Shannon drew in a deep breath, staring down at the table. “It’s the same story we’ve heard a thousand times with a few twists and turns.” He glanced Colin’s way. “This is an angry guy. According to his sister, he was an abused child who quickly evolved into a drugged-out teen. I gather he ran away every chance he got. I got a court order to get this—” He slapped a file onto the table. “It’s his juvie records and his rehab history. Same story every time. He starts rehab, then flips, and bolts. He’s been arrested twice for assault. His drug of choice is Fentanyl with an occasional side trip to heroin when he can get it.”
He nodded toward Donald. “When Donnie talked to the sister, she told us he’s been living on the street ever since he was expelled from the university. He’ll deal a few drugs now and then and manage to put a roof over his head, but then he gets tossed for nonpayment of rent or for beating up the landlord—which he’s done more than once.”
“If itisPage, how the hell is he dragging these abducted students into a car? Page doesn’t have a car.”
“We’re following up on reports of cars that were stolen right at the time of the kidnappings. Given when and where these cars were found, we’re pretty sure that’s our answer. We’re checking them now for prints. If Page’s prints turn up on any of those cars we’ll be able to solidify our case on him.”
“And,” Donald added, “we went to several homeless camps, and Page is a well-known commodity there too. Even the camp people don’t want him around, and not because of the drugs. It’s the violence. He blames the world for the life he leads and has a huge chip on his shoulder.” Donald stared hard at Colin, his eyes narrow. “Colin, if it is Page, he won’t turn out to be an easy catch.”
“His sister is probably going to be our best hope for actually getting our hands on this guy,” Shannon told Colin. “She promised me that she’d call the minute she heard anything from him, though from what she says, he only contacts her to ask for money or to spew vitriol when she won’t give it to him.”
“Part of me feels sorry for the guy,” Colin muttered, reading through Page’s juvenile record. “He got a bad start.”
“A lot of people do,” Shannon said. “But they don’t turn to drugs or amuse themselves by abducting and raping college students.”
“Josh thinks he tags our students because he’s jealous of them. Angry because they got the life hedidn’tget.”
“Could be,” Donald replied. “And I suppose it would be useless to point out to him that hehadthat life and lost it because of drug use.”
“Drug dealing as well,” Shannon added. “And, yeah, it would be useless. He’s not ready to take responsibility for his own behavior. It’s everyoneelse’sfault that he’s a fucked-up druggie with no home.”
Colin peered down at Page’s file from the rehab center. “Well, he wouldn’t stay in rehab. Never did take it seriously. And according to staff he only went into rehab in the first place to avoid jail.”
“Sometimes it sticks,” Donald commented.
“Usually it doesn’t,” Colin muttered. “They have to want it to get it.” He shook his head. “And now he’s on the street and on the run from the law.”
“Thing is,” Shannon added. “Many homeless people don’t touch drugs or alcohol. But they get tagged with the label nonetheless.”
“Page’s sister is convinced he’s bipolar,” Donald said. “Undiagnosed bipolar. The rehab doctors also mentioned that he demonstrated bipolar symptoms. But he bolted before they could put him through the testing required to actually diagnose him.”
“That adds another layer of crap to an already crappy situation,” Colin moaned.
“Over a third of the homeless population suffer some kind of mental disorder,” Shannon added. “It’s a huge problem.”
“One we’re not trained to handle,” Colin replied.
“We need Josh,” Donald said with a quick grin.
“We need alotof Joshes,” Colin said. “But how many social workers or professional therapists are assigned to work with law enforcement?”
Shannon arched his eyebrows and shrugged. “Damned few.”
“There’s no funding for it,” Colin griped. “So people like Page get thrown into the system and end up back out on the street without ever receiving appropriate treatment.”
“Absolutely true,” Donald said. “But doyouwant to be the one to take that on, Colin? Convince state and local government to give us that funding?” He grimaced in comic frustration. “You know it’s not going to happen.”
“So, what are our next steps with Page?” Colin asked.
“Keep in touch with the sister for sure,” Shannon said. “And keep checking back at the homeless camps and shelters he’s been known to frequent. He can’t stay off the grid forever.”
“I’m also in touch with several missions downtown who offer meals to the homeless population. I’ve distributed Page’s picture and asked them to contact us if he shows up.”
“I fuckinghatehaving to sit and wait for this guy to pop up again,” Colin grumbled. “Counting on other people to inform us about his whereabouts. God knows what he could do in the meantime.” He glanced at Shannon. “Do we have any other leads in this case? Is there any other person of interest you’re looking at right now?”
“Not really. And that worries me because at this point our evidence on Page is totally circumstantial. Lifting his prints from one of those stolen cars would help us there. We get an occasional phone tip and we follow up on all of them. So far none of them have panned out.” He huffed out a sigh. “Any word on whether or not the university will enforce kind of curfew?”
Colin looked at Shannon, eyebrows arched.
