Edge of Mercy (A Kate Reid Novel Book 11), Robin Mahle [freenovel24 .txt] 📗

“Just a day or two, tops. I’d like to hash out this list and see if we can get moving on a ground team.”

“You got it.” Nick glanced through the door of his office. “Right through here. I think they’ll all be in the conference room waiting for us.”

“Then let’s not keep them in suspense. I’ll follow your lead.” Palmero grabbed the files he needed and waited for Nick to head out.

The team had convened in the conference room and awaited their arrival. Kate spotted their approach and the smile on Nick’s face that she hadn’t seen in a while. She didn’t know this Agent Palmero but liked the effect he had on Nick already.

“Afternoon,” Nick walked inside and gestured to Palmero. “I know most of you are already familiar with or have spoken to SSA Palmero, but here he is in the flesh. Mitch Palmero, over there is Eva Duncan.”

“Duncan, nice to meet you in person,” Palmero replied.

“Back at you.”

“That’s Levi Walsh, our chief coordinator with the local authorities,” Nick continued.

“Agent Walsh,” Palmero nodded.

“Pleasure.”

“This is Kate Reid, our resident profiler.”

Kate nodded and smiled in response.

“And of course, you’ve spoken to Senior Unit Agent Cameron Fisher.”

“It’s a real pleasure finally getting the chance to meet you all. I’m looking forward to learning from each and every one of you and hope to hell we find whoever’s out there taking the lives of the innocent,” Palmero replied.

“Scarborough says you’ve stumbled across a few leads.” Fisher gestured for the agent to sit at the head of the table. “And that you and Duncan have been coordinating on the list of volunteers.”

Palmero opened his files and laid them out on the table before taking a seat. “That’s right. Duncan and I have been working on identifying some of the doctors and volunteers from Oakview where Hurricane Edward hit the hardest. She has been at a distinct disadvantage with only the database at her disposal, while I’ve been able to get in facetime with the local authorities on scene during the evacuations and rescue missions. That said, she phoned me late yesterday to ask that I follow up on a doctor whose initial statement had been overlooked.” He eyed her. “Agent Duncan.”

“A Dr. Andrew Valente. I questioned Agent Palmero if the man had been interviewed again given his initial statement that he recalled an EMT bringing in one of the victims.”

“And I indicated that it looked as though Oakview might have let that one slip, so I took the lead and ran with it.” He pulled out a picture of the doctor. “This is Valente. A respected surgeon in Galveston who volunteered his time to aid in the rescue and recovery missions. The good news is, he recalls the EMT.”

“By name?” Walsh asked.

“If only we could be so lucky,” Palmero replied. “No. Not by name, however, we know he was an EMT and one crucial element the doctor recalled was the man’s uniform indicated it was a facility in Baltimore.”

“Now we’re talking,” Nick said.

“Exactly,” Palmero replied.

“On that note, something hit yesterday, and it looks like now is the opportune time to discuss it,” Duncan added. “Riverside.”

“Ah yes, the Riverside Field Office,” Palmero interrupted.

“You got it.” Duncan pulled up in her chair. “Reid and I had a brief discussion on this as well, so I reached out to your contact in Riverside and spoke to him about his probable witness.”

“Wait, we have a witness?” Walsh asked.

“A reluctant witness,” she added. “The man who came forward is here illegally. He’s essentially asked that in exchange for his cooperation, he’ll be guaranteed a green card.”

“He won’t help us find a killer until he gets a green card?” Nick asked.

“That does seem to be what he’s asking for and the agent in Riverside asked if we could make that happen,” Duncan added.

“Here’s the thing,” Kate began. “We need this Riverside witness. If we can get Dr. Valente in Oakview to meet with a sketch artist, we can find out quickly if we’re dealing with the same person. It would, without a doubt, connect the two cases and we’d have a face.” She looked to Fisher. “The question is, can we make that happen?”

“Getting a guy a green card?” Fisher shook his head. “I have no idea. As you all know, that is absolutely not our department.”

“I might know someone who can help if that’s how you want to proceed,” Nick said. “It won’t be a quick process, though. If the man won’t cooperate until he gets a card, we’re screwed.”

“If you think we can do this,” Duncan began. “Then I’ll inform the Riverside agent, or Palmero can, if he prefers, and we can see if he can convince the witness to move forward pending the immigration details. I think that’s all we can do.”

Fisher cast his sights around the room. “Since we have Palmero here, I think the thing to do is have him work with Scarborough and Duncan to get something in writing on the green card. Whoever you know, Scarborough, it might be best to put a local face on the situation. We don’t have the Riverside agent here, but Palmero is working the same case. It might help. I think Duncan will need something to take back to the agent to offer assurances to his reluctant witness. In addition to that, Dr. Valente in Oakview will need to be put in front of a composite artist and come up with something we can use.” He looked to Palmero. “Is there anything else you need to do from here with our help?”

“I would like to sit down with Reid to review her profile.” He looked to her. “Unless you have something we could go over right now?”

“I have preliminary information I’ve compiled for everyone’s review. We can start there.”

“Sounds good,” Palmero said. “Let’s hear what you’ve come up with.”

Kate had been prepared for this. While it was still early in the investigation, she had shared her initial thoughts with Nick and