I'm Watching You (44 page)

„Any names we’ve seen before?“ Mia asked.

„One. Katie Abrams.“

„The five-year-old who ‘came on’ to her mother’s boyfriend,“ Spinnelli said bitterly.

Familiar anger simmered at the memory of Katie Abrams and the gross miscarriage of justice. „Yes, that’s the case.“ Kristen looked over at Todd Murphy who’d joined them again. „But Murphy checked out Katie’s family after Arthur Monroe was killed. The mother’s in prison for possession and Katie’s been in foster care. I talked with her social worker who said she saw Katie two weeks ago. It’s a good foster family and Katie’s relatively happy.“

„The foster parents?“ Spinnelli asked. „Anything there?“

„Solid alibis, Marc,“ Murphy said quietly.

„Dammit,“ Spinnelli gritted. „What next? Miles?“

„It depends.“ Westphalen held up his hand when Spinnelli looked angry. „It depends on whether he picked Hillman at random or if Hillman’s been his target all along. He hasn’t hit anyone since he missed Carson on Monday night. Maybe he was shaken up. Maybe he’s ready to tell us what his revenge is really all about.“

„If Hillman’s the next random target, we got nothing more than we had yesterday,“ Abe said. „If Hillman’s his revenge, is he done?“

„I have to believe there is a pattern,“ Kristen insisted. „He’s so regimented. Everything’s always done the same way. And the focus is always on the victim.“

„And you,“ Mia commented.

„And me. Somehow I factor into this. But it’s more about the victims. Think about the headstones and the letters. I’m only the P.S. The victims are the focus. Maybe I’m just sensitive because I’ve been talking to these people for the last few days, but I hear the same things over and over again. The victims who’ve been denied justice blame the system. They blame the criminal, the defense attorney, me, the judge. It’s a package.“

„Just like the box he leaves for you,“ Miles said. „Interesting parallel.“

„So where are you going with this, Kristen?“ Jack asked. „What’s the connection? Katie Abrams?“

Kristen shook her head. „I don’t think so. For one, there’s been no recent trigger with Katie Abrams. Second, there was no one who cared enough about Katie to avenge her. That was one of the things that made that case so hard. I think it’s someone else.“

„Maybe we’re all wrong, and we just have a wild card,“ Mia said quietly. „Maybe he reads about you in the paper, Kristen, and decided to give you these gifts because he’s crazy. Like John Hinckley, Jr. and Jodie Foster. Maybe there isn’t a connection other than you.“

„Then we have nothing,“ Kristen said flatly. „Because he’s been too smart to leave us anything mere than a bullet and a partial print and a cup of coffee.“

Spinnelli sighed. „What about the shack yesterday? Any prints, Jack?“

„A few partials from the picture frames, but they were under layers of dust. We took a few from the newspaper. The prints on the newspaper could have been from anywhere, but we’re running them. None match the partial we found on Conti’s body. There was writing on the back of both pictures. One said, ‘Worth: Henry, Callie, Hank and Paul.’ The other said, ‘Hank and Genny, 1943.’“

Abe noted it. „So Paul was the other son, which makes sense because the records clerk told us the Worth property had passed to Paul Worth when Henry the father died. And we know from the marriage certificate that Genny married some guy named Colin Barnett. We have the parish church where Genny and Barnett married and the year and a picture of Genny. I say we pursue it, because it’s the only lead we have.“

„We have Paul Worth,“ Mia inserted. „He would have had his father’s old bullet molds. We should check him out, too.“

Abe acknowledged the point with a rueful smile. „That would be more obvious than a child that may or may not have been born sixty years ago, wouldn’t it?“

„I’ll follow up on Paul Worth,“ Kristen said. „If he owns that property you found yesterday, there should be records in the tax assessor’s office.“

„Good.“ Spinnelli wrote it all on the whiteboard. „What else?“

„One more.“ From the end of the table Murphy spoke up. „Marc asked me to get the details of the Aaron Jenkins’s sealed record. Jenkins plead down to sexual imposition. He tried to rape a girl under the stairwell in middle school seven years ago. But she’s not on any of your victim lists, Kristen. I checked. Her name is June Erickson.“

Kristen searched her mind. „I’ve never heard the name. Can we talk to her?“

Murphy grimaced. „If we can find her. Her family moved soon after the complaint was filed. I found some neighbors who said the girl had a hard time in school after that. Kids pushed her around because she reported Jenkins. Apparently he was a pretty popular kid back then. I’ve got listings for people with the same names as her parents and I’ll work through them today until I find them. I’ll let you know when I have something.“

„Then we have our direction,“ Spinnelli said. „Abe and Mia, find Genny O’Reilly. Murphy, find the Erickson girl. Kristen, you find Paul Worth, but don’t leave the building without one of us. If anybody makes any deliveries to your house regarding Judge Hillman, the officer sitting in front of your house will let us know.“

„And you?“ Abe asked.

