Vanished (16 page)

“What do you think about all this, Mr. Abbott?” Evelyn asked.

He rolled his eyes. “Call me Frank. What do I think of this? That’s the best question you have for me?” He locked his steely gaze on her. “Come on. You can do better than that. This is personal for you, right?”

“How about we keep things friendly?” Greg suggested, easygoing as always.

Frank didn’t take his gaze off her. “It’s not so friendly to suggest I’m abducting and killing young girls, now, is it?”

“We’re not—” Greg started.

“Why do you say ‘killing’?” Evelyn interrupted.

Frank finally lowered his eyes. “Eighteen years is a damn long time.
You
think they’re still alive?” Not giving her a chance to answer, he said, “Just ask me what you want to ask me, Evelyn.”

She didn’t look Greg’s way, but she could practically feel his increased interest. The way Frank had said her name sounded as if he knew her. She vaguely remembered him as part of the town, but she’d never spoken to him when she was a kid. Did he remember her because she’d stood out? Or because he’d once targeted her?

“Okay, Frank. Tell me about your niece.”

“What’s to tell? I’m sure you got the short and nasty version from Noreen. Earl’s bitch of an ex-wife divorced him, took Margaret and moved away. Then she got careless and Margaret got killed.”

Evelyn tried not to show any reaction to Frank’s version of the story, but her heart rate picked up. He
did
blame his niece’s mother for her death.

“It was years ago,” Frank said, taking another bite of his sandwich. “What kind of profile says I mourn one little girl and then decide to kill others? How the hell does that make any sense?”

“Maybe these girls are replacements,” Greg suggested carefully. “Rescued from parents who might also get careless.”

Frank shot him a glance full of disdain. “Replacements? No one could replace Margaret.”

“Not even Noreen?” Evelyn asked, curious about Frank’s relationship with his only remaining niece.

“They’re different people,” he said.

“Have you been helping with the search parties?” Greg asked.

Frank kept his gaze on Evelyn, but something shifted in the depths of his eyes. “Yep. Just ask your friends.”

“I’m sorry?”

“The ones pretending to be engineers? You’re dating the dark-haired one, right? What’s his name, Kyle?”

Evelyn felt heat rush to her face and looked over at Greg before she could stop herself. But like a good profiler, he kept his expression blank.

“Did you run into them at the search parties?” Greg asked smoothly. “Where were you exactly?”

“How did you know they were FBI? And why do you ask if I’m dating one of them?” Evelyn jumped in. Kyle would never have said that. She doubted he would’ve mentioned her at all. So how would Frank know they had any kind of connection? If it was purely speculation, he could just as easily have guessed Gabe. Or called them her colleagues. But he hadn’t, which implied that he’d either seen or heard something by chance or he’d been watching her intentionally.

“People talk,” Frank said, then looked at Greg. “Yes, I saw them at the search parties.”

“What people?” Evelyn pressed as Greg lowered his eyebrows meaningfully, obviously wondering why she was so focused on the wrong thing.

But if Frank had been paying this much attention to her, could he have been the one who shot into her car?

Her gaze was drawn to the hunting magazines. “Do you own a gun, Frank?”

“Sure. Like a lot of people here.” He gestured to her cheek. “I didn’t do that.”

“You heard about that, too, huh?” Evelyn asked. “People talking again?”

He snorted. “You getting shot at is pretty big gossip, Evelyn. That kind of shit doesn’t happen every day.” He got serious fast. “But if you’re thinking I shot at you? Just because I know your little secret? No way. No damn way.”

“What secret?”

“About that guy. Kyle whatever-his-name-is.”

“Who told you that?”

“Black guy who shows up at all the search parties. You want a suspect, look at him. No idea where he’s from, but he doesn’t live here.”

“Darnell Conway?” That actually made sense. Kyle had pulled his gun on Darnell. “Have you talked to Darnell much?”

“No.” Frank shoved the rest of his sandwich in his mouth. “There’s something off about him.”

Evelyn purposely didn’t look at Greg, but he was probably thinking the same thing she was—that there was something off about Frank, too.

