with Scissors.
Jack put a hand on Liddell’s arm. “You said something earlier about Nina’s death that’s been bugging me. Both she and Hope—and the pimp—were killed the same night and the same way. What are the odds of that? And now this one is killed, maybe injected with something, and her head is left where it would get the most attention—the newspaper offices.”
“So?” Liddell asked.
Jack searched for the right words and then said, “This one matches some particulars from Harrisburg and some of ours. So far none of ours had been left out in the open.” He kept spinning the idea out. “Nina is the center of this. I’m sure of it. She’s the only one the killer tried to hide. We haven’t found any of the kill locations, but at Nina’s house we found a lot of blood. That’s the only time he screwed up. I’ve been asking myself why, and the answer I keep getting is that the killer knew Nina. She was special.”
“So you’re saying the killer is trying to make us think these are gang killings? That it’s drug-related? But it’s not. It’s about Nina.”
“I’m not sure yet.” Yet he did think of the lies Eric told them. Maybe he deserves a closer look. Garcia can check with the police in Pennsylvania. Why did he leave that place, anyway?
Liddell pushed the door open and said loudly, “Knock, knock.”
“What’s the code word?” inquired a female voice from somewhere inside the dark maze.
Kim Hammond had adapted to her job well. Years of working undercover left her with numerous tattoos, high blood pressure from poor sleeping and eating habits, and a lifetime of chain-smoking, not always tobacco. She was short, sturdily built, with a youthful appearance for a woman nearing fifty years old. But she smelled like a doobie.
“You still smoking devil weed?” Liddell asked.
“You know it, Big Mon,” Kim said. “A bag a day keeps the doctor away.”
Kim was in charge of the narcotics unit evidence room. Being in there for any amount of time left a person smelling like cannabis.
“What have you got for us, Kim?” Jack asked. He could see a small tic at the corner of her mouth.
“Hope Dupree was mine,” she said, and rubbed her face. “She was my snitch.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
“Did Mike Jones know Hope was your snitch?” Jack asked.
“Why didn’t you tell us before about Hope?” Liddell added.
Sergeant Kim Hammond motioned toward several empty desks. She remained standing while the men sat.
“I don’t have to tell you about keeping confidences,” she began. “Dupree was involved with some pretty heavy stuff. Major players!”
“And I don’t have to tell you that I’m working a double homicide,” Jack countered.
Liddell leaned his chair back against the wall. “Okay. What can you tell us?”
“This isn’t my first rodeo, guys. I’ll give you what I can, but some things I would have to clear with the chief.” She waited for them to nod in understanding, and then continued. “I’m part of a bigger task force. I can’t tell you details about our investigation because you don’t have clearance, but I can tell you that Detective Mike Jones didn’t know Hope was working for us.”
Jack momentarily wondered why that would be, but then again, they hadn’t told him or Liddell either.
Kim leaned forward lowering her voice, more out of habit than fear of being overheard. “Eric and Trent are on the task force. I’ve heard through the grapevine that Eric’s the one who identified Nina.”
“We were at the landfill still recovering the remains when Eric contacted the chief directly and showed up at the morgue with him. He identified her for us.”
“You mean Eric Manson didn’t tell you?” she asked, looking from Liddell to Jack. “Eric got her charges dismissed a couple of months ago so we could keep her in play. Maybe he thought that detail wasn’t important.”
Jack felt his jaw clenching. He would deal with Eric later.
“Then the dumb broad got hooked on crack cocaine. I thought I was going to have to arrest her myself, but then she got killed,” Kim said.
“Is MS-13 involved?” Jack asked.
“Nah,” she said. “They aren’t interested in Harrisburg.”
“Do you know Detective Mike Jones from Harrisburg PD is working the murders of Hope Dupree and her pimp, Dick Longest?”
“Yeah.” A tic started at the corner of her mouth.
Jack and Liddell exchanged a look. Jack said, “He’s working several similar killings. He’s the one that told us about Hope Dupree and Dick Longest.”
Kim paced a bit, no doubt deciding how she could tell.
“Between us?”