“Ifit’s actually Josh Perry in that room,” Delaney countered. “It could be anyone. Prints didn’t ping in the system. Josh has no record.”
“Did you reach out to his ex-employer?”
“No, not yet. But I’m telling you, this is our—”
Vaughn’s phone rang and he held up a finger as he answered.
“Horowitz? You find his car?”
“Yes, sir. Perry had his keys on him—Delaney gave them to me. Found his wallet and phone inside.”
“Name on the license?”
“Joshua Perry. Sure as hell looks like the guy that Delaney brought in.”
Vaughn eyed Delaney.
“Send me photos of everything you got. Did you find an ad in there? A piece of paper?”
“I can look.”
“Do it. You have someone there with you?”
“Stanley came with me.”
“Good—you drive Josh’s car back here, have Stanley take your car.”
“Got it.”
Vaughn hung up. Delaney was staring at him expectantly, but Vaughn let him squirm.
A few seconds later, Horowitz’s photos came through. A couple of the exterior of a wallet, one of a black iPhone. The last was a photo of Joshua Perry’s driver’s license.
Vaughn frowned, turned his screen around and thrust it in Delaney’s direction.
“It’s Joshua Perry alright. And he’s not our guy.”
Even Delaney couldn’t deny the resemblance.
He shrugged.
“Could still be our guy.”
Vaughn didn’t blame the officer for sticking to his guns. He was young and eager, and if Perry had been behind this, it would have been an incredible boon for his career.
He let it go.
“Hmm. Darnell and I are going upstairs. Don’t talk to Perry. If he gets squirrelly or asks for a lawyer, let me know. And when Horowitz arrives, come get us.”
Captain Daniels had given them a forty-eight-hour window to catch this guy. Forty-eight hours...
Vaughn wasn’t sure they had that long before the man set up another one of his games. Usually there was an escalation with these types of crimes, these types of violent criminals.
Slow start, hesitant.
Serial killers’ first murders were sloppy. They panicked, afraid of being caught, and when they weren’t, they gradually became bolder.
The cool off period shortened.