“So, he told you Kyle and Gabe are with the FBI and that he thinks I’m dating Kyle, then you two didn’t talk anymore?” Evelyn made a point of letting him hear the skepticism in her tone.

“He’s a talker,” Frank said. “Mentioned that your boyfriend has a quick trigger finger, made some noise about complaining to the FBI about both of you. Then he went on and on about trying to find those poor girls. How he rearranged his whole work schedule to help. Blah blah blah. Like he wanted a medal for doing what everyone else was doing. But he struck me as weird, and like I told you, I know he doesn’t belong here. I tuned him out after a while, tried not to get paired with him again.”

“Okay,” Evelyn said. “Were those his words or yours?”

“What?”

“Those poor girls.”

Frank looked pointedly at his watch. “What do you want to know about my niece? Because I’ve got a job soon.”

“You have your own handyman company, right?”

“Yeah. Used to own it with Earl. Now it’s just me. You have questions or not?”

“How about you let us search and we’ll talk some more when you get home?” Greg suggested.

Frank pushed to his feet. “Hell, no. You want to look around? Fine. But you do it while I’m here so I can be sure
you
don’t pull any funny stuff. I’m not letting you set me up.”

He raised his eyebrows pointedly until Evelyn and Greg got to their feet, then he led them to the door.

As they walked outside, he said, “You know, for FBI, you really seem to be missing the obvious.”

“What’s that?” Greg asked.

“The pervert.”

“Walter Wiggins?” Evelyn asked.

“Yeah.”

He started to slam the door, but Evelyn braced her hand against it.

He raised his eyebrows again, an impatient look on his face. “Something else?”

“Do you remember me, Frank? From eighteen years ago?”

“Of course I do. Your best friend was one of the victims. I saw you at the search parties. We all did.” His expression softened. “Couldn’t believe your grandparents let you go.”

“So, you were at the search parties?”

He sighed. “Yeah. That make me more of a suspect in your mind? How exactly does that work? Stop wasting your time! I didn’t do it. Come back when I finish my job. Search whatever the hell you want and get it over with. And then get back to looking for whoever did this!”

He knocked her hand off the door and slammed it shut.

Evelyn shrugged at Greg. “What do you think?”

He set off, returning to the car. “I don’t know, but if he did it, I don’t think those girls are here.”

Evelyn nodded, getting into the rental. “Yeah, he was a little too fast to agree we could search.”

Greg got in, too, and started the car, backing down the long driveway. “So, what was with all his questions about Kyle?”

The too-casual way he asked it told Evelyn he was suspicious. But not of Frank. Of her. Of her real relationship with Kyle.

Evelyn kept her tone neutral. “Darnell ran into me on purpose, tried to intimidate me, and Kyle showed up. So Frank could be telling the truth about getting that from Darnell. But why was he harping on it?”

Greg nodded, but the quick glance he sent her as he shifted into Drive said he didn’t quite buy that there was nothing to it. “You’re thinking he’s been keeping some kind of tabs on you? That it could be because of eighteen years ago, if he’s the perp?”

“Maybe. His reaction to being a possible suspect was odd. He should’ve been angry and offended. And he was. But not in the right way.”

“No kidding,” Greg agreed. “I think we’d better talk to the CARD agents. Have them add Frank Abbott to their suspect list.”

Evelyn leaned against the headrest. She’d been exhausted for days, but it suddenly hit with the force of a sledgehammer. “We need to be narrowing down the suspect list, not adding to it.”

Greg picked up speed on the road back to town. “There’s a reason our perp, whoever he is, got away with it for eighteen years, Evelyn. If it was going to be easy, he would’ve been caught ages ago.”

Would he be caught this time?

No matter how hard she tried to convince herself the answer was yes, a taunting voice in her head—a voice that sounded like Cassie—whispered,
You’ll never know who took me.

Fifteen

“E
velyn?”

Evelyn frowned as she placed one hand over her ear and listened to the voice at the other end of her cell phone. “Yes?”

“It’s T.J.”

“T.J.?” Evelyn stepped away from the table in the CARD command post where she and Greg had been digging through information on Noreen’s uncle for the past few hours. So far, nothing had popped.

