Abduction (31 page)

“Like jerking
his chain, don’t you?”

“The highlight
of my day,” JJ admitted.

Fleming
laughed.

“I don’t see
it as a laughing matter,” Bevere said grimly. “One should respect authority.
This is exactly why—”

“Put a lid on
it, Bevere,” Fleming retorted and then turned to JJ. “The kid really has to
lighten up.”

chapter
26

Wednesday, April 26

F
or
the next twenty-four hours, JJ didn’t budge from the newly assigned third-floor
conference room. Boxes and files were stacked everywhere. Bulletin boards were
covered with pictures, notes, scenarios, suspects, and profiles.

He and Fleming
poured over autopsy reports, crime scene photos, evidence, interviews, and
investigation notes. Matt—with his white-knuckle grip on a surly attitude that
everyone ignored—came and went with Gerry, Wayne, and Barone. Harris poked his
head in once and disappeared. He, too, was ignored.

Bevere became
fascinated with Zoe Shefford. “She’s a looker,” he commented when he saw her
picture in the file. “Is she single?”

“Yes,” JJ
snapped.

“So that’s the
way the wind is blowing. Sorry.”

“Did you
assign someone to watch her place?” Fleming asked over the top of a file
folder.

Bevere looked
bored. “Yeah. Vince is watching the house. And I ordered her phones tapped.
Maybe I should go over there and make sure everything is okay.”

“Sit down,”
Fleming ordered. “You’ve got more important things to think about than your
love life.”

“What love
life?” Bevere lifted an eyebrow as if insulted, but his eyes were twinkling.

“Keep it up
and you won’t have to worry about it.”

Smiling to
himself, Bevere went back to work, but JJ had the distinct impression that the
entire conversation had been intended to bait him.

They ordered
lunch in and hit a nearby diner for supper before returning to the conference
room. Around 4:00
a.m.
, Bevere
fell asleep in a chair while Fleming and JJ continued to discuss theories.

“If he’s after
Miss Shefford,” Fleming continued while stirring another cup of coffee, “then
we could use that.”

“You mean use
her as bait.”

Fleming
drummed his fingers on the table. “It’s been done. Not my first choice, but it
could work.”

“And it could
get her killed,” JJ replied dryly.

Fleming looked
around the table and picked up one piece of paper after another. “Where is the
composite sketch of the killer? The one Mrs. Shefford worked on with the sketch
artist?”

JJ thumbed
through one stack of files and then moved to another stack. He pulled out a
paper and handed it to Fleming.

“You asked
Miss Shefford if she recognized the man?”

JJ nodded.
“Casto took a copy over and showed it to her. She said she’d never seen him.”

Fleming
stroked his chin as he studied the picture. Thick dark hair, bushy eyebrows,
close-cropped beard, thin lips. The notations at the bottom read: “Approx.
5.10–6.0, dark brown hair, no visible scars or tattoos, approx. 140–160 lbs.,
average build.”

“What about running this in the paper? Maybe
someone around
town will recognize him.”

“It’ll hit the
papers tomorrow morning.” JJ glanced up at the clock. “
This
morning’s
papers.”

Fleming rubbed the back of his neck. “How many
bodies have
you found so far?”

JJ blew out a
deep breath. “Five. We got a positive ID on Gina Sarentino, Emily Brandt, and
Theresa Cooper, a seven-year-old who disappeared five years ago. The medical
examiner is still working on the others.”

“Any chance
there are more bodies in either of the two areas where these were found?”

“We’ve ripped
the area around the college apart and found just four bodies. They’re still
working on the field out in Emmitts Falls where we located the Sarentino girl.
So far, nothing.”

“I can’t see
him leaving one child out there all alone. The area where the Brandt girl was
found indicates that he groups them, even if he doesn’t do it all at once.”

“I know.” JJ
stood up and stretched. “I’m fairly certain we’ll find more out in Emmitts
Falls. It’s just a big area.”

“I can order
more cadaver dogs.”

“Fine by me.”

“I’d like to
talk to this psychic of yours, if I can.”

