“ By the time I came back around, she was being chummy with this guy, flirting through the passenger window like a cheap hooker.”
“ What did you see of the driver?”
“ I didn't get a decent look. Like I said, his van didn't look familiar, but she acted friendly like maybe she knew him. But I thought that was for my benefit, you know- that she knew I'd come around the corner and was playing me, you know. That's when I kept going the second time. Time I drove back again, the van was gone and so was she.”
“ You think she could have known him?” Combs asked again.
“ I thought she was doing it all for my benefit, to teach me a lesson, you know. I thought for sure she'd get back out of the van as soon as I disappeared, and that I'd just come back for her again. I'd been drinking, not thinking so clear, you know? I got pissed off again. I went home thinking it was over for sure between us, and I slept it off. Next thing I know, the cops're knocking at my house and my parents are waking me up.”
“ Did you happen to notice the van's plates? In state, out of state?”
“ I didn't see 'em. Damn me…”
“ Did Winona ever talk about meeting anyone on the computer?” asked Combs, who had a team working that avenue of inquiry.
“ No… no, she said people that did that were sick fucks.”
“ Did she spend a lot of time on the Internet?” persisted Lorena.
“ Nah, she wasn't like addicted to it or anything. Why?”
“ Just part of routine questioning these days, Mr. Campbell.”
“ Is that how the son of a bitch works?” he asked.
“ We're exploring that notion.”
Sheriff Combs had already pressed the local deputy related to the victim, Jeff, to confiscate Winona's computer. Amanda Manning's parents had turned over her computer to Combs as well, and leads had been made and investigated regarding men who had propositioned Amanda over the Internet. So far, none had panned out.
When they had discussed this line of inquiry, Jessica was guardedly enthusiastic, but she had suggested, “Watch for any crossing of the same guy in contact with both victims. If we have probable cause, then we can get the Net server to open its files.”
“ It'd help if Richmond and Winston-Salem would share what they have along these lines. You think some high-ranking SOB with the FBI could get on them to confiscate and examine the computer tracks of the other two victims?”
“ I've already asked Santiva to push for it, Lorena.”
“ Who knows… maybe we'll get lucky.”
Combs volunteered to go through all of Winona's E-mail to see if anyone had contacted her for a meeting on or around the time of her murder. She would also attempt to find any matchups with correspondence between the two young women-Winona and Amanda-as well as anyone writing to them both.
Here in Savannah's largest police station, Jessica felt the weight of the case on her shoulders. She stepped away from Campbell and his weak-to-useless testimony. “We still have little to go on.”
Combs countered, “We've got more than we had. The tire prints, two and a half shoe prints. We know for a fact now that the killer leaves a mark on his victims.”
“ Yeah… his final statement of power and ownership. The marking likely makes the bastard feel good, that he holds sway over his victim even after death. I can't tell you how many times I've heard such killers profess a belief in an afterlife that'll reunite them with their victims-that they will be connected throughout eternity.”
“ Madness begets fantasy.”
“ Mad Matthew Matisak himself had such plans for me,” Jessica confessed.
“ You'll have to tell me about it sometime.”
“ On the way back to your town.”
“ Well, while we have little to go on, it is a good deal more than the Skull-digger's left anyone before now.”
Campbell asked, “Can I go now? I gotta go see Winona's folks. Try to explain.”
“ I'd caution you away from them for a while, Nathan,” Jessica suggested. She and Sheriff Combs had gone to the Miller home earlier in the day to question the barely functioning, distraught parents to no avail and to confiscate the computer and all of Winona's disks. They found a typical young girl's bedroom, filled with stuffed animals, rock CDs, posters, makeup and mirrors. Jessica's gaze had fallen on a sculpture of an angel on the girl's nightstand. Winona was not quite out of her teens yet. “If the victims have any one thing in common, I'd call it innocence,” Jessica had confided as Lorena lifted the angel statue and stared at it.
Nathan Campbell now nodded at Jessica's advice to keep his distance from the parents for the time being, but she sensed he would not heed her words. “Maybe you're right,” he said without conviction.
“ You might want to get some professional help too, Nathan. You're free to go. Your parents are waiting outside.”
Campbell stood, thanked them and left in a dejected state, his shoes having been confiscated and replaced by prison booties.
“ What now?” asked Combs of Jessica in the empty interrogation room.
“ Boyd's having Campbell's shoes and his tire treads checked against the casts. But Nathan doesn't strike me as a vicious killer.”
Just then Jessica's cell phone rang and she dug it out of her pocket. “Coran,” she said into the phone, “how can I help you?”
A strange, strident male voice replied, “Don't believe a word of the lies my woman has told you.”
“ Who is this, please?”
“ I'm not the Skull-digger. I'm cured of all that a long time ago. Just don't waste your time coming after me.”
“ Who is this?”
“ You focus all your efforts on the right man. Not me.” The phone went dead.
Jessica went into the answered calls in her phone log and punched SEND for a dial back, and though it rang, no one picked up. Her phone displayed a number with a 609 area code. A different number but still a New Jersey exchange- the Atlantic City area of New Jersey.
“ What was that all about?” asked Combs.
“ Not sure, but I may just follow up on a lead that'll take me to New Jersey.”
“ Want to tell me about it?”
“ I've got to alert Eriq about this call I just got.”
“ Go right ahead. Then maybe we can get a bite to eat, a cup of coffee,” suggested Combs, looking tired.
Jessica again caught Eriq and put him on the speaker-phone. “The creep may have called me.”
“ What creep? Cahil?”
“ None other. He didn't identify himself, but he pleaded with me not to listen to the woman who'd fingered him. He's got my cell number now. The number he called from was an Atlantic City exchange.” She read the number off to him. “Maybe it'll help to pinpoint his location.”
“ What'd he say, exactly?”
“ He's concerned I'd be wasting my time on him, that he's not the Skull-digger.”
“ If it's from a pay phone, we'll check surrounding area hotels. If it's from a phone he owns, we've got the bastard, and this time no one's going to let him out of his cage ever again,” said Eriq. “Oh, and we're running down leads on the wife-slash-girlfriend as well.”
“ Maybe the wife's already dead, and he took my number off her body.”
“ I've made arrangements with Deitze for us to see him at two P.M. tomorrow afternoon. Can you make that?”
“ Make it four if you can.”
Eriq had an incoming call. “Let me know of any new-”
“ Will do!”
He hung up and Jessica did likewise. She looked over to Lorena and said, “I'm with you. Let's go get something to eat and drink.”
People milled about the corner restaurant called Savannah Sal's in downtown Savannah, just off the historic section of the city where tourists flocked. Jessica watched the crowd, trying to get her mind to relax from the case. She watched people try the patience of those behind the counter as they stared at an overhead quick-order menu; she saw others picking up their orders and complaining about this or that. Still others searched for their parties, while a few urgently sought the bathrooms. A number of people sat reading newspapers, while one or two worked on their laptops, one of them laughing at something on his screen, the other grimly silent. The average clientele appeared to be of college age, and countless textbooks were stacked and flung across tables and on seats. Some of the young people looked hungover.