by KJ Kalis
Emily picked up another magazine and turned her back to the three of them, listening. Eavesdropping on their conversation was giving her more information than she’d had in the last couple of days. Her mind was racing. The FBI had nothing if they only said the window had been jimmied. In her mind, that was less than nothing. Emily heard their voices above the flutter of the pages of the magazine, “There’s been no ransom demand. That’s why the doctor said I should take these,” Keira said.
“There’s no shame in taking a little anxiety medication, Keira,” Sierra said. “This whole situation, it’s been hard on all of us. My dad…”
Emily turned just in time to see Randy reach his hand out to Sierra, resting it on her arm, “I’m so sorry to hear about him. Some guys at the station told me what happened. How’s he doing?”
Out of the corner of her eye, Emily saw Sierra tilt her head, “He’s okay. I mean, he’s still in the hospital. They’re trying to rebalance his medications — get them off of some and start him on some new ones.” There was a pause, “I just never thought he’d try to kill himself. I knew things were bad, but to find him like that…” Sierra paused, “I’m not sure I’m ever going to get the image out of my mind.”
It was time to leave. As Emily went to put the magazine back on the shelf, a cheap novel fell and hit the floor with a thud. Bending over, she picked it up, trying to replace it on the shelf, without being noticed. It didn’t work. Before Emily could walk away, Sierra was standing next to her. “Emily? What are you doing here?”
Emily held her breath, her heart pounding in her chest. She didn’t want to get caught this way. Eavesdropping wasn’t a good look. By the time she started to answer, the Coopers were looking at her, too. “I trailed you from your house.”
Emily saw Randy move in front of his wife, their eyes wide. Sierra held her hand up, “It’s not like that. Emily’s a friend. She’s here to help. Tell them.”
Emily walked a little closer to them. As she did, she could see the dark circles under their eyes, the blotchy redness of their skin from the stress of the last few days. She swallowed, not knowing exactly what to say. Emily never had kids of her own, so was hard to relate, or at least it felt that way. “I’m a private investigator, you could say. I’m working with Bradley Barker to help him find out what happened to his brother.” Emily glanced at Sierra and then back at the Coopers, who were still staring at her. “I met with Sierra the other day just to get a little of background on what happened to her brother Joe.”
Randy looked at Emily, his eyebrows knitted together, “Why were you following us?”
“Honestly? I couldn’t exactly walk up to the door and ask you questions while the FBI was hovering.”
“You think our daughter's kidnapping is somehow linked to what happened to Joe and Sean?” Keira asked.
Emily shook her head. “At this point, it’s hard to know. I’d be lying if I told you the timing wasn’t suspect, but taking a child doesn’t exactly fit the torso killer's profile.”
As soon as the words torso killer came out of Emily’s mouth, Keira began to sob again. “I’m sorry,” she said. “It’s just the idea that our little girl is out there somewhere where we can’t be with her, scared to death, at the hands of some madman, is driving me insane.”
The last thing Emily wanted to do was get caught up in the hysteria. She understood that Keira was hurting, but her pain wouldn’t help Emily do her job. Emily needed to stay clear-headed and calm. She held her breath for a second, and then let it out, “I can’t imagine, really I can’t. Is there anything else you can tell me about what happened to Lexi?”
Randy stared at Emily for a second and then at Sierra. When he looked back, he said, “Are you going to help us, too? Is that why you’re asking?”
The way he said it made it clear he was suspicious of Emily. Emily didn’t blame him. “If there’s an intersection between your daughter’s case and the other cases, then I’m going to end up in the middle of this any way I look at it.” The reality that Emily could be bumping into Cash Strickland and his cadre of FBI agents at any moment sent her stomach fluttering. Where was Mike with the information that Strickland had requested? She refocused on Randy. “Listen, I can’t promise you anything, but neither can the FBI. All I can tell you is I’m going to be down here for the next couple of days trying to figure out what’s going on.” Emily glanced toward the door. It was time to leave. “The only thing I ask is that you don’t talk to Agent Strickland or any of his other agents about me. The FBI doesn’t like it when there are other investigators involved in the mix. I’ll keep a low profile and give information to Sierra if I get anything, but I need you to keep quiet about what I’m doing.” Emily swallowed hard, knowing that her future might rest on whether the people of Tifton could keep her out of the view of the FBI. As the words came out of her mouth, her phone buzzed. It was Mike. “Listen, I gotta go. Like I said, I’ll get information to Sierra if I find anything. I’m hoping the FBI can find your daughter, but please know I’m going to be looking, too.”
