murder. The playwright’s name was Edward Vallory.”
It took a couple of seconds for this to register with Kline. “The text-message signature?”
“Right. So now we know for sure that the ‘Mexican laborer’ identity was a con from day one, a con that everyone fell for.”
The captain looked furious enough to burst into flames.
Gurney went on. “This guy came to Tambury with a long-term plan and a lot of patience. The obscurity of the literary reference means we’re dealing with a pretty sophisticated individual. And the content of the Vallory play makes it clear that Jillian Perry’s sexual history was almost certainly the motive for her murder.”
Kline looked like he was trying not to look stunned. “Okay, so we’ve got… we’ve got a new slant here.”
“Unfortunately, it’s just the tip of the iceberg.”
Kline’s eyes widened. “What iceberg?”
“The missing graduates.”
The captain shook his head. “It’s been said before, and I’ll say it again: There’s no proof that anyone’s
“Sorry,” said Gurney. “Didn’t mean to misuse a legal term. You’re right-nobody’s name has been entered yet in an official mis-pers database. So let’s call them… what? ‘Mapleshade graduates of currently unverifiable location’? That work better for you?”
Rodriguez came forward in his seat, his voice rasping. “I don’t have to take this wiseass crap from you!”
Kline raised his hand like a traffic cop. “Rod, Rod, take it easy. We’re all a little… you know… Just take it easy.” He waited until the man began to settle back in his chair before turning his attention to Gurney. “Let’s say, just for the sake of argument, that one or more of these girls is actually missing, or unlocatable, or whatever the proper term would be. If that were the case, your conclusion is what?”
“If they’ve been abducted by the man calling himself Hector Flores, my conclusion is that either they’re dead or soon will be.”
Rodriguez lurched forward again in his chair. “There’s no evidence!
Kline took a slow breath. “That does seem like a hell of an end point to jump to, Dave. You want to give us a little help with the logic?”
“The content of the play, plus the Vallory text messages, suggest that Jillian Perry’s murder was an act of revenge for sexual abuse. A history of perpetrating sexual abuse happens to be a common factor among Mapleshade students, making them all potential targets. It would make Mapleshade the perfect place for a killer motivated by that issue to find his victims.”
“ ‘Potential targets’-did you hear that? ‘Potential,’ he just said. That’s my point.” Rodriguez shook his head. “All of this is-”
“Hold it, Rod, please,” Kline broke in. “I get your point. Believe me, I’m on your side. I’m a proof-oriented guy just like you are. But let’s hear him out. You know, no stone unturned. Let’s just hear him out. Okay?”
Rodriguez stopped talking, but he kept shaking his head like he hardly knew he was doing it. Kline gave Gurney a small nod to proceed.
“Regarding the missing girls, the similarity in the arguments leading to their departures is prima facie proof of a conspiracy. It’s inconceivable they would all have come up with the expensive-car demand by pure coincidence. A reasonable explanation is that it was a conspiracy created to facilitate their abductions.”
Kline looked like he had a case of Tabasco reflux. “Do you have any other facts that support the abduction hypothesis?”
“Hector Flores had asked Ashton for opportunities to work at Mapleshade, and the currently unlocatable girls were seen in conversations with him there.”
Rodriguez was still shaking his head. “That’s a pretty thin connection.”
“You’re right, Captain,” said Gurney wearily. “In fact, most of what we know is pretty thin. All the missing or abducted girls had previously appeared in sexually oriented ads for Karnala Fashion, as did Jillian Perry, but we know nothing about that company. How those modeling assignments were set up has not been determined, or even investigated. As of today the total number of girls who may be missing is still unknown. Whether the girls we can’t get in touch with are alive or dead is unknown. Whether abductions are occurring as we sit here is unknown. All I’m doing is telling you what I think. What I fear. Maybe I’m completely nuts, Captain. I hope to God I am, because the alternative is horrendous.”
Kline swallowed drily. “So you admit there’s a fair amount of supposition built into your… your view of this.”
“I’m a homicide cop, Sheridan. Without a few suppositions…” Gurney shrugged, his voice trailing off.
There was a long silence.
Rodriguez seemed deflated, smaller, as though half his anger were gone but hadn’t been replaced by anything else.
“Let’s assume, just for the sake of argument,” said Kline, “that you’re a hundred percent right.” He extended both hands, palms up, as though conveying open-mindedness to even the most outlandish theory. “What would you do?”
“The crucial task is to get up to speed on who’s missing. Get ahold of those Mapleshade class lists with the family contact information. Get them from Ashton this morning if possible. Interview every family, every graduate you can reach in Jillian’s class, then everyone from the year before and the year after. In any family where the daughter’s location is not verifiable, get all the descriptive and circumstantial detail you can to enter in the ViCAP, NamUs, NCIC databases-especially if the family’s last contact included the argument we’ve heard about.”
Kline glanced at Rodriguez. “Sounds like something we could be doing regardless.”
The captain nodded.
“Okay, go on.”
“In any case where the daughter can’t be reached, collect a DNA sample from a first-degree biological relative-mother, father, brother, sister. As soon as the BCI lab does the profile, run it against the profile of every unidentified female decedent of the right age within the time frame of the disappearance.”
“Geography?”
“National.”
“God! You realize what you’re asking? That stuff is all state by state, sometimes county by county. Some jurisdictions don’t save it. Some don’t even collect it.”
“You’re right-big pain in the ass. Costs money, takes time, coverage is incomplete. But it’ll be a bigger pain in the ass down the road if you have to explain why it wasn’t done.”
“Fine.” The word came out of Kline like an exclamation of disgust. “Next?”
“Next, track down Alessandro and Karnala Fashion. They both seem way too elusive for normal commercial enterprises. Next, interview all current Mapleshade students regarding anything they might know about Hector, Alessandro, Karnala, or any of the missing girls. Next, interview every current and recent Mapleshade employee.”
“You have any idea what kind of man-hours you’re talking about?”
“Sheridan, this is what I do for a living.” He paused at the significance of the slip. “I mean,
Kline’s eyes narrowed. “Way you’re talking about it, we’ll be eaten alive no matter what.”
“The media will take whatever route attracts the biggest audience,” said Gurney. “So-called news reporting is a cartoon business. Give them a big, hot, cartoony story line and they’ll run with it. Guaranteed.”
Kline regarded him warily. “Like what?”
“The story here needs to be that you’ve pulled out all the stops. Totally proactive. The instant you and the BCI team discovered the difficulty some of the parents were having getting in touch with their daughters, you and Rod launched the biggest five-alarm, all-hands-on-deck, all-vacations-canceled serial-murder investigation in history.”
Kline’s mental hard drive seemed to be racing through the possible outcomes. “Suppose they pounce on the cost?”
“Easy. ‘In a situation like this, being proactive costs money. Inaction costs lives.’ It’s a cartoon answer that’s
