Deadly Dreams (37 page)

She lifted a shoulder. “Wishing I’d listened to you. I just can’t believe Donny would do this to me.” Cass lifted her cup to her lips. Drank. “I know what you’re thinking. I’ve taken a lot of shit from him. But this . . . he’s telling them he didn’t make those calls on my cell. That I did it. Can you believe that? He’s implicating me in a burglary ring.”

“Look at me.” He waited until she did. Hoped that she was paying attention with her head as well as with her ears. “You have to cut him loose. Here.” He tapped her chest above her heart. “This is about survival. He’s thrown you to the wolves. You don’t owe him a thing. And if you try to help him, you’re going down with him.” Fear flared in her eyes. Good. Nate hoped to hell she was scared. He was scared for her.

“I know it. I do,” she insisted, when Nate opened his mouth again. “My rep says no contact, and believe me, if he came near me right now, I’d be tempted to put a bullet in him.” Her smile was bitter. “If I hadn’t had to hand in my weapon.”

“Hopefully IA has enough on the burglary ring that ties him to it, and it’ll end up being his word against yours. Cop. Known felon. Balances out in your favor.”

“Cop who’s been colluding with known felon.” Her tone and her eyes were bleak. “Believe me, I know the score here. I might lose my shield over this.”

He didn’t give her false platitudes. They both knew she was right. Whatever the outcome, she wouldn’t be returning to work with him. If she was reinstated, this was a stain that would remain on her record for years to come. Nate leaned in to bump her shoulder companionably. “This’ll give you a chance to catch up on those soap operas you’ve been missing out on.”

“Jesus.” She gave a short laugh, swiped at her eyes. “Shoot me now.”

“You can always go visit your mom and sisters.”

“Two hours in a room with them and I want to jump out a window. Three hours, and they’re lining up to give me a push.”

A thought struck. He hesitated, then said slowly, “Or if you’re really desperate for something to do . . . Kristin has disappeared. Took Tucker with her. They were gone when I got home last night.”

Clearly glad to have something other than her own misery to concentrate on, Cass touched his arm. “Shit. I’m sorry, Nate. Any ideas where she went?”

He shrugged. “No note. Her friends aren’t talking. At least not to me.”

“But they don’t know me. I might get something out of them.” Her expression lightened. “I wouldn’t mind looking into it. It’ll give me something to concentrate on. And I need to take my mind off this mess, or I’m going to jump off a bridge, I swear.”

She sounded only half kidding. He felt a little better about the idea. He had absolutely no idea where to start looking for his sister. Was pissed enough that he probably wouldn’t look right now if it were just Kristin involved. But it wasn’t. It was also Tucker. If Cass was able to get one of Kristin’s friends to open up and give her a general location to look, he could maybe ask for a favor from the police department in that city. Blue to blue. Put them on the lookout for her car. Something.

As it was, she still wasn’t answering her phone. He still didn’t know if Tuck was being taken care of. He wanted to think Kristin had changed. The last week made that hard to believe.

He looked at his friend. “I’d appreciate it, Cass. But think of yourself first, okay? They’d have told you not to leave the area, so don’t. Just get done what you can here. If I get an idea of Kristin’s destination, I can do the rest.”

“Sure.” She seemed buoyed at the prospect. And Nate knew then just how much she’d been dreading the long, empty days ahead of her.

“Here.” He dug out his keys and took his house key off the ring. “In the kitchen desk drawer, I have a list of her contacts and their numbers. Feel free to look around in their rooms if you think that will help. Lock up and leave the key on the counter. Unlock the house entrance to the garage. I’ll get back in tonight that way.”

Contemplating the key for a moment, she looked like she would cry. Nate felt a familiar tug of panic at the prospect of a female’s tears. But she didn’t. Cass was made of tougher stuff than that. Even if her decision making in her personal life left something to be desired. “You’re a good friend.”

Trying to lighten the mood, he said, “Because I just laid my messy personal baggage at your doorstep? Yeah, I’m a prince.”

Slipping the house key into her pocket, she picked up her coffee mug again. “I wouldn’t go as far as royalty. But you’re a good guy to have on my side.”

“Preliminary autopsy results indicate that Randolph was killed in a manner similar to the other three victims.” Nate was addressing the task force. “The only difference was that she had to cut the remnants of something off his face and head. We think it was some sort of mask or fitted hood. That’s been turned over to the lab for analyzing. Hopefully they can identify it.”

“The change in location was also a difference,” Finnegan drawled. “Does this mean he’s branching farther abroad?”

“It means he went to a lot of trouble to scout locations for the crimes before he ever began carrying them out.”

Nate jerked around when Risa’s voice sounded behind him. He hadn’t heard her come in. Hadn’t expected to see her at all today. The quick once-over he gave her was as involuntary as it was instinctive. She’d been to hell and back in the last several hours. Her voice was far raspier than normal, probably from the smoke she’d inhaled. Those incredible eyes had dark shadows beneath them, and there were some scrapes and bruises on her face. But she was alive and standing. He’d been assured she was fine. But seeing for himself had relief swamping him.

It took effort to return his attention to the front of the room and continue his report. “Parker’s car hasn’t turned up much in the way of trace evidence. His blood was identified in the trunk. We eliminated the prints for him and his wife. There are plenty of others, but nothing that popped on the Automated Fingerprint Identification System. Forensics isn’t done with it but it’s not looking hopeful.”

“Why’d it take so long for impound to make the connection?” Shroot wanted to know. There was a murmur of agreement in the room.

