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“I’ll call him back.”
Brady continued. “That’s why I don’t buy this ‘Blackout out’ sign-off. He’s not out. He has her. He’s playing a game but Cindy can play him back. And she will do it; piece out what she knows about Evan Burke a little at a time. He’ll love that. He told her, ‘Tell me about Burke. As long as you talk, you live.’”
I was nodding. I wanted Brady’s take on Blackout to be right. Team Blackout gathered around Brady and our desk pod under the flickering fluorescent lights. The distant sound of traffic on the freeway filled the long pause as we waited for Brady to speak again.
“This has been about Blackout’s fixation on Evan Burke all along,” Brady said, “starting with the Fleets, who could’ve passed for Tara and Lorrie Burke. He wants Burke’s attention and Cindy is the ultimate hook. We thought Cindy was his focus and now we know why. She’s his connection to his so-called mentor. Blackout is not done with Cindy, not yet. But we have to work fast and smart.”
“What next?” Alvarez asked.
“I’m getting to it. First, I return Clapper’s call and tell him Cindy’s been kidnapped. Chief has a meeting with the FBI and they’ll be looking at Blackout’s whole spree, starting with Hammer and the Fleets. They can’t work as fast as all of us. So, we don’t sleep, not yet. We have work to do.”
CHAPTER 66
BRADY’S THEORY THAT Cindy was still alive brought us together and gave us hope. Rich sat up and squeezed my hand. I had no questions for Brady because I couldn’t fault his reasoning. Blackout was all about his vanity and bravado. Why would he send videos of Cindy as his captive without making us witness her cinematic execution?
But it was still a theory. Cindy’s body could be in a freezer, or a shipping carton, or just behind the sofa shown in Blackout’s video.
Brenda went to the break room and put on a fresh pot of coffee. Brady issued orders as the night squad punched in. All twelve night owls spoke with Brady and all twelve volunteered to do whatever the lieutenant needed: man the tip line, patrol the streets, canvass Yerba Buena and Market with Blackout’s photo, collect surveillance tape along the way. Brady accepted all offers.
I printed out screen captures for distribution. The warehouse interior. The transom window and the metal door.Blackout on his walk, the room with the sofa. Blackout’s face, unmasked. The Marine Corps tattoo on his finger.
While Rich ran Blackout’s image through all criminal databases, I called Henry Tyler at theChronicleand told him that Cindy had been abducted. He adored Cindy and for good reasons, not all of them commercial. Tyler’s young daughter had herself been kidnapped years ago and Cindy had brought her home.
I said, “Mr. Tyler. We need your front page.”
“Whatever you need,” Tyler said, “you’ve got it.”
I asked him to please call his contacts at TV news stations and refer them to us.
I felt Richie’s desperation as he uploaded Blackout’s selfie into our facial recognition program.
Hit or no hit?
No hit.
A prolific killer with real competence and yet no image in the database. Why not?
Brenda set up a conference call with investigators in Marin, Pasadena, and Phoenix. Brady took the call in his office, and I texted Joe.
Late night on the Job. Don’t wait up. xox L
I called Yuki to let her know that Brady and the rest of us would be working late tonight. She asked why. But I couldn’t tell her. “Top secret,” I said. I’d leave it to her husband, Brady, to break the news. “Hope you get a guilty, guilty, guilty verdict, Yuki. Talk tomorrow.”
Team Blackout strategized. Cappy knew every cop over the age of forty in San Francisco while Chi, Wang, and Michaels knew the younger generation. They texted, sent photos to copsand CIs. Alvarez has deep roots in Vegas and Reno and she became our Nevada point person.
Brady went upstairs to catch Clapper before he left the Hall, and I went downstairs to the ME’s office to tell Claire about Cindy.
She was shocked and horrified at all of it; our feisty friend, kidnapped by a killer who’d left videos without clues, not even letting us know if she was still alive.
Claire asked, “What can I do? Is there anything I can do?”
“Not yet.”
I showed her the screenshots but none of them were familiar to her. Then, while looking at the photo of Blackout’s face, she said, “His eyelids look tight. He’s a young guy but he’s had work done. I can’t see the sides of his face but I’ll bet he had a full lift.”
“Good catch,” I said. It wasn’t a clue that led to a location or a suspect, but it might cinch it if we found a person of interest. I told her that I had to go back to work and to keep her phone charged. I hugged her hard before running out the door.
CHAPTER 67
