Chelsea Cain - Heartsick

Ian sighed and touched the sides of his head. It was a gesture intended to indicate thoughtfulness, but Susan knew Ian did it to check that his hair was still tucked back into his neat, short ponytail. “Kristy Mathers,” Ian said, smoothing his temples with his hands. “Fifteen. Lives with her dad. He’s a cabdriver. Didn’t know she was missing until he got home last night. She was last seen heading home from school.”

Susan knew all this from the morning news. “Jefferson High,” she said.

“Yeah,” Ian said. He picked up a Herald mug that sat in front of him, held it for a minute, and then set it back on the table without taking a sip. “Three girls. Three high schools. They’re adding a police detail at each school for security.”

“Are they sure she didn’t just go to meet a boyfriend or head to a sale at Hot Topic or something?” Susan asked.

Ian shook his head. “She was supposed to baby-sit for a neighbor. Never showed. Didn’t call. They’re taking it pretty seriously. What do you know about the Beauty Killer Task Force?”

Susan felt goose bumps rise on her arms at the very mention of the infamous serial killer. She looked from Ian to Clay and then back to Ian. “What does the Beauty Killer have to do with this?” she asked.

“What do you know about the task force?” Ian asked again.

“Gretchen Lowell killed a whole bunch of people,” Susan said. “The Beauty Killer Task Force spent ten years trying to catch her. Then she kidnapped the lead detective on the task force. That was over two years ago. Everyone thought he was dead. I was home for Thanksgiving from grad school when it happened. She turned herself in. Just like that. He almost died. She went to jail. I went back to grad school.” She turned to Clay. “They keep attaching murders to her, though, right? I think they got her to give up something like twenty more victims in the first year after she was arrested. Every month or two, she cops to a new one. She was one of our great psychopaths.” She chuckled nervously. “Great, as in scary, brutal, and cunning, not super-duper.”

Clay folded his hands on the table and looked at Susan meaningfully. “We gave the cops a bit of a hard time.”

Susan nodded. “I remember. They got loads of negative press. There was a lot of frustration and fear. Some very catty op-eds. But in the end, they were heroes. There was that book, right? And like a thousand human-interest stories about Archie Sheridan, hero cop.”

“He’s back,” Ian said.

Susan leaned forward. “Shut up. I thought he was on medical leave.”

“He was. They talked him into coming back to lead the new task force. The mayor thinks he can catch this guy.”

“Like he caught Gretchen Lowell?”

“Without the ‘almost dying’ part, yeah.”

“Or the op-eds?” Susan asked.

“That’s where you come in,” Ian said. “There was no access last time around. They think that if they let us in on the process, we’ll be less inclined to point and snicker. So they’re letting us profile Sheridan.”

“Why me?” she asked skeptically.

Ian shrugged. “They asked for you specifically. You weren’t here the last time around. And you’re a writer. The M.F.A. makes them less anxious than a J-school degree.” He touched the sides of his head again, this time finding a tiny stray hair and gliding it back into place. “They don’t want a reporter. They don’t want digging. They want human interest. Also, you went to Cleveland High.”

“Ten years ago,” Susan pointed out.

“It’s where the first girl disappeared,” Ian said. “It’s color. Plus, you’re a terrific feature writer. You do great at the series stuff. You’ve got a knack for it. Jenkins is convinced this is our ticket to another Pulitzer.”

“I write quirky essays about burn victims and rescued pets.”

“You’ve been wanting to do something serious,” Ian said.

Should she tell them? Susan tapped her pen against the notebook for a minute and then laid the pen carefully down on the table. “I’ve sort of been looking into the whole Senator Castle thing.”

It was like she had started masturbating right there on the table. There was a moment of complete stillness. Then Clay slowly sat up. He glanced at Ian, who sat on the back of his chair, hands on his knees, back straight. “Those are rumors,” Ian said. “That’s all. Molly Palmer had a lot of psychological problems. There’s nothing there. It’s a smear campaign. Trust me. It’s not worth your time. And it’s not your beat.”

“She was fourteen,” Susan said.

Ian picked up his mug but didn’t take a sip. “Have you talked to her?”

Susan sank an inch in her chair. “I can’t find her.”

Ian gave a vindicated little snort and put the mug back on the table. “And that’s because she doesn’t want to be found. She was in and out of juvie. In and out of rehab. You think I didn’t look into this the moment I got to town? She’s disturbed. She was in high school and she lied to a few friends and the lie snowballed. Period.” He frowned. “So do you want the serial killer task force dream story, or should I give it to Derek?”

Susan winced. Derek Rogers had been hired at the same time she was, and he was being groomed to cover crime. She crossed her arms and considered the rather appealing possibility of not having to write another story about a police dog. But she had hesitations. This was important. It was life-and-death. And while she would never admit it to anyone in that room, she took that very seriously. She wanted the story. She just didn’t want to be the one to fuck it up.

“We’re thinking four parts,” Ian continued. “We’ll jump each story from A-one. You follow Archie Sheridan. You write about what you see. It’s your only beat. If you want it.”

The front page. “It’s because I’m a girl, isn’t it?”

“A delicate flower,” Ian said.

Ian had won a Pulitzer back when he worked for the Times. He’d let Susan hold the medallion once. Sitting there now, she could almost feel the weight of it in her hand. “Yeah,” she said, her pulse quickening. “I want it.”

Ian smiled. He was handsome when he smiled, and he knew it. “Good.”

“So?” Susan said, snapping her notebook shut in preparation to stand up. “Where am I supposed to find him?”

“I’ll take you over there at three,” Ian said. “There’s a press conference.”

Susan froze. Now that she had committed, she was dying to get started. “But I need to see him working.”

“He wants some time to get organized.” Ian’s expression didn’t leave much room for discussion.

Half a day. It was a lifetime in a missing person case. “What am I supposed to do until then?” Susan asked.

“Finish up all your other work,” Ian said. “And learn everything you can.” He picked up the newsprint-stained tan telephone that sat on the table and punched some buttons. “Derek?” he said. “Can you come in here?”

It took about a nanosecond for Derek Rogers to appear at the conference room door. Derek was Susan’s age, which she, in her more contemplative moments, admitted brought out her competitive instincts. He had gone to college in South Dakota on a football scholarship and settled for sports journalism after an injury forced him off the team. Now he split his time between the crime desk and city desk at the Herald. He still looked like a jock, square-jawed and clean-cut, with that way of walking a little bowlegged, like a cowboy. Susan suspected that he blow-dried his hair. But he wasn’t wearing his suit jacket today, and his eyes looked bleary. Susan considered that perhaps he led a more interesting life than she gave him credit for. He smiled at her, trying to catch her eye. He was always doing that. Susan remained evasive.