And her finger was already wrapped around the Glock's trigger. She squirmed hard, turning the barrel of the gun toward herself - and tilting her head to meet it. She knew exactly what she was doing.
“No! Mary!”
With a rush of adrenaline, fighting an equal surge of resistance from her, I managed to lift her gun hand toward the ceiling. Then I smashed it back down, very hard, against the floor.
The Glock fired once into the wall of the interrogation room, even as it fell out of her grasp. I snatched it up, the shot still ringing in my ears, the side of my face numb.
There was a brief, suspended moment of near silence. Mary stopped struggling immediately, and then, in an unbelievable echo of the previous day's events, the police descended on her like a small army They picked her up as she flailed once again, arms and legs whipping crazily I could hear her unchecked sobs as they carried her away “My babies, my babies, my poor babies ... Where are my children? Oh, where? Oh, where? What have you done with my children?”
Her voice receded down the hall until a heavy door slammed with great finality, and she was gone. Not surprisingly, I didn't get the chance for another interview To make matters worse, if that was possible, I saw James Truscott as I left the building about an hour later. He was among the throng of reporters gathered outside waiting for any tidbit of news.
He yelled at me, 'How did she get your gun, Dr. Cross?
How'd that happen?' Somehow, Truscott had already gotten the story.
Mary, Mary
Chapter 98
I COULD ONLY WONDER about the causes and the full extent of Mary Wagner's mental illness and the obvious torment and stress it was putting on her. There certainly hadn't been any time for a meaningful psych evaluation, and my part in the investigation was coming to an end now, whether I liked it or not. And, to be honest, I had mixed feelings.
By early that afternoon, Mary's state of mind was a moot point. LAPD's search of her house had turned up a holy trinity of evidence.
A Walther PPK, discovered under a blanket in her attic crawl space, had already shown a preliminary ballistic match to the weapon used in the murders.
CSI had also found half-a-dozen sheets of children's stickers and, most significant, stolen family photographs from Marti Lowenstein-Bell's office and Suzie Cartoulis's purse.
Both Michael Bell and Giovanni Cartoulis had positively identified the photos as having belonged to their murdered wives.
“And best of all, most important anyway,” Fred Van All5- burg told the small group of agents assembled in his office, 'twelve o'clock came and went today without incident.
No new victim, no new e-mail. It's over. I think I can safely say that.'
The mood was grimly congratulatory Just about everyone was glad to leave this one behind, but the details of the case would haunt most of the team for some time, just as the D.C. sniper case still lingered in theJ. Edgar Hoover Building back East. It's an unsatisfying and unpleasant feeling, but also part of what drives us to do better.
“Alex, we owe you one on this.” Van Allsburg finally came over to me. “Your work on the case was invaluable. I have to say that. I see why Ron Burns likes you close to home.”
A few uneasy laughs went through the room. Agent Page reached from behind and patted my shoulder. He would go far in the Bureau, if he could keep his passion for solving crimes.
“I'd still like to take a peek at that final evidence LAPD found. And maybe get a real interview with Mary Wagner,” I said, diverting back to what I thought was most important.
Van Allsburg shook his head. “Not necessary.”
“There's no reason for me not to stick around another day -” I started to say 'Don't worry about it. Page and Fujishiro are good for the details; I can back them up.
And if we really need you again, there's always frequent-flier miles, right?“ His tone was artificially bright. ”Fred, Mary Wagner wouldn't talk to anyone before I came. She trusts me.'
“At least, she did,” he said. “Probably not anymore.” It was a blunt statement, but not aggressive.
“I'm still the only person she's opened up to. I hear LAPD is getting nowhere with her.”
“Like I said, you're just a plane ride away if we need you back. I spoke about it with Director Burns and he agrees. Go home to your family You have kids, right?”