Emily walked out of the drugstore without saying goodbye and without any assurances from Keira and Randy they wouldn’t say anything to the FBI. The only thing Emily could hope for is that Sierra would talk to them and tell them that exposing Emily would do nothing to bring Lexi home. Emily made her way out to the Jeep, started it up and pulled away, heading out of town. She pulled down a side street on the far end of town and found an empty parking lot. Dialing Mike, she leaned back in the seat, trying to take a couple of deep breaths. Spending time with Randy and Keira had drained her. “What’s going on?”
“Have you been parked at Bradley Barker’s house all day? The truck hasn’t moved.” Mike said.
“Yeah, about that. I ditched the truck. Bradley’s letting me drive around in his Jeep.”
“Does it have GPS in it? If so, I can hack it so I can locate you.”
Emily shook her head, “Naw. It’s vintage. Isn’t even an automatic. No air conditioning either.”
“No air conditioning in the Louisiana summer? That’s not good.”
“Tell me about it. What’s going on?” Emily knew she could banter with Mike for the next half hour, but there was a reason he called. She wanted to know what it was.
“Well, Strickland is on your case. Have you seen him around?”
Emily shook her head. “I haven’t. I have no idea where he is.”
31
As Cash pulled into the bed-and-breakfast, he noticed the other SUV was already parked there. The other agents must’ve all piled in together for the meeting. He walked in the front door, seeing his agents milling around, waiting for him, all dressed in the same, identical black work pants and navy-blue T-shirts with yellow FBI lettering. All of them had guns on their hips and handcuffs attached to the back of their belts, all of them except for Jeremy, who focused on forensics. There was no one left at the Cooper’s house for the moment. He needed them all together out of earshot of the family.
Cash motioned to his team, waving them into the breakfast area, which was abandoned, the early morning breakfast service long over, “Let’s go in here,” he said. As they filed in, Cash shut the doors behind them, hoping for some privacy. The last thing he needed was the locals listening in on their investigative progress.
As they got settled, Cash looked at Janet and then at the rest of the group, “What do we know?”
Silence settled over the room. Finally, Jeremy spoke up, “Well, from a forensic perspective, the only thing I have that’s solid is that little, tiny mark on the windowsill outside of Lexi’s bedroom. By the time we arrived at the scene, any footprints left behind were gone. The only other forensic evidence we have is a set of footprints leading through the woods. Unfortunately, the kind of boot print we found is very common. Based on my research, almost a million pairs of those same work boots sold this past year at many of the national chain discount stores. That’s particularly true because it’s a size twelve. That’s one of the
most common shoe sizes for men.”
Cash fought the urge to stare at Jeremy and yell, “Thanks for nothing!” as frustration crept up in his chest. He clenched his fists, “Anyone else?”
Janet cleared her throat, “I’ve done a little background research on the Coopers. As all of you know, Randy is a firefighter/paramedic with the local department. He’s been there for ten years. Keira is a stay-at-home mom. The cost of living isn’t super high here in Tifton, so it’s not too hard for them to make it on one salary. Based on their financials, they live a pretty normal life. In the last few years, they’ve taken only one vacation and there are no interesting deposits or withdrawals in their accounts. They have just the one daughter, Lexi, who you all know about.”
