“It’s closed,” I tell them. “I actually remember the continuation of that case. They found the boat and seized it. It was destroyed three years after my father disappeared.”
He lets out a sigh and tosses the file onto the other stack. Dean takes his turn.
“This one is about a serial killer who likes to play hide and seek, at least that’s what he called it. He’d call in a tip about where he was going to hide a body and start a countdown. That sounds similar to the idea of Catch Me.”
“Yeah, but he was only active when I was much younger. By the time Dad disappeared, he hadn’t killed in almost six years. The widely accepted belief is he died. They weren’t searching for him to stop him, but to solve the cases. It’s possible he didn’t actually die and was just in hibernation, but there isn’t any reason why he would target me. Dad wasn’t one of the main people on the case, and there was never a suspect or anything, so there wouldn’t be a reason to come after me specifically.”
“Alright. What do you have?”
I open the folder in my hands and look down at it, opening my mouth to start talking, then stop and close the file.
“Nothing. I have nothing. This case had to do with a murder on a beach.” I toss the file down with a heavy sigh. “It’s reaching. None of these have anything useful in them.”
Sam looks at the files and tilts his head to the side like he’s trying to figure something out.
“Is this all the files?” he asks.
“Yes,” I say. “It’s everything that was in his office when he left.”
“It doesn’t look like many cases,” he points out. “I don’t know everything about your father’s career, but from what I understand, he was important in the CIA.”
“Is,” I correct him. “He is.”
We meet eyes, and Sam stares at me for a few seconds before nodding.
“Is. He’s an active, high-ranking agent. But this is all he worked on in the months before he disappeared?”
“It doesn’t seem like much,” I admit. “He didn’t go into a lot of detail with me about what he was working on, obviously, but it seems to me he should have been working on more. This is everything that was here though. The Agency wouldn’t disclose anything else.”
“So, there might be other cases,” Dean points out.
I nod. “Ones he didn’t bring home with him. I guess this was pretty pointless.”
“It wasn’t pointless. You have to look into everything until you figure out what you’re supposed to follow. What about Jake Logan?”
“What about him?” Sam asks.
“His mother was Emma’s mother’s nurse,” he points out.
“This whole time he’s been pointing out things about her mother. Maybe he just wanted her to know about her mother going to the doctor there and her being born in Feathered Nest.”
“No,” I say, shaking my head. I take him by the hands. “Sam, I know you hate when I even think about Jake. I know it gets to you.”
“Of course it does. He’s a serial killer who manipulated you and tried to kill you. I’m not a fan of someone doing that to the woman I love,” he says gruffly.
“He’s in prison now. And he will be for the rest of his life. It wouldn’t surprise me if they attempted to keep his body in a cell even after he dies.”
“He would deserve it.”
“The point is, Catch Me didn’t just direct me to the medical records. He could have done that in any number of ways. He specifically highlighted Jake’s mother. He used pages from Alice in Wonderland and references to the mad tea party to bring me to them. He wants me to know about Alice Logan specifically.”
“Were you ever able to interview them?” Dean asks.
“No. They were located but didn’t go to any of the trials. The second everything happened, they lawyered up and their counsel petitioned the court to exclude them from in-person testimony because they were afraid of Jake. They felt their personal safety was at risk if they had to be in the same room with him.”
“And they made that fly with the judge?”
“Apparently they were able to convince him that because they weren’t in Jake’s life for years before the murders, their presence would not be beneficial and could even cause a further psychotic break that might endanger the integrity of the case.”
“What a bunch of bullshit.”
“That was my general opinion,” I admit. “But the judge bought it. He allowed them to make recorded statements with basic information about his childhood. They spoke to their family life, his personality, and what might have led to the killings. Of course, they conveniently left out abandoning him with an abusive father.”
“What did they say about that?” Sam asks.
The trial was so sensationalized it ended up being closed to anyone who wasn’t involved, which meant Sam wasn’t allowed to be in the courtroom with me during it. He never wanted to talk about it after the trial either. He said he thought I needed a break from all the stress and emotion of the trial, but I know it’s just as much because of how much it bothers him to think about my undercover assignment. He hates to think about me going through that and that he wasn’t there to protect me. Of course, we hadn’t spoken in seven years at that point. There’s no way he could have been there or known I needed help. But it still weighs heavily on him, and he doesn’t like to dwell on it too much. I’m surprised he’s even asking, but the urgency of what’s happening now must overrule his resistance.
“Wait,” Dean says. “You’ve seen Alice Logan’s testimony? So, you already knew her name. Why didn’t you think of it when the clue was left?”
“I didn’t know her name is Alice. During the testimony, she was referred to as Walden Logan.”
“Walden?” Sam
