his teeth and shook his head as if to shake out an image. “My God, all the years I've worked with decaying corpses, and it would never have occurred to me that someone could concoct so horrid a murder as you are suggesting.”
“ Vengeance is a strong motivator, Syd, and often it acts as the mother of invention.”
Dr. Fielding's eyes opened beyond the sad, fleshy slits they had become with early middle age, working in the field he did. “You think the killer inventive? Imaginative?” He actually smiled like a teacher trying to embarrass her. Was it a trick question?
“ Not really; he's just very familiar with images he's taken from the Bible.”
“ I should like to learn more about this citizen among us.”
“ I would love to tell you more, but I have to get back to the task force.”
“ Sorry I couldn't have been of more help to you,” he said, accepting her hand in his, shaking it, and warmly smiling. “You remind me of a tenacious colleague of mine.”
“ Oh, and who would that be?”
“ Dr. Bass, of course, another jack bull.”
“ Me… a terrier? Funny, I do seem to recall someone characterizing me as a tenacious bitch on more than one occasion.”
“ Oh, no, I only meant it in the best possible light, that you are tenacious-a good quality to have for a medical examiner and seeker of truth.”
“ Why, thank you. Doctor. I've been called just about everything, but that is the nicest thing I've heard in a long time.”
“ You have a high PQ.”
“ PQ?”
“ Persistence quotient”
She smiled and again thanked him. They parted with promises to see one another again, Jessica telling him that when she could find the time, she would come for a longer visit to the facility.
The helicopter flight back gave Jessica the freedom to think; she weighed up everything they knew at this point including what Fielding had said about the variables quite possibly favoring that DeCampe remained alive still.
SIXTEEN
A case of serial murder is heinous, a hate crime awful, and a case of self-righteous and fanatical vengeance just as brutal as any…
Time passed, and a number of possible leads were looked into without result. Everyone in and around the Washington, D.C., area having anything to do with crime fighting by now had learned what the task force was interested in. In fact, RE/MAX had become a half-joking battle cry. Then a phone call came in from the D.C. Police Department's Missing Persons Unit. A Detective Charles Price grumbled out that he had gotten wind they were interested in any Missing Persons case involving a realtor.
“ What have you got for us?”
“ Got your APB, so when a report came in sounding like the ball park…” After listening to what Price had to say, she replied, “And you say this is a RE/MAX local office? Give me the address where she works.” Jessica jotted the information down.
When Jessica looked up, she saw that all the others in the ops room were staring at her. “It's a case recently called in, a daughter worried about her mother. She coincidentally works for RE/MAX; left work and never got home. I'm going to interview her coworkers.”
The realtor's name was Nancy Willis, and she had gone missing, and no one knew why. The partner's name was Carmella Drew, a leggy, well-dressed, and businesslike person with fine features and an unfortunate nose. Jessica asked her a series of questions, but Carmella made it clear that she knew nothing; in fact, she appeared to be so clueless that Jessica began to wonder if her business partner's disappearance had nothing whatever to do with Purdy and the DeCampe case, and all to do with a case of murder unraveling before her, one that involved getting rid of the bothersome business associate.
“ So you have no idea whether she went out on a call or not?”
“ No.”
“ No record of an appointment?”
“ None, no.”
“ I see. Did she keep a calendar? An appointment book?”
“ She kept her appointment book with her at all times.”
“ A desk calendar?”
“ Yeah, her office. This way.”
Jessica scanned the calendar for a week before DeCampe's abduction. A look at her watch told her it was nearing nine P.M. She'd had to drag Carmella back to the closed office to have a look at Nancy's desk. “Any new clients recently who looked like this man?” Jessica asked, holding out the newly drawn composite of Isaiah Purdy.
“ She didn't always check with me when she rented out a place. We each generate our own business, you see, and at the end of the month, we give out perks and benefits and bonuses if things are going well. Lately, we've had few things to cheer about.”
“ So she didn't always bring clients into the office?”
“ That, and I wasn't always here. I've only just returned from some time off.”
Jessica saw several names of prospective customers and appointments on the calendar. She read them off to the partner. “Any of these clients rent property out of the way, in a remote setting?”
“ Lately, that's all anyone wants: remote, preferably with a moat.”
Jessica read the names aloud. “Gideon Brown, Mark and Marilou Piper, Damon Shaw.” They were all jotted down on days just before the abduction.
“ Any of them ring a bell?”
“ She closed deals with all of them. Let me see.”
“ No, let me see your sales records.”
“ That might speed things up,” she replied.
“ I hope they're up to date and in order.”
“ Around here? Don't bet on it.”
Jessica exchanged an exasperated look with Richard, who had stood back and allowed Jessica to deal with the frustrating woman.
“ Here's the file room,” said the partner.
They looked into a closet in which boxes were piled high, most wedged between two upright filing cabinets. “Always going to get around to the filing next week,” she muttered, “but next week never comes. Well… knock yourselves out.”
“ Whoa up… wait a minute. Are you in the least interested in locating your partner?”
She took in a deep breath. “The woman lives alone with her cat, and she's seeing someone, and by this time tomorrow, she'll come waltzing in here, a big smile on her face, and Nancy will wonder what all the fuss has been about. Her daughter is a little, you know, overprotective. You know how that is.”
“ Has anyone called her boyfriend?”
“ Her daughter said Dave doesn't know where she is either, but Nancy's, you know, a free spirit.”
“ Was she upset with any of the people on that list I read you?”
