PART II Chapter Twenty-seven
Kate had slept well after she and Megan spent their day together. It was quality time and Kate would take as many of those days as she could get. Kate could even overlook Megan’s matchmaker attempts.
The day had arrived when Kate and Cindy would be monitoring Karen’s interaction at school. They could tell from the transmitter when Karen had a party invitation. Kate and Cindy could hear the conversations from the transmitter while Megan was introducing Karen to friends they ran into in the hallway of a classroom building. Kate and Cindy didn’t expect anything to happen until Karen was better known and had developed a circle of friends.
Kate’s phone rang and when she saw it was the captain she answered it right away. The captain asked her to come to his office. He said he had some information for her.
When she got there the captain said, “We just got a call from Spartanburg South Carolina and the police chief told me they found John and Mary Webber. They have arrested them and they are in custody there. I have started extradition proceedings to transfer them back here. They have also impounded the car and will ship it back for our forensic team to examine.”
Kate said, “Wow, I can hardly believe that since it has been so long.”
The captain said, “Everything that was found with the couple is still in the car. We will have our guys look at everything to see if there is anything we can use.”
Kate asked, “What about where they were living there, do we need to send a crew there to check it out?”
The captain said, “The police chief there said they had a crew that went through their apartment but they did not find anything. He said there was enough stuff left in the car that it looked like they were living out of it.”
Kate said, “That may be where our evidence is. When it comes back I want to know when we start going through it.”
Kate was following the conversations between Karen, Megan and her friends while at the same time excitedly waiting for the extradition of her suspects in her oldest murder case. She was confident about having the right suspects in that case. She knew it was anybody’s guess as to how long an extradition would take. It depended on the other jurisdiction and if they had any crimes they wanted to hold the suspects on. Murder of course trumped most everything else and if the other jurisdiction didn’t have anything and wanted to cooperate it could happen quickly.
The captain called and told Kate that the Spartanburg police department had no reason to lay claim on the suspects and had agreed to deliver the suspects personally. Kate knew this meant that some officers there wanted an excuse to get out of town and had volunteered to bring the suspects to them. Kate smiled thinking how bad they must want to get out of town, if they are willing to come to Boston in the winter, especially from South Carolina.
Kate could hear Karen making friends. She had heard Megan telling her backstory a few times about her transferring from a college in Iowa. It seemed there were plenty of people who wanted to meet with Karen after class to show her around the city. Every time she heard a male voice introduce himself, she would run the name through their database to see if it was someone they wanted Karen to meet with. The first several names that came up didn’t have any hits in their database and records showed they were actual students at the college. In those cases Karen would make excuses and decline the offer.
They were beginning to believe that she should accept a few so she didn’t get a reputation as someone who always said no. They needed her to be approachable for their plan to work so word was given to her to accept the invitation even though it wasn’t a possible suspect. Karen was told to ask to go out to a club for dancing and drinks. They wanted her to be seen out clubbing and drinking in order to “prime the pump”. They needed it known to their underworld kidnappers that she was indeed a fun loving heterosexual girl.
Karen went on a date with one of the college boys and they went drinking and clubbing. She used the tools she had, dumping the drink in her purse reservoir. It was a harmless date but it helped to get the word out that Karen was datable and fond of men.
The next day there were even more males approaching Karen. There were many introducing themselves and none brought any flags up until the name Matthew Bishop came up. Background check showed he had a record and mob ties. He was on a new list she had been given of recruiters. Kate sent a text telling Karen, “This guy seems like one you should get to know better.”
They were trying to be casual, in case someone saw her phone. Karen knew that this guy must have a record and could be a possible suspect. Matthew told Karen to call him Matt and he told her there would be a party at a friend's house the following weekend.
Kate was excited, thinking this might be their path inside. Karen told Matt she would love to go to the party. Matt told her he would pick her up on the night of their date at seven. The police department had arranged for Karen to have a dorm room so that no one she was meeting would know where her personal home was. That also helped to establish her as a student, in case someone checked on her background. The college transfer papers had been filed and everything appeared to be legit.
Megan confided in her mother that she was a little jealous that Karen was getting so much male attention. Kate confessed to Megan that a few of those guys had been undercover officers to create the illusion she was popular to draw the recruiters out.
Megan said, “There is a lot of pretense and falsification to be undercover.”
Kate replied, “That is part of the job description and is the only way it will work.”
There were a few days before the party and in the meantime Kate had background checks run on Matt. When it was finished they would know more about Matt than his own mother. They gathered all of the information and emailed it from a personal email account that Kate had to a college account that was set up for Karen.
Karen knew where Matt was from, who his parents were, what they did for a living. She knew that Matt had a younger brother and sister still living at home. His dad was a truck driver who was gone a lot and his mom had gentlemen friends she saw when her hubby was gone. That would explain why Matt didn’t feel any remorse for recruiting women. Because of his mother he had a low opinion of women.
They didn’t need a background check to tell them that Matt was very attractive, charismatic and easy to talk to. In high school he had been on the debate team and was well versed in public speaking. All qualities that made him a good candidate for a recruiter. Kate was sure the people Matt was working for didn’t hesitate to bring him on board when they got the opportunity.
Kate wouldn’t let Karen come to the station. If they needed any meetings they would have them at a public place. Most of their conversations had been by text and email and a few calls on throw-away phones. Megan tried not to be seen with Karen since she would be known to the recruiters. They would exchange a hello in the hallway but nothing more than that.
They still had two days until the party so Kate didn’t want anyone to see them together until after the operation. They would likely get only one chance at this, so they didn’t want that compromised in any way. Karen didn’t have to check in because Kate could follow her on the tracking devices and transmitters. They would know where she was and they could respond to any situation as needed.
The day of the party arrived and the stress levels for everyone had gone up. Kate would follow Karen in an old van they used for stakeouts. It was confiscated during a drug bust and they got to keep it as part of the drug forfeiture provisions. The van had been equipped with high end receivers and tracking devices. They could pick up a signal three blocks away which allowed them to stay out of sight easier.
Kate parked at Karen’s dorm watching for Matt to show up to pick her up. She parked in a lot across from the dorm in a group of other vehicles for cover but well within sight of the front door. Kate videoed Matt going in to get Karen and the two of them walking out together. She was also recording everything they said. The recordings could be used later in case like most recruiters did, Matt denied knowing who Kate was.
Kate heard the knock at Karen’s door and Matt saying hello. He asked if she was ready to go and she said she had been ready for a while. They left and the sound of Karen locking her door was easily detected. They walked out together and Matt impersonated a gentleman and opened the door for Karen to get in.
Matt hadn’t given Karen an address for the party so following them to their destination would be critical. They didn’t have to be very close because the tracking on the GPS device was furnishing them with the signal to follow. All they had to do was follow from about a block away and when Matt parked his car they found a suitable parking spot in close range.
Kate saw Matt pull into a parking lot of an apartment building and then they both got out. Kate again parked in a crowd of vehicles and just waited and listened to the party noises and music inside the apartment. This could be a long night. She could only wait and see where it went.