“So you working all day or what?”
“Most of it. I’d hoped to finish up early enough to make a trip down to Annie’s for the rest of the weekend, but I guess that’s not going to happen.”
“What are you working on?” Joe asked. “That the other killer case?”
“What other killer case?” Evan looked up from the file.
“Word around is that the Slayer didn’t pop those last three girls, the Hispanic ones.” Joe came in and plopped himself in the seat near the door.
“Where’d you hear that?”
“Just around. Don’t remember where, exactly.”
“Good thing it wasn’t supposed to have been kept under wraps or anything,” Evan muttered.
“So if you’re not going to see the old lady, want to meet up later for a few beers and a burger down at Taps? I’m meeting a couple of the guys at six.”
“Rosemary is letting you out alone on a Saturday night?”
“She’s off with her sister this weekend. She and Joey. They’ll be gone through tomorrow afternoon.”
“How’s he doing, your son?”
“He had a better year in school this year.” Joe nodded. “He had a rough time for a while. You know, he’s small for his age, isn’t real good at sports. It’s tough for a boy like that. We finally did find something he liked doing, though, so he’s doing better.”
Evan was about to ask what that thing was when his cell phone rang. He checked the number and found it to be one of the men for whom he’d previously left a message.
“Sorry, Joe, I’ve got to take this.”
“Hey, no problem. Stop down at Taps later, if you can. We’ll all be there. It would be great if you could join us. Like old times. If not, we’ll get together sometime soon.”
“Sounds like a plan. Thanks.”
Joe waved and left the office as Evan answered his call.
“Yeah, Manny, thanks for calling me back. I appreciate it. Listen, about that incident a few years back… yeah, that one. Hey, I hate to bring that up, but there’s a rumor going around the D.A.’s office that they’re thinking about bringing back that three-strikes-and-jail-time thing again, and I just wanted to see if you were keeping clean…”
It was almost eight by the time Evan finished the last of his calls. He was starving and for a moment considered Joe’s offer. Then he looked at the pages of notes he’d made, all the information he wanted to enter into the computer before Monday came around, and decided he’d do takeout on the way home instead. He’d enjoy a night out with his old friends and coworkers, he acknowledged as he packed up a few files to take home. They had a good bunch of guys down there in the Lyndon Police Department, and there were times when he missed working with them, missed the companionship and the familiarity of having the same partner every day.
Well, maybe he’d have time for a beer or two. He turned off the overhead light on his way out of the office and dialed Joe’s cell phone as he walked up the steps. When there was no answer after six rings, Evan disconnected the call without leaving voice mail. Tonight he was tired and had a lot of reading to do, none of it light, he told himself as he waved good night to the guard, so it was just as well he hadn’t been able to hook up with Joe. He’d catch up with the guys later in the week.
Maybe by then, Joe would have remembered where he’d heard about the second killer. The one whose existence wasn’t supposed to have been discussed outside the D.A.’s office.
He wondered who’d been talking, and how the information had made its way to the Lyndon PD.
He stopped for pizza on the way home and ate standing up at the kitchen counter while he listened to his voice mail. Then he locked up the house and took his files to his second-floor office, where he read until he passed out. Sunday morning he showered, shaved, and started all over again, making calls and taking notes, crossing names off one list and adding them to another.
At four in the afternoon, he looked out the back window at the dirt patch that was Annie’s garden and hoped that by this time next week, they’d be together, working on it. He put the thought aside and went back to his phone calls. He worked until midnight, then closed up shop and went to bed.
At four o’clock Monday morning, the phone rang, and he answered it groggily.
“Crosby? Sargeant Crocker, Broeder police department. Got someone here who wants to talk to you.”
There was a soft rustle as the phone was passed from one person to another.
“Hey, Detective, Perry Jelinik, remember me?”
“Sure.” Evan pulled himself up onto one elbow and tried to stifle a yawn. “I busted you for possession two years ago.”
“And four years before that.”
“You get picked up more recently by someone else, Jelinik?”
“Yeah, actually, I was.” There was a pause. “I was wondering if you could help me out with that. Talk to the arresting officer or the D.A. for me or something.”
“Why would I do that?”
“Well, I hear you’re looking for an address…”
19
After two solid days of reviewing police reports to prepare a profile for a D.A. in Florida, Annie was almost happy to be going back into the office again. She felt as if she’d been in solitary confinement since she arrived home on Saturday morning. She was trying to recall when she had ever welcomed a Monday quite as much when she heard her fax beeping to signal that something was being sent to her machine.
She went into her office and leaned over the desk to pull the sheet of paper from the incoming tray and was surprised to see a copy of Melissa Lowery’s autopsy report.
Annie scanned it quickly, skipping over the sections she deemed inconsequential to cause of death (“… the liver has been removed and upon examination is found to weigh…”) and going straight to the chase.
Cause of death: Exsanguination due to gunshot wound to the chest.
Melissa had been shot and left to bleed to death.
Not something Annie was looking forward to sharing with Grady.
She was still wondering how to handle that when the phone rang.
“Dr. McCall?”
“Yes.”
“Sheriff Brody.”
“Oh, Sheriff. I was just about to call you to thank you for faxing the autopsy report on Melissa Lowery.”
“Told you I would do so. Glad I caught you on your home phone. Your cell phone wasn’t picking up.”
She searched her purse and found the cell at the bottom. She’d turned it off the night before after she spoke with Evan because the battery was running down, the charger was in the car, and she hadn’t felt like going out in the rain to get it.
“So now that we know for certain she did not die a natural death,” he was saying, “you have any thoughts on that?”
“Not just yet.”
“I was just wondering if maybe your reason for coming all the way out here to see her might have something to do with her being murdered.”
“Sheriff, with all due respect, at this time I cannot discuss the reason for my visit.” Annie bit her bottom lip, wishing she’d been able to talk to John before she had to have this conversation with Sheriff Brody. “I’m not trying to be evasive, and I apologize if it sounds as if I am, but my visit had to do with an FBI investigation, and I really can’t discuss that with anyone at this time. Please keep in mind that my position with the Bureau is primarily as a profiler. I try to stay out of the bureaucratic aspects. I can give you the name of the special agent in charge to whom I report, if you’d like to give him a call.”
“I’d appreciate that.” Brody didn’t sound at all surprised to hear that he wouldn’t be getting information from Annie.
She gave him John Mancini’s office number, knowing John would be out of the office for another few days. Having called John on Saturday to bring him up to date on Grady Shields’ involvement with Melissa, and Melissa’s involvement in Dylan’s case, Annie knew John would want to avoid Sheriff Brody for as long as possible.
“Just a few other questions for you, Dr. McCall.”