“Yeah, Jack’s partner. Remember?”

“Sure. What’s up?”

Greg glanced up at her, but she shook her head as she walked out a back door and into the quiet of the deserted parking lot. Most of the cops were out running down tips, helping with the search or following up on leads from the CARD agents.

“Jack and I are on our way back to the station, but we stopped in at the search parties first,” T.J. said.

“Okay. Is something happening?”

“Darnell had just shown up again. I thought you might want to know.”

“Oh, well, thanks.” It definitely made her suspicious that Darnell kept showing up to search, but she already knew he’d been doing it.

“It’s a little weird,” T.J. continued. “He must’ve gone home for dinner and come right back, because Noreen said he was there earlier today.”

Evelyn leaned against the brick wall of the station, the heat seeping through her shirt now that she was out of the air-conditioning. It was eight-thirty at night, but the temperature was still in the high eighties, the humidity making the air feel moist and heavy. Not all that different from Virginia, but somehow the air here seemed to weigh down on her. Or maybe it was just the memories.

“Is that unusual?”

“Well, not for family or close friends of the victims. But this guy has been here a lot for someone driving in from Treighton,” T.J. explained, then said goodbye and hung up.

Evelyn stuck the phone in her pocket and stared into the distance. The police station was surrounded by other municipal buildings, most of which were closed for the night. In the quiet, empty parking lot, everything felt too still, the way the air sometimes did before a big storm.

Suddenly nervous—the last time she’d been alone in a parking lot, someone had taken a shot at her—Evelyn was about to go inside. Before she’d moved, a police car flew into the lot.

It parked right beside her, and T.J. and Jack stepped out. T.J. looked about the same, but Jack seemed even more worn down than earlier, with dark circles under his eyes, and wrinkles in his khakis and button-up shirt.

Jack ignored her, but T.J. said, “We figured you’d be off running down some lead or we wouldn’t have bothered calling.”

As T.J. opened the station door, Evelyn grabbed Jack’s arm. “Can I talk to you a second?”

He groaned. “Yeah, sure.”

As soon as the door closed behind T.J., Evelyn said, “It’s about Frank Abbott.”

“You’re still on that?”

“Yes.”

“How could Frank Abbott possibly fit your profile? Are you leaving things out of this profile, or are you just picking suspects at random? Because Frank makes no sense as a suspect. And I’ve been working my ass off to find some way to get us into Walter’s house.”

“Did you come up with anything?” Evelyn asked hopefully.

Jack scowled and pulled out his key card. “Not yet.”

Evelyn stepped in front of the door. “Do you remember how Frank acted at the search parties eighteen years ago?” Had Frank searched back then with the rabid devotion Darnell was showing now? Or had he just shown up once or twice for appearance’s sake?

Jack propped his hand on his hip, next to his gun. “Yeah, I think I do. That was right around when Earl had his first stroke. It was maybe another year before he got really bad and Frank had to move in with him, but by then Frank was definitely helping out. And with everything going on, he still showed up as much as he could.”

“So...”

“You’re thinking that’s suspicious? Because I’ve got to tell you, I’ve known Frank a long time. He’s not my favorite person, but he’s no child killer. I mean, he didn’t exactly do right by Noreen, cutting out on her and Earl as soon as she hit eighteen. But hell, when Earl got really sick, he did take over the whole business, handle the bills, move in with them to help. It’s more than some guys would’ve done.”

“How old is Noreen now?” Evelyn asked, wondering how long Frank had been back on his own, with no one around to see what he was doing. Maybe he’d stopped the abductions because he was with his brother and niece. But as soon as he could get free of them, maybe he’d started up again.

“Twenty-four, I think.”

Evelyn frowned. That meant Frank had been living by himself for the past six years. It was a long time to wait, if he was the perpetrator.

“What makes you suspect Frank, of all people? Just because his niece moved away...”

“She’s dead, Jack.”

“What?” Jack’s hand fell off his hip and his eyebrows jerked up.

“Noreen made me promise not to say anything. But you know this town, know these people. So, I need you to tell me about Frank.”

“Damn. Poor Noreen.”

“Focus, Jack, okay? Just focus on Frank.”

