before you did.”
“I’ve been looking for her for a few weeks. My search and her probable date of death are suspiciously close, Evan.”
“That is supposition on your part.”
“No, that is fact. Shortly after I started asking about her, she died.”
“Who knew you were looking for her?”
“Just about everyone in the Bureau. I asked so many people, and some of them probably asked some other people… Evan, if I hadn’t been so adamant about finding her, she might still be alive.”
“I think that’s a long shot, Annie. I think it’s way too soon to start beating yourself up over something that may not even be true. Let’s put it aside until we find out what caused her death. It could have been any one of a number of things. Before you blame yourself, let’s get the facts.”
She lay silent for a long time, then turned in his arms and said, “All right, then, it’s your turn. Tell me what you found in Chicago.”
“This detective, Don Manley, is quite a guy. You know he’s devoted the past eight months of his life to finding the killers of these girls? He’s totally committed to this case, even though it’s been shelved. No leads at all.”
“How likely is it that he’ll find a lead now? Realistically?”
“He says he has a lot of feelers out. He thinks that sooner or later, someone will have some information to deal. He’s willing to wait.”
“How does this help you in your case?”
He lay silent for a moment, as if he hadn’t considered the question before.
“It helps me to know that there’s someone else out there who isn’t giving up. It helps me to know that when the day comes that Manley gets his lead, he’ll pass on whatever he learns to me.”
“In the meantime…?”
“In the meantime, for me, it’s back to the evidence. Avon County isn’t Chicago, and I don’t have the network that Manley has. If I’m going to find our killer, it will have to be through the evidence.”
“Unfortunately, there isn’t much of that, as I recall. Or did something turn up while I was away?”
“Nothing new,” he admitted. “And you’re right, there isn’t a lot to go on.”
“You had some dirt,” she murmured. “Did a full analysis come back on that?”
“Not that I’ve seen.”
“I can follow up on that for you, have our lab break it down as far as it can go. Maybe that could lead somewhere.”
“Oh, and the dog hair. Let’s not forget about the dog hair.”
“Do I detect some sarcasm there?”
“I keep thinking the lab report will come back with a match to a golden retriever. ’Cause there are so few of them around, it would be real easy to track the owner.”
“Hey, you’ve been in this game long enough to know that you don’t discount anything.”
“Yeah, I know. It’s just a little frustrating. The Schoolgirl Slayer is in custody. Seemed awfully easy to solve that case.”
“Not to the parents of the girls who died.”
“True enough. Oh, hell, I think I’m antsy after meeting with Manley and wanting so badly to make this right for these girls, to find out who they were and take them home. You look at what’s happened to these kids-sold or kidnapped or lied to in order to get them under control, sent to work in brothels. Forced into prostitution before they’re even in their teens. Then tossed aside for whatever reason-executed.” Evan made no attempt to disguise his anger and disgust. “And let’s not lose sight of the fact that as long as he’s still out there, other girls could be at risk.”
“You’re thinking there are more girls in the area?”
“Why not?” She could hear his wheels turning. “Let’s assume for a minute that there was in fact a working brothel in the area. A brothel with only three girls? Not likely.” He shook his head. “So there would be others… but would they all be from Santa Estela?”
“How do you find out?”
Annie felt his body tense slightly and smiled to herself, recognizing that he was onto something and, in minutes, would be out of bed and getting dressed, in anticipation of going wherever the thought would lead.
“A few years ago, the D.A. started this program where whenever they picked up a woman for prostitution, they picked up the john and printed his name in the paper. It caused a lot of grief for a lot of guys. After the third arrest, you not only got your name in the paper, you got jail time. Light time, but time all the same. Imagine being some big executive type, or some big lawyer down in Philly, having to take a month off to do time. The program sort of fell to the wayside after a while. Not a lot of guys actually served any time.”
“So, you’re thinking if you had a list of the men with two arrests, you could check in with them, see if any of them knew or heard about some young foreign girls in a house.”
“Right.” He had slowly disengaged himself from her and was sitting on the edge of the bed.
“And they would speak with you now because…” She began to mentally count the seconds before he stood and started looking for the clothes he’d earlier discarded.
“Because maybe if they thought the program was being reactivated, they might appreciate a heads-up before such a sweep-and a possible third arrest-might take place.”
… twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four…
“Twenty-five,” she announced.
“What?” he asked as he retrieved his jeans from the floor.
“It only took you twenty-five seconds between the time you sat and the time you stood. You beat your own best time of thirty-seven by a mile.”
“You really think you have me pegged, don’t you?” He laughed softly.
“Absolutely, I do. I can see right through you.”
“Like what you see?” He pulled a T-shirt over his head and started to tuck it into his jeans.
“I love what I see.”
He hesitated, then asked, “Annie, are you sure you don’t mind if I just look a few things up-”
She cut him off. “Of course not.” There was no point in making him explain. She knew his heart, and knew that he’d do what he had to do. Just as she would. “It’s an excellent idea. You need to follow up on it.”
“It may lead nowhere.”
“Or it may lead to your killer.” She sat up and wrapped the sheet around her.
“Will you be here when I get back?”
“Actually, I probably will not. I need to talk to Grady, and I don’t think a phone call is the way to do that.”
“Want me to go with you? It’s Saturday. I could drive down with you later this afternoon, we could go see Grady, then I can drive back tomorrow night.”
“I would love to have you come home with me. But I think I’ll get more out of Grady if I’m alone. I don’t think he’ll tell me anything if you’re there.”
“Okay.” He leaned over to kiss her. “But I can still drive down later today, if you want.”
“Why don’t you wait and see how many names you come up with, and see how many are willing to talk to you. If I know you, you’ll be up to your neck in this for the rest of the day.”
“God, I hope I can get a break.” He looked under the chair for his shoes, then remembered he’d left them downstairs. “I need something solid on this.”
“So go for it.”
“You’re sure you don’t mind?” He hovered over her, studying her face.
“Go.” She glanced at the clock on the nightstand. It was 4:30 in the morning. “Actually, I think I’ll get up now, too. The earlier I get back to Virginia, the sooner I’ll be able to sit down with Grady and see if I can get some of the truth about his relationship with Melissa.”
“Good luck, babe.” Evan kissed her one last time. “Maybe I’ll see you later tonight…”
“And maybe I’ll wake up tomorrow and be my longed-for height of five-eight,” she murmured as he went down the steps. “Neither is likely, but one can always hope…”
____________________
Annie stood in the vestibule of the building that housed Grady’s condo, along with five others, all of which had mailboxes lined up along the wall to the left of the front door. Junk mail overflowed from the black box bearing a label that read,
Interesting he hasn’t picked up his mail in a few days, she thought as she rang the bell for his unit, but his car is in the parking lot. She went outside and looked up at his apartment. There were air conditioners in two of the three front windows, and she could hear their faint humming. She went back into the vestibule and rang the doorbell again. She rang it over and over, until finally, she got a response.
“What.” It wasn’t so much a question as an expression of exasperation.
“It’s Annie, Grady.”
“Not now, Annie.”
“I’m not leaving until I talk to you.”
“You’re talking to me now.”
