Allison Brennan - See No Evil

“They would have done an autopsy report to determine if he’d been under the influence of drugs or alcohol.”

“Yes, and all the standard tox screens were clear,” Dillon said. “The autopsy revealed an arrhythmia, essentially a minor heart attack. It could have caused him to panic, or perhaps render him unconscious.”

“So why isn’t this an accident?” Julia asked.

“Because it’s the same type of arrhythmia found during Jason Ridge’s autopsy. I compared the reports. No doubt in my mind.”

“Do you want to exhume the body?” Connor asked, marking Small’s death on the timeline he and Julia had created.

Julia said, “I don’t see Stanton going for it. We don’t have enough at this point. Especially since we haven’t even a suspect.”

“I agree,” Dillon said. “But it makes me wonder if perhaps both Ridge and Small were given drugs to induce heart failure. In Ridge, the steroids would have been a contributing cause, not the primary cause, and in Small he went off a bridge. Died instantly of trauma.”

“Do you know what drugs would cause an arrhythmia?” Julia asked.

“Several, but I’m not well versed in that area. If we can prove Jason Ridge was in fact murdered, I think Stanton will agree to exhume both bodies.”

Dillon continued. “I have some other news about Bowen’s murder. It turns out he was hit with a Taser gun.”

“They don’t leave physical evidence,” Connor said.

“Not usually, but when fired they release microparticles with the gun’s serial number etched in them. These particles were collected by the crime scene unit on both Bowen’s body and the second floor hallway.”

“And where did it lead?”

“The Taser was registered to Victor Montgomery.”

He saw the first flaw in his plan.

He didn’t expect anyone to connect Jason Ridge to Shannon Chase, yet Julia Chandler had made the connection. How? How did she even know Jason Ridge’s name? What had led her down that path?

He would adapt. It saddened him that he would have to execute the contingency plan, but what choice did he have? If Robbie hadn’t screwed up the hit-and-run, Julia Chandler would never have talked to Tom Chase.

Chase. Another idiot. But he was too far away to be effectively handled. He could always hope Chase would drink himself into oblivion.

After, they would disappear. He’d planned to stay in town, but it wouldn’t be wise. He had a few loose ends to clean up, appearances to make, but in forty-eight hours he and Faye would be on an airplane for Brazil.

From there, they could go anywhere in the world.

Will Hooper knocked on Julia’s door late that night. She almost laughed. “You just missed Patrick Kincaid,” she said. “He upgraded my security system.”

“Can I come in?”

“What’s wrong?” Julia tensed. Connor stood behind her, put his hands on her shoulders.

“Let’s sit down.”

Julia didn’t like the secrecy.

“Emily’s being released tomorrow morning,” Will said.

Dillon frowned. “I thought we talked about that. You agreed we could keep her in the hospital for her protection.”

“Stanton and Chief Causey have another idea.”

“You can’t arrest her!” Julia jumped up. “You told me you believed her!”

“I do,” Will said. “We all do. But this is what we know. We know that three or more people killed Victor Montgomery. We know that Garrett Bowen’s online list was used to incite people into planning, and likely executing, murders. I thought Bowen was behind it all, I was ready to serve him a warrant today, then he turned up dead.

“But as e-crimes proved, Bowen wasn’t the one inciting people to talk about their killing fantasies. Someone else on the list is responsible-the same person who text-messaged Emily three months ago about meeting at Starbucks.”

Julia shivered. “The killer knows who Emily is. They know how to get to her.”

Will said, “What the prompts suggest is that someone was fishing for information. Someone was encouraging Emily and others to reveal as much information as they could. They wanted a reason to go after Victor.”

“But where does Judson fit in?” Dillon asked. “There is no connection between Paul Judson and Emily-he didn’t teach at the same school-no evidence that he knew Montgomery or Bowen or Jason Ridge.”

“No one prompted Billy to share the information about Judson. He did it on his own. There were other similar e-mails and there may or may not be murders associated with them-we don’t have enough information at this point. But as far as Victor Montgomery was concerned, someone was pushing Emily for information.”

“So you’re saying that maybe he was the target all along?”

“It was well planned and well executed, but I think Judge Montgomery’s killers didn’t expect Emily to come home when she did. What if they were already inside when Emily came home early?”

Dillon interrupted. “Judson was a red herring. Or a test.”

Connor nodded. “This is a group of killers who maybe needed to initiate someone into the group, or it was a test to see if Billy Thompson would be arrested. Or to watch the police investigation and see if Wishlist was shut down. Whatever their reason, he’s not connected with Montgomery.”

“The only connection between all the victims-if Jason Ridge was in fact a victim-is Garrett Bowen,” Julia said.

“And now Bowen’s dead.”

“We’re back where we started,” Julia complained.

Connor said to Will, “You said you had an idea.”

“We have a plan to draw out someone in the group. Emily has been under wraps. No one knows what she knows, though the killer most certainly knows we have pegged Wishlist as part of the investigation. The e-mails have virtually dried up, according to e-crimes. Someone in that group knows Emily personally. Otherwise the information she gave online wouldn’t have drawn the killers to her.”

“Maybe someone had access to Bowen’s records,” Dillon said thoughtfully.

“Can they be hacked into?”

“Not easily,” Will said. “How would they know if Emily was a Bowen client unless it was someone inside?”

“Because her sentencing was public record,” Julia said.

“So anyone could find out that Garrett Bowen was her shrink,” Will said. Glancing at Dillon, he added, “No offense.”

Dillon shrugged it off with a half smile. “We need to follow up with Jason Ridge’s parents. I can do that tomorrow morning.”

“I need you at the hospital,” Will said. “To approve Emily’s discharge.”

“I’ll talk to Stephanie Ridge,” Julia offered. “She’ll be more forthcoming than her husband. I sensed that at the fund-raiser the other night. And I want to find out what Michelle O’Dell knows. She was friends with both Shannon and Jason.”

“What’s getting me is motive,” Connor said, changing the subject. “What is this group of killers getting out of their game?”

“The thrill of the kill,” Dillon said.

“Too simplistic.”

“Is it? Some people kill simply because they enjoy hurting people. Some kill because they don’t want to be left out. Remember what we talked about the other night? You get a group of seemingly normal kids together and they start committing crimes? Usually vandalism, petty theft, carjackings. Add a dynamic and homicidal leader to the group, and it’s not a huge leap into murder. It’s how cults work, it’s mob mentality and how a group of normal people can band together to kill in extraordinary circumstances.”

“But there’s a pattern here,” Julia said. “Outside of Paul Judson, these aren’t random murders.” She stood, looked at the timeline she and Connor had drawn out. “It all goes back to Jason Ridge.”