Chris Mooney - The Missing

Coming out of the bathroom, Darby rounded the corner, heading for the elevators. Mathew Banville was in the waiting room. Standing next to him, dressed in a sharp suit, was Special Agent Evan Manning.

Time had been kind to Evan Manning. His short brown hair was a bit grayer, but he was still lean and fit, his face still seriously handsome.

What Darby remembered clearly, even after all this time, was the quiet intensity he carried in his face. Evan Manning, she saw, was looking at her that way right now.

Banville did the introductions. 'Darby, this is Special Agent Manning from the Investigative Support Unit.'

'Darby,' Evan said. 'Darby McCormick?'

'It's nice to see you again, Special Agent Manning.' Darby shook his hand.

'I don't believe this,' Evan said. 'You still look the same.'

'How do you two know each other?' Banville asked.

'I met Special Agent Manning when he worked the Victor Grady case,' Darby said.

'The auto mechanic who abducted those women back in eighty-four?'

'That's him.'

'Eighty-four,' Banville said. 'That would make you, what, about fourteen?'

'Fifteen. I knew two of Grady's victims.'

'He killed one of them, didn't he? Shot a young girl in a botched abduction, if I remember correctly.'

'He stabbed her.' In a flash Darby saw her foyer walls splashed with Stacey Stephens's blood. 'As for the other women, we're pretty sure Grady strangled them.'

'How did you know they were strangled? The police never found the bodies.'

'Grady recorded some of his… sessions with his victims. On a couple of the tapes, the women made sounds that were consistent with someone being strangled – at least that's what I read in the reports.' Darby turned to Evan for confirmation.

'Grady kept the audiotapes in a lockbox hidden in his basement,' Evan said. The heat from the fire damaged most of the recordings.'

Banville nodded, satisfied by the explanation. 'Special Agent Manning is the new division head of the ISU's Boston office. AFIS alerted him early this morning when Rachel Swanson's fingerprint was identified. He's offered us access to his labs, anything we need.'

'I understand you were in there talking to Rachel Swanson,' Evan said. 'Did she tell you anything useful?'

'She mentioned the names of two more missing women. We're looking into that right now. The whole conversation's right here.' Darby held up the tape recorder. 'What about this package that's on the way to the lab?'

'It's a padded mailer,' Banville said. 'I have no idea what's in it.'

'I'm going to head over. Rachel's done speaking to me at the moment.' She turned to Evan. 'Why was the FBI alerted about Rachel Swanson's fingerprints?'

'I'll explain everything when we get to the lab. My car's in the garage. Can I offer you a ride?'

Darby looked to Banville for direction.

'I've already filled in Agent Manning on what we've found,' Banville said. 'I'll meet you at the lab as soon as I finish up here.'

'How long have you been working as a criminalist?' Evan asked after the elevator doors shut.

'About eight years,' Darby said. 'I did an internship in New York for about a year, and when the Boston lab had an opening I applied for the job and here I am. How long have you been working in Boston?'

'About six months. I needed a change of scenery.'

'Getting burned out?'

'I was getting dangerously close. The last case I worked on nearly did me in.'

'Which one?'

'Miles Hamilton.'

The All-American Psycho,' Darby said. The former teenage psychopath, now confined to a mental asylum, was believed to have murdered more than twenty young women. 'I hear he's gearing up for a retrial because of possible tainted evidence by one of your profilers.'

'I don't know anything about that.'

'Will Hamilton get a retrial?'

'Not if I have anything to say about it.'

The elevator doors chimed open. Evan suggested they leave through the back entrance – no reporters there.

The sun was bright and strong as they jogged across the street to the parking garage. Evan didn't speak again until they were pulling onto Cambridge Street.

'Banville told me about the listening devices you found.'

'I'm surprised you persuaded him so easily,' Darby said. 'I was expecting more of a fight.'

'Banville is under the spotlight. He needs to be able to say he exhausted every resource when the Cranmore girl turns up dead.'

'I don't think she's dead.'

'Why's that?'

'Rachel Swanson was kept alive for almost five years – Terry Mastrangelo for two. That may buy us some time.'

'Right now one of his victims is lying in a hospital room. If he's smart, he'll kill the Cranmore girl, bury her body someplace where we'll never find her and then blow town.'

'Then why would he bother with the listening devices?'

'I think he's hoping to discover just how much we know about him so he can change his tactics before he moves on,' Evan said. 'What are your thoughts?'

'He seems very organized, very careful and methodical. I think he watches these women for a long time, gets to know their habits and routines – I think he had a key to Carol's house. He brings his victims to a private place where nobody can see or hear them.'

'And what does he use them for?'

'I don't know.'

'You think it's something sexual?'

'There's no evidence of that, although there's always some sexual component to these sorts of cases. Did Banville tell you about the evidence we found at the house?'

Evan nodded. 'Our lab is still trying to identify the paint chip.'

'You didn't seem surprised Carol's abductor left a package.'

'He's trying to establish control. It's what most psychopaths do when cornered.'

'Is that what you think we're dealing with here? A psychopath?'

'Hard to say. I'm not a big fan of labels.'

'I thought you profiling types lived for labels – and acronyms. There's your fingerprint system. AFIS. You have CODIS -'

'You can't slap a label on every type of behavior,' Evan said. 'Have you considered the possibility that the man you're looking for abducts these women simply because he likes it?'

'There's a motivating reason behind every type of human behavior.'

'What made you interested in this field?'

'Are you profiling me, Special Agent Manning?'

'You're avoiding the question.'

'I took a criminal psychology course in college. After that, I was hooked.'

'Banville told me you went on to get a doctorate in criminal psychology.'

'I'm not a doctor yet,' Darby said. 'I still have to do my dissertation.'

'Which is?'

'I have to pick a case and analyze it.'

'And you picked the Grady case.'

'I've been toying around with the idea.'

'What's stopping you?'

'There are some missing pieces in the case file,' Darby said. 'Riggers, the detective who handled the Belham case, didn't leave much detailed information in his notes.'

'I'm not surprised. In addition to being an idiot, the man was lazy. Tell me what you know and I'll see if I can fill in the blanks.'

'I was able to look over the evidence files – the chloroform-soaked rag Grady dropped in the woods behind my house and the dark blue fibers he left behind in the bedroom door. I also read a copy of the fed's lab report. I know they identified the manufacturer of the rag. They narrowed down their search to automobile shops in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. The blue fibers matched the same brand of coveralls used at the North Andover automobile shop where Grady worked.'

'We found all that out later, after Grady died.'

'I read that,' Darby said. 'I also read about Grady's criminal record. He had two counts of attempted rape.'