„I’ll hold off the politicians and reporters that want to tell us how to do our jobs.“

Kristen gave him her latest list. „The Hillman cases with defense attorneys and accused. Assuming there is a connection and this is his revenge, one of these guys will be next.“

Thursday, February 26,

9:30 A.M.

Father Ted Delaney of the Sacred Heart Church fancied himself a bit of a detective, having watched
Columbo
religiously, as it were. So when Abe told him what they were looking for, the old priest plunged into the task with an enthusiasm that made them smile.

„I wasn’t parish priest then, you understand,“ he said, adjusting his glasses on the edge of his nose. „I didn’t arrive until 1965. Father Reed was two generations before me. He was old in 1943. I think he died before the war was over.“

„We figured we wouldn’t find the priest that married them alive,“ Abe said. „Do you remember any Barnetts in this parish? His name was Colin and hers was Genny.“

„I can’t say that I do, but the parish was much bigger then.“ He looked over his half-glasses with mild reproach. „People don’t go to church like they used to.“

Abe fought the urge to stare at his shoes. „Yes, sir,“ he said. „So how about the birth records? The baby would have been born around March 1944.“

Delaney chose a bound volume and slowly flipped the pages, his fingers thick and twisted with age. Finally, he looked up. „A son. Christened Robert Henry Barnett on March 2, 1944.“

One step closer. „Did they have any other children, Father?“ Abe asked.

„If you can wait, I’ll look.“

After what seemed like hours, Delaney’s old fingers came to a stop again. „A daughter, christened Iris Anne, May 12, 1946.“ Again, his fingers crawled from page to page. „Another son christened Colin Patrick, September 30, 1949.“

„Is it possible Genny is still alive?“ Mia asked.

„She’d be close to eighty now,“ Delaney said. „The death records are in another room. If you wait here, I’ll go check.“

When he was gone, Abe turned to Mia. „They didn’t name their firstborn Colin, Junior,“ Abe said, his voice barely a whisper.

Mia lifted a brow. „Seven-month baby. Jig was up. I wonder if Colin Senior knew ahead of time, or if he was surprised by a full-term son two months early.“

„She named her firstborn Robert Henry.“

„Hank is short for Henry.“

Abe nodded. „Either Colin Senior was a most forgiving man, or Genny slid that one in on him. She gave her son his biological father’s name.“

„Let’s hope at least one of the Barnett kids still lives in Chicago.“

„When the good Father comes back, we’ll check it out.“

Thursday, February 26,

10:30 A.M.

Kristen hung up the phone, frustrated with her attempts to reach the final few people on her victim list. Some had moved, some had just disappeared.

Spinnelli approached her, his face grim. „I was waiting until you were off the phone.“

„What’s happened?“

He handed her the list she’d given him that morning. One of the names had been circled in red. „Gerald Simpson didn’t show up for court this morning.“

Kristen pursed her lips. Simpson was a dedicated defense attorney. In his mind, all offenders could be rehabilitated, and prosecutors were vindictive and power-mad, just looking to convict to hasten their promotions. He defended with great zeal, but with little compassion for the victim. „So maintaining our assumption that this is connected to Hillman, we just narrowed the field considerably. I only faced Simpson in Hillman’s courtroom six times. Are we going to put any surveillance on those six defendants?“

„Already ordered. We’ve got a bulletin posted for Simpson’s car. I’m going to go interview his wife since Abe and Mia are still in the field. Maybe Mrs. Simpson will know something.“ But his expression clearly said he expected she would not.

„I’ll call the six victims.“

Spinnelli ran a frustrated hand through his hair. „Anything on Paul Worth, the son?“

„Records is checking. They said they’d call me back when they found anything.“

Thursday, February 26,

2:30 p.m.

