He hadn’t paid much attention to any of the techs back then.
He still didn’t. But he remembered this one, mostly. Because of the wheelchair.
She was usually in a wheelchair when he saw her. Today, she was on crutches.
The other woman was long, tall, and hot. Arrogant bitch, though. She always had been. She had reddish-brown hair that curled down her back wildly. Untamed.
That was a good word for her. Wild and uncontrollable when a guy got too close. She’d probably even bite, if given half a chance.
And not in a good way.
She always looked at him like he was a slug.
Yeah, he remembered Dr. Miranda Talley well, too.
“Dr. Talley, Agent Jones,” Todd said, then looked at the third woman, expectantly.
He didn’t remember her name—and she knew that. She just smirked back at him, not saying a word.
Dr. Talley stood. She was around five eleven or so. Only three inches or so separated them in height. That had always irritated him. No doubt, the bitch knew that. She liked being able to look men straight in the eye. Got off on it, he thought. Probably wished she was a dude or something, but was too chicken to make that happen.
“Look who’s here. Shouldn’t you be down in Texas harassing people in the Dallas office?”
“I’m here now. Trying out PAVAD for a case or two to decide if I like it, if it’s a good enough appointment for me. Got the paperwork last week. Dennis told me to find Agent Jones. She’s supposed to fill me in on what we know on this case so far.” Todd turned his attention to Jaclyn and sent her his winningest smile.
The one that had always worked with women before.
Well, most women, anyway.
He waited, puzzled by her lack of reaction.
Jaclyn didn’t say a thing. She barely looked at him.
“Jaclyn? Can you tell me what we’re doing here today?”
36
Barnes was invading Jac’s space when Max made it in from the scene and into the conference room. She didn’t even seem aware of it.
He took a quick look around the conference room at the people quietly speaking to one another. He had a team now. Miranda occupied the chair next to the whiteboard.
Miranda wanted to feel useful. She hated the cast. That was clear to see. His eyes met hers, and she nodded. She was back and would do what she could in spite of the cast on her arm.
Whitman waited quietly for instructions. He’d started off as a young, enthusiastic agent around eight or nine years ago. He’d grown more solemn as he’d gained more experience in the bureau.
He was good at what he did, but tended to blend into the background at times. Max had worked with him many times before. Jac always said he had the absent-minded professor thing going on. He was dependable. Steady and detail-oriented.
On a case like this, it was going to be necessary. Jac stood, started walking around the room.
Max watched her for a moment.
Barnes was watching her, too.
“What do we know so far?” Jac asked suddenly, looking straight at Max.
“This is it? The team?” Barnes asked. “Shouldn’t there be like an entire squad? Go in with a major task force.”
“We have more agents on standby with Agent Lytel, ready to do whatever we need. First, we need to figure out what we’re dealing with here,” Jac said.
“Let’s go over what we’ve got,” Max said. He turned to the woman seated next to Miranda. “Dani, show us what you’ve got so far.”
37
Jac tried not to flinch when the crime scene photos sharpened on the screen. Rachel’s face dominated the first image. Followed by one of an innocent older woman who looked so much like Miranda’s grandmother Jac had to fight back nausea.
What had been done to Edith Lindsay was the worst kind of crime imaginable, next to those against children. If someone had done that to Flo Talley…
Edith wouldn’t have been able to fight back.
Any more than Rachel had been able to.
The next photos on the screen were of the Sturvin family. Individual snapshots taken from Jac’s own phone. Paul, unsmiling near the pile of presents. Olivia in Max’s kitchen, holding a red cup of punch and smiling. Ava in the garage of Max’s home.
The photos had been taken at Emery’s birthday party.
Jac herself was just visible in the background behind the youngest Sturvin daughter. Jac had the girl’s favorite stuffed animal in her hand.
She stared at that photo for a long time. There was cake on Ava’s T-shirt. Jac had cleaned the little girl up herself while Rachel was busy, then played with the little girl’s stuffed purple emu. Apparently, Jac had missed that spot of cake in the cleanup.
Personal. This case already went well beyond personal.
She trembled before she looked at Miranda on her left. Miranda hadn’t looked away from Edith. She’d paled, and looked sick.
“Have any of the forensics reports started coming in yet?” she asked. Max was the agent in charge. That was a good thing.
She knew how he worked, he knew how she worked, and together…together they would find those little girls. And the killer.
Dani nodded. “Starting to. Preliminaries.”
“I’ll head down to forensics in a moment. Any word from the field?” Jac asked as thunder shook the building. Storms were on the forecast off and on for the next few days. That could slow them down.
Whitman shook his head. “Still canvassing. Still looking for Paul Sturvin. Neighbors confirm he travels a lot setting up consulting gigs for his IT company. On the surface, he and his wife are exactly what they appear to be. We’re waiting on warrants to get deeper into their financials and online activity. It might take an hour or two; I do have the legal department trying to escalate on exigent circumstances.”
“The search for Paul coordinates through you, here? You’ll take point on coordinating information?” Max said.
“I can handle that.” Miranda put her hand on Jac’s shoulder. “We’ll
