Cassidy thought he was exaggerating, going so early to the field office. But right out of the elevator, across the deserted open space, he saw Cooper and her assistant were already there and working. Tanya's cry echoed over the empty desks from the team's door.
"Got it! Jeremiah E. Burke High School!"
"JEB? The badge on the shooter's jacket?" asked Russell as Cassidy walked in, to find the whole team was there.
"Kurt, you access the school records so I can kill this damn proxy for good."
Kurt nodded as he started typing. "Accessing. Anything more than 'Kyle' to narrow it down?"
"Reg thinks he's Hispanic. He must be on the last grades," said Aldana.
"Okay... Searching..."
Cassidy nodded hi at them on his way to the coffee machine, but they didn't pay him much attention.
"Where's that school, T?" asked Russell.
"It's listed as Dorchester, but it's between Dorchester and Grove Hall."
"That's where the stolen car was, right?" said Hank.
"Yep."
Tanya focused on her computer and Ron turned to Aldana. "Any news from the hospital? How was Reg's night?"
"She's fine. Bet she's trying to bribe a nurse to get some coffee," Aldana replied, smiling.
"Not that bitch from the night shift," growled Cassidy, his nose into his steamy mug.
"Who's with her?" asked Fred. "Connor?"
"Pillbug was still sleeping when I left," replied Tanya, not looking away from her screen as she kept typing.
"Brockner stayed the night," said Cassidy.
"Got the uploader!" Tanya said. She looked up at the others. "Both Gomez and Reg's videos were uploaded from an IP in Mattapan."
"Go figure," grunted Hank.
"Hold that thought, T," said Kurt. "I found one Kyle Santos in the school records. His registered home address is in Mattapan. A development near Morton Street Station."
The girl checked her screen and nodded. "Let me see... Yup, that's him."
Kurt turned on the plasma to show the team a picture of the boy. "Meet Kyle Santos, eighteen. He used to bring his gun to school and threaten other boys he didn't like. Until the principal got sick and tired of him and kicked him out last year. He's got no police records."
Cassidy headed out, mug in hand. "We better get the orders to pay him a visit."
"I'll text you the address," said Kurt.
"Were you able to clean the audio from the video?" asked Russell.
"Yeah, but I didn't get much. It sounds like 'Joe' or something like that."
"Meaning Gomez said the boy's name," said Ron. "Let me hear it."
Kurt handed Ron his huge, cutting-edge earphones and turned off his music.
Ron put the earphones on, pressing them to his ears, and nodded at Kurt to play the file. He listened to the audio several times and removed the earphones. "Yeah, it sounds like 'Joe' or 'Joey'," he said.
Fred grabbed the print of Kyle's face and pinned it to the board. "So Kyle and Joe," he said, scribbling the other name by the picture. "We still have nothing on the driver."
Cassidy showed at the door. "We can wait for the orders here or pick them up on our way. Who's in for the ride?"
The others grabbed their jackets to go out when Fred's phone buzzed with an incoming text. He stopped to check it and said, "It's Marley. He wants me to call'im."
"Al, Hank, you go with Cassidy to Kyle's house," said Russell. "Fred, call him on speaker. Ron, let's see what Marley has to say."
"T, call Banks to meet us there," said Aldana on her way out.
"Got it."
Ron wasn't happy at Russell's call, but approached Fred as he dialed. Russell joined them and Fred held the phone for them to hear.
"Marley, my man," he greeted. "Up so early?"
The gang leader's voice was thick. "On my way to bed," he replied. "We watched the videos, man."
"Anything familiar?"
"The boy talking all the time, the one taking the videos. We think we know'im."
Fred traded a look with the other two. "What d'you mean, know him?"
"He tried to join us some time ago, but I shut'im out. He was trouble. Y'know what I mean."
"He wouldn't play by the rules."
"Yeah, he's a whitey bigmouth. That's what he is. Just like the videos."
"D'you remember anything about'im, Marley? A name, an address? We only know Gomez knew him."
"If he's the one I think, he lives at the project two streets away from my corner, but I dunno the apartment. Joey something. You say Gomez knew'im? Wait..." They heard Marley talk in whispers with somebody. "Hey, Fred, my bro here says this Joey bragged about his pa being a cop—What?" Another voice muttered a few words. "A total hero, he said. Why would he shoot his daddy's fellas?"
"No idea, Marley, but we'll sure look into it. Now go to bed and tell your boys I say hi and thanks. I owe you."
"Take care, fed."
"You too, man."
"The son of a cop?" Ron repeated as Fred disconnected. "You better get sharp, Russ. We're gonna need some profiling to figure this one out and you're all we've got left."
"Thanks for the 'left' part."
"Anytime."