Silt, Denver Cereal Volume 8 (29 page)

“
They gonna kill me,
Sandy,” the boy looked up at her. “I know I deserve it. I tried to
stop, I really did, . . . ever since the first time.
And I don’t . . . you know, I
can’t . . .”

He gestured to his lap.

“
I just take the videos,”
he said. “I’m still . . . a monster.”

“
Why not tell Detective
Red Bear?” Sandy asked.

“
I don’t trust him,”
Sergeant Aziz said.

Sandy looked at Sergeant Aziz and then at
his brother.

“
Think of it this way, if
I hadn’t been such an asshole, you wouldn’t be married to that Aden
guy,” Sergeant Aziz said. “So you owe me a favor.”

“
That’s just pathetic,”
his brother looked at him and shook his head. Sandy
scowled.

“
Please,” Sergeant Aziz
said.

“
I’m only going to do this
if you call your Mom,” Sandy said. “She deserves to know what’s
going on, and to be here when it happens. I won’t do it
otherwise.”

Sergeant Aziz looked at his brother and he
nodded. Sandy raised her eyebrows and Sergeant Aziz called his
mother. When he was done, she got her iPhone and placed the
call.

“
Raz?” Sandy
asked.

“
Hey Sandy,” Raz said.
“Sami was just reminding me to make an appointment.”

“
Yeah, it’s about that
time,” Sandy said. “Um, something’s come up and I wondered if you
and Colin could come over to the studio.”

“
One of the boys contacted
you like we talked about?” Raz asked.

“
Uh huh,” Sandy
said.

“
Should we come guns
blazing?” Raz asked.

“
Hearts open,” Sandy
reached out her hand and touched the boy’s shoulder.

“
You’ll call O’Malley?”
Raz asked.

“
I will,” Sandy
said.

“
Give us a half hour,” Raz
said.

“
Come on,” Sandy said.
“Let’s get you cleaned up.”

“
But . . .”
the boy said.

“
You want to change your
life,” Sandy said. “The first thing to change is how you look. You
want a different life right?”

The boy nodded.

“
Come on,” Sandy
said.

She guided the boy out into the salon. She
helped him out of his cap and his gangster coat.

“
Wow, when was the last
time you showered?”

“
Couple of days,” the boy
said. “Maybe a week.”

“
Go get cleaned up,” Sandy
pointed to the shower. The boy slunk toward the bathroom. “I have
some clothes here. Toss yours out and your brother will wash
them.”

Sergeant Aziz took the clothing and went
into the back. Sandy brought the boy a pair of Pete’s jeans and a
long sleeved T-shirt. When the boy came out, he looked like a tiny
boy in a grown man’s body. She knew that he was going to be the key
to ending these brutal crimes. She only hoped he was up for the
task.

Sandy smiled to encourage him and began
cutting his hair.

Chapter Two Hundred and
Thirty-Nine
Meeting of the
minds

Thursday afternoon—3:35 p.m.

“
Before we start,” FBI
Special agent Angela Montiz gave a hard look at the Homeland
Security Agents Colin Hargreaves and Arthur “Raz” Rasmussen. “I’m
wondering why Homeland Security is involved in this situation at
all. It’s way out of your jurisdiction and, although I can’t quite
determine what team you’re on, you don’t appear to be on DHS’s High
School Sex Crimes Team because there isn’t one.”

Raz smiled at Agent Angie and she sneered
back. They were sitting around a small table in the office above
Sandy’s hair salon. Colin sat between the Deputy District Attorney
in charge of District Court and the commander in charge of Major
Crimes for the Denver Police. Raz sat next to the Denver Police
commander and Agent Angie.

“
I know the charming smile
of a snake when I see one, Agent Rasmussen,” Agent Angie said.
“You’re going to have to come up with something a lot better than
that.”

The men chuckled, and Raz looked down at his
large hands.

“
I teach martial arts to a
boy who was sent a video clip of a girl being beaten and raped. I
brought the video to the attention of the Denver Police,” Colin
said. “We discovered that the assigned detective and his Sergeant
didn’t appear to be functioning in this case.”

“
I spoke with the
investigative supervisor,” said the commander in charge of Denver
Police Department major crimes. “Because we weren’t certain what
was going on, I requested DHS assistance. DHS has assisted with
other cases, and we’ve found Agent Rasmussen and Agent Hargreaves
to be helpful.”

“
Our primary assignment is
flexible enough that if we have time, we’re happy to assist where
we can,” Raz said.

The door to the room opened and Seth
O’Malley stepped inside.

“
Sorry I’m late,” Seth
said. “What did I miss?”

“
I just found out why
Homeland Security is involved in this, “Agent Angie
said.

Seth put his hand on her shoulder and she
looked up at him.

“
I’m glad you’re here,”
Seth said.

“
Were you going to tell me
why I’m here and not someone from the large Denver FBI office?”
Agent Angie asked.

“
In our review of the
case, we discovered that there is an FBI agent already assigned to
this case,” Raz said.

“
An FBI agent, a DPD
investigative team, a slew of forensic professionals, plausible
leads, solid forensics, and . . .” Seth shrugged and
sat down next to Agent Angie.

“
No action,” Raz said.
“That’s what concerned us. Prior to our initiation into this case,
the investigative team has done exactly nothing to pursue these
cases.”

“
Not nothing, Raz,” the
Denver Police Commander said. “They’ve obstructed the investigation
where they can.”

“
All right,” Agent Angie
said. “Why me?”

“
You were assigned to a
case with us last year,” Seth said. “We found you to be
extraordinarily competent, smart, and efficient.”

