“Then you don’t know about violating the restraining order. He was at her house.”
Tapping his large fingers on a large file, he gave a tempered frown. “I heard that from her lawyer, Mr. Stein. But he couldn’t say for sure Jon was within a thousand feet of the house. And she wasn’t home.”
“So there’s no warrant?”
“No. And we don’t really do anything about violations like that. Not even sure the order’s enforceable if she wasn’t home.”
“It is,” Shaw said. He couldn’t stop himself from saying: “Is this because it’s Jon Merritt?”
His silence was a yes. But his expressed answer was to gaze around the room, inviting Shaw to join him. “Like you can see, sir. We’ve got to prioritize. I’ve got rapes and homicides and drug cases I’m running. I’ve caught part of a cold serial killer case. And an arson.”
“All accounts, Detective, he’s a sociopath. Like your serial killer. One of the cons said he talked about a murder-suicide. I hope you understand how at risk they could be.”
“I do, sir.”
Shaw said, “I called the prison. I wanted to talk to his therapist. No one’s gotten back to me.”
Kemp said, “So, they’re stonewalling because they didn’t investigate him good enough before the discharge.” He then stopped speaking, thinking he might not want to share this aloud, obvious though it was.
The huge shoulders rose and fell. “Fact is, psychiatrists won’t talk anyway. The privilege, you know.”
Shaw said, “Doctor-patient privilege fails if the patient tells the doctor he intends to hurt someone.”
“Well, I guess he hasn’t. Or we would’ve heard and that’d be in the file. Which it isn’t.”
“Would you call County?”
Kemp hesitated a moment and said he would.
Shaw wondered why he felt the urge to thank a law enforcer for merely doing his job.
“And you’ll put in paperwork for a restraining order violation warrant?”
“I’ll get to it.”
Someone approached in the corridor and Kemp looked towardhis doorway with a grimace. But the officer passed on, without a look.
“And get Allison’s and Hannah’s names on a missing persons bulletin?”
Another sideways glance. “Well. How long they been missing?”
“Officer...” Shaw said nothing for a moment. “I’m trying to keep Allison and Hannah safe.”
Personalizing them by using their names. A trick he used in the reward business when speaking to reluctant witnesses.
“And I guarantee Merrittwilltry to kill them.”
Kemp looked at the wall of files. “Fact is, a missing persons report wouldn’t raise an eyebrow. Nobody looks at it. But one thing I could do...” A nod to himself. “Put it out as flight of material witnesses.” No sideways glance now. He looked straight into Shaw’s eyes. “That’ll get some attention. Maybe. Can’t say for sure.”
“Thank you, Detective. You find them, would you call me? I don’t want them in one of your safe houses.”
He laughed. “Safe house. Yeah, right.”
A budgetary issue, Shaw supposed.
Then Shaw’s eyes dropped to the brown accordion folder. The faded white tape on the side read:Merritt. 399407.
“Can I look at that?”