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.Exposed metal beams supported the ceiling and walls but left few hiding places.There was no sign of Rebecca Cook or Palmer.In fact, only one thing in the entire building stood out: a wooden desk in the middle of the room.Ash walked without saying a word and found Bowers and Havelock beside him.The desk appeared ordinary in all respects save a handwritten note taped to the top.Twenty grand.Tonight.I don’t want to hurt anyone if I don’t have to.213 Parkview.“What’s at 213 Parkview?” asked Havelock.Ash glanced at Bowers before speaking.“It’s Rebecca’s home address.He’s threatening her family.”13Havelock stepped away from the desk and called in a forensic team to check out the warehouse.Bowers and Ash stayed where they were.“You think this Palmer guy would be stupid enough to take his phone with him?” asked Bowers.“Not if he knows we can track it.I doubt it’s here, though.Even if he just used it for this job, it’d have call histories, maybe text messages from his employer, possibly fingerprints.If it were me, I’d burn it.”“I’ll tell our guys to look for burn marks.I’m also going to get some divers for the lake.”Bowers walked back to their portable command post at the SUV.Palmer had done a lot of work so far, and none of it made sense yet.The Cooks seemed like nice people, but they also seemed average in almost every way.Ash had met a lot of criminals, and Palmer was anything but average.When he murdered John and Kate Doe, he used a round that disintegrated in their skulls, negating the possibility of a ballistics match to his firearm.When he left their car, he wiped away his fingerprints and took the victims’ wallets.After that, he called IMPD but used a phone they couldn’t track.Ash rarely found that degree of professionalism and forethought among ordinary criminals, so it boggled the mind that Palmer would get away with a double homicide only to abduct the first woman he came across and demand a twenty-thousand-dollar ransom.It didn’t make sense unless there was something else going on.Once the forensic teams started working on the desk and warehouse, Ash, Bowers, and Havelock drove back to the station downtown.The two administrators went upstairs to the deputy chief’s office, while Ash went to the conference room their task force had been assigned to.Reddington may not have wanted him there, but as long as Palmer wanted a familiar voice to talk to, he’d have a part of the case.So far, his department’s investigation had focused almost entirely on Rebecca and Palmer.It had another side, too, though, and they would be foolish to ignore it.They needed to start looking at John and Kate Doe.Ash took out his cell phone and called Greg Doran’s desk phone.Instead of Doran, he got Detective Tim Smith.“Hey,” said Ash, surprised.“I thought I called Greg’s desk.”“You did, but he’s taking a piss.What do you want, Rashid?”Ash paused for a second.“I wanted to talk to Greg.That’s why I called his desk.”“Don’t you have something better to do than to bother us?”“Not really.”“We’re working, okay? Don’t call this number again unless it’s important.”Smith hung up the phone.Their relationship remained consistent at least.Ash gave Doran a few minutes to get out of the bathroom before dialing his personal cell phone.The detective picked up on the first ring.“Hey, Doran, it’s Ash.If you ever consider beating your partner with a rubber hose behind the building, let me know.I’ll pay to watch.”Doran grunted.“You were the prank caller he talked to, huh?”“Yeah,” said Ash.“I’m calling to see if you found anything about the Mercedes.”“We got lucky.Dealership gave us his name without a fight.Daniel E.Elliot.He bought the car two years ago.”Ash slumped into his seat, glad to hear some good news.“That’s great.Were you able to ID John Doe?”“Not officially,” said Doran.“But I looked up his driver’s license.The picture and our corpse are a match.”“Good.We’ll see if we can track down his next of kin for an official ID.You find anything else about him?”“A couple of things
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