Although Cash was grateful that Janet spoke up — someone had to — what she said didn’t exactly offer earthshaking news. Just like every other one of the Tifton torso killer cases, the person who was missing lived a relatively normal life. Cash started to pace, “Unfortunately, like the other cases in Tifton we’ve run across, there’s very little evidence and nearly nothing we can build a case on.” Cash stared at the group, searching their faces, hoping that someone had noticed something that hadn’t been brought up yet. It didn’t look like there was. “So, what we have is a missing five-year-old girl who possibly was taken directly out of her bedroom and carried through the woods. We do know a van was spotted at the park behind the Cooper’s house that night, though it looked abandoned to local law enforcement. There were some markings on it, but the officer didn’t note them. And, we have little or no forensic evidence,” Cash said, giving a nod to Jeremy, “Is there anything else we haven’t talked about?”
One of the agents from the back of the room, Dan McClellan, cleared his throat and looked at Cash, “Are we sure this isn’t a domestic situation? Some grandparent that hasn’t been able to see the little girl in a long time? Are we sure she just didn’t run outside and get lost in the woods? I mean, look at this place. It’s covered with hundreds of acres of woods. If she got outside, there’s no telling how far she could have gotten by now.”
Cash continued pacing, looking down at the toes of his boots, thinking. “Is it a possibility somehow Lexi got out of the house and got lost in the woods in the middle of the night? Maybe. But why would she go out there?” Cash stared at McClellan, who didn’t have an answer. “Could it be a grieved relative, someone who wants access to Lexi but doesn’t have it? Grandparent? Aunt or uncle? According to the family, that’s not a possibility.”
McClellan spoke up, “Maybe they’re lying?”
“That’s certainly an option, but usually people that are desperate to get their child back will tell you everything about themselves including how many pennies they have in their bank account and how many affairs they’ve had while they’ve been married. Desperate people will do desperate things to get what they love back. You learned that on the first day of Quantico.”
Cash started to pace again, feeling frustrated with his team, but mostly himself. By now they should have something, and they didn’t.
32
Though Emily hadn’t planned on talking with Randy and Keira directly with the FBI hanging around, there was a part of her that was glad it happened. At least she got to size them up. They certainly didn’t seem like the kind of people who’d do something drastic to their own child and then try to pretend they didn’t. Emily started up the Jeep and headed back to the bed-and-breakfast, needing a little time to regroup. The radio started at the same time as the engine, offering another repetitive announcement about the tropical storm coming into the area. Just as the announcements stopped, a few heavy droplets of rain hit Emily’s windshield. At the next stoplight, she rolled up the windows, trying to protect the interior of the Jeep for Bradley. It wasn’t as easy as in her truck since they were hand-crank windows. Instantly, she felt the hover of humidity coating the inside the Jeep. She turned on the fan system, hoping the windshield wouldn’t fog too badly. She cracked the driver’s side window, just trying to get some fresh air in the Jeep. Emily frowned. Horrible timing for a storm.
A couple of minutes later, Emily pulled into the bed-and-breakfast, seeing the two black SUVs parked out front. Her heart skipped a beat. The last thing she wanted to do was run into Cash Strickland in one of the hallways of the building. If they bumped into each other one-on-one, the odds of him not recognizing her were slim. Emily felt a tingling in her spine. She needed to talk to Mike about what he’d found, not get caught by Cash.
Parking the Jeep in the back lot, Emily jumped out and ran to the back door, pulling the baseball hat down low on her face to keep the rain off of it. As she slipped her key card into the slot, she stepped inside, the darkness covering her. She took the steps two at a time, running upstairs to the second floor as quickly and quietly as possible. As she cracked the door to the second-floor open, she glanced down the hall, seeing two FBI agents opening the door to their room and disappearing inside. They are right on my floor, she thought, swallowing. Her own door was just across the hall. She took two steps, stuffing the key card in the reader, hoping it would click open quickly. It did. Emily lunged inside, pushing the door closed behind her.
Inside of her room, Emily pulled off the baseball hat and shook out her long hair, slipping out of her work boots. The air conditioning cooling her room felt almost cold as it touched her skin. She texted Mike before she sat down, “I’m back in my room. Call me?”
“Let’s do a video call. Give me two minutes.”
Emily pulled her computer off the charger and sat down on the bed, resting her back against the headboard. Her stomach clenched. What had Mike found?
