by Blake Pierce
Lehl’s mouth twisted a little, almost into a smile.
He said, “You’ve got some interesting instincts there, Riley Sweeney. It’s too bad you don’t know how to put them to better use.”
Riley’s spirits sank again. She knew she wasn’t going to like whatever he said next.
Lehl said, “I checked in on how you were doing at the Academy. I’m afraid the reports I got weren’t exactly favorable.”
Riley stifled a sigh …
No, I don’t suppose they were.
Lehl continued, “When you went to West Virginia yesterday, you left the Academy under Agent Crivaro’s authorization. But that authorization ended the moment he dropped you back off at Quantico. You should have reported for your classes the next morning. Instead you went AWOL. Worse, you conducted an interview without bothering to get any sort of official approval.”
Riley had to bite her tongue from saying “I’m sorry” again.
At this point, she knew it wouldn’t help at all.
Lehl crossed his arms and said, “You’re expelled from the Academy.”
Riley felt as though her heart and just fallen through the floor.
She noticed that Crivaro looked quite upset as well—but hardly surprised.
Lehl turned his attention to Crivaro and said …
“What are your plans for the rest of today?”
Crivaro shrugged slightly and said, “As long as I’m here in Quantico, I might was well check in with my tech team. They’ve been trying to track down Harvey Cardin, the brother of the man who was originally held in Hyland under suspicion of killing Alice Gibson. Harvey left town under suspicious circumstances. If the tech guys still haven’t found him, maybe I can push them along, get them moving.”
Lehl nodded and said, “You do that, Agent Crivaro. I’ll keep a helicopter ready for whenever you want to head back to West Virginia.”
Without another word, and without even looking at Riley, Special Agent in Charge Erik Lehl left the room.
Riley and Crivaro sat at the table in silence for a moment.
Finally Riley began, “Agent Crivaro …”
Crivaro interrupted, “I know. You’re sorry. So am I.”
Then he, too, got up and left the room.
Riley sat alone for a few long moments, feeling lost and desolate and on the verge of tears.
What do I do now? she wondered.
All she knew for sure was that she had to leave the Academy for good.
She left the room and headed on out of the building.
*
Later that evening, Riley was back in her dorm room packing up her belongings when Frankie came in.
“How’d things go in West Virginia?” Frankie asked.
Riley sighed as she put more clothes into her suitcase.
“I guess you haven’t heard,” she said. “I’ve been expelled.”
Frankie’s eyes widened.
“No kidding?” she said. “Just on account of that Hogan’s Alley stunt? That’s harsh.”
Riley said, “No, there’s more to it than that. I screwed up, Frankie. I screwed up royally.”
Closing up her suitcase, Riley told Frankie about her grim meeting with Crivaro and Lehl.
“You poor kid,” Frankie said when Riley was finished. “It sounds like you stumbled onto something serious about the senator. I wonder what it is.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t much care anymore,” Riley said, sighing again. “Agent Crivaro and Agent Lehl obviously know something nobody else is supposed to know, including me. And if I hadn’t been so stupid, I’d just left the whole thing alone.”
Riley stood staring at her packed suitcase for a moment.
Then, to her own surprise, she burst into tears.
Frankie put her arm around Riley and sat down on the bed beside her.
“Kid, what’s the matter?” Frankie said, her voice full of concern.
Her voice choking with sobs, Riley said …
“Oh, Frankie—I don’t even know where I’m going to go now.”
“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Frankie said, handing her a tissue. “Just go back home to your apartment in DC.”
“It’s not that simple,” Riley blubbered.
Then she explained what had happened when she’d walked into the apartment last night.
Frankie shook her head and said, “That son of a bitch.”
Riley said, “Frankie, it’s not like I really know he’s—he’s involved with that woman.”
Frankie scoffed …
“Oh, he’s involved with her all right. I’ve had more experience with men than you have, so believe me, I know what I’m talking about. You’re lucky to have found out this early on.”
Frankie patted Riley on the back and continued …
“This is what you’re going to do. Take your suitcase and go somewhere new. Don’t worry about your belongings back in that apartment. You can get all that stuff sometime later. Just pick out someplace and go and start all over again. Richmond, maybe. That’s a good city.”
“But what will I do there?” Riley said.
Frankie shrugged and said, “Whatever you want to do. You’re free. But in the long run, I’ll bet anything you’re not through with law enforcement. You might be a little too wild for the FBI, but you’d still make one hell of a cop. You’ve obviously got real talent. Even your screw-ups prove that.”
Riley laughed a little. Before she could ask Frankie for further advice, there was a knock at the door.
Frankie went to the door and opened it, then gasped aloud.
Riley looked and saw that Jake Crivaro was standing in the doorway.
He looked at Riley sternly and said …
“Get your go-bag ready. We’re headed back to West Virginia.”
CHAPTER TWENTY THREE
As Crivaro came on into the dorm room, Riley jumped up off the bed. She looked like a mess and she knew it. She wiped at her eyes with a tissue, embarrassed for him to see that she’d been crying. But it couldn’t be helped.
