Chapter 44

“Where’s the list of father’s?” Nate looked at the conference table and began searching through the papers. Eric began doing the same. The names should’ve been on the whiteboard behind Nate but most of them had been ruled out as suspects and they weren’t victims so there had been no reason. Now, however, there was.
“Here it is.” Eric pulled a white sheet of paper from the middle of the table. He picked up a dry erase marker and listed out the fathers: Harvey Brandt, Richard Sykes, David Rappaport, Michael Fleming, Collin Lambert and Steve Andrews.
“We know that at least four of these men were having marital troubles. We know that Michael Fleming had child pornography on his person at his arrest. We know that David Rappaport raped his stepdaughter and got her pregnant. I wonder how many other fathers had the same liking for young girls,” Nate said as he stared at the pictures of the young girls posted on the whiteboard. Each of them reminded him that they were real people in need of real help. Whether it to be to bring justice to a murderer or to save them from a deadly fate.
“I might have something,” Eric said. Nate turned to see Eric holding yet another white paper. “I didn’t think much of it but as I look at all their bank statements I see large deposits weekly in each account.”
“This didn’t raise red flags before?”
“No, because none of them are the same amount and they are listed from different places.” Eric pointed to a bank statement. Nate read the name Richard Sykes. He noticed two deposits in near identical amounts in the same month. They were from the University of South Florida. Nate double checked his notes and found out that Richard Sykes was employed at USF as a full-time dean of academics. The identical amounts had to be his paycheck.
What interested Nate more was the weekly deposits ranging from $1,000 to $6,000 beginning before Emma Sykes went missing and ending a week after she turned up dead. The deposits were from Tate’s Shipping International.
“Are any of the other deposits from Tate’s?” Nate said and pointed to the table.
Eric found what appeared to be other bank statements after a few minutes of searching. “No. Nothing that says Tate’s. This one says JK Harris Associates. This one says Gorrin International. Nothing’s the same.”
“So, whoever is behind all of this is a professional.” Nate stared at the whiteboard again. “Have we picked up David Rappaport yet?”
“We’re looking for him. Got a call from Detective Williams earlier.”
“Is he going to cooperate with us?”
“Not sure yet but I will be there when they question Rappaport.”
“I’d like to do it. I need to make him talk,” Nate said and turned back to Eric. Eric opened his mouth to speak but then seemed to think better of it. He lifted his hands and nodded.
For four more hours Nate and Eric sifted through the paperwork they had related to the fathers while they awaited word on David Rappaport’s arrest. Finally just as the clock struck 5 PM and most agents and support staff were leaving for the day Nate’s cell rang with the news that David Rappaport had been picked up. After twenty minutes of arguing jurisdiction Detective Williams agreed to bring Rappaport to the FBI field office as long as Nate allowed Williams to be in on the interrogation. Nate agreed but only if Williams kept quiet. Williams agreed but only if he would be credited with the arrest.
It was all about give and take. Lucky for Williams, Nate didn’t care about the arrest. Let the man have the media attention he so craved. What he wanted was to get this man to give him the information he needed. Nate knew he was closing in on Ashley and the girl’s location but he had to know who was behind the human trafficking ring. The good news was the camera had not been compromised. An agent was watching the feed around the clock and so far all three captives were still alive. How well they were was yet to be determined.
Just after dinnertime Nate was back in the interrogation room across from David Rappaport. Nate had grabbed a slice of pizza and a coffee before settling himself in front of David. David on the other hand had been waiting for an hour with no food, no water and no air.
Nate slipped out of his jacket and set it on the metal chair. He rolled up his dress shirt sleeves and sat down. He said nothing. David was covered in sweat. His white tank top clung to his body. David’s pupils were dilated and Nate wondered what he was on. The alcohol he could smell but Nate knew it was more then that. He wore a baseball hat backwards so that only a few strands of oily hair stuck through the front opening. He now had a full mustache and beard. He had probably been to high to shave.
“What do ya want?” David’s words slurred as he caught the spittle that dripped out of his mouth. He cleared his throat and sat back.
Nate said nothing.
“Well, you gonna tell me?” David looked back and forth between Nate and Williams. Both just stared at him as though they had nothing better to do and nowhere better to be. “Come on, man I ain’t done nothing.”
Nate opened the manila folder that he had placed in front of him and proceeded to pull out pictures of Jessica. He laid them out one by one in front of David. The first picture was a school photo of Jessica. She was smiling, her hair in two braids on either side of her head. She looked like every other innocent child. Her time ending before it had really begun.
David made no reaction until Nate laid out the picture of Jessica on the autopsy table. Her face turned upward to the ceiling, staples tattooing her chest.
“Don’t make me look at that,” David said.
“Look closely, David, this is what you did. All of this is your fault.”
“No way, man. I didn’t kill her,” David leaned into the table. “You gotta believe me, man, I didn’t kill her.”
“I believe you.”
“Then why am I here?” David snorted. “That officer planted those drugs. They ain’t mine. I swear I’m innocent.” He ended his statement with a curse and a half smile revealing his a yellow grin that was three teeth shy of a full set. Nate hadn’t noticed any missing teeth during their last meeting. Maybe that was recent.
“David, let me tell you what we know.” Nate paused until David was sitting up straight and prepared to listen. “We know that your daughter…”
“Adopted daughter.”
“Right. We know that Jessica was pregnant…”
“I didn’t know about that.”
“Let me finish.” Nate waited again then continued when David remained silent. “We know that Jessica was pregnant. We also know that you are the father.”