JJ shot him a
dark look. “She’s not
my
psychic. Just for the record, I don’t believe
in psychics. But you’re free to talk to her anytime you want.”

Fleming leaned
back and stretched his legs out in front of him. “You don’t believe in the
supernatural?”

“Nope.”

“Let me guess.
Your parents never indoctrinated you with Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and
the Tooth Fairy. Hence, you grew up a pragmatic soul with little color in your
life and kept your experiences to what you could taste, touch, and see.”

“No wonder
he’s so droll,” murmured Bevere from his slouched position in a chair across
the room.

“I am not
droll,” JJ shot back.

Bevere lifted
his head, squinting at JJ. “Really? When was the last time you laughed? My
partner here is the king of comedy, and he had me rolling twice in the last. .
.” He flipped his wrist and grimaced at it. “Dear heavens, have we been here
this long? Anyway, he’s cracked some mighty fine jokes, and you barely cracked
a smile. You, sir, are droll.”

“Are you up
from your beauty sleep?” Fleming asked.

“Am I beautiful
yet?”

Fleming’s
mouth twisted in an attempt to hide a smile. “Oh, yes. Beyond belief.”

“Then I’m up.”
Bevere climbed to his feet and stretched, his arms wide as he groaned. “Chairs
were not meant to sleep in.”

“He’s a smart
one, isn’t he?” Fleming shot a grin at JJ, who returned it. “Figured that out
in no time. And they said he was just another dumb blond.”

Ignoring
Fleming’s sarcasm, Bevere leaned over the table, obviously not eager to make
company with another chair anytime soon. “Okay, where are we?”

“Autopsy
reports.”

“Five victims
ranging in age from five to seven years. Ligature marks around the neck
indicate death by strangulation. The markings on the ligature signature
indicate common household clothesline rope. None of the vics showed any sign of
mutilation or torture. The heart was removed from each vic postmortem. No
foreign body fluids, so we have no DNA sample. There was one strand of hair on
one of the vics—I don’t recall which one—and it was determined to be medium
brown and belonging to a male. Duh. News to us. No help there.”

Bevere stood
up and began to pace around the room. “Blood work showed no traces of drugs or
chemicals, so the vics were not tranquilized prior to death. All vics were
unusually clean, suggesting that the unsub washed the bodies before burial to
prevent transference of evidence. Even the fingernails were clean, so we don’t
know if they scratched him in an attempt to save themselves.”

He stopped at
the coffeepot, picked it up, smelled it, and wrinkled his nose before setting
it back down and resuming his pacing. “None of the vics showed any trace of
rape, so the crimes are not sexual in nature. It’s personal to him. He wants
something they have, and the taking of the heart is an indication that it has
something to do with their love, innocence, or purity.”

JJ leaned back against the conference table and
watched Bevere summarize all the information he’d read over the past
twenty-some hours like a computer. He was impressed. The pretty boy had a
brain.

“One of the
unknown vics, approximately age six, showed indications of leukemia. This might
help with identification if the leukemia had been caught and diagnosed by her
pediatrician. The unknown vic with blond hair had apparently had her tonsils
removed—another possible help in identification.”

Bevere turned
around and looked at JJ. “And that’s it in a nutshell.” He grinned, as if he
knew he’d just impressed the daylights out of JJ.

Fleming looked
up at JJ with an apologetic shrug. “Now you know why I keep him around.”

chapter
27

Wednesday, April 26

R
ay
stood at the window and watched as his father marched up the front walk like a
man heading into battle. A smile flitted across his face. If the old man
thought he was going to show up and bring Karen to heel, he had another thing
coming. Karen wasn’t the same mouse she’d been a few weeks earlier. Slowly she
was learning her worth, and her confidence was growing. Yesterday morning he’d
found her pouring over the employment classifieds.

“You don’t
have to get a job, Karen. I’ll release some of your trust to you.”

She shook her
head firmly. “This isn’t about money. I know that’s there if I need it. This is
about having something for myself. Doing something with my life. Even if it’s
just part time.”

