Who had that kind of charisma? Leif Cole for one. However, after reading his published works and talking to him half a dozen times over the twenty months since the first arson at Langlier, Nora had thought the academic a highly unlikely suspect. Just because he was the most vocal opponent of genetic research didn’t make him an arsonist, or a killer.
But maybe she was wrong. She needed to talk to him again. Pressure him to help.
If a traditional anarchist cell had killed someone, it would have been an accident, and most likely they would then disband. There was still one cold case from five years ago where that had happened. After a homeless man died in an arson fire at a new apartment development, a string of seventeen related arsons stopped cold.
But Jonah Payne’s death was premeditated murder. A psychopath, even one with a political agenda, operated under a different set of guidelines. Would the public outrage slow him down or encourage him?
She sent a message to her team to meet in the main conference room at 0830 for a debriefing and assignments, then stopped by SSA Megan Elliott’s small office. Megan handled violent crimes.
Megan was at her desk, and motioned for Nora to come in while she wrapped up her call. “What’s going on?” Megan asked.
“I’m dealing with a psychopath in the Butcher-Payne arson, and that’s your area of expertise.”
“Lucky me,” Megan said.
“I’ve called my team together for a debriefing in twenty minutes. Would you mind sitting in and sharing your thoughts and wisdom?”
“Count me in. Any word on Nolan?”
Nora shook her head. “Nothing new. He loves it at Quantico.”
“You ready to take over for him?”
“I’ll cross that bridge when I come to it,” Nora said. She’d thought about it, and while being in charge of her squad didn’t intimidate her, she wasn’t entirely confident that she was the best person for the job. As Pete always told her, she got too emotionally involved with her cases.
“Nolan wouldn’t have put you in charge of your squad if he didn’t have one hundred percent confidence in you,” Megan said.
“Thanks. I appreciate that.” She glanced at her watch. “Fifteen minutes?”
“I’ll be there.”
Back in her cubicle, Nora checked her messages and wrote a quick update for her ASAC, Dean Hooper. He’d just been transferred from Washington the week Nolan went to Quantico, and Nora was still a little nervous around him. Hooper had been an assistant director at headquarters, specializing in white-collar crimes, and took the lower position when he’d married a local immigration agent.
Quin walked into her cubicle, startling Nora. “Hey, sis.”
Nora frowned. “You said you couldn’t make it.”
“I only have a few minutes, but I went to the lab first thing this morning to grab the test results on the accelerant.” She slid over a thin folder. “There’s your copy. Exact same brand of vodka. And that’s something the press never knew.”
Nora read the printout. She said, “And you were right, no trace of accelerant in the office.”
“Nothing we didn’t know.”
“You didn’t have to come down.”
Quin shrugged. “You asked me to. I don’t mind. But I have to get downtown by ten for a staff meeting, then Ulysses and I are meeting at Butcher-Payne to catalog everything, then turn it over to your ERT by tomorrow morning.”
As they walked together to the conference room, Nora’s phone vibrated. She glanced at the number. Dunn.
“English,” she answered. “Did you get in?”
Dunn’s voice was strained. “You were right. We have what appears to be a major crime scene.”
“Where in the house?”
“In the bedroom. The bed is saturated with blood. There’s also other biological matter-the place stinks to high heaven.”
“Don’t touch anything. I’m sending the ERT there. Secure the scene and start the canvass. Any neighbors who saw him arrive, when, if anyone spoke to him, saw him with anyone, whatever you can find out. Then send me a report.”
“This place is in the middle of nowhere. It doesn’t get much more private than this.”
“I’ll have research shoot you off his recent credit card transactions and phone records. See if you can follow up on any of them. I’m going into a briefing, but call me if you find anything.”
She hung up.
“Payne was killed in Tahoe,” she told Quin as she shot off an email to the ERT leader and ASAC Hooper about the crime scene and asking for a group to go to Tahoe to process the scene.
They entered the conference room. Within minutes, her entire team had gathered, as well as Megan Kincaid. Nora wondered where Duke was, but she didn’t have time to call him.
“I’m going fast because we have a lot to do. First, to bring everyone up to speed, Nathan Dunn called from our Tahoe office. There is substantial evidence of violence in Dr. Payne’s vacation home. We’ve secured the house and are sending the ERT. We’ll need to confirm that Dr. Payne was killed there, but all evidence points in that direction.”
She sipped water and continued. “Everyone should have gotten my notes from the coroner’s office and the crime scene. Dr. Coffey hasn’t made his report official, but we’re going off the preliminary until we hear something different. The victim was dead at least six hours before the fire started. He was killed off-site and transported in an enclosed pickup truck bed. Dr. Coffey is working on matching up the marks on his back with a make and model. It may give us our first real lead.”
From the minute Dr. Duncan said Jonah Payne was a creature of habit and went to his vacation house the last weekend of every month, Nora had known that he’d been killed there. Organized murderers plan their kills down to the last detail. They follow their prey, plan the best method of attack, and pounce.
Before she could share the additional information, ASAC Hooper opened the door and said, “Nora, when you have a minute I need to see you in my office. Go ahead and finish up here.”
He left, but Nora was distracted. She glanced at Megan, who just shook her head, not knowing what was going on.
Finish up here. Right.
She looked at the team. “I asked Megan to be part of this because she understands psychopaths. And whoever killed Jonah Payne is not a typical anarchist.”
Megan said, “I’ve been thinking about it, and I’d like to go through like crimes, see if there are any unsolved cases similar to Dr. Payne’s, but not connected to genetic research or arson. I’m looking at the manner of death. If you don’t mind, I’d like to talk to the M.E. myself.”
“Please do,” Nora said. “Pete, can you follow up with both Sheriff Sanger and Sheriff Donaldson on the canvasses at Butcher-Payne and Lake of the Pines yesterday? See if they’ve found anything new, have them walk you through it. They might need a fresh pair of eyes.”
“Will do. What about Cole?”
Nora was trying to avoid going there until she had a chance to reassess her previous analysis. “We need to talk to him again.”
Pete cleared his throat. “Without meaning to offend, Nora, but are you the best person to do it?”
Nora knew where he was going with this. Pete had always felt that she was too close to the investigation, that Nora tried too hard to think like the arsonists. He worried she was overly sympathetic, but nothing could be further from the truth.
“Yes,” she simply said, “I am.”
Nora turned to Ted. “Duke Rogan with Rogan-Caruso sent over the background reports on Butcher-Payne
