Allison Brennan - Sudden Death

“Russo and Hackett were both involved, either directly or indirectly, with the mission in which Rosemont was kidnapped and held hostage,” Jack said. “It would be far too big a coincidence if two separate killing pairs were targeting the same group of men.”

“Right,” Hans nodded. “And Bartleton’s dog tag was found at the Hoffman double homicide.”

“My question is, why change guns?” Holden asked.

Jack said, “So Russo’s murder isn’t connected to the others through ballistics.”

“But it is connected,” Hans said.

“No, it’s not-yes, to these recent murders, but if the other three ballistics reports match Scout, then we know that a different gun was used for those victims, which makes me think that the killers didn’t want Russo’s murder connected with these crimes.”

Holden nodded. “That makes sense. But why?”

Hans said, “Because it’s often the first victim that leads directly to the killer. Can I see that fax?” he asked Holden. “I’m going to call the Orlando office and get them to overnight the reports to us. Something is in there that we can use.”

The SLO sheriff’s department contracted out their forensic sketch work. The woman would arrive at the Stenbergs within an hour, and had instructions to fax the sketch to Santa Barbara P.D. as soon as it was ready. Megan asked Officer Dodge to take her back to Santa Barbara. It was getting close to four and she wanted to be back to review the ballistics reports more carefully and see if Jack could nudge his friend Padre to speed up the sketch artist. She wished she had a picture to show the Stenbergs because Megan was certain they would recognize her. Although meeting with the witnesses hadn’t been a complete waste of time, Megan still felt that a local cop could have handled it just as competently.

Simone Charles with the Sacramento crime lab called to let Megan know that there was no match on the ballistics report with John Doe.

Still, just because the ballistics didn’t match didn’t mean they were different killers. Megan just had to review the evidence more closely and hope to find another commonality.

Her cell phone vibrated and she recognized the Orlando prefix, but not the phone number.

“Agent Elliott.”

“Hello, this is Gerald Boswell with the Sunny Day Adult Living Center in Orlando returning your call.”

“Thank you, Dr. Boswell. I won’t keep you long.”

“My secretary said it was about the Rubins?”

“Yes. Their daughter, Hannah.”

“That’s what she said, and that’s why I’m calling you back. They don’t have a living daughter.”

“Maybe a daughter-in-law?”

“No. Their only daughter died years ago, when she was in her twenties.”

“Are you sure?”

He sounded put off. “Of course. I have their file right in front of me. No living childen. I am positive.”

“Does the file have the name of their daughter?”

The sound of shuffling paper, then, “No. Under immediate family, simply ‘one daughter, deceased, February 1, 1960 to November 29, 1981.’ Mr. Rubin was the youngest of five kids and the only survivor.”

Megan almost hung up, but she remembered a case of elder abuse from her first years as an agent where an adult son moved in with his elderly and disabled parents. He spent their entire savings plus mortgaged their home, then left them destitute.

“Are the Rubins paying for your facility? Or are you a subsidized adult care home?”

“Why do you ask?”

She couldn’t very well explain her vague theory without sounding paranoid and suspicious. “One of their former neighbors expressed concern over a relative of theirs who seemed to be living off their generosity. Seniors are very trusting as a group and tend to be conned quite easily.”

“You’re right about that, Agent Elliott,” the director said, his voice decidedly more friendly. “I’ve seen well over a thousand cases of elder abuse and fraud in the twenty years I’ve been an adult care director. I don’t know if the Rubins were victims, however. They bought into a plan with Sunny Day when Mr. Rubin retired from county government so that when they were in need of care, they could move in and live here rent free. Medicare and Social Security pay for their food and medical needs.” He paused. “I can look into their finances for you, if you’d like. We have a board of trustees that manages the accounts for our residents. We’ve never evicted anyone for nonpayment. We receive donations and have many planned giving programs.”

“If you can, that would be very helpful to me. Even if nothing is odd, let me know.”

Megan thanked him for his time, then called Mrs. Lyons again.

“Hello?”

“Mrs. Lyons, this is Megan Elliott again, with the FBI. I have another question for you if you have a minute.”

“Of course, dear.”

“Did the Rubins ever talk about their daughter? Before she moved in with them?”

She didn’t say anything for a long minute. “I honestly don’t remember. I don’t think it came up. I didn’t know them well-we have more than four hundred houses and town-homes in the community. It was just because Kenny was my neighbor that I got to know them a bit, but it was only at social functions.”

“Do you know if they had any close friends I could call?”

“I’m sure they did, but I don’t know who. They lived on Sea Breeze Circle. Maybe the manager knows them. I’ll give you her number. Paula Andrews. A darling girl.”

Megan called Ms. Andrews next, but she wasn’t home. She left a message on her answering machine that she was an FBI agent and wanted to talk about the Rubins who had lived on Sea Breeze as soon as possible.

“Sounds like a promising lead,” Officer Dodge said as she turned south onto the Pacific Coast Highway.

“It seems clear that our female UNSUB has been an integral part of Rosemont’s killing spree for well over a year. That she moved to Orlando to specifically get close to Ken Russo so she could do that. Why him? He was the team leader of the mission that Rosemont was kidnapped from. Russo was the first victim.” He’d been killed seven months before Duane Johnson. How long did Rosemont and his partner plan these murders? Years?

“If he was the team leader, maybe he’d kept in touch with the other men,” Dodge suggested.

Megan straightened. “And he might have their current addresses. Or know how to find them.” And because George Price was AWOL, the killer stole the tags … why? Why was it important to the UNSUB and Rosemont to kill a homeless man and plant Price’s tags on him? Contact the FBI and bring them into the case?

It wasn’t common for the FBI to be involved with local homicides, but the killers wanted the FBI involved. If Megan wasn’t already called into the investigation because of the connection to victims in two other states, she would have certainly gotten involved when she received Price’s dog tag at her apartment.

The killers started in Florida with Russo. Then they did nothing for seven months before hitting Johnson in Texas. Two months passed, then they took out Perry in Nevada and “Price” in California two weeks after. Then they returned to Texas to kill Bartleton two days after John Doe. It would have been far more efficient to remain in Texas and move west. And it made no sense to kill a stranger and call him George Price.

Except to bring in the federal authorities. Except to bring Megan herself into the investigation.

Why her? She’d assumed that the killers sent her Price’s dog tag because she was the squad leader of Violent Crimes and had recently been in the media because of a complex and high-profile investigation, or because they’d been watching the crime scene and saw her arrive.