by Alex Kava
“It’s not that easy. It’s a five-hour drive. She lives in this little town outside D.C.—Newton, Newberry, Newburgh. Yeah, Newburgh, I think.”
“Wait a minute. Outside D.C.? Newburgh Heights? In Virginia?”
“Yeah. You know it?”
“I think a friend of mine bought a house there.”
“Small world.” Will watched Nick, whose mind suddenly seemed preoccupied. “You think they know each other?”
“I doubt it. Maggie’s an FBI profiler.”
“Hold on. Is this the same FBI Maggie who helped you on that case last fall?”
Nick nodded, but he didn’t need to answer at all. Will could see it was the same woman. Will had noticed months ago that this woman couldn’t be mentioned in general conversation without Nick getting all weirded out. Maybe this woman was Nick’s obsession.
“So how come you’ve never called this Maggie or stopped by to see her?”
“Well, for one thing I didn’t realize until a few days ago that she was getting a divorce.”
“A few days ago? Wait a minute. Was she at the Kansas City thing?”
“Yes, she was at the Kansas City thing. She was one of the presenters.”
“And?”
“And nothing.”
Will noticed Nick’s demeanor had changed to frustration with a hint of irritation. Yep, he was all weirded out again.
“But you saw her, right? You talked to her?”
“Yeah. We spent an afternoon digging through garbage together.”
“Excuse me? Is that some new code for foreplay?”
“No, it isn’t,” Nick snapped, suddenly not in the mood for Will’s attempt at humor. “Come on. Let’s get back to work.”
Nick stood, straightening his lopsided tie and buttoning his jacket, indicating that was the end of this conversation. Will decided to ignore it and press on.
“It sounds like this Maggie is your Tess.”
“Jesus, kid. What the hell is that supposed to mean?” Nick shot him a look, and Will knew he was right.
“This Maggie drives you as crazy as Tess drives me. Maybe we both need to make a trip down to Newburgh Heights.”
CHAPTER 36
Maggie was surprised to find that Agent Tully had managed to make her old office look smaller than it was. Books that didn’t fit in the narrow floor-to-ceiling bookcase formed leaning towers in the corner. A chair intended for visitors was hidden under stacks of newspapers. On his desk, the in-tray was crushed under a pile of lopsided documents and file folders. Strings of paper clips were left in odd places, a nervous habit of a man who needed to keep his fingers occupied. One lone mug teetered on a stack of legal pads and computer manuals. Peeking from behind the door, Maggie glimpsed gray running gear where normal people hung a trench coat or rain slicker.
The only thing in the office that held some prominence was a photo in a cheap wooden frame that sat on the right-hand corner of the desk. The entire corner had been cleared for its place of honor. Maggie immediately recognized Agent Tully, though the photo appeared to be several years old. The little blond girl had his dark eyes, but otherwise looked exactly like a younger version of her mother. The three of them looked so genuinely happy.
Maggie resisted the urge to take a closer look, as if doing so might expose their secret. What was it like to feel that completely happy? Had she ever felt that way, even for a brief period? Something about Agent Tully told her that happiness no longer existed for him. Not that she wanted to know. It had been years since she had worked with a partner, and the fact that Cunningham had made it one of the conditions of her return to the Stucky investigation was annoying. She felt as if he was still punishing her for the one stupid mistake of her career—going to that Miami warehouse alone. The warehouse where Stucky had been waiting for her. Where he had trapped her and made her watch.
Okay, so partly she knew Cunningham was doing it to protect her. Agents usually worked together to protect each other’s backs, but profilers often worked alone and Maggie had grown accustomed to the solitude. Having Turner and Delaney hanging around had been stifling enough. Of course, she would abide by Cunningham’s rules, but sometimes the best agents, the closest partners forgot to share every detail.
Agent Tully came in carrying two cartons, stacked so that he peered around the sides of them. Maggie helped him find a clear spot and unload his arms.
“I think these are the last of the old case files.”
