"Any luck with traffic cams?" Dick asked.
"Not so far," a voice across the room answered. "But Higgins thinks it's a 1999 Ford Econoline cargo van. He's checking reported vehicle thefts in the area. There can't be many that old."
Detective Dick made note on a pad. "Someone check the local papers for sales offerings the last week. He might have bought it for cash."
"Good idea. I'll get on it," a voice answered.
"What else?" Dick asked.
A civilian dressed older man stepped forward. "We're trying to get a fix on Mrs. Gustefson's cell phone. It's still active but it goes to voice mail."
Dick nodded and looked at his notes, "What do we have on . . .John Luke Grasso?"
A tall black woman moved forward from against the wall. "The FBI can fill you in better when they get here but this guy's been off the grid since he was released from prison last summer. He lived with his mother here in Santa Barbara until he was arrested and sent away. She had big bucks and died when he was in prison. He sold the house after his release so he's in the chips. Our people feel he's been very active since then. It took us some time to ties his activities together. Incidentally, he supposedly came on the radar as a result of a tip from this man or woman everyone's read about; the so-called psychic tipster person."
"That stuff's bull shit," a voice growled. Others seemed to agree but Detective Dick looked directly at me. I tried to appear noncommittal.
Dick addressed the woman. "Agent Osborn, is there an outstanding warrant on him?"
"No. He's not even on parole. He served his time and after six months of monitoring, he's on his own."
"Isn't he a registered sex offender?" someone asked.
"Yes. He's registered here but no one is tracking him. Either they didn't want to spook him or they don't have any concrete evidence of specific crimes. He leaves nothing; no DNA, no fingerprints, no witnesses. Mostly we're seeing strong similarities in crime MO, patterns and timing. It's alleged he uses multiple aliases. On the psychic angle; you can call it bull shit but I get strong vibes from folks above my pay grade that not everyone feels the way you guys do." Two people laughed aloud and someone growled about their federal tax dollars at work.
"Nobody won a million bucks finding her," the woman called Nancy replied.
Agent Osborn continued. "He abducts, rapes and murders young girls and has killed parents on occasions to get to the child. It's out of character if this mother is still alive." I must have made a sound as my stomach again roiled and I grabbed the wall to steady myself. Everyone turned toward me.