“Thanks, Nick.” She smiled at him, hoping to relieve his concern. “I know the drill, so don’t worry. I’ll be fine.”
She did know the drill. She had interviewed numerous criminals, tougher, cruder men than this boy. She slipped out of her London Fog trench coat, unsnapped her watch, plucked off her earrings and pearls, placing the items in her handbag, then surrendered the coat and handbag to Nick. She checked her suit jacket and unlatched a gold pin of a dove from her lapel. Nick opened the handbag for her, and she carefully placed it inside.
After inspecting her skirt and shoes and buttons, making certain there were no sharp edges, she bent down to her overnight case and pulled out a plain yellow legal pad-no wire spiral notebooks-and a simple number two lead pencil. She had learned the hard way that the simplest pen could be dismantled in seconds, its insides used to pick the lock of even the best set of handcuffs.
Finally prepared, she took a deep breath and nodded to Burt to open the door. Yes, she knew the drill. Don’t show any signs of vulnerability. Let him know immediately that she wouldn’t be intimidated by any of his bullshit, crude comments or lewd glares. However, when the young man sitting across the wooden table looked up at her, Gwen saw something that threatened to unravel her calm more than any obscene gesture or wolf-call whistle. What she saw in Eric Pratt’s eyes was pure, undeniable fear. And that fear seemed to be directed at her.
CHAPTER 43
Maggie spread out the files on the counter Keith Ganza had cleared for her, shoving high-tech microscopes out of the way and setting empty racks of vials clinking.
“Should we wait for Detective Racine?” Ganza asked, glancing at his watch.
“She knew what time we were going to get started.” Maggie tried to keep the impatience out of her voice. Just when she was starting to be impressed with Racine, the detective did something to annoy her all over again. “The only case I could find on VICAP,” Maggie began, “is a floater fished out of Falls Lake just north of Raleigh. They found her about ten days ago.” She pulled out the scanned photos she had downloaded. “She was a twenty- two-year-old college student at Wake Forest.”
“A floater?” Ganza hovered over her shoulder. “How long had she been in the water?”
“Coroner’s report says several days.” She showed him a faxed copy. “But you know as well as I do that it’s pretty tough to figure time of death with a floater.”
“This doesn’t sound like our guy. What was VICAP’s match?”
“Actually there’re quite a few things. Her mouth was taped shut with duct tape and a piece of paper was found shoved down her throat. There’re handcuff marks on the wrist and several ligature tracks on her throat.” Again, she pulled out more scanned photos, close-ups of a mutilated neck and welted wrists.
“Was the hyoid crushed?”
Maggie ran her index finger down the coroner’s report until she came to the notation. “Yes. And check the photo. There’s a lot more bruising than from a cord. This guy likes to use his hands when he’s ready for the kill.”
Ganza held up a full-length scan. “Looks like livor mortis on her backside. She may have been sitting when she died. Would have had to be sitting for hours before he came back and tossed her in the water. But why toss her? Our guy likes to pose his victims.”
“He may not have tossed her,” Maggie said. “The Wake County sheriff told me they had some flooding in that area about two weeks ago. The lake came up over its banks.”
“Well, she’s washed pretty clean. Any DNA samples found at all? How ’bout under her nails?”
“Nope. All washed away.”
“I have the preliminary DNA results from the Brier girl,” Ganza said while he shifted through the documents Maggie had laid out.
“And?”
“There was some foreign DNA under her fingernails, but it doesn’t match the semen.” Ganza didn’t sound surprised. Maggie wasn’t, either. Whether Senator Brier wanted to believe it or not, the evidence seemed to point to consensual sex, probably earlier in the evening.
“Also found some foreign fingerprints on the Brier girl’s purse. We’ll check them against what we have in AFIS,” Ganza continued. “’Course, the way you girls share your belongings with one another, it might not lead us anywhere.”
“Goes to show you what you know about girls, Ganza. I don’t share my things with anyone, let alone something as personal as a purse.”
“Goes to show what you know about girls, O’Dell. When was the last time you carried a purse?”
“Okay, good point.” She felt her cheeks flush, surprised that he had noticed such a detail about her. Yes, she hated to admit it, but it was true that she had been anything but the typical teenage girl, and it looked like she was far from the typical woman. Still, it was embarrassing that this scruffy, weathered, forensics relic knew more about women and their accessories than she did.
“One other thing.” This time he went to the metal cabinet in the corner and brought back a plastic evidence bag. Inside, Maggie recognized the slide with a piece of transparent tape attached. It was the slide she and Stan had made from the residue found on Ginny Brier’s neck. “Hang on to that for a minute,” he told her as he walked to the door and reached for the light switch. “Now, keep in mind that whatever cord or wire or rope this guy is using has to be covered with this crap, okay?”
He shut off the light and the glittery substance on the slide began to glow in the dark.
“What in the world?”
“If we can figure out what it came off of, it might be able to tell us something about our guy.”
He snapped the lights back on.
“What about something used in a magic act or for a theater production?” Maggie asked. “Maybe some novelty store or costume shop might be able to tell us.”
“Could be. But I’m wondering, does he use it because it’s a nifty prop or because it’s something he has handy all the time?”
“My guess is it’s a nifty prop.” Maggie held up the slide again. “This guy likes attention. He likes putting on a performance.”
When she looked back at Ganza, he was picking through the assortment of documents again. He pointed to the fax copy of the crumpled piece of paper found in the floater’s throat. “No ID, no cyanide capsule, no quarters. What was this?”
Despite the wrinkles and creases, it looked like some kind of schedule with a list of dates and cities. Maggie pulled out another piece of paper from her jacket pocket.
“Recognize this?” she asked as she unfolded a copy of the Church of Spiritual Freedom’s pamphlet. The one Tully had found after Reverend Everett’s Saturday night rally. On the inside was listed the dates and cities for the organization’s fall schedule of rallies. “Take a look at the first of November. That week’s designated rally was at Falls Lake State Recreation Area in Raleigh, North Carolina. Don’t tell me it’s a coincidence, because you know-”
“Yeah, yeah, I know. You don’t believe in coincidences. So how does the homeless woman fit into all this? There was no rally close by. And if Prashard’s early assessment is correct, she was also killed Saturday night.”
“I haven’t figured that out yet.”
“Maggie, you know all this means is that someone wants us to make a connection to Everett. The murder of Senator Brier’s daughter looked like it could be revenge for the deaths of those boys in the cabin. But the rest-the floater, the homeless woman…” Ganza waved his hand over the spread of photos and reports and faxes. “All it means is that someone wants us to make a connection to Everett. Doesn’t mean he’s involved.”
“Oh, he’s involved,” Maggie said, surprised by the hint of anger in her voice. “I don’t know how or why, but my gut tells me the good Reverend Joseph Everett is somehow responsible. Maybe not directly.”
