“Blow up the next set and zoom in on this guy.”
Ben uses the mouse and zooms in.
My eyes search this next set of pictures and that’s when I see it.
His sleeves are pulled up and a set of tattoos peek out.
Recognition dawns and I flash back to that first night with Ria.
“He’s big and burly. A little bit taller than you, maybe six, five? He has blonde hair that’s always in a greasy ponytail. Tattoos up and down his arms. One arm is covered in female cartoon characters. Like Betty Boop and Jessica Rabbit. And on the other is just a bunch of squiggly lines that I think are Celtic symbols? But he also has guns on that side… like a rifle with some sort of tag?”
CJ.
The guy who propositioned Ria and would have done worse, had I not been there with her.
Her roommate’s slimy ex.
The link to figuring out what they want with Ria.
“I know him.”
Two sets of eyes jump to me, and I shake my head in disbelief.
Coincidence?
I think not.
“What do you—” Ben gapes at me, his face showing signs of excitement and relief.
“Show me the rest. Then we’ll talk about the sonofabitch.”
Ben clicks through the next sets of photos, but nothing jumps out until the end. The bus hides them for a few sets until we have visual of them boarding the bus together. After the bus leaves, the tote is nowhere to be found, indicating a pickup was done.
I’m still shaking my head ten minutes later after I explain it to Ben and Gabe.
Ben is already on it. He’s running everything he can find on CJ, tracking every place he’s ever been.
Ben will find any digital print this guy has ever left online.
I stop right in front of our weapons wall, allowing myself to imagine pinning the asshole down and ramming his head with my gun.
There is no way he’s just some random guy they picked to complete the transaction.
They slipped up, and something about that woman doesn’t sit right either.
Something about the way CJ handled that whole thing was messy. Sloppy.
Ria.
I can’t hide this from her. And if we’re going to get this guy, I’m going to have to fill her in.
I’ll have to bring her in here so she can tell us what she knows about this guy or even
see if she can ID any of the other runners or couriers.
I slam my hands down on the metal desk in frustration.
I hate this. Ria has been through enough.