Noam stared at the file on his desk, wondering how someone could disappear into thin air. They'd been able to find the kidnapper's address, but by the time they'd arrived at the house, it was empty. Only a few bits of garbage littered the floors and none of it held any clues to where the man had gone.
Through a warrant, they had all the girl's social media records and the full conversations they'd had with the man. He'd claimed to be fourteen, sending fake pictures, and even talking about going to one of the local schools. It was easy to see how the girls were fooled.
His stomach was in knots at how easy the man had earned their trust.
Property records showed the man to be William Mattin, a man with a history of sexual assault on women. Nothing in his records would suggest he'd turn to children, but his history was violent. He'd served time for two brutal rapes, having been released three years ago after serving his time.
They were combing through the man's social media records and hitting brick walls. There was nothing there to give them any idea where the man would have gone or taken the girls.
Thinking back to the mall surveillance, he pinched the bridge of his nose, remembering the video showing the two young girls leaving with a man that matched William's identity.
Thank God Noam never had children of his own.
To make matters worse, the child's body they'd found the other day didn't come up in any database. They were waiting on final DNA results to be sure, but even a national search hadn't brought up a match for the victim. They had contacted every department in the country with a child missing who matched the victim's appearance and age, but all had come back negative.
How did a child go missing and no one reported it? It made his skin crawl to even think of the answers to that.
Needing to clear his head, he pushed back from his desk and stood. A cup of coffee would help wake him up and get the shit he'd been looking at out of his brain for a little while.
He made his way to the break room, poured a cup of coffee and stared out the small window to the street outside. His mind wandered back to the weekend and his time with Kasey. He had a blast at the range, both of them competing against each other for who could hit the target best, then dinner had been amazing. Not only was the steak delicious, but Kasey had kept him laughing, joking about things, and sharing stories from his past.
By the time they'd gotten back to his place, he'd almost asked Kasey in for a drink, but fear that things might become more intimate than he wanted kept him from making the offer. He needed to keep things friendly and not let his mind take him places he couldn't go. Relationships didn't work for him, and as much as he missed having someone to hold, it wasn't worth what came after.
With a long sigh, he considered again going back in for more surgery, but the chances it would be effective were so low that it wasn't worth the pain it would put him in to try. At least now he could try to regulate the pain as best he could.
It had been a long time since anyone had made him want more, but Kasey did. He watched at dinner how he'd licked the steak sauce from his lips and wondered how it would feel to kiss him. He watched as he moved around on the range, his tight muscles straining against his shirt, and he wanted to feel that body against him, those arms around him.
"Levinsky, how's it going?"
Noam turned to find Detective Michaels standing near the coffee pot. "Hey, Chad, what's new?"
The officer shook his head. "Nothing, that's the problem. I've got a body and no one to claim it." Chad twisted, popping his neck before blowing out a long breath. "Any news on your missing girls?"
Noam shook his head. "Nothing. One of the fathers called me this morning and I had nothing to tell him. I heard there was another castration last night. I hoped it was our guy, but there were no kids on the scene, just a married couple who were molesting children from the local soccer team. I mean I'm glad they were stopped, but I really hoped to be able to bring those girls home."
"Yeah, there's nothing better than being able to reunite them. Sadly, it doesn't happen that way often."
Noam thought back to a case a few years earlier that Michaels worked where they had brought a couple girls home, but it didn't happen often. Most of the kids they reunited with their parents were thanks to the 'Castrator's' work. The 'Castrator' managed to find kids they didn't even know were missing or that were from other areas. How he had such a success rate was beyond him. He was thankful, but it pissed him off his own resources couldn't get the results that the 'Castrator' did.
Noam's phone rang, and he pulled it out of his pocket, seeing Kasey's name. He glanced at Chad. "I've got to take this." He gave a nod as he hit answer and stepped out of the break room. "Hey, what's up?"
"Not much. Just woke up and I thought I'd call and say hi. See what you were up to." Kasey sounded cheerful.
Noam glanced at the clock. "It's just after noon. A little late to be getting up isn't it?"
"I had to work late last night." Kasey sounded like he was stretching.
"You said you did computer work, right?" They hadn't talked much about Kasey's job.
"Yeah. I go in after hours and service the systems while the company is closed so I can take them offline for a bit without disrupting their business," Kasey told him. "Was hoping you might want to meet up for dinner again or something tonight."