She’d found a recent color photo of Jessica and
made big color posters and fliers at the local copy shop. She’d called people
and teamed up with Rene to distribute the posters and fliers. She’d called
reporters and television stations. She’d talked to radio stations.

And she’d
collapsed exhausted and smiling on the sofa at the end of the day.

Ray’s sister
was definitely finding herself. She’d even come out of her bedroom with several
bulging trash bags and hauled them to the street. “
His
things,” she’d
announced with a touch of disdain.

Ray opened the
front door before his father could knock.

“You still
here?” Walter Timms eyed him with scorn. “Don’t you have a job?”

“I’m on
vacation.”

Walter sniffed
loudly. “Where’s your sister?”

“I believe
she’s outside burning Ted’s clothes.”

Walter’s eyes
flew wide. “What? Has she lost her mind? He’ll kill her for doing that!”

“He won’t do
squat,” Ray replied. “He’s gone. He’ll never hurt my sister again.”

“He never laid
a hand on your sister!”

“It doesn’t
always take a fist to hurt someone.”

His father
stalked out of the room, ignoring the direct hit. Ray shut the front door and
followed him through the house to the back patio. Sure enough, Karen was
pouring lighter fluid on clothes she’d tossed into the barbecue pit.

“Karen!”

She jumped,
throwing a hand to her chest. Ray started forward, afraid she was going to
cower. But she just frowned. “You startled me, Dad. You shouldn’t sneak up on
people like that.”

“What do you
think you’re doing?” he demanded.

“I don’t
think
anything. I know exactly what I’m doing. Why? Did you want some of this garbage
to wear?”

“Don’t you get
smart with me, young lady. Ted will have a fit when he finds out what you’ve
done to his clothes.”

She defiantly
poured more lighter fluid. “Ted doesn’t need these anymore.”

The old man’s eyes narrowed. “What has happened to
you? Your
brother has corrupted you.”

Karen laughed lightly as she set down the can of
fluid and picked
up two more shirts and a sweater. “My brother has been
a gift from God. What has happened to me is that I finally woke up and smelled
the coffee. Not only that, I
tasted
it and realized just what’s been
wrong with my life for far too long.”

She threw the shirts onto the grate and tossed a
match on them, watching with delight as they caught fire with an audible
whoosh.

Walter stepped
forward. “I can’t allow you to do this! These are Ted’s personal belongings.
You have no right.”

Karen whirled on him, her eyes narrowed with
determined intent. “Don’t you touch those things! You don’t allow or disallow
anything I do. I am a grown woman. This is
my
house and these belonged
to
my
husband. I’ll burn them if I want to. I have every right.”

Ray smiled as
he perched on the edge of the brick wall surrounding the patio.
Go, Sis.

“I can’t
believe you’re talking to me like this!” Walter bellowed. “I won’t allow it!”

“Allow?
This is
my
house, Dad. You abide by
my
rules here. If you don’t
like it, you can go home.”

Walter spun
around and glared at Ray. “This is your doing!”

“I wish it
was, but I can’t take the credit for this. Karen has always been bright and
talented and delightful all on her own. I’m pretty sure God made her that way
and should get all the credit.” Ray grinned.
This is so much fun.

There was
another
whoosh
as flames shot up into the air. Karen jumped back and let
out a laugh that was pure music to Ray’s ears.

Show the
world what you’re made of, Sis.

#

Nora McCaine
pushed her grocery cart up to the conveyer belt and began unloading her
groceries. Kaitlyn lay quietly in her carrier, belted in at the front of the
cart. She held a soft plush puppy in her hands and alternately stared at it and
chewed on it. She looked like a perfect angel in her pink and white overalls
and matching hat.

Nora checked
the straps to make sure Kaitlyn was secure. She wasn’t afraid of Kaitlyn
falling out. She was afraid of someone walking by and snatching her away.

Every mother
she knew was keeping an eagle eye on her children. You rarely saw a lone child
playing on the quiet streets anymore. Not like before. Before the abduction stories
hit the airwaves. Now if you saw children on bicycles, skateboards, or roller
skates, you were certain to find a parent or two nearby.