'I haven't done that by being lucky, or weaving fanciful theories.
I've done it by being a bloody good analytical detective. If Joe Doherty's 90
Ht-AU StIUl invited me to sit at this table, he hasn't done so because he's my friend.
He's done it because he thinks I can contribute something. And what I'm telling you is this; these four murders are linked. That isn't supposition; at the least, it's a probability flowing from the facts as they exist. And in my experience there's a very fine line between probability and certainty.
'Oh yes, and one more thing. If you want me to go home before this crime is cleared up, you may have to deport me… but I don't think you have the clout to do that.'
He released the Superintendent from his glare and nodded to Doherty.
'I'm sorry, Joe. You were saying?'
'You just said it,' muttered the Deputy Director, tersely, and turned back to Weston. 'You want me to give Bob status, Barbara? Okay, as of now he's a special adviser in this investigation which will.. .' he leaned on the word '… be co-ordinated by the Bureau. We can do this one of two ways; either we take things over completely, or we work in cooperation with your department, using the skil s and local expertise of Schultz and Smal, partnered with Special Agent Kosinski.'
He glanced along at Dekker. 'Same would go for your department, Brad, given that we're certain the killer came to Buffalo also.
'You two people up for that or would you rather butt out now?'
'I'm more than happy to work with the Bureau,' replied the Sheriff, quickly. He and Doherty turned back to the Superintendent.
'I'm not being frozen out of my own jurisdiction, Mr Deputy Director, not by you or by anyone else. We'll go along with you, but I insist on being advised of any development that could lead to an indictment in this state.'
Doherty nodded. 'You wil be so advised,' he agreed. 'But you will not move for any such indictment, nor release the identity of any person who might be a suspect. My director was confirmed in office by a political colleague of your state governor; remember that.' Weston's eyes blazed at his blatant threat, but she said nothing more.
'Fine,' he said, looking around the table once more. 'Let's move forward. Brand, Kosinski, you are seconded to this investigation, until otherwise advised by me. Troy, you wil remain in New York as I have said, and wil co-ordinate things here, advising me, Sheriff Dekker and Superintendent Weston of progress made. You wil concentrate first and foremost on putting a name to our killer.'
'How are we going to do that, sir?' asked the Special Agent.
'Bob?' Doherty's invitation took his friend by surprise. 'Come on, don't hold back. You are the senior detective here. I've been out of the field for years.'
'You probably won't, Mr Kosinski,' Skinner answered, bluntly. 'Like I said earlier, this guy's been covering his tracks pretty careful y. So all you can do is to concentrate on the basics, and hope he's made a mistake.
You have to look out for the use of a stolen credit card, but that is not going to happen. No, I would send the forensic team back out to the cabin, and keep them at the house until they've been over every inch of it. Look for matches between the two locations; fingerprints, fibres from clothing…'
'Cigar butts?' murmured Barbara Weston sarcastically.
'Yes!' Skinner snapped at her. 'You never dismiss anything, until you've disproved it, or you're in neglect of your duty as an investigator.'
He looked at the Erie County detective chief. 'Right, Mr Brady?'
'Absolutely, sir,' the man concurred.
'That being the case…' he continued. 'Leo lovecr ars, but there were none in the cabin, so it's a real possibility that our man took them.
He's a cool bastard this one, so maybe, just maybe, he smoked one while he was going through the house. If he did, then, just maybe, he left the stub. Criminals have been caught through simpler mistakes than that.
There's a guy doing life in Britain who probably wouldn't have been convicted if he'd paid cash for his petrol on a few specific days, years before he was arrested.'
He turned to Schultz, who looked back at him, intently. 'Lieutenant, you should send your people back to that cabin and you tell them to look for cigar butts. Tell them to look in the garbage if they have to. If they find any, tel them to take saliva samples from every one, and do DNA comparisons against Leo Grace. If one doesn't match, that could be your killer.'
'It would be, surely, sir?' Kosinski said.
'Not necessarily, son. Leo was generous with his Monte Cristos; first Christmas after Sarah and I were married he sent me a box. He could have had friends for supper any time before he was kil ed and handed them round. I know that as part of your investigation you'l be trying to trace everyone who was in the cabin that last time they were there, to eliminate their fingerprints. If you find any, and if you find any butts, you should take spit samples as wel as prints.
'However, as I said, that's a long shot. Back to the basics; if you find any matching traces at both locations, other than of Leo and Susannah, you're on a winner. But even if you don't, you should feed every wild 92 nnAu anui print you have into your mainframe and see what you get. Fibre matches are more difficult, but you have to do them too. I'd suggest too that you make sure your teams take comparison samples from every garment, every towel, in the cabin and the house.
'You think this is overkil, Superintendent?' he asked, with a glance at Eddie Brady, the Erie County detective chief. 'Wel it ain't. It's what you have to do when you're dealing with a man like this. You have to look closely at the scene, then closer and closer and closer, until you find that one tiny mistake, the one that's going to catch him. You also have to look in the right way. I had an inquiry in Scotland a while back that might have been written off as a suicide, had a young police constable not looked at the scene and spotted something that to her eye was wrong.'
He grinned at Kosinski, Schultz and Small. 'Sorry, lads,' he chuckled.
'You're in for some boring times, but that's what you signed up for.'
He leaned back in his chair. 'That's what I'd do, Joe.'
The Deputy Director nodded. 'That's what'l happen. Now,' he went on, briskly, 'let's look at the other crimes we're targeting. First, the murder of Sander Garrett: Special Agent Brand, you wil go to Nevada, where you will interface with the City of North Las Vegas Police Department. I have already spoken to Chief of Police Hall, although I have not briefed him in detail on what this is all about. His is a small department, with fewer than two hundred officers, so he may well be glad to see you.
'Zak, I want you to examine the scope and structure of the investigation as it has been carried out so far, looking initially at the forensic reports on Mr Garrett's house. Chief Hall didn't say so, but I have a feeling that you won't find a hell of a lot. If you feel that it's necessary, and the crime scene is still reasonably intact, you have my authority to fly in a team of our people to go over the place with the same thoroughness that is being applied to the Grace residences. When you're satisfied that you have all you're gonna get, touch base with Troy to run comparisons on unidentified prints and fibre samples.
'Also, I want you to find out everything you can about Sander Garrett.
Give me a complete report on his career after his Washington years. He was stil a consultant to his law firm in Vegas, so you should interview the partners there and find out what he was into. Speak to any family members you can find and to any friends he had local y. Put together an up-to-date profile of the man and find out, if you can, just what he did in Washington. Make your own judgement about the local resources; if you have to, cal me and I'l detach people from the LA Bureau to work with you.