Frankie just stood there staring at the legendary Jake Crivaro with her mouth hanging open.
As Riley dabbed at her eyes, she was trying to register what Crivaro had just said.
Had he really told her they were going somewhere?
Crivaro snapped impatiently …
“Did you hear me? There’s been another murder in West Virginia. Grab your bag. We’ve got to get going.”
Riley couldn’t believe her ears.
She stammered, “But … I thought … I …”
Crivaro smiled ever so slightly.
He said, “You just got kicked out of the Academy, right?”
Riley nodded.
Crivaro added, “So, have you got anything better to do right now?”
“No, I—I guess not,” Riley said.
“Good. Because there’s a chopper waiting for us over at the airstrip.”
Moving in a daze, Riley obediently picked up her go-bag and followed Crivaro out into the hall. She turned back and saw Frankie standing just outside their room, beaming proudly at her. Riley remembered what Frankie had said just before Crivaro had arrived …
“I’ll bet anything you’re not through with law enforcement.”
Riley thought …
Maybe Frankie was right.
Still, it was hard to imagine what route she was going to take to that kind of a career now that she was out of the Academy. She had to make the best of this new and completely unexpected opportunity …
I can’t screw this up.
As he drove them the short way to airstrip, Crivaro said …
“Don’t get the wrong idea about all this. You’ve stirred up hell of a lot of trouble, and it’ll be a while before you hear the last about it.”
Riley looked at him with surprise.
“I stirred up trouble?” she said. “How?”
Crivaro chuckled a little.
“I take it you haven’t seen the TV news th
is evening,” he said.
“No, why?”
“Well, when you asked the senator those questions this morning, you piqued the curiosity of all the real reporters who were also hanging around outside that church, doing their jobs. They started looking into things—and sure enough, they found out the truth real fast.”
“The truth about what?” Riley asked.
“About the very thing Special Agent in Charge Lehl was trying to keep quiet. Fifteen years ago, Warren Gardner was traveling through West Virginia, campaigning for his first term as U.S. Senator. During a stop in Dighton, he got an 18-year-old campaign volunteer pregnant. Can you guess who that teenager was?”
Riley only had to think for a couple of seconds.
With a slight gasp, she said, “Hope Nelson.”
Crivaro nodded and said, “Hope Gentry back in those days. Things didn’t work out too badly for her. The mayor of Dighton knew all about the affair and pregnancy, but he fell in love with her even so. He married her and wound up raising her son as his own. Gardner kept supporting the kid financially, making sure that he went to the best schools and all.”
Crivaro paused for a moment, then said …
“If that was all there was to it, I don’t guess it would be much of a scandal. But Gardner’s got a closet full of skeletons—apparently there’s more than one love child in his home state. At least one of them by a girl who was underage when he got her pregnant.”
Crivaro scoffed and added …
“Mind you, we’re talking about the same Senator Gardner who wants to teach the Ten Commandments in U.S. public schools. So naturally, he’s been trying to keep all this quiet for years now. And when he heard about Hope’s murder, he was afraid the FBI might accidentally blow the lid off their relationship. So he personally called Chief Lehl and gave him an earful, told him to make sure his agents watched their step.”
Riley’s eyes widened as the whole thing became clearer in her mind.
She said, “So that was what the mayor and the police chief were talking about when we overheard them. The chief must have known all along about the affair and the baby. So he’d thought maybe the senator would show up at Hope’s funeral. But of course, he didn’t.”
Crivaro nodded.
“You’re getting the idea,” he said.
A new question started nagging at Riley …
“But why did Chief Lehl go along with the senator? Why did he agree to try to keep things quiet?”
“Good old-fashioned political bullying,” Crivaro said. “Gardner’s a high-ranking senator on some prestigious committees, and he’s got a lot of pull over the BAU’s purse strings. Lehl had good reason not to want to piss him off—especially over something that wasn’t really BAU business to begin with.”
Crivaro grunted and said, “But it seems like that ship has sailed. After that stunt you pulled outside the church, those reporters were onto the story like a school of piranhas. Within hours they’d figured out at least some of the truth, and it’s already all over the media. What they’ve reported is just the tip of the iceberg, though. A lot more will come out over the next few days, you can be sure of that.”
Riley felt a little dizzy at the enormity of what she’d done.
“Oh, my God,” she murmured. “Is the BAU going to lose funding because of me?”
Crivaro shook his head and said, “Oh, I kind of doubt that will be a problem now that everything will go public. It’s more likely that Senator Gardner’s days as a political powerhouse are pretty much over. This is probably the end of the line as far as his senate career is concerned.”
Crivaro chuckled and added, “It couldn’t happen to a nicer guy as far as I’m concerned. A bastard like Gardner deserves to rot. And I’m pretty sure Chief Lehl feels the same way.”
As Crivaro pulled into the airstrip parking area, he wagged a finger at Riley and said …
“But none of this had anything to do with the murders in West Virginia. So let this be a lesson to you. Orders are orders. When I tell you to leave something alone, leave it the hell alone.”
