“Yes. It is. That’s why I made the decision to send them away,” he says coldly.
“Of course,” I say.
He takes a sip of his drink, eyeballing us over the rim of his glass. I don’t think I’ve ever felt more awkward or uncomfortable around a person as Berenthal is making me feel right now. I can’t imagine what it must feel like to be a criminal and seeing this man looming over you from the bench, getting ready to pass sentence on you.
“What do you know about Angelica’s abduction, sir?” I ask.
He sighs and takes another sip of his drink before gently setting the glass back down. Instead of answering my question, he opens his laptop and turns it around so the screen is facing us. He hits a key, and the screen lights up. A moment later, a video begins to play. The view appears to be from a rear facing camera on Angelica’s car. My stomach turns over on itself as we watch a black panel van approaching Angelica’s Tesla from behind. The camera is jolted by the sudden impact, and the car rolls forward. A moment later, a familiar figure emerges from the van: the man in black wearing the yellow smiley-face mask.
As the figure walks through the frame, my gaze flicks up to the judge who is sitting back in his chair, sipping his drink, the anger on his face slightly abating but replaced by fear and grief. On the screen, we see Smiley-Face dragging Angelica’s limp body back to the van. He undoubtedly hit her with the Taser to put her out, and we watch as he drags her out of frame, likely throwing her inside his vehicle. A moment later, he appears again and climbs behind the van’s wheel and takes off. It all happened in less than two minutes.
Berenthal turns the laptop around again and stops the video, then closes the lid. He lets his icy blue eyes linger on us for a long few seconds.
“So? What do you think?” he asks.
“I think we’re dealing with somebody very efficient and methodical,” I tell him.
“I watched you two as you watched the video,” he says. “None of this seemed surprising or shocking to you. It’s like you’ve seen this before.”
Astra and I exchange a glance but say nothing. I don’t want to give out too much just yet. Local news stations are covering the abductions in their areas, but as yet, the stories haven’t been connected and aren’t gaining a lot of traction nationally. That’s going to change. It’s inevitable. As is keeping Ashley Barlow’s name out of the news. But, if possible, I’d like to put it off as long as I can.
“Am I right? You’ve seen this before?” he asks. “Does this have anything to do with the case you mentioned you were working on earlier?”
“We really can’t get into the details of an ongoing—”
“Spare me, Chief Wilder,” he snaps. “This is my daughter. I have a right to know what is going on here.”
“Judge Berenthal, I—”
“If you won’t tell me, I can always give Director Holland a call? Perhaps he can tell me what’s going on,” he spits.
That would be problematic. While the Bureau undoubtedly has people already en route to work Angelica’s case—the Director will no doubt pull out all the stops to find the daughter of a federal judge—it will bring our involvement in Ashley Barlow’s disappearance to light. Because we’re working this off the books, it will expose DD Church as well as my team and undoubtedly put us in line for a brutal smackdown that will make the OPR review that’s still hanging over my head like the Sword of Damocles look like child’s play. If Judge Berenthal goes to the Director, a lot of bad things are sure to follow.
“Okay, listen,” I say. “I’m willing to share some of our information with you on the condition that what we tell you does not leave this room, and it does not make its way back to Director Holland or anybody in his orbit.”
“Are you trying to blackmail me, Chief?”
“No, I’m trying to protect the integrity of my investigation,” I reply. “There are a lot of moving parts, and nobody but my team knows about them all. That is by design.”
He hesitates, probing us with his frosty gaze. His frown deepens, but he finally nods.
“Fine,” he says. “You have my word. This is all strictly confidential.”
“Your daughter is the third abduction by the man in the smiley-face mask in the region. He took a girl from Arlington and a boy from Chevy Chase. In all three cases, the abductions were bold and in broad daylight,” I tell him.
“Jesus,” he gasps. “Do you suspect this is a trafficking ring?”
“We’re looking into that angle, certainly. But as of this moment, we haven’t found anything that would indicate that’s what’s going on here,” Astra says.
“Then… why? Why take my girl? Why take these other kids?” Berenthal asks.
I shake my head. “We’re still looking for a motive. In none of the cases to this point has a ransom demand been made, nor has the abductor tried to initiate contact with the families.”
“I don’t understand,” he says, his face twisted with fear. “Is he just… is he taking these kids just to murder them?”
“We haven’t found evidence of that, sir. Don’t go there just yet because we have no reason to believe they aren’t alive right now,” Astra tells him.
He leans back in his chair, a myriad of emotions scrolling across his face. Berenthal sits forward again and drains the last of his drink, then raises his gaze to us.
“Who are these other kids he’s taken?” he asks.
“We’d rather not say just yet out of respect for the families,” I explain. “I’m sure the news will go nationwide at some point, but I’d rather not make it easier for the media to make the connections right now.”
“Fair enough,” he says. “But do you have any idea who this man is?”
“We’re pursuing a number of leads,” Astra says.
“So… no. You don’t have the first clue.”
“As I said, we’re pursuing a number of leads,” she repeats.
“Can we ask you a few questions, Judge Berenthal?” I ask.
“Yeah. Sure.”
Astra and I take turns asking him the usual litany of questions we’ve asked Senator Barlow and the Olanges. Does Angelica have trouble with a boyfriend? Anybody following her around? Making her uncomfortable? And just as with Barlow and the Olanges, Berenthal doesn’t have any answers that help us. Like the others, Angelica is a responsible, focused, and driven girl. She doesn’t get into trouble, doesn’t drink or do drugs, and doesn’t hang out with those who do.
When we’re finished with our questions, we don’t have anything more than when we walked in. It’s the same as with the others. It’s as if our guy is targeting these kids specifically, perhaps for those reasons.