She wanted to tell him that every last copy she had made for herself had fit nicely into one box. But instead of pointing out what a little organization could do, she was anxious to see what had been added to the case in the last five months. She stood back and allowed Agent Tully to sort through the mess.
“May I see the most recent file?”
“I have the delivery girl on my desk.” He jumped up from his squatting position next to the cartons and quickly riffled through several piles on his desk. “The Kansas City case is here, too. They’ve been faxing us stuff.”
Maggie resisted the urge to help. She wanted to grab all his piles and make order of them. How the hell did this guy get anything done?
“Here’s the file on the delivery girl.”
He handed her a bulging folder with corners of papers and photos sticking out at odd angles. Immediately, Maggie opened it and started straightening and rearranging its contents before examining any of them.
“Is it okay if we use her name?”
“Excuse me?” Agent Tully continued to rummage over his messy desktop. Finally he found his wire-rimmed glasses, put them on and looked at her.
“The pizza delivery girl. Is it okay if we use her name when we refer to her?”
“Of course,” he said, grabbing another file folder and shuffling through it.
Now he was a bit flustered, and Maggie knew he didn’t know the girl’s name without looking. It wasn’t a matter of disrespect. It helped to disconnect. Profilers often referred to a body simply as “the victim” or “Jane Doe.” Their first introduction to the victims came when they were bloody, tangled messes, often sharing little or no resemblance to their former selves. Maggie used to be the same, using general terms to disassociate, to disconnect. But then several months ago she met a little boy named Timmy Hamilton who took time to show her his bedroom and his baseball card collection just before he was abducted. Now it suddenly seemed important to Maggie to know this girl’s name. This beautiful, young, blond woman who she remembered being so cheerful when she had delivered Maggie’s pizza less than a week ago. And who was now dead simply because she had done so.
“Jessica,” Agent Tully finally blurted out. “Her name was Jessica Beckwith.”
Maggie realized she could have found the girl’s name just as easily. The top document was the medical examiner’s autopsy report, and the girl had already been identified at that point. She tried not to think of the parents. Some disconnection was necessary.
“Any trace recovered at the scene that could be used for DNA testing?”
“Nothing substantial. Some fingerprints, but they aren’t matching Stucky’s. Weird thing is, everything looked wiped clean except for this set of fingerprints—one index, one thumb. Chances are they belong to a rookie cop who touched stuff he wasn’t supposed to touch and now he’s afraid to admit it. AFIS hasn’t come up with anything yet.”
He sat on the edge of the desk, laying his folder open on a pile, leaving his fingers free to string more paper clips together.
“The weapon was not retrieved. Is that right?”
“Correct. Looks to be very thin, razor sharp and single edged. I’m thinking maybe even a scalpel, from the way he’s able to slice and dice so easily.”
Maggie winced at his choice of description, and he caught her.
“Sorry,” he said. “That’s the first thing that came to mind.”
“Any saliva on the body? Any semen in the mouth?”
“No, which I know is different from Stucky’s usua
l M.O.”
“If it is Stucky.”
She felt him staring at her but avoided his eyes and examined the autopsy report. Why would Stucky hold back or pull out early now? He certainly wouldn’t go through the trouble of using a condom. After they had revealed his identity as being Albert Stucky, he had blatantly gone on to do whatever he wanted. And that usually meant showing off his sexual prowess by raping his victims several times, and often forcing them to perform oral sex on him. She wished she could take a second look at the girl’s body. By now she knew what kinds of things to look for, otherwise insignificant physical evidence that telegraphed Stucky’s patterns. Unfortunately, she saw at the bottom of the form that Jessica’s body had already been released to her family. Even if she stopped the transfer, all the PE would be gone, washed away by a well-intentioned funeral director.
“We did find a stolen cellular phone in the Dumpster,” Agent Tully said.
“But it was wiped clean?”
“Right. But the phone records show a call to the pizza place earlier that evening.”
Maggie stopped and looked up at Agent Tully. My God, could it have been that easy? “That’s how he abducted her? He simply ordered a pizza?”