“I will, I promise,” Riley said. “And thanks for giving me another chance.”
“Don’t mention it,” Crivaro said. “Besides, it was Chief Lehl’s idea.”
“What?” Riley said with a gasp of surprise.
“He suggested it when he contacted me about the new murder,” Crivaro said. “I guess he didn’t act like it, but he was actually pretty impressed by you. And believe it or not, he thinks you might be a good influence on me. ‘Maybe she’ll teach you to play nice with others,’ he said.”
Crivaro grunted again and added, “Don’t get your hopes up about that. Others have tried and failed lots of times. I’m pretty damned incorrigible.”
Crivaro parked the car, and he and Riley rushed toward the waiting helicopter. Within seconds they were airborne and on their way to West Virginia.
*
The helicopter descended toward a weird and unsettling light in the midst of the deep nighttime darkness. Then the copter’s own powerful lights came on and Riley could see that they were landing in a meadow. She knew that this must be the crime scene near the West Virginia town of Wynnewood.
When the copter was down and the engine off, Riley and Crivaro climbed out.
One edge of the meadow was lit by halogen lamps.
At first the piercing white light made everything looked flat and bleached, like a badly processed photograph. As Riley’s eyes adjusted, she saw a couple of parked police cars and a medical examiner’s van, and several people were milling about.
Then she spotted what they had come there to see.
The light picked out a grotesque bundle hanging from a fence post.
The victim, Riley realized with a shudder.
CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR
Riley felt chilled deep inside. Her legs became weak and wobbly. The sight of the bundled victim hanging from the fence post was having an unexpected effect on her.
Steady, she told herself as she struggled to stay on her feet.
You’ve seen dead people before.
In fact, she’d seen much bloodier murder scenes before. She’d also seen photos of the other two victims in exactly this condition. So why did she find this one to be so uniquely shocking?
Surely, she thought, it must be the kind of death the victim suffered.
And the sheer depravity of whoever did this to her.
She heard Crivaro say to her …
“Come on, we’ve got to talk to people.”
Riley and Crivaro stepped across the fence in a spot where the rusted barbed wire had been pressed down for human traffic. A man with white hair and a thick mustache came toward Crivaro.
“I see we meet again, Agent Crivaro,” the man said. “Too bad, I was kind of hoping we’d never see each other again. Certainly not under these circumstances.”
“Yeah, me too,” Crivaro said.
Crivaro introduced Riley to the man, who was the county medical examiner, Hamish Cross. Crivaro told Cross that Riley was “an agent in training.”
Whatever that means exactly, she thought.
Still, it was a little bit encouraging to hear those words. It sounded like she still had some connection to the FBI instead of being tossed out completely.
Hamish Cross then introduced them to Wynnewood’s police chief, Vachel MacNerland, an intense-looking man with a sharp chin and large, bulging eyes.
“I’m glad you’re here,” MacNerland said to Jake and Riley. “Ever since those other women got killed, I’ve been hoping and praying it didn’t happen around Wynnewood next time. No such luck.
“Is the victim a local woman?” Jake asked.
“Her name was Anna Park,” MacNerland said. “She moved here a couple of years ago from across the state in Huntington. She lived alone in Wynnewood, didn’t have any family here. She taught English at our community college, and she was one of our most popular teachers, students just loved her.”
; MacNerland turned and looked over at a woman standing nearby.
“You need to meet Clara Jarrett,” he told them. “She owns the property.”
He led them to the woman who was wearing round spectacles and a plain gingham dress that made her look like an old-time frontier woman. She stood with her arms crossed, staring at the body with an expression of what seemed to be bitter distaste, as if somebody had vandalized her property with graffiti.
After the chief introduced the agents, she said, shaking her head …
“I never thought I’d see anything like this,” she said, shaking her head.
Chief MacNerland explained, “Clara is one of the many organic farmers we live in these parts.”
Clara pointed toward a couple of small buildings across the pasture.
“I raise mostly chickens, over there,” she said.
Sure enough, now that she listened closely, Riley could hear clucking sounds.
“They’re disturbed by all the commotion out here,” she said. “I’ll let them out when it’s daylight and after this is all cleaned away. They’ll settle down then.”
Clara added, “It was the cattle that got me up. I keep just a couple of cows in this pasture. I knew something was wrong a good while ago when I heard them bellowing at the top of their lungs. I came down from the house and found them running around like they were scared half to death.”
Pointing at the corpse, she said, “Then I found this. Naturally I called Chief MacNerland right away. And I moved my cows into the barn.”
She shook her head again and added matter-of-factly …
“Cattle get spooked by the smell of blood. Can’t say I blame them, when it comes to something like this. I’d heard about the other two women, over near Dighton and Hyland. I sure never expected to find anything like this on my own property.”
Riley again found herself staring at the bundled-up corpse.
It hardly seems real, she thought.
The victim had been tightly compressed into a fetal position. Her head was twisted so that her dead, terrified eyes looked directly into Riley’s.
Riley walked over to the corpse and crouched down beside it.
