“I have no idea, but we couldn’t find the bodies fora few days,” Rick said, his disgust evident. “In addition to that, we somehow ‘lost’ the evidence on the Kaminski kid. The breathalyzer data, his clothes, the car, all either disappeared or caught fire in an unfortunate accident.”
“What?” Jane looked at the pair across from her. “Someone ruined the evidence?”
“You say ruined, I say covered it up,” Amelia answered. “And not only that. I was ordered to drop the case by the DA. We’d lost the evidence, but it was an obvious attempt to distract us from the guilty party. I wanted further investigation.”
“We all did.” Rick nodded.
“But we were all ordered to let it go.”
“Well, isn’t that interesting?” Jane sipped her coffee. “But hold on. Let’s backtrack. The bodies of Phillip’s parentsdisappeared?Were they ever found?”
Rick scowled. “Oh yeah. But get this. When we found them days later, they were missing some vital organs.”
“Say what?” This case kept getting weirder.
“Yep. Missing brains and hearts, if that doesn’t beat all. Hearts, I get. But who the heck is looking for brains on the black market? Weird collectors?” He huffed. “Anyhow, it tied into this.” Rick plucked a folder from a carryall beside him and tossed it on the table. “Have at it. I never could figure out how this connected to some baby casino in Vegas.”
“Vegas?”
“It’s all in the file. If we can help you after you read that, feel free to ask. But I think you’ll learn as much as we did when you go through it.” Rick nodded at the folder, which contained a thick stack of papers and several thumb drives and CDs.
Vegas? Missing organs? Phillip’s parents had reappeared, missing their hearts and brains.
And the EMTs had been shot twice—once to the head, once to the heart.
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
By the timeJane went through all the paper documentation in the file Rick had given her, lunchtime had come and gone.
Leaning back in her chair, she studied the list she’d made, facts that turned into questions that turned intomorequestions.
Phillip Keiser killed six people who work in medicine. None of them killed his parents.
Phillip is related to August Kaminski, head of a small crime family that’s swimming under everyone’s notice.
Anton Kaminski killed Phillip’s parents.
Anton Kaminski was never charged with their deaths.
Adam and Lena Keiser’s bodies were found with organs missing.
No one was ever indicted for the crime of stealing their organs.
Ten peoplewerearrested in the Harvester case—a similar crime of organ theft that tracked back to Las Vegas and ended in Seattle. Three went to prison and are still doing time there. The others either vanished or died soon after being charged.
None of the organ theft suspects were our victims. Two doctors, two nurses, two EMTs, and four hospital administrators.
Which meant Phillip had four more people to kill. Maybe.
She pulled up one of the thumb drives on her computer and studied the organ theft case. A name on the investigating report looked familiar. Jon Haversham. Hold on. Not the new ASAC at the Seattle office? It had to be a different guy.
“Jane, you got a minute?” Rapp called from his office. For once, his door remained open.
“Hold on a sec.” She googled the name Haversham, corrected it to Jon Haversham FBI, and stared in recognition. Then she quickly dialed the main Seattle office.
“Hello. This is Agent Jenn Sullivan.”
“Sullivan? It’s Jane. Hey, do you happen to know if our new Assistant Special Agent in Charge of the Seattle office is the same Jon Haversham who worked in the Las Vegas office?” Where Sullivan and Williams had worked.