“Initially that’s what we were thinking,” he explained. “We just found the delivery lists in her abandoned car. We’ve been running down the list, checking addresses and phone numbers. When Cunningham recognized Newburgh Heights as your new neighborhood, we checked for your address. Found it right away. Likewise, all the addresses are residential. But most of the people I’ve talked to so far were actually home and did receive their pizza. I have only a few left that I can’t reach by phone, but I plan to drive to Newburgh Heights and check them out.”
He handed her two photocopies of what looked like pieces of paper torn from a spiral notebook. The copier had even picked up the frayed edges. There were almost a dozen addresses on both lists. Hers was close to the top of the list labeled “#1.” She leaned against the wall. The exhaustion from the night before was catching up with her. Of course, she had spent most of last night pacing from window to window, watching and waiting. The only sleep she had gotten had been on the flight back from Kansas City, and how could anyone get any rest while bobbing thirty-eight thousand feet above control? Now she couldn’t even remember how long ago that was.
“Where did you find her car?”
“The airport’s long-term parking lot. Also found a telephone company van parked alongside it that was reported stolen a couple of weeks ago.”
“Any trace inside Jessica’s car?” she asked as she glanced over the list of addresses.
“There was some mud on the accelerator. Not much else. Her blood and some blond hair—also hers—were recovered from the trunk. He must have used her own car to dump her body. No signs of a struggle inside the car, though, if that’s what you’re thinking. He had to have taken her someplace where he could take his time with her. Problem is, there aren’t many abandoned warehouses or condemned properties in Newburgh Heights. I was thinking he might have given a business address, knowing the offices would be empty at night. But nothing commercial shows up on either list.”
Suddenly Maggie recognized an address on one of the lists. She stood up straight and away from the wall. No, it couldn’t be this easy. She reread the address.
“Actually, he may have had someplace much more luxurious in mind.”
“Did you find something?” Agent Tully was at her side, staring at the list that he must have examined over and over himself. But of course, he wouldn’t have seen it. How could he?
“This address,” Maggie pointed halfway down the page. “The house is for sale. It’s empty.”
“You’re kidding? Are you sure? If I remember correctly, the phone is still connected to a voice messaging service.”
“The owners may be forwarding their phone calls. Yes, I’m sure it’s for sale. My real estate agent showed it to me about two weeks ago.”
She no longer cared about the rest of the file, which she had tucked under her arm. She was almost out the door before Agent Tully stopped her.
“Hold on,” he said, grabbing his wrinkled jacket from the chair behind his desk. As he did so, he stumbled over a worn pair of sneakers Maggie hadn’t noticed. Agent Tully reached for the corner of his desk to catch his balance and one of the piles gave way, scattering papers and photos across the floor. When he waved off her help, Maggie leaned against the doorjamb and waited. It was bad enough Cunningham was making her see Dr. James Kernan, but saddling her with her Dudley DoRight seemed almost laughable.
CHAPTER 37
Maggie tried to wait patiently while Delores Heston of Heston Realty attempted to find the right key. The sun was sinking behind the ridge of trees. She couldn’t believe how much time they had wasted trying to track down Tess McGowan. And although Ms. Heston had been more than accommodating, Maggie felt agitated, on edge and overly anxious. She knew this was where Albert Stucky had killed Jessica Beckwith. She could feel it. She could sense it. It was so easy, so simple, so very much like Stucky.
Ms. Heston dug out another bundle of keys and Maggie fidgeted, shifting her weight from one foot to the other. Ms. Heston noticed.
“I don’t know where Tess is. I’m sure she probably just decided to take a couple of days off.”
It was the same explanation the woman had given Maggie over the phone, but again Maggie could hear the concern.
“One of these has to work.”
“I would think you’d have them labeled.” Maggie tried to contain her irritation. She knew Ms. Heston was doing them a favor by letting them take a look after their bogus explanation about investigating possible break-ins. Since when did the FBI get involved in local burglaries? Luckily, Ms. Heston didn’t question them.