“
We have two problems,
Agent Angie,” Raz said. “One is the brutality of these crimes. They
are not date rapes or even violent attacks. These girls are drugged
and brutally assaulted in every way. Their lives are assaulted
through the sale or malicious distribution of the videotapes of
their assault to every sick mind with a keyboard.”

“
There’s money in the
middle of all of this,” Seth said. “We’re concerned the money had
perverted the course of the investigation both at the Denver Police
and at the FBI.”

“
Any proof?” Agent Angie
asked.

“
Only the lack of
activity,” Colin said.

Agent Angie nodded.

“
Today, a member of the
investigative team stepped forward with his younger brother,” the
commander in charge of Major Crimes said. “He admits to delaying
the case because he knew his brother was involved. With the agents’
help, he and his brother have turned themselves into me,
personally. The young man in question was the videographer for one
of these crimes. He has turned in more than thirty video recordings
of the group. He’s given written testimony as well as interacted
with the District Attorney’s office.”

“
Is he willing to
testify?” Agent Angie asked.

“
He appears to be,” the
Commander in charge of Major Crimes said. “He states that this
situation ‘just happened’ one night and then became a regular
thing. He tried on a number of occasions to get out of this thing,
but either he or his mother were threatened with violence. He saw
them perpetrate violence against a mother as a reprisal for one of
the boys leaving the group.”

“
And the mother?” Agent
Angie asked.

“
She never came forward,”
Colin said. “We found evidence that, around the dates of her
assault, she went to one of the larger free clinics in town, but
that’s all we have.”

“
And this boy; the brother
of your investigator,” Agent Angie said. “Do we believe
him?”

“
He makes no excuses for
himself or his actions,” Raz said. “He seemed . . .
in over his head. He lives with his single mother. His brother is
the only male in his life. This thing was like a rolling stone he
couldn’t stop. The boy has made serious suicide attempts on at
least three occasions.”

“
You liked him?” Agent
Angie asked.

“
I believed him,” Raz
said. “He participated in something that goes way beyond the
meaning of the word ‘wrong.’ But I believe this is a case of a kid
getting in over his head and almost drowning. He also seems
redeemable.”

“
I believed him too,” the
Deputy DA said. “And I like his brother. I think they’re credible
witnesses.”

“
So we know why one party
of the investigative team slowed the investigation down, but not
the other,” the Commander said. “We’ve allowed the Sergeant to stay
in his role in the investigation to see if we can get to the bottom
of what’s going on there. He will resign from duty as soon as the
case is resolved.”

“
I’m still not sure how I
can help,” Agent Angie said. “Why don’t you gentlemen just work
your case?”

“
The bottom line, Angie,
is that we believe that the young men are using the distribution
channels that were created by other perpetrators,” Seth said.
“We’re hoping, with a little luck, we’ll be able to finally put
this distribution channel to rest.”

She scowled at Seth and then looked from
face to face around the table. Her eyes leveled at Seth again.

“
You realize I was pulled
from that case,” Agent Angie said.

“
Not by anything we did,”
Seth said.

“
That’s correct,” Agent
Angie said. “I have a full case load of my own. I don’t want to get
involved here and then . . .”

“
I understand,” Seth said.
“But if you were involved, what would you do first?”

She squinted at Seth and he smiled. Her eyes
went up to the ceiling as if to implore God himself before leveling
her eyes at Raz.

“
Good looking man like
you, I’d go to the free clinics, put the word out that you want
information about any woman who has been assaulted,” Agent Angie
said. “Whatever happens, you’re going to need
a lot
of credible witnesses because
what usually happens in these cases is that the community closes
ranks. What are a few raped and brutalized girls in comparison to
the entire future of our star football players? Our basketball
stars? Those girls were sluts and whores; our boys have athletic
scholarships and you know, boys will be boys and crap like that. I
don’t want to spend my free time on this case and find out that the
City and County of Denver would rather cover over the ugly in favor
of a few privileged boys.”

Raz nodded.

“
And you, blondie,” Agent
Angie nodded to Colin. “Isn’t your daddy a Senator?”

“
He’s retired, but yes,”
Colin said.

“
I’d get my famous father
to start making noise about this case,” Agent Angie said. “Give the
case some public clout so that this scum can’t crawl into their
holes.”

“
Good idea,” Colin said.
“My mother has been looking for a cause to champion.”

Agent Angie nodded.

“
As for you,” Agent Angie
pointed to the Deputy DA and the Denver Police Commander. “You need
to find people in your departments who are willing to prosecute and
investigate this case because when the media gets a hold of it,
they are going to take the heat. Look for men, not just
women.”

“
Why not women?” the
Deputy DA asked.

“
Had someone in mind?”
Agent Angie asked.

The Deputy DA nodded.

“
If you have a woman lead,
the case will be marginalized as a woman’s problem,” Agent Angie
said. “It’s hard to believe that this is the world we live in, but
it is. And, there are plenty of men who are disgusted by this type
of crime—men who like women, men who were raised by single mothers
and understand the pressure that your investigator’s brother lives
with every day. These men exist and are chomping at the bit to do
something to help protect women, but no one asks them; the women
haters are loud.”

The Denver Police commander nodded.

“
Anything else?” Seth
asked.

“
You need someone to put
some money behind this,” Agent Angie looked at Seth. “Money gets
attention and shifts the focus. Set up a reward for information.
Make a show of hiring private investigators. Better you yet, you’re
the famous Magic O’Malley, investigate this thing yourself. You
need to change the dialog about this case before it ever hits the
media.”

The men nodded.

“
Officially, I’m not
involved,” Agent Angie said. “I’m going skiing for the weekend and
then home to Arizona. But when it comes
down . . .”

“
We’ll put you front and
center,” Raz said. “Because after all, this is out of Homeland
Security’s jurisdiction.”