J.D. Barker - The Fifth to Die - A gripping, page-turner of a crime thriller

“What about a saltwater swimming pool?” Kloz suggested. “That would fit with the truck.”

“Is that a thing?” Nash frowned.

Kloz was nodding. “I’ve got an aunt in Florida who has one. She’s allergic to chlorine. They’re low maintenance too, no chemicals to measure out.”

“There can’t be many around Chicago. Think you can run a list?” Porter asked.

Kloz said, “Maybe I can put something together through building permits.”

Porter studied the faces around the table. With the exception of Sophie Rodriguez, he had known them all for years. He retrieved the newspaper from Nash’s desk and set it on the conference table. “Watch your backs for reporters. Somebody is snooping around a little too close to camp, and they’re not afraid to speculate.”

Clair flipped the paper around so she could read the headline. “You don’t think one of us talked to the press, do you?”

Porter shook his head. “I think they’ll print anything to sell papers. And if they can’t get one of us to talk, they’ll make something up. When we’re ready, I’ll make a statement. Until then, aside from the Amber Alert on Lili, we’re on a press lockdown.”

An uncomfortable silence fell over the group. Sophie was first to speak. “Is anyone gonna eat that last donut?”

Kloz’s head dropped to the tabletop, and he let out a sigh. “Take it.”

Evidence Board

ELLA REYNOLDS (15 years old)

Reported missing 1/22

Found 2/12 in Jackson Park Lagoon

Water frozen since 1/2 — (20 days before she went missing)

Last seen — getting off her bus at Logan Square (2 blocks from home/15 miles from Jackson Park)

Last seen wearing a black coat

Drowned in salt water (found in fresh water)

Found in Lili Davies’s clothes

Four-minute walk from bus to home

Frequented Starbucks on Kedzie. Seven-minute walk to home.

LILI DAVIES (17 years old)

Parents = Dr. Randal Davies and Grace Davies

Best friend = Gabrielle Deegan

Attends Wilcox Academy (private) did not attend classes on 2/12

Last seen leaving for school (walking) morning of 2/12 @ 7:15 wearing a Perro red nylon diamond-quilted hooded parka, white hat, white gloves, dark jeans, and pink tennis shoes (all found on Ella Reynolds)

Most likely taken morning of 2/12 (on way to school)

Small window = 35 minutes (Left for school 7:15 a.m., classes start 7:50 a.m.)

School only four blocks from home

Not reported missing until after midnight (morning of 2/13)

Parents thought she went to work (art gallery) right after school (she didn’t do either)

UNSUB

Possibly driving a gray pickup towing a water tank

May work with swimming pools (cleaning or servicing)

ASSIGNMENTS:

Starbucks footage (1-day cycle?) — Kloz

Ella’s computer, phone, e-mail — Kloz

Lili’s social media, phone records, e-mail (phone and PC MIA) — Kloz

Enhance image of possible unsub entering park — Kloz

Park camera loosened? Check old footage — Kloz

Get make and model of truck from video? — Kloz

Clair and Sophie walk Lili’s route to school/talk to Gabrielle Deegan

Porter and Nash visit gallery (manager = Ms. Edwins)

Put together a list of saltwater pools around Chicago via permits office — Kloz

Check out local aquariums and aquarium supply houses

10

Porter

Day 2 • 9:08 a.m.

“Sam, you don’t have to do this.”

“Yeah, I do.”

He rang the Reynoldses’ doorbell.

They had driven straight here from police headquarters, lights blazing. Porter raced through at least three reds.

Nash shuffled his feet beside him on the stoop. “The department will send a uniform.”

Porter rubbed his hands together. The cold was slowly killing him. With the wind-chill, the temperature hovered at three degrees. “It’s after nine. They may have already seen the morning paper. It’s probably all over the morning news too.”

Porter rang the doorbell again.

The curtain over the glass window to the left of the door moved aside briefly, fell back into place. Someone worked the deadbolt. The door opened a few inches. A woman in her mid-forties peeked out, her eyes red and dark, the skin around them sunken with lack of sleep. Her brown hair looked oily, unwashed for days. She wore a thick brown sweater and jeans. “May I help you?”

Porter unfolded his badge case. “I’m Detective Porter, and this is Detective Nash with Chicago Metro. May we come in?”

She stared at him for a moment, as if the words took a second to register. Then she nodded and opened the door while staring past them to the street. “I think the cold finally scared away the last news van. They were still out there last night.”

Porter and Nash stomped the snow from their feet and stepped inside, closing the door behind them. The heat wrapped around them, stifling compared with outside. Porter didn’t care. He could stand in a fire pit for an hour, and his fingers would still be numb. He cleared his throat. “Is your husband home?”

Mrs. Reynolds shook her head. “He’s not back yet.”

“Did he go somewhere?”

The woman took a deep breath and sat on the arm of the leather sofa behind her. “He’s been driving around looking for Ella since the day she disappeared. He comes home long enough to eat and get a few hours of sleep, then just goes out again. I went with him the first few times, but it felt so futile. Driving up and down random streets like we’re going to spot her darting between houses or something, like a runaway dog. I can’t tell him not to go, though. It would break his heart. He tried staying home last Tuesday, and we were both climbing the walls. He went back out again last night after dinner.”

“It helps to stay active,” Nash said.

She looked at him, her face blank, then went on. “For the first week, I did nothing but make phone calls. All Ella’s friends and our family, our neighbors, anybody I could get to pick up. Shelters, hospitals, morgues . . . sitting here, trapped in this house, it feels so . . . helpless. But what else can I do? We’ve got posters hanging everywhere. Little good they do in this weather. Nobody is outside unless they need to be.”

Porter took a deep breath. “There’s no easy way to say this —”

Mrs. Reynolds raised her hand, silencing him. “You don’t have to. I saw it on the news this morning. The television hasn’t been turned off in three weeks. I dozed off on the couch, and when I woke up last night, they were running footage at the park. They never came out and said it was Ella, only that a girl’s body had been found in the lagoon. A mother knows, though. I guess I’ve known for weeks. I think I saw you on TV. You look familiar.”

“I’m so sorry.”

She nodded and blotted at eyes that looked like they had shed their last tear two weeks earlier. “My Ella wouldn’t run away, we knew that from the moment she went missing. I think I lost a little bit of hope with each minute after that. A girl can’t just disappear in today’s world, not with cameras and the Internet everywhere. A girl disappears completely, and you gotta know something bad happened.” She took a deep breath. “How did she die?”