Jack looked bewildered and faintly hurt. “Why the hell would she have kept something like that secret?”

“Her dad didn’t want anyone to know, didn’t want the pity.”

“Yeah, that sounds like Earl, to be honest. He was the same way with his illness.” Jack closed his eyes. “Okay, Frank.” He rubbed the back of his neck, staring past her at nothing.

Finally he shook his head, opening his eyes again. “I don’t remember him acting weird then. Bewildered, I guess, because of what was happening with Earl. At the time Cassie went missing, he was mostly worried. But then a year or so later, the shit really hit the fan. You could tell that Frank didn’t want to move in with them, but he did it, didn’t complain. Worked twice as hard to keep that business going, pay Earl’s bills. He’d never had kids. I don’t think he really knew what to do with Noreen, but he tried.”

“Until she turned eighteen.”

“Right,” Jack agreed. “And then, hell, he probably just figured it was her turn. I always thought about it from her perspective, how unfair it was, but I guess it was pretty shitty for Frank, too.”

“Noreen said her father had something called CADASIL?”

“I don’t know what it was. All I know is, he went downhill real fast, but lingered forever. One day he seemed fine and then the next he could barely walk. Stroke, maybe? And a few months after that, he was in a wheelchair. I think he got back to using a cane for a while, but he never worked again. He sure wasn’t in any shape to take care of himself or his kid.”

“So, if Earl got sick close to when Cassie went missing and Frank was helping out, maybe that would account for the abductions stopping?”

“It’s possible,” Jack replied, “but like I said, it was a year later before he had to move in with Earl. And Frank’s been back on his own a long time now. Why wait to start again, if it’s him?”

“I have no idea.” And it made him a less viable suspect—unless he’d had a recent trigger. “Anything major happen in Frank’s life recently?”

“Not that I know of. He’s typical Frank.”

“His business is doing okay? No personal losses? Nothing?”

Jack shrugged. “His business is doing really well. It picked up recently since we’ve had some development in the area, so he’s getting more work. And on the personal side? Well, Noreen is his only family. And she’s obviously doing fine. Last year, she lost her dad’s house—too many bills to keep up with after paying all of Earl’s medical expenses. But she’s got an apartment and a good job. She’s probably doing the best she has in years, finally being free of all that baggage. She definitely seems happier.”

Evelyn couldn’t suppress a sigh. Learning that Frank’s niece was dead—and that it was a secret—had seemed like such a good lead. But as much as she wanted him to, Frank didn’t totally fit the profile.

“That it?” Jack asked.

“Yeah. Thanks.” She stopped him as he opened the station door. “Keep this to yourself, okay?”

“No problem,” Jack said, but he was obviously offended that Noreen hadn’t told him herself.

His dad had given her a job, given her a place in the station. It seemed that Jack had taken on the role of Noreen’s protector since his dad had died. It must hurt to know that Noreen had told an outsider her secret instead of him. Evelyn might have spent the most important seven years of her childhood here, but Jack still saw her as an outsider.

Evelyn trailed him into the station to see if Greg or the CARD agents had found anything on Frank that would make him a more likely suspect.

But when she walked into the CARD command post, Greg looked up at her and shook his head. “I’m not seeing anything unusual in his history. On paper, this guy’s pretty clean.”

Evelyn had been a criminal investigative analyst long enough to know that didn’t mean a damn thing. There were serial killers who spent their days handling the finances for their churches. Serial rapists could be well-liked volunteers at rape crisis centers. Child molesters could be community leaders. They all looked fine on paper, too.

Evelyn glanced at Carly. The lead CARD agent was still wearing a suit, possibly the same one she’d had on yesterday. Her hair was still tied on top of her head, her makeup still carefully applied. But underneath, lines of stress and exhaustion showed through, like a cracked foundation.

Carly met her gaze with bloodshot eyes. “Since you said Frank gave permission to search his house, we’re sending some agents there tonight. Seems like a long shot, though.”

“It is,” Evelyn agreed. Damn, she felt useless. She’d gotten as deep into the abductor’s head as she could, but there was only so far she could go without knowing the true motivation. She felt like a rat in a maze, stuck in a corner and banging her head against the wall.