No Barnetts still lived in the parish, but Father Delaney had given them a list of his oldest parishioners. Viola Keene had been a member of Sacred Heart parish all her life. Church membership had done nothing to sweeten her disposition. „Sure, I remember the Barnetts. Why do you want to know?“ Viola Keene frowned at their feet. „I just mopped in here. Can you shake the snow off your feet?“

„We’re sorry, ma’am.“ Abe made an honest effort to clean his shoes and Mia did the same. „It’s slushy out there.“

„Maybe we’re gonna have a thaw,“ the old woman said irritably. She really wasn’t that old, Abe thought. She wasn’t even sixty, but she seemed older. It was the way her mouth bent in a perpetual frown. The severe hairstyle and black wardrobe didn’t help.

„One can only hope,“ Mia murmured and Abe bit back his smile.

„Well, what do you want to know?“ Keene snapped. „I got a business to run.“

She owned a small hat shop, but it appeared their privacy was assured. The layer of dust on the hats indicated Keene hadn’t had customers in quite a while. Go figure.

„The Barnett family,“ Abe said. „How did you know them?“

„I went to school with Iris Anne. Foolish girl she was.“

They approached the long counter where Miss Keene was bent over what looked like a big bow. „How so, ma’am?“ Mia asked.

„Always worrying about boys and such. Never one much for her studies. Now her brother, he was a different tale.“

Mia leaned closer to see the woman’s face. „Which brother, Miss Keene?“

Keene looked affronted. „The older one, of course. Robert worked hard at his studies. He helped his father in their store, like a good son should.“ Impossibly, her face softened and she looked ten years younger. „He took good care of Iris and the other one.“ She frowned again. „The youngest…“ She paused, trying to remember. „Colin. He was a spoiled one. Always gettin’ into trouble, pickin’ on kids in the neighborhood.“ She sniffed. „He got his.“

Mia glanced up at him from the corner of her eye, then back to Keene. „How so?“

„Colin picked on the wrong kid.“ Keene picked up the bow and began fussing with the ribbon. „Kid beat him up, put him in the hospital. It was quite the neighborhood event“

„So what happened?“

„Colin died.“

Mia blinked. „Wow. That was some neighborhood event.“

Keene fluffed the bow. „The kid had a knife in his boot. Colin never saw it comin’.“

Abe hid his surprise at the old woman’s casual rendition of the tale. „What happened to Robert?“

Again her face softened, became almost wistful. „It got even worse for him at home after that. Finally, he ran away. Broke Iris Anne’s heart.“

Miss Keene’s, too, he suspected. „What do you mean, it got worse? Was it bad before?“

Keene looked up, angry. „Mr. Barnett was hard on Robert. Iris and Colin could do whatever they liked, but Robert had to work hard. If he didn’t breathe right, his father would take a cane to him. Like I said, he finally ran away. I never saw him again.“

„Miss Keene,“ Mia said softly, „what happened to the kid who killed Colin?“

Keene dropped her eyes back to the bow. „He went to jail. One of those reform schools. But when he got out, he got in a bar fight and ended up stabbed, just like Colin.“ She held the bow up to the light. „Poetic justice, the papers called it. Never caught the guy who did it. Most people figured he’d made some enemies along the way, but me and Iris, we used to wonder if Robert came back.“ She sighed. „Of course it was just girlish wishing. I thought I saw him once, a few years later, but I was wrong.“

„Where was that?“

„At the funeral. His parents and Iris Anne were killed in a car accident.“

„I’m sorry,“ Mia murmured and Keene shrugged.

„It was almost twenty-five years ago.“ Then she surprised them both by smiling at Mia. „But thank you. She was my dearest friend.“

„Why did you think you were wrong about seeing him, Miss Keene?“ Abe asked.

„I called to him, but he didn’t answer. My Robert never would have been so rude.“

„One more question, Miss Keene,“ Mia said, „then we’ll be on our way. Do you have any pictures, maybe a picture of Robert?“

„Oh, mercy. I may have an old annual or two from high school, but I’d have no clue where they’d be.“

Mia gave her a business card. „It’s really important we find a picture. My name and number’s on here. If you find something, can you call us?“

Thursday, February 26,

3:00 p.m.