Background
Crime and a twisted family. A rookie detective with a passion for the truth.
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Terry had printed off a few packets of documents. The intention was to distribute them to individual officers. The officers were all needed to follow up on the open cases. In her usual efficient and complete way, they were all clipped with quick notes on top, along with simple instructions.
Hayes took a couple of minutes to look over them, before calling in the detectives.
"All right, all right. Everyone got their coffee? Let's get settled and get started on this 'task force." Hayes was acting as if the entire task force was his idea. He paced while pulling up on his already skin tight pants.
Soon enough the group were settled and paying attention.
"Detectives Anderson, Smythe and myself have been working on a few missing persons cases. We determined that there was a connection between them all and that it's time we all did a deeper dive into each case. Not that the initial investigations weren't done well, just that there were a few loose ends that need to be zippered up. Smythe here, will update you on her most recent case discoveries and then myself and Anderson will delegate files to each of you. Let's get deep into these one's guys." He motioned to Terry. "Smythe?" He turned to her. His look was one of arrogance but also there was a hint of pleading. He needed to save face.
"Thank you Sargeant Hayes. While 'we' were looking over these files we were able to create a timeline of events." She was going to humor him for now, there really was no point to contradicting him at that moment.
"We have four women and one teen male so far. All of these missing persons are of different ages and social classes. The one common theme between them all, is their names. All are derivatives of Alexander or Alexandra. First, we need to look over our older cold case files, both missing persons and murder cases. Look for more similarities and maybe even look into some solved cases. Plus, we need to go and interview more witnesses, the ones that weren't interviewed the first time, then check out where they all went and what routines they may all have in common. Look for door cams, store video cameras, create a more detailed timeline of their last 24 hours."
At this moment Hayes, sensing she was about to hand out packets, stepped in, almost pushing her aside. He grabbed her stack of papers and started handing them out.
He plunked them down in front of different officers, "go over these files, in detail. Get to know them inside and out, get out, interview, take pictures, get more statements, bring everything back here for us all to discuss together." He paused for affect. "You've got your orders, now go." Hayes pointed at the door.
Once the room was clear, Terry turned towards Hayes. She was ready to lay into him.
Hayes raised his hand towards her, "I know it's been some effort on your part to put all of this together. But if you had brought them to me in the first place, we could have done something. Instead, you brought it to the captain." His look of anger, although justified, in his own mind, only irritated Terry.
"Now, we don't have to like each other," he continued, "we don't even have to like the way we do things, but remember, the main thing here is, we are both cops. Despite your personal opinion, I do care about my job, about protecting the innocent out there. Now, I recognize there were things that could have been done differently, but that is all said and done. Let's find a way to work as a team and figure this all out." He was a prick but he had a point.
Terry, once again, when it came to Hayes, bit her tongue. She did need his help.
"Fine Hayes," Was all she could muster.
She wasn't a dumb woman; she knew most of his blustering was to keep face with the team. The last thing he wanted was to have his female rookie outshining him or the other veterans at the precinct.
Anderson, the entire time stood back, silent and watched it all happen in front of him. Thank God, no one was blaming him directly for shoddy work. This was the moment he decided to step forward.
"I'll chase up video footage any stores may have for the times prior to the victims' disappearances. Maybe we get lucky and there is someone on a video." He didn't wait for an answer, he just left the room.
It was at that time that another cop leaned into the room and announced, "There is a Lieutenant Leven here to see you both, shall I show him in?"
"Just give us 5 minutes and then bring him in," Terry answered.
Once the door closed Hayes asked, "Who is this, Lieutenant Leven?"
"He called here about a week ago and told me about some footage of a car at a service station. The clerk there had called in a poacher's report when they noticed movement in the backseat of the car. Then later checked and found the stations security cameras had caught it on video. So, he called it in. Lieutenant Leven said it struck him as odd because most poachers won't hide their kill in the backseat of a car," She said matter-of-factly.
"He did a little digging on missing children thinking it was a parent who overstayed their visiting rights. In his search he found we had a few missing persons cases and that brought him here to us." Terry didn't include her visit to Lieutenant Leven. It was going to come up anyway.
"You took the call?" Hayes asked her, his eyes searching the room for an answer. His face changed from confused to slightly amused, "Oh, the cat. Smart answer, but still bullshit."
He was smarter than he looked. With that he actually smiled. The left side of his lip lifted just a little. He did find her both challenging and now that he had more information, quick and funny.
"Is there anything else I need to know before we let him in?" Hayes asked Terry.
"Yea, I checked him out. He is an almost retired an ex-detective from Nashville PD. He came out to Yellowstone about a year ago. I thought maybe he missed the pace from NPD and maybe that's why he looked so deeply into these cases and tried to connect them to his poacher case. He's sharp, good attention to detail and he will expect respect," Terry finished.
Without a word back to Terry, Hayes opened the door and signaled to have Leven brought in.
Leven and his perfectly ironed and polished uniform, came in. He had an instant and serious command of the room and he quickly introduced himself in a formal manner to Hayes.
"Afternoon Sargent Hayes, Detective Smythe." He nodded to both while shaking their hands.
Hayes was quick to notice that the Lieutenant was almost military in his affectations. He knew this man was none to be trifled with. He both liked him instantly and was afraid of him at the same time.
"Detective Smythe has brought me up to speed on your involvement with our cases. I am not sure there is a connection so I am surprised by your visit. Was there something that we did not know that we need to know?"
"Yes. After Detectives Smythe and Millan came to see me, I went back to the station and interviewed the clerk one more time. The clerk, a Jonas Davidson, had found something at the back of the station. He wasn't sure if it was from when the car was around back, but he kept it just in case," Leven responded.
With that Leven produced a small evidence bag and inside it, a white earbud, and on it in bright pink nail polish were the letters AZ.