A moment later, Mike’s face appeared on the screen of her computer. Emily frowned, “What’s going on?”
Mike cocked his head to the side, “Well, Flynn and I spent the last couple hours digging through Agent Strickland’s financials and taxes to figure out what makes him tick. To be honest with you, he doesn’t have much of a life.”
“As much as I’d like to hear about that part, let’s focus on the background check.” For a second, Emily felt like Mike might be trying to soft-pedal the start to the conversation. Her stomach clenched. How much information had Cash Strickland managed to get on her?
Mike cleared his throat and moved a little bit to the side, as Flynn adjusted his face on the screen. “Well, it looks like he has it all. The jacket was just delivered to him about a half-hour ago.”
Emily didn’t say anything for a second. It seemed like it had taken a long time for the FBI to pull together her information. “That's strange? What’s up with the delay?”
Flynn leaned forward toward the camera, his face growing large on Emily’s screen, “We had the same question. In a way, I guess the answer is good news — they’ve never pulled a background on you before, so they had to start from scratch.”
Emily raised her eyebrows, “And the bad news?”
“Like I said, they have it all.”
Emily swallowed. She knew what that meant. It meant that Cash Strickland, at this very moment, had her entire history at his fingertips. Everything from where she was born and where she went to school to her career information — even her arrest and termination from the Chicago Police Department. If the FBI truly did their job, he’d also be able to see that her case was dismissed, she got a large settlement, and she’d been married to one of Chicago’s most notorious crime bosses' son, Luca Tizzano, before he left her and overdosed.
Before Emily could say anything, Mike interjected, “Emily, we don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing,” he said, biting his lip. “I mean, to the degree you told him you’re a criminal justice student, that might be a problem, but there’s nothing really in your file that would suggest you’re there to hamper his investigation, so hopefully, he’ll just leave you alone.”
Emily shook her head a little, “I appreciate what you’re trying to do, Mike, but the reality is that now Cash Strickland has his crosshairs
on me as well as the torso killer.”
Flynn leaned forward, “But don’t you think he’ll be more worried about the torso killer than you? I mean, he’s gotta try to find Lexi Cooper before something happens to her.”
Emily didn’t want to talk about herself anymore. She felt her face go hot. Ever since her arrest, her privacy had become one of the most important things in her life. Knowing that there was someone out there that had all of her information, every bit of it, sent a wave of uneasiness over her. “Listen, I gotta go. Reach out if you find anything else, okay?”
Emily ended the call, slammed the lid on her laptop closed, and tossed it to the other end of the bed. She got up pacing. Why did Cash Strickland care who she was? What was it to him? Emily clenched her jaw as she paced back and forth, wondering what exactly was in the file. Mike should get that for me, she thought, then pushed the idea aside. She had to stay focused on trying to find Lexi Cooper and whoever had killed Sean Barker, Joe Day, and the rest of the victims. She stopped at the window, just in time to see a flood of agents go back to their black SUVs and leave. For a second, she thought she caught a glimpse of Cash’s hair, but she wasn’t sure. They were just a little too far away. Within a second or two, the black SUVs left, probably heading back to the Cooper’s house. Emily said a silent prayer hoping Randy and Keira wouldn’t tell Cash they’d run into Emily at the drugstore. If they told him, she could be getting a knock on her hotel room door at any time.
She stopped in her tracks, biting her lip. Why hadn’t Cash come up to her hotel room to question her? That didn’t make any sense. He had to know she was staying there. Unless… unless they only pulled her history, not her financials. Mike did register her under a flimsy fake name, but it was fake anyway. Emily started pacing again, her anger over Cash’s intrusion into her privacy changing into curiosity. Had he even looked at her background yet? A glimmer of hope lit in her chest. It was possible that he had requested the background information and then decided it wasn’t important or had even forgotten about it. There was no telling. It was possible, though, if there was some development in the case that took his attention away from her. Was that the reason the SUVs had so abruptly left the bed-and-breakfast? Emily had more questions than answers. It was the answers she needed before it was too late for Lexi Cooper.
