'Probably. Any of the others ring a bell?'
Escalante started to shake his head, then stopped.
'This one is a lawyer, isn't he?' he asked, pointing at Peter Lake's photograph.
'Yes, he is,' Turner answered, trying to hide his excitement.
'it didn't hit me until now. What a coincidence.'
'What's that?'
'Gloria was chosen for jury duty six months ago. She sat on one of Lake's cases. I remember because she said she was glad it wasn't a medical malpractice or she would have been excused. It didn't matter though. The lawyers settled the case halfway through, so she didn't vote on it.'
'You're certain it was Peter Lake's case?'
'I met her after court. We were going to dinner. I saw him.'
'Okay. That's a big help. Anyone else look familiar?' Turner asked, although, at this point, he really didn't care.
'It's lake, Chief,' Frank Grimsbo told O'Malley. 'We're certain.'
'Are we talking hard evidence?' — O'Malley asked.
'Not yet. But there's too much circumstantial to look the other way,'
Wayne Turner answered.
'How do you two feel about this?' O'Malley asked Glen Michaels and Nancy Gordon.
'It makes sense, Michaels responded. 'I'm going back over the evidence in all of the cases tomorrow to see if I have anything I can tie to Lake.'
O'Malley turned toward Nancy. She looked grim.
'I'd reached the same conclusion for other reasons, Chief I don't know how we can nail him, but I'm certain he's our man. I talked to Dr. Klien this morning and ran Lake's profile by him. He said it's possible. A lot of sociopaths aren't serial killers. They're successful businessmen or politicians or lawyers. Think of the advantage you have in those professions if you don't have a conscience to slow you down. In the past few days, I've been talking to people who know lake. They all say he's charming, but none of them would turn their back on him. He's supposed to have the ethics of a shark and enough savvy to stay just this side of the line. There have been several Bar complaints, but none that was successful. A few malpractice suits. I talked to the lawyers who represented the plaintiffs. He skated on every one of them.'
'There's a big difference between being a sleazy lawyer and killing six people, including your own daughter,' O'Malley said. 'Why would he endanger himself by getting so close to the investigation?'
'So he can see what we've got,' Grimsbo said.
'I think there's more to it, Chief,' Nancy said. 'He's up to something.'
Nancy told O'Malley about Lake's stakeout.
'That doesn't make sense,' Turner said. 'Waters isn't really a suspect.
He just happened to be around the Escalante house the day she disappeared. There's no connection between Waters and any other victim.'
'But there is a connection between Lake and every victim,' Grimsbo cut in.
'Let's hear it,' O'Malley said.
'Okay. We have Gloria Escalante sitting on one of his juries. He and the Reardons belong to the Delmar Country Club. Patricia Cross and Sandra Lake were in the junior League. Anne Hazelton's husband is an attorney.
He says they've been to Bar Association functions the Lakes attended.'
'Some of those connections are pretty tenuous.'
'What are the odds on one person being linked to all six victims?'
'Turner asked.
'Hunter's Point isn't that big a place.'
'Chief,' Nancy said, 'he's been coming on to me.'
'What?'
'It's sexual. He's interested. He's let me know.' Nancy recounted the way Lake acted during their two meetings at Chang's.
O'Malley frowned. 'I don't know, Nancy.'
'His wife died less than a month ago. It's not normal.'
'You're attractive. He's trying to get over his grief Maybe he and Mrs. lake didn't get — along that well. Did you find any of that when you talked to the neighbors?'
Grimsbo shook his head. 'No gossip about the Lakes. They were a normal couple according to the people I talked to.'
'Same here,' Turner said.
'Doesn't that undercut your theory?'
'Dr. Klien said a serial killer can have a wife and family, or a non-normal relationship with a girlfriend,' Nancy answered.
'Look at the lake murders,' Turner offered. 'We know from one of his associates, who was working late, that Lake was at his office until shortly before seven. The neighbor sees him driving toward his house at seven-twenty, maybe a little after. There's no 911 call until forty-five minutes later. What's he doing inside with the dead bodies? If they're dead, that is.'
'We think he came in and his wife confronted him with something she'd found that connected him to the disappearances.'
'But they weren't news. No one knew about them,' O'Malley said.
'Oh, shit,' Michaels swore.
'What?'
'The note. It was the only one with prints on it.'
'So?' Grimsbo asked.
'The other notes had no fingerprints on them, but the note next to Sandra Lake's body had her prints on it.
According to the autopsy report, Sandra Lake died instantly or, at least, she was unconscious as soon as she was hit on the back of the head. When did she touch the note?'
I still don't 'She finds the note or the rose or both. She asks Lake what they are. He knows the story will break in the paper eventually. No matter what he tells her now, she'll know he's the rose killer. So he panics, kills her and leaves the rose and the note next to the body to make us think the same person who's taken the other women also killed his wife. And that explains why only Lake's note has a print and why it's Sandra Lake's print,' Michaels said. 'She was holding it before she was killed.'
'That also explains why no one saw any strange vehicles going in or out of The Meadows.'
O'Malley leaned back in his chair. He looked troubled.
'You've got me believing this,' he said. 'But theories aren't proof. If it's Lake, how do we prove it with evidence that's admissible in court?'
Before anyone could answer, the door to O'Malley's office opened.
'Sorry to interrupt, Chief, but we just got a 911 that's connected to those women who disappeared. Do you have a suspect named Waters?'
'What's up?' Grimsbo asked.
'The caller said he talked with a guy named Henry Waters at the One Way Inn and Waters said he had a woman in his basement.'
'Did the caller give a name?'
The officer shook his head. 'Said he didn't want to get involved, but he kept thinking about the little kid who was murdered and his conscience wouldn't leave him alone.'
'When did this conversation at the bar take place?' Nancy asked.
'A few days ago.'
'Did Waters describe the woman or give any details?'
'Waters told him the woman had red hair.'
'Patricia Cross,' Turner said.
