Noam stared at the computer screen, hoping that he finally might have a lead on the 'Castrator'. Every other scene where they'd found a man castrated, all video cameras in the area had been hacked and looped so that they had no images of who was going in and taking down the pedophiles. Finally, he had a video of the person who was doing it.
It was a grainy video, nothing with great detail. As before, all home surveillance cameras had been hacked, but this time, luck was on their side. The neighbor had placed a camera inside his truck, trying to catch whoever was stealing things from their yard. It was pure luck that whoever was hacking cameras didn't know about this one.
He hit play on the video, a nervous excitement flowing through him as it started to play. It wasn't clear, but he watched as a dark car pulled up to the curb just a few houses down from the pedophile's house. It was several minutes before a dark dressed figure with a mask over his face and a hoodie pulled over his head made his way down the sidewalk and to the house. It was nearly another forty minutes before the same person walked out, casually getting in their car and pulling away.
Noam watched the whole thing again, this time looking closer at the details. He enhanced the image of the car. They'd already run the plates, and like the few other times they'd gotten images of cars from area surveillance, the license plates came back as being part of the police department's fleet. It made no sense, and there was no record of the plates being used on any active vehicles, but it still came back registered to the city.
He took in the make and model of the car, realizing he recognized it as the same model that Kasey drove. In fact, it was the same color and appeared to be close to, if not the same year. As the man stepped out of the car, Noam paused the feed, taking in the man's build, his clothing, and trying to pick up any detail he could. The man's clothes were solid black. No advertising or print on any of it. Black boots blended into the attire, giving him nothing special to trace. He watched the man walk across the road. There was something familiar about the way the man moved, about his body. He replayed the bit from the man climbing out of his car and his breath caught. The way the man gripped the top of the car door, then turned the opposite direction than you would expect him to before moving from the car. That was something Kasey did.
Noam sat back, his heart racing with the thoughts he was having. There was no way that could be Kasey, but as he stared at the still image of the man and the car that was identical to Kasey's, he had no choice but to wonder.
Again, he played the video, watching the man walk across the road. He tried to remember Kasey's gait, but honestly had never really paid attention. The body shape fit, the man's height fit, the car fit, but he refused to believe the man he was falling in love with could be the person he'd been hunting over the last few years.
He pinched his brow, trying to figure out what other evidence they'd collected over the years that he could investigate, but there was nothing. Whoever was doing this made sure to never leave evidence. They covered their tracks. It was only dumb luck he had the video he did from the most current case.
"Jesus, Kasey, tell me that's not you," Noam whispered at the screen.
He reached for the file on the case and flipped through until he found the pedophile's statement about what had happened. Of course, he hadn't said much about why he thought the man came after him. He was hardly going to incriminate himself, even though they had a shit load of information and evidence to show what he was doing, but he was more than happy to talk about the man who'd castrated him.
Noam read through the man's statement. The man had come up behind him silently, he'd never heard him enter the house. Before he even knew he was there, something pricked his neck, and after that, he slowly went limp, unable to work any of his muscles or speak.
That was the case with every pedophile the 'Castrator' had gone after. The lab had been unable to identify exactly what drugs were used, but they had a pretty good idea it was a mix of several.
The pedophile said he'd been able to hear and feel everything but could do nothing to stop it, couldn't call out for help. He said the man talked to him, describing his voice as hard, but not deep.
Noam wasn't sure if that was how he would describe Kasey's voice. To him, it was gentler, like a caress that eased his nerves. Then again, he wasn't about to cut off Noam's cock. That probably tended to change the tone of a person's voice.
He was starting to feel a headache coming on, this one not like the normal migraines, but stress induced. It would end up a migraine if he wasn't careful. He reached into the drawer and pulled out a bottle of pills, shaking a couple of them onto his hand before tossing them into his mouth and swallowing them dry. What he wanted was a stiff shot or two of something strong to drink.
This couldn't be Kasey. He was letting his imagination go places it shouldn't. Kasey would never do something like that, would he?
Then he thought about Faith. She had been through hell, and it had been the 'Castrator' who had led the cops to her location. It was because of the 'Castrator' that they were able to bring her home. Kasey also knew Beau, and while it could easily be because of Faith having him as a doctor, Faith would have only been treated by Beau in the hospital. Beau handled almost all the child sexual assault cases that went through the pediatric hospital.
