Allison Brennan - Killing Fear

“What would you say if I told you that he watched Robin McKenna having sex with her boyfriend?”

“I’d say that the boyfriend is lucky to be alive.”

Will hadn’t been expecting that answer. “Why? Couldn’t that relationship-with Robin and another man-have prompted Glenn to go after her?”

“Absolutely,” Vigo said. “And what better way to hurt Robin McKenna than to kill a man she was intimately involved with? That she may have even loved?” He tapped the file folder. “During Ms. McKenna’s testimony, she stated that she didn’t like Theodore Glenn from the beginning. Unlike her colleagues, she never went out with him. Was never alone with him. Some people are more sensitive to sociopaths, or simply better readers of human emotion. Or, in Glenn’s case, lack of emotion.” Vigo paused. “And?”

Will said, “I was dating Robin at the time of the murders.”

“I guessed.”

Will raised an eyebrow.

“I, too, am a pretty good reader of human emotion,” Vigo said with a half smile. “It’s my job.” He grew serious. “You need to be doubly careful, Detective.”

“Robin and I aren’t seeing each other anymore.”

“It doesn’t matter. You had a part of Robin that Theodore Glenn never had. That makes you vulnerable. Second, even if you aren’t involved, Glenn knows that if he hurt you it would hurt Robin. And finally, you put him in prison. To be perfectly frank, Detective, I think your life may be in greater jeopardy than Robin McKenna’s.”

Will dismissed Vigo’s comment. He was a cop, he wasn’t overly worried about himself. “The chief said you had information that might help.”

“The prison authority has copies of all incoming and outgoing correspondence, except privileged communication with his attorney. We’ve put together a list of nineteen women who, for lack of a better word, form a fan club of sorts.”

“Fan club?” Carina interjected. “Nineteen women admire that monster?”

“That’s just in San Diego County,” Vigo corrected. “Over two hundred women across the country have written to him, but we determined that if he was using any of them most likely it would be someone local, considering we know that he’s in town, or he was yesterday.”

“He’s still here,” Will said. “He has a plan, and killing Sherry Jeffries and Frank Sturgeon was only a small part of it.” He looked at Vigo. “What you’ve said is no different than what we put together seven years ago, aside from Glenn wanting to participate somehow in the reactions of the survivors. But that makes sense, especially after his phone call to Robin yesterday.”

“Like I said, this department has been on the ball. If you don’t need me, I can go back to San Francisco.”

Will shook his head. “No, I’d like you to stay. I didn’t mean to imply otherwise. A fresh set of eyes, a clean perspective, is always good in a case this complex.”

Vigo nodded. “Of those nineteen women, we ranked them in terms of most likely to harbor a fugitive. Six are considered high risk. We have their names and addresses, though some of these letters are more than a few years old. It’s important to track down all nineteen women, but imperative that someone in law enforcement speaks to the six women on the high-risk list as soon as possible.”

“How did they make the list?”

“They are white, single women between the ages of twenty and sixty. They all own property under their own name. They are professionals to some degree. Glenn would not be attracted to an illiterate woman. This is someone he has already tested. Someone he has probably already asked to do something illegal, who has done his bidding to his satisfaction. But since we don’t know what test he would have put them through, we don’t know what to look for in their recent activities. None have federal records, but I’ll give the list to your people to check for a local rap sheet.”

“Do you really think Theodore Glenn is with one of these women?” Chief Causey asked, handing a copy to Officer Diaz with the order to run the list. Diaz left.

Vigo nodded. “Without a doubt, he’ll make contact with at least one of them. I wouldn’t be surprised if he rotated between two or three of them, but he’ll be cautious.”

“How can you be so positive the woman won’t contact the police as soon as she has a chance?” Carina asked.

“The type of women who contact convicted murderers usually fall into one of four categories: First, they want to express their outrage and usually tell the killer to rot in hell.”

“I’m with them,” Carina said.

“The second type is religious or spiritual. They want to pray for the killer, encourage him to find God and ask for forgiveness, be repentant, show remorse. The third type are celebrity hounds, those who collect mementos from famous people. They want a letter back, so they can either add the signature to their collection or sell it. They may enter into a correspondence and attempt to find out additional facts. Some of these people may also exhibit sociopathic tendencies, and live vicariously through the convict, but the women in this group are usually nonviolent.”

“And the last type?” Will said.

“Often, they have been abused in the past, most likely by a male authority figure. They have justified the abuse in their minds. They deserved it, according to their reasoning, and if only they had done X, Y, and Z the man wouldn’t have hurt them. It’s similar to many abused wives: They think they can see the good in the abuser. They need to be needed. They are good listeners. It’s interesting that some of these women are professionals-smart, on the surface someone you wouldn’t expect to initiate a friendship with a killer. But they are wired different emotionally. They want to cure all the ills of the world, and they will start by being whatever the killer wants them to be. They understand him, they think. They are sympathetic. They see a side of him that others ignore. But when you talk to them, don’t assume they are dumb or unmanipulative. They will say or do anything to protect the man who they believe they can save. They may even think he is innocent or misunderstood. Or that he had a good reason for doing what he did.”

Carina shook her head and Will said, “Glenn is already a manipulative personality. He could convince almost anyone he was wrongly convicted.”

Vigo agreed. “Coupled with the fact that he is attractive and independently wealthy, he would be appealing to these types of women on multiple levels. Many of them are physically homely or have been told so by those they trust. But physical appearance is not a major indicator. Emotional immaturity and prior abuse, either emotional or physical, is the key.”

“What about greed?” Will asked. “We both agree that Glenn hid money. What if he’s paying them to help him?”

“Not that simple, but it’s part of the big picture. The woman might see that she can get something for what she thinks is a low price. Glenn has been moving money for the last few years.”

Will sat straight up. “His money is in a trust.”

Chief Causey spoke. “Some, not all. Only the funds needed for court-ordered restitution are held in a trust. He had plenty of property and stocks to manipulate.”

Vigo interjected, “Our finance experts are working on tracking his money trail. He’s paid over a quarter million dollars to his legal firm.”

“But he represented himself,” Will said.

“He hired a firm to do research and prepare reports. It’s not unheard of,” Vigo said. “And someone of his ego might be thinking he’d rather give his money to attorneys than to the victims or the state or his parents when he dies. Because right now, when he’s executed, any funds minus restitution will be given to his parents.”