Thomas Shredder sat there while everyone served each other. Quinlan gave him a big grin and pointed to the last cup on the tray. 'Help yourself, Thomas. Ah, best hurry-I bet these New Jersey cheesecakes are going to be inhaled.'
'My, this is beyond delicious,' Corey Harper said and took the last bite of her slice of cheesecake.
'James and I want to ask Martha to come back to Washington with us,' said Sally. 'She's the best cook I know. Her pasta makes you weep.'
Quinlan knew that Shredder was going to blow up any minute. Well, he'd pushed the ass far enough. He said easily, 'Forget the interviews, Thomas. We need to come at this from another angle. I know it sounds weird that the missing persons would have anything to do with the two murders, but the thing is that up until about the time Marge and Harve Jensen disappeared, The Cove was a run-down old shanty of a town. No paint on anything, potholes in the road, fences falling over, even the trees sagging, all the kids gone, just old people left, living on Social Security. My question is, why is The Cove so different now from what it was three years ago? Why did everything here begin to wake up about the same time that Harve and Marge disappeared?'
'My God,' Corey said. 'I didn't realize the timing.'
'I did,' David said, 'but I never questioned it, Quin-lan, for the simple reason that it was common knowledge that Doc Spiver had come into a lot of money right around then. Since he didn't have any heirs, he invested the money and used all the proceeds to improve the town. But you don't think so, Quinlan?'
'I think it's worth checking into, closely. I remember you telling me that in Doc Spiver's will he left his estate to the town and it amounted to about twenty thousand dollars. If he was that low, then the town would start sliding again, really soon, don't you think? Makes you wonder, doesn't it?
'I'll call Dillon-he's a computer nerd at the bureau- and get him going on it. Tell me which bank and the account number, David. Sally and I will be staying here. Just give me a call, and I'll get to Dillon.'
'Is that Dillon Savich?' Corey Harper asked, looking up.
'Yeah, he's a genius with a computer, but don't tell him that because he'll just think you're sucking up.'
'I know. I did tell him that when I was in training at Quantico. He gave a couple of great lectures, and yeah, he probably did think I was sucking up.'
'I've never heard of Dillon,' Thomas Shredder said. 'Who cares about a computer nerd? They're fine in their place, but this is the real world. What we do here is what really counts. Let's get back to why we're here in this godforsaken place.'
David said slowly, “Regardless of whether or not the missing persons are somehow involved in these murders, what you're implying in a very subtle way is a tough pill to swallow, Quinlan. I've known these people most all my life. They're a bunch of tough old birds, they've had to be to survive all the economic Generated by ABC Amber LIT Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html
disasters we've had. Jesus, just realizing that one of them is a murderer curdles my breakfast. More than one of them murderers? No way.'
'It's more than a tough pill,' Thomas Shredder said with a goodly dose of sarcasm. 'You're paranoid, Quinlan. That's nuts.'
Quinlan just shrugged. 'This town looks like a Hollywood set. I remember that was my first thought when I came here. I want to know why and how that happened.'
'All right, we've got a lead,' David said, leaning forward, 'I'm going to check more closely into Doc Spiver's bank account. Now, I've gotten together all the accounts for all the missing persons reported in this area for the past three years.' David drew a deep breath. 'There's about sixty.'
'Jesus,' Corey Harper said.
'James is wrong about this,' Sally said. 'My aunt has lived here for more than twenty years. She couldn't be part of a murder conspiracy of this magnitude. She couldn't.'
'I hope I am wrong, Sally,' he said as he took her hand. It was cold. He poured her some coffee and put the fragile china cup between her hands to warm them. 'But there's lots of questions here. I can't think of another way to go on this.'
'I can't either,' David said.
'Well, I can,' said Thomas Shredder, rising to stand in front of the fireplace. He struck a pose, looking like Hercule Poirot ready to deliver his solution. All he needed was a mustache to twirl.
'I hope this is good, Thomas,' Quinlan said. 'We've paid our admission. Now on with the show.'
'Pinning these murders on several of the townspeople just doesn't make sense. As to tying it to all David's missing persons, let's just forget about that.'
'But, Thomas,' Corey began, but he raised a hand to silence her.
'It's a theory, nothing more. What we've got is solid fact. Let's get specific. I looked into Reverend Hal and Sherry Vorhees. They've lived here for twenty-seven years, true, but before that, they were in Tempe, Arizona. They had two little adopted boys. The two little boys ended up dead within a year after they came to the Vorheeses. One fell out of a tree and broke his neck. The other one got himself burned to death when he turned on the gas stove. Both were accidents, at least that's what was reported and accepted. Everyone felt real bad about it, said the Vorheeses were the nicest people, and he was a reverend, and why would God take both their children? 'But there were questions. It seems a couple of other children had accidents during the time the Vorheeses lived there. Then the Vorheeses left and came here. There weren't any more children. Who the hell knows?' He waited for applause and he got it.
'That's something,' David Mountebank said. 'Good going, Thomas. You got any more?'
'There's also some history on Gus Eisner, the old guy who fixes everything on wheels in this town. Turns out his wife, Velma, isn't his first wife. His first wife was murdered. He was accused of the crime, but the DA never had enough evidence to bring him to trial. One month later Gus marries Velma and they move here. From Detroit. Hell, we've got to check on every single soul in this town. Corey's checking on the Keatons.'
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'Yeah, you're right. We've got to check on all of them,' Quinlan said, at which the other man stared at him,