"Jesus." Noam's suspicions grew as he went back to reading the pedophile's statement. The man was lean, well built, and about six feet tall. It was the next paragraph that had Noam's chest tightening in dread. The man had crystal blue eyes, it was the only part of his face that was visible as even the mask covered his lips.
Noam closed his eyes, thinking about Kasey's eyes. They were the most perfect color of blue. Crystal blue. Just like the report said.
It was all still circumstantial evidence. There was nothing here to confirm that the person in the video was Kasey. He needed more proof before he could believe that the man he'd welcomed into his life was the 'Castrator'.
He played the video over and over again, trying to find anything else that could disprove what he was thinking because he really didn't want to prove it. If it was Kasey, he'd have no choice but to arrest him and charge him for all the castrations that had happened over the last few years. That was a lot. There had been at least one a week, sometimes more.
He arched his neck, trying to ease the growing tension. Hell, there had even been a couple murders. They didn't look intentional, and it went against the usual habits of the 'Castrator', but several times the pedophile had been shot and killed. Noam's theory on that was that the situation went wrong and for the 'Castrator's' own protection he had to kill the person.
Could he arrest Kasey? He'd have no choice. Even if he couldn't bring himself to do it, he'd have to let someone else.
"Fuck!" He smacked his fist on the desk. He couldn't do this right now. He needed to think. There had to be some kind of evidence that Kasey wasn't the person doing this.
Turning off his computer, he grabbed his things and headed out the door. He was going to take the rest of the afternoon off and relax. He needed to think things through. Look at everything, because it wasn't like he could just walk up and accuse Kasey of being the 'Castrator'. If he was wrong, and he prayed that he was, Kasey might never forgive him.
As he drove home, he thought about everything he knew about Kasey. Oddly, he'd never asked him the name of the company he worked for. That would have helped as he could have confirmed employment. As he thought more and more about what he knew, his gut twisted tighter into knots. Kasey always seemed to get off work and head home right about the same time that the police would get the 911 call alerting them to a new scene. In fact, there had been several times Kasey had been on his way over to spend the night and had called to say he was on his way, and minutes later, Noam would have to cancel because he would get a call to report to a crime scene.
He tried to remember all the cases recently with castration. Had he been with Kasey any of the nights there were castrations? He gripped his steering wheel tightly, trying to think back. He needed to get home to his laptop and look at the dates.
As he thought back, he remembered one night where he'd been watching TV in bed with Kasey and had been called out. He'd left him to sleep while he worked the case then came back and climbed into bed beside him, but had that been a 'Castrator' case? Why couldn't he remember?
Now Kasey was in Nevada, supposedly working a job. Noam's department would have known if there were other cases of castration out of state, wouldn't they? He didn't have a clue if departments shared that kind of information with each other. It was probably in the national database, but had anyone ever thought to look?
His heart wanted to say Kasey would never do this, let alone lie to him, but his gut said that if Kasey was behind this, he would have kept it quiet, knowing what Noam would do if he found out.
He parked in the garage and hurried into the house, ignoring Casper as she jumped up to greet him. He needed to look at his computer and compare dates he could remember being with Kasey to dates they had castration cases.
As he sat down at the kitchen table and opened his laptop, Casper jumped up, demanding attention. Noam took a deep breath, turning to her and wrapping his arms around her for a tight hug. He needed to calm down. Even if it turned out to be Kasey, there was nothing he could do about it until Kasey got home. He needed proof, needed to be sure. That was going to take time.
He kissed Casper on the neck, giving her the attention she wanted, allowing his mind to calm, his nerves to settle.
"It can't be him, right, Casp?" He raised a brow at the dog as if waiting for her to answer.
Noam sat back, remembering every moment he'd spent with Kasey. From the first day at the gun range when he'd watched him shoot like he was a professional... "Shit." That only helped to confirm what he was thinking. Of course, someone who broke into homes and did what the "Castrator' did would need to be good with a gun. And then, there was the shit that happened to his sister. What a perfect trigger to push someone into being a vigilante. All the pieces fit, but he still had no solid proof. All he could do was watch, listen, and pay attention as time went on.
Shutting his computer, he refused to think about it anymore. He'd sort through it, but he was mentally and emotionally exhausted after everything. He was going to grab a hot shower, make some popcorn, and curl up with Casper and try and forget he might be dating a criminal.