Bryson, was murdered by a former FBI profiler named Malcolm Fletcher.'
Tim Bryson's 'alleged' involvement in disposing of the belt wasn't mentioned or hinted at in any newspaper articles or on TV. Darby wondered if Chadzynski was negotiating with Tina Sanders' lawyer to keep the matter quiet. Chadzynski and her PR machine had, at least for the moment, prevented information about Sinclair from being leaked to the press.
The morning after Bryson's death, Chadzynski held a press conference and released Malcolm Fletcher's name to the media. The former profiler, Chadzynski said, was wanted in connection with the murder of Detective Timothy Bryson, who was thrown from the roof of a popular Boston nightclub. Fletcher's picture was printed on the front pages of almost every major newspaper along with the picture from the FBI website. Chadzynski kept stressing the $1 million reward the federal government was offering for information leading to the arrest or capture of the former profiler.
Chadzynski didn't mention Fletcher's visit to Emma Hale's home, his conversations with Tina Sanders or the DVD he had mailed to Jonathan Hale.
Darby had processed the mailer. It contained a single fingerprint which matched Malcolm Fletcher's; AFIS identified the print on Wednesday night. The FBI, she was sure, would be arriving in Boston any day now.
Darby hadn't spoken to Jonathan Hale. According to his lawyer, Hale was out of town on business and unavailable for comment.
Sam Dingle's whereabouts were still unknown, but this morning's Boston Globe contained a quote from his sister Lorna, who was divorced from her third husband and living in Baton Rouge, Louisiana: 'The last time I saw my brother was when he came home to collect his share of my parents' estate back in 1984. He said he was living somewhere in Texas. That was the last time I spoke to him. I don't know where he is, I have no idea what he's doing. I haven't heard a word from him in decades. For all I know, he's dead.'
Darby sat on Hannah Givens' sagging mattress. She rubbed the dryness from her eyes and, taking a deep breath, focused her attention on the student's bedroom.
Hannah had covered up the cracks in the pink wall with framed pictures of her parents, the family Labrador and her friends back in Iowa. Milk crates doubling as shelves held CDs and paperback books with missing covers. An old radio/cassette Walkman sat on a denim beanbag chair. The closet was stuffed with clothes from Old Navy and American Eagle Outfitters.
Hannah Givens had been missing for a week. Had her abductor panicked and killed her? Was Hannah's body floating somewhere along the bottom of the Charles? The thought left a cold, hollow pocket in the pit of Darby's stomach.
Three victims. Two were dead and one, Hannah Givens, was possibly still alive. What did all three women have in common? They were young women enrolled in Boston colleges. That was the common trait these three women shared.
Tim Bryson had investigated the college admissions angle. Darby, along with a team of detectives, had revisited it, checking to see if the three women might have possibly applied to the same school at one point in time. When the search came up empty, she tried to find a common point where all three women might have intersected – a bar, a student group, anything. So far, she had come up empty handed.
The first victim, Emma Hale, rich and white and extremely attractive, grew up in Weston and went to Harvard. The second victim, Judith Chen, middle-class and Asian, was plain and frumpy, a tiny, almost frail young woman born and raised in Pittsburg, Pennsylvania. She came to Boston's Suffolk University to take advantage of their generous financial-aid package.
Now here was Hannah Givens, another college student, the only child of a lower-middle-class farming family from Iowa, a big-boned girl with plain-Jane looks and a kamikaze attitude toward her studies, her free time, what little of it she had, spent working at either the deli or Northeastern's campus library.
Why did the killer focus on Boston colleges? Was he a student? Did he pose as a student?
Darby opened her backpack, grabbed the files and flipped through the pictures of all three college students, trying to see them the way their killer did – possessing something he needed. Why did you keep them for so long only to turn around and kill them?
Three college women, at least one of whom, Emma Hale, seemed to be tied to Malcolm Fletcher, a former FBI profiler who had been on the run for twenty-five years only to resurface – again in Boston – inside Emma Hale's home. Was Jonathan Hale using Fletcher to hunt down his daughter's killer?
Like Tim Bryson, Jonathan Hale was a father crippled by grief. Unlike Bryson, Hale was a powerful, wealthy man. If Fletcher had approached Hale with either information about the man who had killed his daughter or a plan to find him, wouldn't Hale jump at the opportunity? And why would Fletcher come out of hiding to help a grieving father find his daughter's killer?
Maybe Fletcher hadn't approached Hale. Maybe Fletcher's agenda was simply to expose Tim Bryson's sins. Fletcher had made a public spectacle of Bryson's death, throwing him off the roof of a crowded nightclub with a plastic bag holding Jennifer Sanders' licence and credit cards. Fletcher had also contacted Tina Sanders. He put Tim Bryson on the phone and Bryson confessed to throwing out evidence that would have implicated Samuel Dingle in the rape and murder of two women from Saugus.
And where was Sam Dingle? Had he moved back east? Was he responsible for the deaths of Emma Hale and Judith Chen? Did he now have Hannah? His name was all over the news. Had he killed Givens, dumped her body in the river and disappeared?
Everything pointed back to Sam Dingle. It seemed too neat, too easy.
Bryson had mentioned that Fletcher was trying to throw them off the scent. Maybe Bryson said it to try to protect his ass. Maybe Bryson was telling the truth.
What if Fletcher's real agenda was to shift the focus of the police away from the real killer so he could find him first? According to Chadzynski's FBI contact, Malcolm Fletcher was a one-man judge, jury and executioner. If Sam Dingle was, in fact, the man who had killed Hale and Chen, Darby doubted Fletcher would leave town without finding him.
Darby's cell vibrated. The caller was Christina Chadzynski.
66
'It seems Malcolm Fletcher mailed CDs containing a recording of Tim Bryson's conversation with Tina Sanders to every reporter in the city,' Chadzynski said. 'I'm sure they'll be playing it over the news tonight.'
'Have you heard a copy?' Darby asked.
'Not yet. I'm afraid I have more bad news. A reporter for the Herald knows Sanders' remains were found inside Sinclair. The reporter is amenable to stalling the story in exchange for an exclusive interview with you after you've solved the case.'
Darby leaned back against the wall. Stuffed animals from Hannah's childhood were arranged around the pillows and cheap comforter.
'I'm not suggesting you do it,' Chadzynski said. 'It's only a matter of time before other reporters find out. I'll try and stall him as long as I can.'
'I spoke with Bill Jordan. He's brought in some men with SWAT experience. When our man shows up at the chapel, Jordan and his men will take him down.'
'Do you really think this person is going to show up?'
'I do. At some point, he will return. The statue of the Virgin Mary I found was clean – remember the bucket of water and towels I found? That statue and the chapel hold a special connection for this person. He could go to any church but he specifically goes to this chapel that's buried under the ground. It's not easy to find. He must have found a special route.'
'Darby, I've been on the phone with the federal task force assigned to track down Malcolm Fletcher. The task force coordinator is a man named Mike Abrams. He met Fletcher while he was working the Sandman case. Abrams was a site profiler for the Boston office. He suspects Fletcher is long gone, but Abrams still wants to speak to us. They're scheduled to arrive at Boston sometime tomorrow afternoon. His people want to look at the DVD Fletcher sent to Hale as well as the audio tape you found.'
