And there’d been that odd comment about the one brother who was dead…
Overall-that odd comment aside-the package was pretty nice.
Still, he had a bone to pick with her.
He realized his mind was wandering. He snapped back to the task at hand-getting a cold drink for the FBI profiler who sat in his office. He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and a paper cup and went back into his office.
Mia arrived seconds after he’d handed the water and cup to the profiler.
“Hi, Beck,” Mia said as she entered the room with a perfunctory knock on the door. “Hi, Annie. You made it.”
“Your directions were great, thanks.” Anne Marie McCall smiled as Mia dragged a chair closer and hung her bag on the back.
“I had a very interesting morning,” Mia told them.
“So I heard.” He replied dryly from behind his desk.
“From…?”
“From Chief Daley over in Ballard. He got a call from the parents of Jessica Flynn asking about the FBI agent who’d interrogated their daughter less than an hour ago.”
“Yes, that was me. So?”
“So he wasn’t happy, thought I’d done an end run around him by sending you over there.”
“I’m trying to find a common link between the victims, so I followed up on some witnesses his department interviewed. And, by the way, picked up a bit of information his people missed. So what’s the big deal?”
“The big deal is he’s pissed that he wasn’t informed first.” Beck sat in his chair and returned her stare. “Look, most of the communities around here are covered by the state police, but there are a few that have retained their own departments. St. Dennis is one, Ballard is another, Cameron…there are a few more. The point is, we try to stick together, work together-”
“And he’s pissed because he thinks you sent me into his town to second-guess his officers.”
“That pretty much sums it up.”
“I’m sorry, I had no idea. Last night, I was reading through the file, and it was in my head that the guy we’re looking for is local. Maybe not from St. Dennis, but close enough to know the town. I mean, obviously, since he knew where you lived. I thought if we could figure out what the victims had in common, we’d be closer to figuring out who he is. I called this morning when I was on my way to Ballard but you weren’t in.”
“You could have left a message.”
“I did. I left the message for you to call me.”
He leafed through the messages in his in box, then held one up.
“My apologies,” he said, silently cursing the fact that he’d somehow missed the message.
“Look, I’ll call the chief over there and tell him you didn’t know I was going to do interviews this morning.”
“I told him that.”
“And he believes you?”
“Of course. We’re friends.”
“Which makes this even more difficult. I see.” She nodded slowly. “I’ll make certain that I reach you next time.”
“Fine. Now, are you going to tell me what you found that Daley’s people missed?”
“Yes, but I think we need to bring Annie-Dr. McCall-up to date on the case.”
“Chief Beck has already done that,” Annie told her. “He was just filling me in on some of the observations you made about the unsub.”
“How’d I do?” Mia asked.
“From what I’ve heard about the case so far, I think your comments regarding his need for control are right on the money. And I agree, this man has very serious issues with women. He has a need to abuse them, degrade them, totally dominate them. I think when you find him, you’ll find that he has what appears to be a seemingly normal life, even a normal love life. He could be married, or has been. He’s very good at keeping this other side of himself hidden.”
“You think we’ll find him?” Beck asked.
“Absolutely. He’ll lead you right to him, if you give him enough time. The downside of that is, the longer it takes to find him, the more women will die.”
“As far as we know, this is his third victim,” Beck told her.
The profiler shook her head.
“He’s way too accomplished to be a novice. He’s got his act down pat. I’m sorry to say he’s had lots of practice. No one starts out at this level of expertise.”
Beck turned to Mia. “You were going to have someone at the FBI look into similar crimes…”
“And we’ll have his report as soon as he finishes it, yes. But there’s a strong possibility that there won’t be any matches.”
“Because maybe his victims haven’t been found?”
“Exactly.” Mia nodded. “These murders are unique. I think if there were others with similar characteristics in the system, we’d have heard by now. They’d pop right out.”
“Maybe what we need is a run of missing women from this area over the past ten years,” Beck said thoughtfully.
“Let’s start with five,” Mia suggested. “I think if he’d been at this for more than that, some of his victims would have surfaced by now. Let’s see how many cases of missing young women on the Eastern Shore remain unsolved.”
“Do we want to limit the area?” Beck asked.
“No. Let’s go farther. So far, none of the victims have been tourists, they’ve all been living within a ten-mile radius, but who knows if he’s roamed, or how far. Let’s do the Eastern Shore to the ocean,” Annie suggested.
“That’s easy enough to get.” Beck stood. “I’ll have Garland start on that right away.”
He excused himself from the room.
“So how are you feeling?” Annie asked.
“I’m fine. Why?”
“You sounded a bit tired last night,” Annie said gently. “I was worried that maybe you’ve been working too hard for too long without a break.”
“I’m okay. I don’t need a break.”
“Mia, we all need a break once in a while.”
“I’m okay, really. But thanks.”
“I’m going to have to stick around to read over the files Beck has had copied for me. It’s going to take me hours to get through it all. Any chance I could bunk in with you at Connor’s tonight?”
“Sure. I’d love to have you stay.”
“Thanks. I’ll call Evan and let him know where I’ll be.”
“Do you think he’ll mind? After all, you’ve only been married for what, six months now?”
“Six months and eighteen days, but who’s counting?” Annie smiled.
Beck came back and closed the door behind him.
“ Garland is on it. He’ll let us know as soon as he has some results,” he told them.
“So what else do you need, Dr. McCall?” Beck asked. “You have copies of the files, the photos, the reports…”
“That should keep me busy for a while,” Annie said. “Perhaps we could meet in the morning and go over the case?”
“Whenever you’re ready,” Beck replied.
“Let’s say eleven tomorrow assuming you work on Sunday. That should give me enough time to get through all this. If I feel I need more time, I’ll give you a call.”
“Sunday’s are like any other day around here.” Beck nodded. “Thanks for making room in your schedule for this, Dr. McCall. I’m sure you’re busy.”
“It’s an intriguing case. I’m looking forward to examining the files.”
Beck turned to Mia. “Before you leave…”
“Right, Jessica Flynn. She’s the girl who was going to rent a condo in Ocean City for a long weekend with Colleen Preston.”
“We know that.”
“Yes, but what you don’t know is that according to Jessie, Colleen was supposed to be meeting with the owner of the condo on Wednesday-the day after she disappeared-to pay for the rental and get the keys. But what if she met up with him a day early?”
“Would it be too much to ask that Jessie knows the name of the owner?”
“It would be,” Mia told him. “It seems that Colleen was the only one who had any dealings with the owner. She made all the arrangements. Jessie didn’t even know where this place was located, except that it’s a high-rise right on the beach.”
“Of which there are dozens in Ocean City.”