Allison Brennan - Stalked

“Sizable?”

“The town house has right of survivorship, so that’s free and clear. My techs are going through financials; she’s probably looking at a quarter mil when all’s said and done.”

“Life insurance?”

“Small policy-both sisters had a hundred thou, sister said to cover any expenses related to their demise.”

“Other half of the estate?”

“Donation to her alma mater, Columbia University. Which brings me to the assistant, a grad student at Columbia who’s worked for the deceased only a few months. Seems she gets a new grad student for every project, becomes part of their thesis or some such thing. I talked to the faculty advisor and he’s hooking me up with her new assistant tomorrow.” Joe grinned. “Want to join me?”

“I have another two dozen calls to make, and I hate the phone.”

“It’ll be fun. Old times.”

They’d met on a case five years ago when Suzanne was first assigned to the Violent Crimes and Major Offenders squad in New York City. They worked well together. Played well together, too.

She didn’t smile. “Not old times.”

The pizza arrived, authentic Italian according to Joe. Suzanne didn’t care-it was simply the best pizza in Brooklyn. They ordered two more beers.

“So was I the only one working today?” Joe said between bites.

“I spoke to half the people from the files you sent over-focusing on those she’s interviewing for the Cinderella Strangler case. So far she seems to be in research mode-I have the file with me so I can go through it tonight and try to figure out what her strategy was. She called our civilian consultant from the case, but Lucy said she told Weber she had no comment on the case.”

“Lucy who?”

“Kincaid. She’s a recruit going through the Academy. Her involvement wasn’t made public, but someone told Weber, someone who had enough information to make me think it’s one of mine, or one of yours.”

“Is she a suspect?”

“Kincaid?” Suzanne snorted. “No. And she wouldn’t talk without clearing it through proper channels, just like I would have had to do. But she doesn’t want the book written, wouldn’t talk to any reporter.”

“She doesn’t want the book written, but she’s not a suspect? What am I missing?”

“I told you, she’s at Quantico. And I know her. She didn’t do it, but to make you happy I’ll verify her alibi.”

“Appreciate it.” Joe finished off his first slice and grabbed a second.

“I dug deeper into Weber’s files and went back to her first book about the Rachel McMahon kidnapping and murder, out of Newark. Fifteen-year-old case.”

“That was before my time-I was still at SUNY.”

“And I was still in Louisiana. But I knew one of the agents assigned to the case, so thought I’d start at the beginning. SSA Presidio, out of Quantico. He’s a profiler and is coming up to help.”

“Profiler?” Joe shook his head. He’d never been one to listen to shrinks. “I forgot to mention, the ring the victim wore is worth over fifteen thou. It’s looking more and more like a robbery.”

“You said it didn’t feel like a robbery.” Suzanne grabbed her second slice before Joe ate the whole pie.

“You’re right-but with a ring worth that much, I have to follow the angle. Besides, I don’t like profilers. Good detective work solves more cases than shrinks.”

Suzanne used to agree with Joe, but after working with Lucy Kincaid she’d somewhat changed her opinion. She saw value in understanding the psychology of criminals.

“I’ll let you know what he says. You might even get to meet him.”

“You think maybe someone Weber wrote about was pissed off enough to whack her?”

“Anything’s possible at this point. Any threats?”

“Nothing the sister or faculty advisor knew about. I’ll ask the assistant tomorrow.”

“ We’ll ask the assistant.”

Joe grinned. “It’s good to work with you again, Suzi.”

She glared at him. “That’s ‘Agent Madeaux’ to you, bud.” She glanced at her vibrating phone.

Rogan.

“Boyfriend?” Joe asked.

She rolled her eyes and answered. “I thought you might call. How’ve you been?”

“No complaints. Lucy told me about Weber. I just did a little checking on her. Crime reporter for ten years, then switched gears to write true crime books and special features for magazines. People, Time, US News, others. What happened?”

“It’s an ongoing investigation, Rogan. I can’t talk about it.”

“You called Lucy.”

“She’s one of us now.”

“Her supervisor isn’t letting her get involved. We need to know how her name landed in the reporter’s file. I don’t have to explain to you why.”

He didn’t. Suzanne knew about Lucy’s background, and she understood why Lucy would be concerned if she thought Rosemary Weber had information about her past.

“Fair enough. I’ll let you know when I find out.”

“Why was she killed?”

“That’s the million-dollar question.”

“I just finished a case, if you need my help-”

Suzanne laughed. “The FBI is working with NYPD on this; why would we need you?”

In mock insult, he said, “Because I’m the best.”

She snickered. “Later.” She hung up.

“That was interesting,” Joe said.

“I’m sure you’ll be meeting him in the next few days.”

“Who was it?”

“Sean Rogan, P.I. out of D.C.”

“And he’s in New York?”

“He will be.”

FBI Academy

After two hours, Lucy put her books aside.

Tony’s file on the Rachel McMahon homicide beckoned her. Not just because it was connected to the murdered writer, but also because there were basic similarities between Rachel’s abduction and that of Lucy’s nephew Justin. Kidnapped from their home in the middle of the night and murdered before dawn. But that’s where the similarities ended.

Rachel McMahon had been a week shy of her twelfth birthday when she was killed. The killer had raped her in her own bed. According to the autopsy report, she’d suffered two cracked ribs and had likely been unconscious or unresponsive when Kreig kidnapped her. Though Kreig never once spoke about the rape and murder, Tony’s theory was that the murder wasn’t premeditated. Kreig had planned to rape her, but he thought she was dead or dying. In an effort to cover up his crime, he removed her from her room alive. She died of internal injuries within hours. Had she received immediate medical attention, she might have survived.

Though there was an extensive grid search and numerous volunteers and police looking for her, she wasn’t found until Kreig led authorities to her body six days later. However, the coroner’s report indicated that she’d been dead nearly as long.

MISSING GIRL FOUND DEAD

Rosemary Weber, Senior Crime Reporter

NEWARK, NJ-Six days after Rachel McMahon was abducted from her second-story bedroom, her body was found in the woods less than five miles from her home.

Though police refuse to confirm or deny the circumstances surrounding her death and discovery, sources close to the investigation say that her body was located by cadaver dogs in a shallow grave.

The search for Rachel McMahon began last Sunday morning. Her nine-year-old brother awoke during a storm and went to his sister’s room at three a.m., but she wasn’t in her bed. The police contacted friends and neighbors, but no one had seen Rachel.

The investigation was stymied by the missing girl’s own parents, who had a wild party the night she went missing, later identified by this paper as a “swingers’ party” where married couples swap sex partners for an evening of drugs, drinking, and sex. Because of the delay in obtaining a guest list, incomplete statements by both Mr. and Mrs. McMahon, and the two-day storm that destroyed physical evidence, the investigation was delayed.