Towne, and that this guy Towne is innocent. He's had a hard-on for it long before I got here.”
“And he wants your backing.”
“Exactly.”
“And he's won it?”
“Up to a point, but I'm not entirely convinced that Towne could not have killed his wife in copycat fashion, thinking authorities would be looking for the Minnesota murderer instead of him.” “But you're getting on a plane with this kid tomorrow for Portland and-”
“Today sometime, not tomorrow, because I am convinced Oregon needs to slow this down and give a hard look at the inconsistencies. Why not wait for the DNA test now that we have one in the offing?”
“Yes, of course. To be rational. But perhaps people in Oregon are not being particularly rational at this point.”
“Towne certainly has managed to engender hatred and blood-lust. Interesting that he refused any appeal.”
“You're a softy, Jessica.”
“Me? What about you, my sweet Richard of Millbrook?”
“Keep me apprised when you get to Portland, what goes down as you Yanks say.”
“Reynolds says he can get a chopper or a jet assigned to us from the local FBI pool.”
“Sounds like a plan.”
She tried to gauge the amount of sarcasm in his voice. He wouldn't ordinarily use such an American expression if he wasn't being sarcastic. “That's the plan, after I have one final look at Joyce Olsen's body. I pretty much left the initial autopsy to Dr. Sands. He's quite capable, and I want to be in Portland as early as possible, before official offices close down. Still, questions linger that I hope Olsen's body can answer.”
“I'm sure she'll sit right up and speak volumes to you, Jess. If anyone can get the dead to talk, it's you.”
“Oh, I much prefer the way the Dead Can Dance ensemble talks. And by the way, Richard, I'm so proud of you.”
“Oh? And where is that coming from?”
“The way you created DNA evidence where there was none before. You're some magician. Millbrook won't soon forget you.”
“Gary Cooper come to rescue the foolish from the more foolish?”
“Sleight-of-hand artist, that's what you are.” “I am more the trick cyclist, but let's not count our black doves before their curtain call. Thus far, all I've got are some additional nails and scrapings being analyzed at the local lab, which by the way has limited capability.”
“So now we go to Portland, take our trick cycling show on the road.”
“You can get their attention and stall them, Jess. I know you can.”
“I'll do my best.”
“That's quite the best. You lured me across an ocean.”
“Right, I did indeed.”
“Thief of my heart.”
She laughed lightly. “As if you had nothing to do with a like theft.”
Richard laughed his full, rich laugh. The sound filled her with warmth.
“You're leaving Millbrook a bit more on their toes than before your visit. Taught the yokels something about investigating, Agent Sharpe.”
“Good chaps actually, but much of the evidence was bungled from the gate. I dread to think if they had a child abduction here. It'd be the JonBenet Ramsey case all over again.”
“I love you, Richard, and I'll hopefully see you in Portland tomorrow with the DNA fingerprint?”
'Tomorrow midnight perhaps, and that's a big maybe. Operative words being maybe perhaps, understood? I've built a fire under authorities here, but I can't rebuild their lab overnight. You know very well how long it takes to get DNA tests accomplished.”
“It can be done if they work day and night.”
“They don't have our Quantico facilities, resources or manpower, Jess.”
“Then they should farm it out to a private lab in Minneapolis.”
“Not sure there's time. And I'm working with one proud, stubborn German here.”“Herman Krueshach, yes. Has he learned anything from all this?”
“Proud man like him? 'Fraid he's been-”
“Embarrassed? Shit, Richard, a man's life is at stake and he's worried about saving face?”
“And saving his ass along with his job.”
“Damned small-town M.E.s are all alike.”
“Bottom line is, we don't get instant DNA fingerprints. I'm not even sure we'll discover any DNA other than the victim's own in the sample.”
“Go for the blood type in the meantime.”
“I'll see to it before I nod off. You are now sounding far too hopeful, my sweet. Perhaps I can be there in time with some extenuating new actual DNA evidence, but as you warned me earlier, careful of flying too near the sun, my lady Icarus.”
“All right. I'll watch my wings don't get singed, but we can't afford even forty-eight hours, Richard, that's-”
“The space between eyelashes, I know.”
“-cutting things awfully close.”
“As shy as the horse to the saddle, I know,” he lamented. “Still, if I were to leave here any earlier, it would be empty-handed.”
She allowed his complaint time to settle. “I understand.”
“In meantime, you can play it up with the governor that we do have some new evidence being examined here. Perhaps that will cut some teeth.”
“Ice,” she corrected. “Cut some ice.”
“Very little ice, I fear.”
She smiled at him and waved to the camera lens. “All right, dear one, hurry as you can to Portland with the goods.”
“You know, Jess, it could turn out to be Towne's DNA we have here in Minnesota.”
“Let the evidence fall where it may, but there's no record of Towne's ever being in northern Minnesota.”
“When last did you meet a serial killer who kept flight records?”
“There was a guy who kept meticulous travel records for the IRS even as he murdered people all along his route, writing off mileage, food and lodging. He'd created a self-employment situation, a sole proprietorship- subcontracting out to medical supply companies as an independent contractor.”
“Christ… in a sense he wrote off murder to his business.”
“In the best tradition of the IRS, even after Matisak was long in prison, they sent him a bill for back taxes.”
“Ahhh, yes, that awful Matisak again.”
“Yes, Mad Matthew Matisak.”
“Who also had his murder weapon, that spigot he jammed into his victims's jugular vein to 'tap' into his supply patented with your U.S. Government Patent Office, correct?”
“That was Matisak all right, but he had help, a money-man, a lawyer-entrepreneur in the lucrative medical supply field. Lowenthal was only one of many Matisak dupes.”
“Well, then, I shall find you in Portland.”
“With the fingerprint, yes. And I love you as well, dear one.”
When Jessica closed her television phone, she turned to see Darwin peeking in to see if she were off the phone yet. He had used a coat hanger to keep the door from latching. “Reynolds. Damn it, Darwin, are you deliberately trying to make trouble for me?”
Darwin Reynolds had stood out in the hall, awaiting Jessica, assuming she'd want a ride to the crime lab. He patiently now awaited her last-minute primping, as he stared out over his growing metropolis. The midweek traffic