“Actually, these are the spare keys. We do keep a labeled set, but Tess must have forgotten to return it after she showed the house yesterday.”
“Yesterday? She showed the house to someone yesterday?”
Ms. Heston stopped and gave Maggie a nervous glance over her shoulder. Maggie realized her voice must have sounded too shrill, too alarmed.
“Yes, I’m sure it was yesterday. I checked the show schedule before I left the office tonight—Wednesday, April 1. Is there a problem? Do you think the house may have been broken into before that?”
“I really can’t say,” Maggie said, trying to sound indifferent when she wanted to kick in the door. “Do you know who she showed the house to?”
“No, we keep the names off the schedule for confidentiality reasons.”
“You don’t have the name of the person written down anywhere?”
Ms. Heston shot her another concerned look over her shoulder. The woman’s flawless deep brown skin now had worry lines in her forehead and around her mouth. “Tess would have it written down somewhere. I trust my agents. No need for them to have me standing over their shoulder.” Concern was quickly turning to frustration.
Maggie hadn’t meant to make the woman defensive. She simply wanted the goddamn door opened.
She glanced around and saw Agent Tully finally emerge from the house across the street. He had been inside a long time, and Maggie wondered if the blonde in spandex who had answered the door simply found him charming, or if she really had some information to share. Judging by the woman’s smile and wave, Maggie guessed it to be the former. She watched the tall, lanky agent hurry across the street. Out here, he moved with a confident, long-legged gait. In his dark suit, sunglasses and closely cropped hair, he looked like standard government-issue FBI, except that Agent Tully was too polite, too friendly and much too accommodating. If he hadn’t told her he was from Cleveland, she would have guessed the Midwest. Maybe it was something in Ohio’s water.
“This house has a security system.” Ms. Heston was still trying to find the right key. “Oh, here we go. Finally.”
The lock clicked as Agent Tully bounded up the steps. Ms. Hes-ton turned, startled by his sudden
appearance.
Ms. Heston, this is Special Agent R. J. Tully.
“Oh my. This must be important.”
“Just routine, ma’am. We tend to travel in pairs these days,” Tully said with a smile that relaxed the woman and immediately reminded Maggie of Sergeant Joe Friday.
She wanted to ask him if he had learned anything from the neighbor, but knew she’d have to wait for a more appropriate time. She hated waiting.
As soon as they entered the foyer, Maggie noticed the security system had been disarmed. None of the regular lights flashed or blinked.
“Are you certain the service has been continued?” Maggie asked as she pointed out the silent box. By now it should have been buzzing incessantly, screeching for the correct code to be entered.
“Yes, I’m quite certain. It’s in our contract with the owners.” Heston punched several buttons and the box came alive. “I don’t understand this. Surely Tess wouldn’t have forgotten to set it.”
Maggie remembered Tess McGowan being very careful about deactivating and reactivating the alarm systems of the houses she had shown Maggie, this one included. Security systems had been one of Maggie’s priorities, and she knew this one had not been anything out of the ordinary. She remembered it as being sufficient for the regular home owner. Most people didn’t need to barricade themselves in at night away from serial killers.
“Mind if we look around?” Agent Tully asked, but Maggie was already halfway up the open staircase. She reached the first landing when she heard Ms. Heston’s panicked voice.
“Oh, good Lord!”
Maggie leaned over the oak railing to see Ms. Heston pointing to a briefcase she had discovered in the corner of the living room.
“This belongs to Tess.” Up until now, the woman had been incredibly professional. Now her sudden panic was unnerving.
By the time Maggie came down the steps, Agent Tully had taken the briefcase and started carefully extracting its contents with a white handkerchief.
“No way that girl’s gonna leave this and not come back for it.” The panic rushed her words, reducing her previous crisp dialect to a slang version she obviously found more comfortable. “There’s her appointment book, her pocketbook…good Lord, something’s just not right here.”