“Why don’t you go back to the hotel?” Greg suggested. “Take a break. You’ve had, what? Two hours of sleep in the past forty-eight?”

“That’s what everyone else is running on, too. I’m fine.”

“I’m not sure you...”

The ringing of Evelyn’s phone cut Greg off. When she picked up, it was Noreen.

“Hey, Evelyn, I’m in my car heading home from the search parties—I handed it off to Ronald, our other administrative assistant. Anyway, Darnell just left.”

“Just left?” Evelyn echoed. “T.J. told me he only arrived about twenty minutes ago.”

“Weird, huh? Jack and T.J. said to keep an eye on him, which is why I’m calling. He jumped in his car as I was leaving, and he was in one hell of a hurry.”

Evelyn frowned. “That could be anything. Maybe someone called with an emergency.”

“Yeah, maybe,” Noreen said. “Look, Evelyn, I know I’m not a cop or anything, but this guy is giving me a really bad feeling. I know there
were
cops on him. Are there still?”

“No.” They’d been taken off and put back on Walter Wiggins. She couldn’t seem to win on that front.

“Can you talk to Jack? Maybe he can check on Darnell. See what’s going on. Or should I call him?”

“No, it’s okay, Noreen. I’ll handle it.”

“Are you sure? After what happened before...”

Damn, did
everyone
know what she’d done? “I’m sure.”

Greg thought she should get out of the station, anyway. And even though Frank was a possibility, her gut still insisted that Darnell was guilty of murder twenty years ago. And if he’d murdered once, he could do it again.

Noreen sounded relieved. “Thanks,” she replied. “I asked him where he was going, tried to be all friendly. He gave me this weird look, like he’d figured out what I was doing, but he said he was headed home.”

Which could have been a lie, but Evelyn didn’t tell Noreen that. And it didn’t really matter, because that was the only place Evelyn knew to look for him.

It was a bad idea, but she was going to do it, anyway.

“I’ll fill you in on what happens,” she promised Noreen, then hung up and met Greg’s curious gaze.

“What are you going to handle?”

“Darnell took off unexpectedly from the search parties.”

“Tell the cops,” Greg said. “Let them deal with Darnell.”

“I’m going to get a hold of Jack. I’ll take him with me. But I want to go on this one.”

“You think that’s smart?” The tone of Greg’s voice told her he didn’t.

“I’ll go back to the hotel afterward and get some rest.”

“Just so long as you make sure you don’t trespass while you’re at Darnell’s,” Carly contributed, looking up from her computer search.

Evelyn flushed. “I already said I’m going to take Jack. I’ll watch from a distance. I want to see what sent him off in such a rush.”

Carly started to argue, but Greg broke in. “If you can’t find Jack, come back and I’ll go with you.”

“Thanks,” Evelyn said, then picked up her bag and hurried out the door and into the station’s bull pen.

But as she walked through the station, she didn’t come across Jack anywhere. Finally she asked one of the rookies where he was.

“We just heard from the 9-1-1 operators. Walter phoned in, said his dad needed an ambulance. Potential heart attack. The operators know what’s going on, so they called us. We’re sending a cop car along, on the premise that the Wigginses have faced threats. Jack’s hoping it could be his ticket back into the house. He just left.”

“Damn it.” She glanced at the CARD command post, but she really didn’t want to take Greg with her. She wanted him here, going over all the evidence, in case he saw some fact, some hint, she’d missed.

“Where’s T.J.?”

The rookie shrugged. “Saw him go outside earlier. Could’ve been for a smoke or he might have been heading out.”

“Thanks.” Evelyn hurried to the parking lot, hoping to find T.J. there, lighting up. She didn’t; he’d obviously already left. And every second she wasted here was more time for Darnell to do something. Maybe she could catch him...

Maybe now, when she went to Darnell’s house, he’d be the one facing criminal charges.

* * *

“Hey, Evelyn!” Kyle called.

He watched as she spun toward him in the Rose Bay police station parking lot, guilt on her face. Her hand froze on the door handle of her car. “Mac. What are you doing here?”