Darling - K. Ancrum Page 0,68

file had notes in it about expediting his citizenship status in exchange for participation. Minsu’s had a request that he be protected from media investigation in both a positive and negative circumstance; his focus was mostly on discretion. Both of their cooperation agreements were unsigned by their parents—but they were also both eighteen. Curly and Nibs, sixteen and seventeen respectively, had both recently filed for emancipated minor status—probably to avoid the foster system after Peter’s eventual capture. Charles had paid in advance to have his record scrubbed in the likely event that he would be arrested in conjunction with this, and had requested witness protection if they were unable to catch Peter.

She hadn’t known him for long, but it was so like Charles to take those precautions that Wendy felt a spark of amusement. After she’d finished reading, Wendy gathered the printouts, stacked them, and slipped them back inside the folder. “If the others are directly involved in Peter’s capture, why did they get arrested earlier this evening?” she asked calmly.

Detective Hook rubbed his mustache, clearly trying to decide whether he wanted to share this information with Wendy. “Peter moves his home about twice a year. It’s difficult to keep track of his base, and Trevor hadn’t been able to come back to the precinct since before their move, so we had to use our own intel for locating Peter’s home. We had APBs out for unaccompanied male youths in the area, and at least two of the boys fit the basic description. They were cuffed and detained while the officers checked their IDs against police records. If Peter hadn’t disrupted that process, their identities would have been confirmed, and they would have been released. I had direct contact with Ominotago, and was monitoring their location via her, but officers can’t use burner numbers to contact the station. And the phone I provided her is a burner. They wouldn’t be able to use it as a reference to confirm her identity and wouldn’t be able to use her association with me as protection. They would have to look up police records and Ominotago doesn’t have a record. She’s clean.”

“You scared Minsu half to death!” Wendy spat.

“And the Chicago Police Department will offer an apology for that,” Detective Hook said, leaning back in his chair. “After we capture the perpetrator.”

“Did you call my parents yet?” Wendy asked.

Detective Hook looked Wendy up and down in a very “cop” way, then folded his burly arms on the desk. “I received a hysterical call from a girl named Eleanor Rodgers earlier this evening concerning you and—once I figured out who you were and just how special you are—I made the executive decision not to call your parents. Wendy Darling, I have a proposition for you.”

He opened another folder, plucked a single piece of paper out, and held it up in his prosthetic. “We think that Peter is in a vulnerable state. He’s beginning to behave erratically after years of discipline, and that disorganization has opened up a few weaknesses. For fifteen years he never approached women, and he’s since had contact with two: Genevieve and Ominotago. He doesn’t usually take in very young children, but we’ve heard that he has a seven-year-old boy. We think he used to be able to blend, psychologically, with his victims and relate directly to their shared experience. However, we think that he may be outgrowing his MO and starting to search for a more stabilizing environment that he can control.”

“What does that mean?” Wendy asked dubiously.

Detective Hook grimaced before laying the sheet of paper down in front of her. “We think he’s looking for a partner. Or something like that. Peter has been able to play brother to his victims successfully for almost twenty years, from the age of seventeen to the age of thirty-six. But the man is facing down forty; he’s probably not going to be able to pretend to be a teenager for much longer. We think he’s begun looking for a mother for them. Instead of a found family, he wants to create … a real family.” Detective Hook shrugged. “So to speak.”

Wendy squeezed her thighs hard in both hands as she tried, successfully, to keep from heaving.

Detective Hook waited for her to recover before continuing. “We do not think he’s interested in actual romantic relationships with any of these women. It’s more like Peter is looking for an accomplice to support his illusory family unit. Obviously Ominotago and Tinkerbelle were both unsuited for