionals—well, at least smart professionals—will take the battery out of their phone before they go somewhere they don’t want to be tracked.
Regular people who commit crimes don’t think that way. Usually, a crime like murder is spur-of-the-moment for a nonprofessional, a so-called crime of passion. This was my opinion, of course. And I wanted to see how accurate it was.
I didn’t recognize the voice that answered the phone by saying, “Tech Unit, William speaking.”
“Hello, William, this is Mike Bennett at Manhattan North Homicide.”
There was silence for so long I thought we had lost our connection. Then I heard William sputter, “Detective Michael Bennett? Really? I’ve never gotten to handle any of your stuff before. I read about it in the newspapers and hear people talking about your cases. This is a real honor, sir.”
I like compliments as much as the next guy, but I really didn’t have any time to waste hearing flattery like this. I had to get this done before someone shipped me back to New York, whether I wanted to go or not.
I said, “I appreciate all that, William. But I need to talk to one of your best techs about a Google warrant to figure out if someone was in a certain area during a homicide.” A Google warrant was a general term for a glorified subpoena to the tech giant. Once a judge signed a Google warrant, the company could provide information on the subscriber. It had to do with how often their phones, even iPhones, interacted with Google programs, such as Google Maps. It was a new process that cops and Google were still trying to navigate.
William said, “As luck would have it, I’m your guy. I’m the official liaison with Google and Microsoft. I know all the Google reps in their law-enforcement liaison office.” His voice kicked up a notch with every sentence.
I had to smile at his enthusiasm. “Good deal. The only thing is, I’m looking in the Baltimore area. Is that a problem?”
“Not at all. I know your cases take you all over the place. I heard about you going to Estonia. Baltimore is like a suburb of New York compared to that.”
I started to scribble a few notes. I said, “William, what’s your last name?”
“Patel. P-a-t—”
I interrupted him. “I know how to spell Patel. Are you any relation to Bobby Patel?”
“Sure, he’s my cousin.”