"I'd love to, but I've got to work late. Can we do it Wednesday?" He was already trying to think of a way to skip out on working late, but there was no way he could get away early today.
"Um, well, we can, but I'm sort of babysitting Wednesday through Friday, but if you don't mind company with us, I'd love to."
"Babysitting?" Noam wasn't going to hide his shock.
"Well, she's thirteen, so hardly a baby, but her parents are going on a quick trip, so she is going to stay with me. How about you come out with us. I'll pick you up at six and we'll go do something before dinner."
"Sure, if you don't think she'd mind me coming along with you." Noam wasn't sure how to feel about hanging with a thirteen-year-old girl, but if it meant time with Kasey, he'd take it.
"I'll make sure, but I don't think she'll care. She might be a little stand-offish at first. She's pretty shy, but she'll warm up to you," Kasey told him.
It was Kasey he wanted to warm up to. "Then it's a date." He clamped his mouth shut as soon as he realized what he'd said.
"No, it's an outing. We'll save the date for a night when it's just the two of us." Kasey's voice suddenly sounded deeper, heavier.
Noam swallowed hard. "I'd like that."
"Me too," Kasey said softly before clearing his throat. "Well, I'll let you get back to work. I just wanted to check in. Give me a call if you get some downtime. I'm off work through Friday now."
"I'll call you when I get home." Noam didn't have a clue why or what they'd talk about, but he wanted to hear Kasey's voice before heading to bed.
"Good, I'll talk to you then." Kasey disconnected the call.
Noam shoved his phone back into his pocket and blew out a long breath. What the fuck was he doing? He needed to take a step back. Phone calls during work, looking forward to calls at night. He was stepping into dangerous territory.
As he walked to his office, he considered canceling the plans to go out Wednesday. It would make things easier if he kept his distance. The more time they spent together, the more time he wanted together.
He sat down at his desk just as his phone rang again. He groaned as he saw the number. Answering, he prepared for anything. "This is Levinsky."
"Noam, we have another missing child. This one was taken from the park on Conner Street," Captain Jensen told him. "You able to handle the family?"
Noam shook his head no. "Yeah, what's the address?" He quickly wrote down the location and hung up the phone.
He stared at the address for a minute before forcing himself up and gathering his things. This was not good. It wouldn't be long before the public was screaming at them for not protecting their kids, and they would be justified doing it. Thank God they'd been able to keep the 'Castrator' and all he was doing from the press. That would be a nightmare. If the public really knew how many pedophiles lived in the area, they'd go nuts. He didn't want to think about what a mess they were in for if people found out what really went on.
Once in his car, he rushed to the address, mentally talking through the conversation he was about to have with the parents of the missing child. It was like a memorized speech that he said time and time again. Deep inside, he knew the parents would probably never see their child again, yet he had to put on a mask and tell them that everything would be okay, and they would do all they could to bring their child home safe.
Some days he hated his job.
He parked behind the marked squad car, taking a second to look around the neighborhood. Several people gathered on the front lawn, talking as they glanced his way. Probably family friends who wanted to help but were honestly just in the way right now as they tried to investigate what was going on.
As he got out of the car, he hoped this was nothing more than a divorce dispute and the child had been taken by one parent to keep them away from the other, but it wasn't. He wouldn't have gotten the call if it were that simple.
Truth was, they had someone snatching children off the streets in broad daylight. That was scary shit. It would put the whole area on full alert, and once again, stop kids from being kids as they were forced to play indoors and not go out on their own.
Noam made his way to the door, not bothering to knock as it was wide open. He stuck his head in and saw a uniformed officer just inside. He gave a weak smile as he stepped in. "What do we have?"
"Anthony Libbons, age six, was just finishing up soccer practice. His mother let him play on the playground after. She left to take his sister to the bathroom about twenty feet away. When she came back, Anthony was gone, and another woman was on the phone with 911 reporting someone had just aggressively snatched a child off the playground."
"Shit." Noam blew out a breath. "Cameras in the area?"
"Getting that now. Witness saw a blue van, no plates. She was pretty shaken up. The mother had taken photos of the boy at soccer practice, so we have those up and have issued an Amber Alert."
"Family?"
"Mother, father, grandmother, and an aunt in the kitchen. Two younger kids are next door at the neighbors."
Noam nodded. "Thanks." He took another deep breath before heading into the kitchen. His late night was just about to get longer.