“Are you kidding me?” More curses. David half stood in his chair revealing his jeans hanging low enough to again reveal his boxers. Did the man not know how to cover himself up? “There is no way. You are lying to me!”
“No, I’m afraid we’re not. You fathered her child which means you are under arrest for raping a minor. Have you been read your rights?” Nate glanced from David to Williams already knowing the answer. He had been read his rights and had waived his right to an attorney. Williams had it in writing. Or so he said. Nate didn’t care to double check.
“Come on, man. You can’t arrest me for that. You’ve got to give me a deal or something.”
“A deal? Detective Williams do we give deals to child rapists?”
“No Special Agent Zimmerman, I don’t believe we do.”
“You’ve got to give me something,” David said.
“We don’t have to give you anything. You have to tell me what you know about the men that kidnapped and murdered your daughter.”
David’s pupils grew wider; his brown eyes full of terror. Nate was on to something. “No, no. I can’t tell you nothin’. If I tell you anything they’ll kill me.”
Nate smiled. “The thing is David, I’ve heard that story before and you know what? It doesn’t mean anything to me.” Nate directed his attention to Williams. “Jack, I think we have a special place in prison for Mr. Rappaport, do we not?”
“I believe we do.”
“Is there anything we can do about the other inmates finding out that Mr. Rappaport is a child rapist?”
“No, I don’t believe so,” Williams said.
“Okay, okay, man I’ll tell you what I know. I just can’t go to prison.”
“I don’t think I can make that arrangement. You will be going to prison. The question is whether or not you are going to death row.”
“For what?”
“For murder.”
“But I didn’t kill her. You said you believed me.”
“Here’s the thing, David. I may believe you but a jury won’t. If a jury doesn’t have anyone else to pin your daughter’s murder on then they’ll pin it on you. After all you’ve already raped her and fathered her child. Do you really think they’re going to believe you didn’t kill her?” As Nate watched David’s face he knew the man felt trapped. Good, Nate wanted him in a corner. Wanted him to have to fight his way out. Once he started fighting to save his own skin he would stop worrying about saving other people’s skin.
“Then you gotta keep me out of the general population. They’ll kill me.”
“Can we do that Detective Williams?”
“If he tells us what we need to know and that information leads to the arrest of his daughter’s murderer and the safe return of the other missing girls. Then I think we could find a place for him in solitary.”
“And no drug possession?”
“Don’t push it. Tell me what you know,” Nate said.
“Fine, they didn’t pay me what they owed anyway.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Look, man, I don’t know everything. All I knows is I was approached by some dude…”
“Does this dude have a name?” Nate said.
“Todd, I think.”
“Todd Purcell?”
“Yea, man, I think so.”
“And what did Todd Purcell say to you?”
“He said he could get rid of all my problems,” David said.
“What were your problems?”
“My wife and her kid. That woman was all over me about my girlfriend. She hated it. Threatened to leave me.”
“Why would you care if she left you?” Nate said.
“I gotta few dollars to my name and I knew she’d take it.”
“What about Jessica?”
“What about her?”
“Why was she a problem to you?”
“No real reason except she was always in the way. She was cute. I liked her but she always whined when I was around which made Lea mad and then me and the old lady would get in a fight. I was just tired of it.”
“And what did Todd say he could do for you?”
“He said he worked for someone who was looking for white girls.”
“What for?”
“I don’t know, I didn’t care. Maybe he wanted to adopt ‘em.”
Nate rolled his eyes knowing that was a lie. He didn’t dispute the fact that David was an idiot but he couldn’t be that dumb. “And what about your wife?”
“Guy said he would take care of her. And the best part was they would pay me.” David laughed. “Can you believe that? They were gonna off my wife and take her kid and I would get paid for it. I was all over it.”
Nate hid his disgust. This guy was scum. A lifetime in solitary wasn’t enough punishment for this man. Nate was glad he believed in a God who would judge the living and the dead. Either way this man would spend eternity in hell. That was worse then solitary and that would have to be enough.
“How much were you paid?” Nate said.
“The deal was I would get small amounts every week from some corporation. They would pay for a few weeks before they took her and then some after so as not to raise suspicion, you know? The total was going to be about thirty grand,” David said.
“And you got it all?”
“No man, I got barely half. They took her and I got money but then it just stopped.”
“Any idea why?”
“They said she was damaged goods. Said no one would pay to sleep with a pregnant girl. I swore to them I had no idea she was pregnant but they didn’t believe me. I got no more money. Next thing I know you’re at my door telling me Jessica was dead.”
“They told you people were going to pay to sleep with her?”
“Yea, I guess so.”
“Did it occur to you then that this man wasn’t adopting your daughter?”
“Adopted daughter,” David said. “Oh yea, I guess so. I didn’t think about it. I didn’t care, I just wanted my money.”
Nate rose to his feet. He wanted nothing more then to reach across the table and choke the life out of the man sitting across from him. Maybe send him to hell a little early. Williams made no attempt to stop him. David jumped out of his chair and leaned back against the wall, sweat dripping from his forehead.
“Tell me where I can find Todd Purcell.” Nate struggled to keep his voice even as he stepped every closer to David.
“I don’t know man.”
“So far you haven’t given me anything other then your head on a platter. You could’ve made this entire story up.”
“No, I swear.”
“Then tell me something useful.”
“The guy Todd worked for owns a shipping company that uses shipping containers at the Port of Tampa.”
“We know that.” Nate looked away from David as though the information was useless.
“What you probably don’t know is that the guy who owns the shipping company is also one of the father’s. When I asked Todd how I could trust this guy he said because he was going to do the same thing to his wife and kid.”