Karen Rose - Kill for Me

“We’re tracking concrete manufacturers.”

“Why?” Pete asked.

“Do you remember me telling you that the floor of that bunker was really old, but that the walls were new, prefabbed? Well, guess who also had prefabbed concrete walls in his house that are identical in composition?”

“Mansfield,” Nancy said, snapping her fingers. “It was that structure off his basement, where he’d stored all his munitions and kiddie porn.”

“Yep. I’ve got a list of concrete companies who’d have this mineral composition,” Ed said. “If Mansfield bought a bunker, who knows who else they’ve served?”

“What about Granville’s safe-deposit box key?” Nancy asked.

“Track it,” Chase said. “The banks are all open today. See if Granville had a box at any of them. Germanio, I want you in Dutton by ten. Congressman Bowie’s daughter Janet’s funeral is at noon.”

“She was the first of Mack O’Brien’s victims last week,” Chloe said. “There will be a media circus in Dutton today. Politicians and reporters everywhere. Bobby might show.”

“I know. I’ve arranged to have video surveillance and plainclothes agents at both the funeral and the cemetery afterward.” Chase looked at Germanio. “I’ll get you a list of the agents who’ll be there. I want you there to coordinate. We’ll do searches going into the church for the funeral, but the cemetery will be harder to control. Apparently there’s also a luncheon of some kind afterward for the media. I’ll see you’re admitted.”

Germanio nodded. “Will do.”

“Good. Everyone, meet back here at five. You’re all dismissed.” Chase pointed to Luke and Chloe. “You two stay.”

“What is it?” Luke asked impatiently when the others were gone.

“When I wasn’t going through Leigh’s phone records last night, I was reading the rest of Jared O’Brien’s journal. Luke, he describes every rape those boys did in great detail. There is nothing about raping Susannah in that journal.” Chase sighed. “And Jared was enough of an asshole that he would have bragged about it, if only in his journal. He wanted to… choose Susannah, but Simon always said no.”

“Because he’d already done it,” Luke murmured, and Chase frowned.

“What do you know, Luke?”

Luke sighed. “She doesn’t want Daniel to know. Simon participated in at least one rape. He showed her a picture of him raping her.”

Chase shook his head. “Jared was clear Simon never participated. Where is this picture?”

“She doesn’t know.”

“So it was Simon and at least one other,” Chase said. “Whoever took the photo.”

“Granville,” Luke said, clenching his teeth. “It had to have been Granville.”

“Then it’s possible Garth Davis is telling the truth,” Chloe said quietly.

“I know,” Luke said. “And if he is…”

“He’s not guilty of her rape,” Chase said. “He’s the only one of the seven left alive.”

“So she came forward for nothing,” Chloe said dully. “Godammit.”

“Not for nothing.” The three of them whipped around to look at the door where Susannah stood clutching a yearbook to her chest. “I came forward for me, to take my life back.” She met Luke’s eyes and smiled. Luke made himself smile back, even though his heart was cracking. She cleared her throat. “I found something you should see.” She put the yearbook on the table and opened it. “I was too nervous to sit still, so I started paging through all the yearbooks in that box in your office. This one is from Springfield High, about twenty miles from Dutton.” She pointed to a picture. “Look.”

“Marcy Linton.” Chase looked up at her with a mild frown. “I don’t understand.”

“I didn’t know her as Marcy Linton,” Susannah said. “I knew her as Darcy Williams.”

There was a moment of stunned silence, then a collective sigh. “So she grew up twenty miles from you, but met you in New York,” Luke said slowly.

“Not a coincidence,” Susannah said. “She was somehow part of the plan. I want to know how, and why, and what went wrong the night she was murdered.”

“I agree,” Chase said. “We need to find out more about Miss Marcy Linton. I’ve got Talia calling the police in Arkansas about Bobby’s past. When she’s finished, I’ll have her track down the Linton family.”

“I’d like to go with her,” Susannah said. “Please, Chase. The Darcy I knew said she was a runaway, that she had no family. She was my friend, or I thought she was. I had her buried in New York.”

“You paid for her burial?” Chloe asked.

“I couldn’t let her be dumped in Potters’ Field. If she has family somewhere, they need to know what happened to her. Please let me go with Talia.”

“Until we find Bobby, I want you safe in this building,” Luke said fiercely.

Susannah shook her head. “What if she’s gone, run away? What if we never find her? I can’t hide forever, Luke. Talia’s a good cop. I’ll be safe with her and I promise I’ll be careful. First though, I need to speak with Garth Davis.”

Charlotte, North Carolina, Monday, February 5, 8:45 a.m.

Special Agent Harry Grimes was putting the finishing touches on his closed report on the abduction and recovery of Eugenie Cassidy when his phone rang. “Grimes.”

“Harry, it’s Steven Thatcher. We found Dr. Cassidy’s car.”

Genie and Monica’s dad. “Oh, hell, Steven. Where?”

“Lake Gordon. There was a bass tournament yesterday and some guy found Cassidy’s car with his fish finder. He called it in this morning when he saw the news on Genie being found, but her father is still missing. We’ve got a team dragging the lake.”

“I’m on my way.”

“Hey, how’s the girl, by the way?” Steven asked.

“Genie’s untouched,” Harry said. “Physically anyway. She’s still in shock. Monica… well, that’s a different story. I talked to her mother this morning. Monica’s got a long row to hoe. I wish… I wish we could have done something to prevent this.”

“She’s alive,” Steven said. “Remember that. What about this Jason character?”

“ ‘Jason’ was a team of two madams, a doctor, and a deputy sheriff. All are dead except for the older madam. Genie identified the younger madam as her abductor.”

“Could any of them have killed Dr. Cassidy, assuming this is his car we found?”

Harry checked his notes. “No, none of the four could have done it. Given the time Cassidy’s neighbor saw his car drive away, it can’t be either of the women. The younger madam was dead by noon, in Georgia. The older woman was seen at the scene and likely killed the young one.”

“What about the deputy?”

“He was killed Friday, the day Monica escaped. The doctor was killed then, too.”

“Shit,” Steven said. “They got a real mess down there.”

“I don’t think we know the half of it. I talked to Luke Papadopoulos down in Atlanta. He says there’s still at least two more out there-the older madam and one other.”

“What do you know about Genie’s abduction?”

“She was taken from an all-night diner called Mel’s.”

“If I were you, I’d check it out.”

“I did, a few hours before Genie was found. She said the younger madam did it, and she’s dead now.”

“But you also said the younger madam couldn’t have been involved in the abduction of Genie’s daddy, so we have at least one more player. Maybe it’s the same other player this Papadopoulos in Atlanta’s looking for. Did this diner have security video?”

“Only at the cash register. But…” Again Harry flipped through his notes. “There’s an ATM across the road. The angle on their security camera might be about right.”