The Burying Place

'I imagine it's still on my key chain. I haven't thought about it in months.'

Maggie smiled. 'Sure. You came here with Regan's house key, but you didn't even think about breaking in. So why did you go inside?'

'I was concerned when I saw the door was open,' Glenn said.

'I shouted, but there was no answer. I began to look around the house, and that was when I saw that something terrible had happened.'

'Why didn't you call the police?'

'I was about to call them.'

'Really? Ms Dial said you were too busy ransacking Regan's medical files.'

'I thought Regan might have kept something that would tell me if she was involved in what happened to Callie.'

'Did you think you were likely to find something that the police would miss? Or were you planning to make sure we didn't find whatever you were looking for?'

Glenn didn't reply.

'When was the last time you spoke to Regan?' Maggie asked.

'It was months ago.'

'Have you called her recently?'

'No.'

'You're sure?'

Glenn backpedaled as he read Maggie's face. 'Actually, I left her a message last night. I told her I wanted to talk. But I didn't actually speak to her.'

Maggie nodded. 'People think they can delete answering machine messages, but they're among the easiest things to recover. We pulled up your message to her. You said something about Regan being in your office over the weekend.'

Glenn didn't look happy. 'Yes, my nurse told me she was there.'

'Why would Regan be in your office?'

'I don't know. That's what I wanted to find out.'

'Would you like to make a guess?'

'I have no idea,' Glenn told her.

'Were you concerned that she stole something?'

He blinked uncomfortably. 'I told you, I don't know,' he repeated.

'Regan told your wife that she thought you were responsible for your daughter's disappearance,' she said.

'That's completely untrue.'

'It makes me wonder if your story is a little backwards, Dr Glenn.'

'What do you mean?'

Maggie leaned forward. 'I mean, are you sure you weren't going through Regan's files to find out if she had any evidence that you were involved in Callie's disappearance? Evidence she may have taken from your office?'

'Of course not.'

'It's quite a coincidence, you showing up at Regan's house after someone else killed her.'

'I had nothing to do with it.'

'Did you know she was dead? Did you come here to erase evidence before the crime was discovered?'

Glenn shook his head. 'I didn't know anything had happened to Regan until I got here.'

'Who do you think killed her?' Maggie asked.

He shrugged. 'She lives in the north farmlands. There have been some terrible crimes here recently.'

'So you think the same person who killed the other women also killed Regan?'

'I have no idea, but doesn’t that seem likely? The women in the hospital are all afraid of this man, whoever he is. Regan bragged about sleeping with a shotgun by her bed.'

Maggie raised her eyebrows. 'You knew she had a shotgun?'

'A lot of people did,' Glenn replied defensively. 'Regan didn't make it a secret. She was scared of this maniac like everyone else.'

'Not everyone is scared when a serial killer comes to town,' she told him.

'What the hell does that mean?'

Maggie pushed her red hair out of her eyes and frowned. 'Every now and then, Doctor, someone sees it as an opportunity.'

Serena sat in her Mustang in Regan's driveway, staring through the open window at the snow-covered fields. It was almost dusk, but she wore sunglasses, and Maggie suspected she had been crying. She didn't say a word as Maggie opened the passenger door and sat beside her. They didn't look at each other. Maggie left the door open and kicked at the dirt outside with her boot. When she took a sideways glance at Serena, she could see that her face was rigid with fury.

She didn't blame her for being angry, and she had no idea what to say. There was no way to make it better.

'Glenn didn't do it,' Maggie announced after an uncomfortable stretch of silence. 'Or at least, he didn't pull the trigger. That doesn’t mean he's not involved.'

Serena didn't say anything. Maggie glanced at the highway and saw media vans parked on the shoulder. 'The press already has the story,' she continued. 'Blair Rowe was on CNN half an hour ago speculating about a link between the murder here and Callie's disappearance.'

Serena shrugged. 'Blair Rowe knows everyone in the Grand Rapids Police. Someone leaked.'

'What do you think? Is there a link between the two cases?'

'I think Marcus is lying about why he was here,' Serena said. 'I'd like to know what he was really looking for in those files.'

'Yeah.'

'What does Guppo say about the crime scene?' Serena asked. 'Is it the farmlands killer?'

'The MO is similar,' Maggie said. 'The right locale, the missing body. I'm not sure about the shotgun, though. This guy likes to use his hands.'

'Maybe Regan surprised him, and he grabbed the gun.'

'Maybe, but that's not how it looks. Guppo thinks he had the gun the whole time. There was no struggle. That's not how this guy operates.'

'Except there's the message on the wall,' Serena said.

Maggie nodded. 'Yeah. The message feels authentic. This guy is playing with Kasey. But I still don't buy the coincidence that he went after Regan Conrad just for the hell of it. There's a connection to Callie in all of this.'

'Have you told Kasey about the message on the wall?'

'Not yet. I asked her to come over here. She's not far away.'

'I talked to Stride,' Serena said. 'He's going to talk to Micki Vega. She's the one link we know about between Marcus and Regan.'

'Yeah, I talked to him too.'

Serena shook her head and laughed bitterly. 'Of course you did. What was I thinking?'

'Look, Serena,' Maggie said.

Serena held up a hand, stopping her. 'I don't think we should do this now. Do you? We're professionals. That's all.'

Maggie heard the message loud and clear. We're professionals. Not friends. Not anymore.

'I know it doesn’t mean shit, but I'm sorry,' she said.

Serena stripped off her sunglasses in a fierce gesture. Her eyes were red and angry. 'You want to talk about this now? Fine. Don't bullshit me or give me fake stories about being sorry. This was no accident. You knew that Jonny and I were having problems, because I was stupid enough to tell you. You sabotaged our relationship to get what you've always wanted. Well, bravo. I never thought you were that ruthless. I was naive enough to think you