So.
Alexei’s gaze went toward the room where he’d left Kayla.
Yesterday, Becker, the ponytailed Eco-Tech member, had told him that his team would be done at exactly 9:00 p.m. tonight. If he was telling the truth, that gave Alexei less than twelve hours to work things out. But he was also well aware that agendas can change, and he wasn’t sure how his flight from the authorities might alter their timetable.
And then there was the matter of Valkyrie, who was quite possibly in the area, evidenced by the fact that the remaining $1,000,000 had been there at the dead drop.
Yes, evaluate, adapt, and respond.
Alexei looked around the cabin. After leaving it this morning, he had not anticipated coming back. He began to pack up his equipment.
His threefold agenda: (1) take care of Kayla Tatum; (2) locate the Eco-Tech team; (3) find Valkyrie and kill him-or her-slowly.
Though he usually worked alone, he had an idea that might move things along more quickly. He knew of one person in the area who could help him, a person he was confident would do whatever it took to find the Eco-Tech team and stop them.
But recruiting him was another story.
49
Natasha returned, and while we waited for Jake to join us, I borrowed Lien-hua’s cell and phoned Sheriff Tait to find out when he would be arriving. He told me he wasn’t going to be able to make it to the briefing because of the roads and the number of emergency calls his department was getting-people trapped on the roads, power outages, accidents. Apparently, with the wind, it was proving nearly impossible for the county to keep the roads cleared. “I’m probably gonna be tied up here for at least a couple hours.” He still sounded sick. “And I wasn’t able to get any officers over to the old ELF site. I’m sorry.”
One step forward, two steps back.
“There’s nothing out there anyway, Agent Bowers.” Weariness in his voice. “I’ve been there myself, last fall- some poachers on forest service land. I’m telling you, the station is gone.”
“I understand,” I said.
If an underground bunker and tunnels for electromagnetic lines did exist, the Navy would’ve had to take herculean measures to keep it a secret-not just from the environmental activists and protestors, but also from the locals. And while that wouldn’t have been an easy task, over the years I’ve learned that despite government bureaucracy, pork-barrel spending, and WikiLeaks, when the government puts its mind to keeping something a secret they can be surprisingly effective at it.
After all, there are currently six military detainment facilities on US soil that the media has never gotten wind of, not to mention the FBI’s two domestic processing centers and the CIA’s sub rosa facilities abroad.
I assured the sheriff that I would brief him on everything we covered in our meeting, then picked up a key from the clerk at the front desk so we could lock ourselves in the room beside the lobby and not worry about being disturbed. A few moments after our call ended, Jake arrived and we began.
“All right,” I said. “We have a lot to cover.” It was hard for me to broach the next subject. “First of all, do we know how Ellory’s family is taking the news of his death?”
Natasha answered, “I talked with Linnaman last night and he said that until we have a body he can’t officially pronounce Ellory deceased.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Ellory might have surfaced somewhere downstream,” Jake said. “It’s possible he’s still alive.”
“No.” I shook my head. “There weren’t any other stretches of open water in sight.” This discussion only made Ellory’s death weigh more heavily on me. “He didn’t make it.”
All three of them were quiet. Finally, Natasha said, “I think his wife is still holding out hope. Linnaman’s probably just trying to help her deal with all of this.”
I’d seen this type of thing before in other cases, and it wasn’t helpful; in the end it would only exacerbate her pain. In addition, I’d already sent my condolences to her. I rubbed my head. “Okay, we’ll tackle that later. Let’s move on. Bobby Clarke, the truck driver. Any word?”
Everyone shook their heads.
“I heard from Torres,” Jake said, switching to our other case. “He said Reiser’s time of death was sometime late Tuesday, which would have given Basque plenty of time to clear out.”
But Reiser was seen entering the trailer Wednesday evening…
The killer returning to the scene?
Maybe, or maybe just an unreliable eyewitness.
“They also found newspaper clippings,” he said, “about the murders with Basque fourteen years ago and the more recent ones over the last six months. And some recorded television news footage covering the crimes as well.”
So, Jake’s instincts had been right after all.
“Cable or local?” I said.
“Both.”
“But only the crimes with Basque?”
“Yes.”
Lien-hua spoke up. “I’ve been thinking about Basque. About the knives. Using them isn’t just a way of prolonging the victim’s death, but also, the penetration of the knife into her body has obvious sexual connotations. For him, this act represents coition.”
If you buy into the psychosexual theories of criminal behavior, which I did not, Lien-hua’s observation made sense. It occurred to me that Jake, who’d been working on this case for months, and who did share that perspective, hadn’t made that connection.
“Yes.” Jake nodded. “Reiser’s psych profile is consistent with a tendency to associate violence and sexuality.”
Lien-hua shook her head. “That’s not exactly what I’m getting at. Basque’s partner would be less dominant than him, more easily manipulated, have a lower sense of self-worth, and most likely have followed Basque’s lead in the crimes and the documentation of them.”
“So you’re saying?” Jake sounded irritated.
“Considering his submissive role in the murders, the significance of the blades would likely be different for him, might not even be part of his signature-if he were to have committed crimes without Basque present.”
“Which seems probable, given thirteen years apart,” I noted.
“Yes.”
My mind was spinning, trying to sort through all that had happened in the last two days-searching for Reiser in his trailer, getting called to Woodborough, visiting the scene of Ardis and Lizzie’s murders, finding the helmet, chasing Chekov, nearly drowning…
Letting Ellory die.
Jake stared at Lien-hua coolly. “I’ll have to share my notes with you. Show you what I’ve come up with.”
“Yes, that will be helpful,” she replied.
I flipped open my laptop. “I’m not sure yet how all this is connected, but has everyone had a chance to review the files Margaret sent about the ELF station?”
Jake and Natasha nodded, but Lien-hua shook her head. “The ELF station?”
I filled her in and when I was done, Natasha took the floor and mentioned that she’d pulled prints from the light switch in the study of the Pickron home. “In addition to Ardis’s and Donnie’s, I found one set of unidentifiable prints. I sent them to the Lab to see if they can dig anything up, do a more integrated AFIS search. The only prints in the laundry room were of family members.”
She consulted her notes. “I spent some time yesterday going through Donnie Pickron’s computer and
