'Maybe you should have him talk to Jonathan Hale while he's here.'
'I'm sure they'll want to talk to him. Have you read Bryson's toxicology report?'
'I didn't know it was available.'
'I received a copy this morning. Tim was injected with GHB and Ketamine. If he was alive, his drug-induced confession would be thrown out. It wouldn't have a leg to stand on during trial.'
Maybe that's why Fletcher threw him off the roof, Darby thought.
'Have you made any progress with Sam Dingle?' Chadzynski asked.
'The address Fletcher left on the sign-in sheet at the club and the registration for his Jaguar, which still hasn't been found – all of it points back to the house where Sam Dingle grew up. It's like Fletcher's shoving it in our faces.'
'I agree. Where do you think he is?'
'Who knows? If you're serious about finding him, you need to put people on Hale.'
'Malcolm Fletcher is a loner. He doesn't work for anyone.'
'The locks for Emma Hale's doors weren't picked. He didn't force his way in there.'
'Darby -'
'At least put Hale under surveillance.'
'I'm not going to do that.'
'Why? Because he's rich?'
'Because there is no evidence to suggest that Fletcher is working for or is in collusion with Jonathan Hale,' Chadzynski said. 'For God's sake, we have a security tape showing the man sneaking inside the parking garage.'
'Fletcher didn't break into Emma Hale's home; he had a key.'
'Have you considered the possibility that maybe Fletcher's working for Tina Sanders? Fletcher's spoken to her several times. Maybe I should put her under surveillance.'
'I would.'
'You can make your recommendations to the federal task force,' Chadzynski said. 'Have you found any indication that Bryson tampered with evidence on either the Hale or Chen case?'
'Both Neil and I reviewed the chain of custody on all the evidence. It doesn't appear Bryson tampered with any of our cases. I can't say what happened in Saugus.
'I got the state lab's report on the two Saugus women. Both were raped and strangled. There were no traces of semen, no blood under the fingernails, but they found a lubricant that's used with some condoms. Coop's reviewing the evidence files right now.
'NCIC doesn't contain any listing for Samuel Dingle,' Darby said. 'There is no DNA profile in CODIS under that name. Same goes for AFIS. Dingle could possibly be using an alias.'
'I heard something about a fingerprint being recovered from the duct tape used to bind Sanders' wrists.'
'It's a palm print. Have you spoken to Dr Karim?'
'I did this morning. He was very cooperative. He didn't have anything new to add.'
'Maybe we should dig a little deeper.'
'What's going on with Hannah Givens? What new developments do you have?'
'I don't have anything at the moment. Neil told me Bryson did, in fact, pay for an experimental stem-cell treatment for his daughter.'
'I want your focus on Givens.'
'I'm at her place right now.'
'Good. I need to get going. We're holding another press conference. We can talk more after Bryson's wake.'
'I'm going to stick around here for a while.'
'Keep at it,' Chadzynski said. 'I believe you have a real talent for this.'
Darby hung up. From behind the closed bedroom door she heard the TV playing down the hallway, the murmured voices of Hannah's parents. They were parked in the living room hoping for a phone call from their daughter's kidnapper.
For the next hour Darby walked around the bedroom examining Hannah's things, feeling certain she had overlooked something valuable. That feeling, she knew, was her frustration speaking. There was nothing here.
Darby put on her coat. She opened the door and walked down the hallway to the living room where Hannah's parents were waiting.
67
Hannah's parents sat on the couch watching a recording of last night's Nancy Grace show. The so-called victim's rights crusader was talking about the abduction of Hannah Givens, the apparent third victim of a Boston- based serial killer who abducted college women and, after holding them for a period of weeks, shot them in the back of the head and dumped their bodies.
After rehashing the gory details of Emma Hale and Judith Chen's murders, Nancy Grace consulted a criminal psychologist and a former FBI profiler, both women, and asked them if Hannah's abductor, given the heightened media attention, might panic and decide to kill her. There was much discussion about the possibility.
Tracey Givens, her eyes bloodshot and puffy from crying, turned away from the TV, saw Darby and stood.
'You find anything in my daughter's bedroom, Miss McCormick?'
'No, ma'am, I didn't.'
Hannah's mother seemed surprised. Hannah's father stared at the stains in the well-worn carpet.
'You were in there an awfully long time today, I thought you…'
'I wanted to get to know your daughter better,' Darby said.
Tracey Givens glanced back to the TV where Nancy Grace was shouting at Paul Corsetti, the media rep for the Boston police. By not telling the truth to the public, Nancy Grace yelled to the camera, Boston PD had put Hannah's life in danger.
No, you dumb, self-centred piece of shit, you're the one who's putting Hannah's life in danger.
Darby couldn't stomach it any more. 'Thank you for allowing me to examine Hannah's things,' she said, opening the front door. Hannah's father followed.
Michael Givens had the face of a man who had spent too many years in the sun. His skin, sagging and leathery, was carved with deep grooves. He looked frail in the afternoon light. The street was quiet now. The Boston media and national tabloids were downtown at Chadzynski's press conference.
'The experts on TV, they're saying all this attention Hannah's getting might egg this man on – might encourage him to, you know, do something,' he said. 'But those TV people, these so-called experts, they're looking at it from the outside. You're on the inside, Miss McCormick. You've got all the facts.'
Darby waited, not sure what the man was asking.
'They said on the news you worked on the other two cases where the women disappeared.'
'I've only read the case files.'
'Those two girls… they were gone for a long time, right?'
'Mr Givens, I'm going to work day and night to find a way to bring your daughter home. That's a promise.'
Hannah's father nodded. He was about to open the door when he decided to lean against the doorway. He crossed his arms over his chest and looked to the corner of the porch, at the recycling bins filled with beer cans.
'Hannah… she wanted to stay home with us and go to a local school, a community college about ten minutes away,' Michael Givens said. 'Schools in the northeast are real good. Hannah got this real nice financial aid package from Northeastern, so I pushed her. Sometimes you've got to push your kids. You've got to give them a shove 'cause sometimes that's the only way to help them.