“The plates that were on it had only recently been reported as stolen. And the Vehicle Identification Number had been changed. Professional job, too. That’s the best lead we’re probably going to get from the car. It’s possible our offender has a record for auto theft. Maybe he’s affiliated with a local chop shop. In any case, Alberts and Finnegan, take a look at parolees in the area released in the last three years with something similar on their sheet.”

“Brandau and Shroot.” His gaze encompassed the two men. “We’re trying to trace the former owner of Tory’s, which was the building shown in the video left at the third crime scene. Full name Tory Marie Baltes. She had a son.” He waited for their nods before continuing. “See if you can track them down.”

“I can save you a bit of trouble there,” Risa spoke again. “I slipped away from the hospital long enough today to replace my phone.” She held one up, and Nate recalled that her old one, along with her computer and most of her personal belongings, would be toast after last night. The way she’d very nearly ended up herself. “Had some time on my hands so I did some searching online. I found an obituary for Baltes less than two years after the fire. Have already started tracking her family.”

Nate nodded. “So you two can take another task. I have a key found at Sherman Tull’s home that might fit a lockbox. You’ll check with the banks to see if it belongs to any of them. Tomey and Edwards, I’ve got a packet of photos up here. I want you to watch the footage we shot of the victims’ memorial services, see if you can pick out any of the people from these pictures.” He’d included photos of Sam Crowley, Javon Emmons, and Walter Eggers, as well as of Tull, Christiansen, and Randolph. A visit from one of the men who would later be victims might help prove a relationship between the men. “Mendall and Hoy, keep combing through the victim’s personal lives. With Randolph as the latest victim, there’s another intersection to look for.” He was very aware of Morales standing silently against the wall behind him. There would be no mention made at this time of the ID of PPD Sergeant Eggers as the man in the video. That he’d handle personally.

After he dismissed the team, he gave the packet to Edwards and turned to find Brandau and Morales speaking to Risa. When he joined them, Jett looked up. “I was just telling Risa I spoke to Bennett, the battalion chief of the fire station an hour ago. They’ve got a fire inspector coming in to work with them tomorrow. There was no sign of forced entry at the house.”

“There were three smoke alarms installed there.” Nate almost winced at the scratchy sound of her voice. It sounded as though it were painful to speak. “I never heard any of them.”

Jett hesitated. “Bennett said none had batteries in them.”

“They did.” Risa’s tone was emphatic. “I replaced them myself in the last month or so. It’s a small house. Even if one malfunctioned we should have been able to hear the other two.”

“Maybe your mom disconnected them,” Nate suggested, leaning against the wall facing her. “People do sometimes. Run out of batteries for something and take them out of the detectors, resolving to put them back later. And then they forget. It happens.”

She shook her head, unconvinced. Looked at Jett. “How does an arson investigation work? What will they look for?”

The man scratched his jaw. “The investigator will interview everyone. You. Your mom. The firefighters. He’ll want to know what you heard and saw. Appliances and wiring will be checked to see if there was a short or malfunction. The department will have taken pictures, and he’ll want to look at the burn patterns. Most accelerants will leave traces behind. Those can sometimes be picked up with a VTA machine.”

“So if someone started it, there’ll be trace evidence left behind.”

His pause had everyone looking at him. “Presumably,” he said finally. “But if an arsonist doesn’t want to leave a trace, he’ll use rubbing alcohol for the accelerant. The water used to fight the fire will wash it away.” With a quick look at Risa’s face, he hastened to add, “But burn patterns can still tell them quite a bit. You might want to check with your mom to see if and when she opened the windows. There were two opened on either side of the picture window in the front room, and one in the kitchen.”

When no one responded, he added, “Fires need oxygen. The open windows provided plenty of it.”

Morales followed Risa and Nate back to Nate’s office. He waited until the door was closed behind them to ask, “Did you notice whether the windows were open last night?”

She made a beeline for her desk chair. It would be bad form to collapse on the job, but exhaustion from the night before was crowding in. Sinking into it, she tried to recall. “Mom is pretty security conscious. She’s lived in Philly all her life, and some of the neighborhoods I grew up in weren’t the best. I’ll ask her, but I don’t think she would have left the windows open all night. Ordinarily I’d notice something like that but . . .”

“You’d had a helluva night already.”

She nodded at Nate’s words. “I’m almost certain they weren’t open, but again, I can’t be positive. The thing is, I didn’t get in until close to three. A CSU team was just finishing up after the shooting.” She looked at both the men. “If someone did set it, there was very limited opportunity to do so.” Unless, of course, she thought with a chill, he’d been inside the house all along. Waiting. Watching. Her skin prickled. Hannah didn’t get off work until two A.M. She’d probably barely gotten home before Risa had herself. Someone would have to know their habits.

And been intent on killing them both, not just destroying the house.

“I’ll find out who was assigned to the crime scene,” Morales said. “See if anyone saw any activity around your place.”

There’d been plenty of activity around it that evening, she thought with a pang. If someone had entered and lain in wait, he’d have had to be in the basement. Just a couple hours had passed between nightfall and her return from work. And then once the ambulance and police had been on scene, how likely was it that someone could have crept into the house unnoticed?

Doubt reared. She was tired. Maybe more than a little paranoid. After the events of the day, she was entitled. It would be all too easy to second-guess her conclusions.

Except that the drawing pad had disappeared. She believed her mother when she insisted she hadn’t removed it.

And there was one person who might find the sketches in them a threat.

Belatedly, she realized the two men were waiting for her to respond. “I’ll talk to Hannah tonight about it.”

Eduardo shoved his hands in his jacket pockets. “You two have a place to stay?” His expression went wry. “Not saying my place is the Ritz, but we can juggle the kids, free up a bedroom. It’s yours for as long as you need it.”