The manhunt was ongoing for Carson Lemond. There had been a few leads and possible sighting throughout the day, but they had all turned to nothing. Sarah was sure he’d taken flight from the city but they had to be seen to try on the ground here all the same. Public Relations was as much a part of modern police work as walking the beat. Not ideal but that’s the way it is.
Carson was a low level criminal looking to make a name for himself but instead he’d gotten himself in a lot of trouble with the mob. There was a better than good chance that if he hadn’t gotten out of town in time, they would have killed him already. If that was the case they might never find the body and find out about the murders he committed.
Here Sarah’s train of thought halted. She didn’t believe Carson had committed the murders. It didn’t make sense at all that he would have done this. There were no connections with the first two victims and Lemond had only that afternoon been involved with the last one- surely he would have killed him them if that had been his intention. No, none of this made sense and Sarah was hopeful she knew why.
Her hope, if that was what you would call it, was that ‘The Monster’ was at play again, jumping into another serial killer’s work as he had with ‘John the Baptist.’ This was doubtful but possible and she had not raised her inklings with anyone lest Bobrick or Daniels back at Quantico might take her off the case.
‘Best not to get your own hopes up either, kiddo,’ she thought.
The moving reflection on the opening door caught Sarah’s eye and she looked up to see Tyler coming in. He looked around a moment and their eyes met and he smiled at her. She nodded, and a sliver of a smile escaped her lips too. At first glance, he was even more attractive than she remembered and he looked fitter too, like he’d been working out more since they last met. Before Sarah knew what she was doing, she found herself straightening up and brushing her hair back away from her face with her hand. How did she look since last time, she wondered but wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer.
“Hi,” he said coming to the table and standing there smiling.
“Hey,” she replied looking up, “Take a seat.”
“I see you got first dibs on the good seat again,” he said, taking his seat.
“Always do.”
“You want another one?” he asked, pointing to her beer bottle. Sarah looked at the bottle and nodded,
“I guess so.” Tyler held up the bottle, gained a waitress's eye and nodding to the bottle raised two fingers in a V-shape to which the waitress smiled and nodded back.
“Too tired to walk to the bar?” Sarah teased him.
“It’s best to make life as easy as possible for yourself,” Tyler said, “No one else is going to make it easier for you..”
“Amen to that,” Sarah said, taking her drink from him and finishing off the last swallow.
They talked a little then about the manhunt, Sarah keeping her thoughts on Carson Lemond to herself until Tyler said,
“That sounds like bullshit to me.”
“What part?” she asked, surprised at his blunt statement.
“No one is stupid enough to beat up a guy in the afternoon, advertise he’s working for the mob and then kill the same guy that very same night.” Tyler said this with such derision that Sarah felt it was aimed at her.
“It’s not my idea,” she said, “I don’t believe it for a second; I don’t think he did any of the three murders!” Her tongue had run away on her and she regretted it instantly. Tyler looked at her without speaking a moment, but his eyes lit up and it was hard to not feel the spark of what had once been between them rise up again.
“What do you think?” he probed, asking slowly in a way that had the effect of making her want to tell him. Should she? She bit her lip against saying anything more just yet; her mind swimming with possibilities. Tyler smiled and sat back in his chair, “I already know what you think.”
“He may not have done it, but he knows who did,” she said, trying to steer him away but his shaking head and pressed lips told her at once he wasn’t buying it.
“You think this is the same as with ‘John the Baptist’, don’t you?”
“I thought about that, but I don’t think so,” Sarah replied. She didn’t even know if she was lying or not.
“I’m not sure either,” Tyler said, “But I am almost certain Lemond is not the man you should be after for this. He’s a witness at best.”
“Then why did he run?”
“Look at what he was faced with. Do you think any judge in the country would give a guy like him a fair shake in court? He’d be down for life in no time.” Sarah agreed with this; it would be very easy to put a petty criminal away for this based on the evidence they had already.
“Do you know something about the case you haven’t told me yet?” Sarah asked. Tyler seemed too sure of Lemond’s innocence. Had one of his contacts been in touch with the fugitive?
“No, but I have some feelers out,” he replied, as though he expected her distrust. “I bet I know something before you do,” he added, his voice teasing.
“Tell me what you know about Danny Kercheck,” she said, changing the subject rapidly. Tyler nodded and took a sip of his beer,
“I wondered how I got off
