Dead End

by Nancy Mehl

  Chief Sawyer gestured to one of his detectives and asked her to check it out. The woman walked a few yards away and immediately got on her phone. “If we can find the car Jason rented, at least we can get an idea of where he was when he was abducted. If he was.”

  “I’m telling you, that’s what happened,” Noah insisted. “It’s the only option that makes sense.”

  “Look,” Sawyer said, “Agent Quinn is smart. I can’t believe she didn’t leave some kind of clue behind. A way for us to locate her.”

  “Not if she thought it might cost her brother his life.” Even though Noah believed what he’d just said, he had to agree with Sawyer. Had he missed something?

  Just then one of the officers from Des Moines Identification came up to them. They were going over the parking lot with a fine-tooth comb. Noah didn’t have much confidence they would find anything since so many cars came and went from the large, busy hospital, but he noticed the evidence bags the officer held had several items. Bits of glass. Dirt. Even a feather. Noah stared at it. It was large. He wondered what kind of bird had feathers that big.

  The officer, who wore gloves, held up a small notepad. “I’m not sure what this is,” he said. “Looks like some kid’s drawing, but you might want to check it out. It was under Agent Quinn’s car.”

  The chief, also gloved, took the pad from the officer’s hand. He shook his head. “Doesn’t look like this has anything to do with her disappearance, but bag it anyway. You know the drill.”

  “Wait a minute,” Noah said. “Can I take a look at it?” The officer held up the pad so Noah could see it. It looked like the notepad Kaely always carried with her. He stared at the strange scribbles. First a numeral one or a letter l. Then the letter S, but the end of the S wasn’t completed. It was almost straight. It was followed by a backward numeral four. Then there was something that looked like a cursive capital J. The message ended in a long squiggle that made it seem as if the writer couldn’t finish whatever he was trying to communicate.

  “You think this means something?” Sawyer asked.

  “I don’t know, but one thing I’m sure of. If Kaely was being abducted, like you said, she’d do everything in her power to leave us a message. Kaely always carries a notepad, and I’m certain this is hers. I’m going back to ICU, and I’d like to take this with me. See if anyone who worked with Ed recognizes it. I’ll bring it back.”

  The chief nodded at the I.D. officer, who put the pad in a clear bag, making sure the scribbles showed through. Then he handed it to Noah.

  Noah ran toward the hospital entrance and punched the buttons on all the elevators until the doors of one opened. Then he hit the button for the ICU floor, ignoring people heading toward his elevator. Kaely was in trouble, and he couldn’t waste a second.

  When he reached the nurses’ station, he asked if any of the nurses had seen Ed write something. No one had.

  “I need to see his room,” Noah said.

  “I’m sorry,” a nurse he hadn’t seen before said. She appeared to be in charge. “The body hasn’t been removed yet. And you’re not family.”

  A wave of anger coursed through him. He took out his creds and flashed them at her. “I’m with the FBI, and I want in that room. His daughter, FBI Agent Quinn, has been abducted, and time is of the essence.”

  The nurse hesitated a moment, but then she came around the long counter and motioned for him to follow her. “What are you looking for?” she asked.

  He stopped in the hallway and took the evidence bag out of his jacket pocket. “I know this looks like silly scribbles, but I’m wondering if it’s a message Ed was trying to write before he died. Do you know anything about it?”

  She shook her head. “I seriously doubt he made this. His hands were tied down. Hard to write like that. Besides, he was highly medicated.”

  “Just let me inside the room”—he looked at her name tag—“Carol. As I said, Agent Quinn is missing. This was found under her car. I think it could be a message for us. Please help me.”

  Carol nodded. “Okay.” She opened the door to Ed’s room. No one was guarding him now. Ed wasn’t going anywhere. His body was covered with a sheet.

  “Can you check his hands?” Noah asked.

  Carol seemed reluctant to touch his body, but finally she lifted the sheet on the side closest to them and looked at his hand—one of the hands that had choked the life out of so many women. It was clear touching Ed Oliphant bothered her. Noah couldn’t blame her. Ed’s hand was still bound by a strap. Carol shook her head. Then she walked around the bed and raised the sheet again. She frowned and looked at Noah, who hurriedly joined her. Ed’s right hand was unbound. Still didn’t prove anything, but it gave Noah hope.

  “What’s that?” Carol asked. She bent and lifted something from the floor, then handed it to Noah.

  “It’s Agent Quinn’s pen,” he said.

  “How do you know it belongs to her?”

  Noah took the blue pen from her. It had words written on its side. They shall mount up with wings like eagles. And the end had been chewed. It was definitely Kaely’s. “Her brother gave her several pens with Scripture on them.” He nodded toward a dispenser for latex gloves on the wall. “May I have one?”

  “Sure.”

  Noah pulled one out and put it on, then holding the pen in his gloved hand, he placed the bagged notepad back in his pocket. “I know Ed wrote this. I wish I could figure out what it says.”

  Carol let go of the sheet and covered Ed’s unbound hand. “I hope you find your answers,” she said softly. The toughness she’d exhibited earlier seemed to melt away, and she smiled. “And I wouldn’t worry too much about your partner. Obviously, she has a relationship with someone who can protect her.”

  Understanding she meant God, Noah nodded as if he agreed, but he couldn’t help but think about Tracy. She hadn’t been protected. He’d known for a long time that he wouldn’t survive if he lost Kaely too. It would be too much to bear. He had to find her. No matter what it took.

  He thanked Carol and strode into the hallway. He waited until he couldn’t be seen by anyone at the nurses’ station and then bowed his head and pleaded with God to keep Kaely safe. “And show me where she is,” he whispered. “Help me find her. She trusts you, God. And I’m trying to.”

  Noah headed to the men’s bathroom. Inside, he put the bag with the scribbled message on the counter, then took out his phone and snapped several pictures, still holding the pen in his gloved hand. He put the bag back in his pocket, along with his phone, and jogged to the elevators. When he got to the parking lot, he found Chief Sawyer speaking to one of his detectives. Bell was standing a few yards away, talking on his cell phone.

  Noah waited until Sawyer finished and the detective had walked away. He ran up to the chief and carefully explained what had happened upstairs. He held out Kaely’s pen. The chief called for an I.D. officer, who brought over another evidence bag. He held it open, and Noah dropped the pen inside and took off the latex glove, stuffing it into his pocket. Then Noah gave him back the bag with the pad.

  “I have no idea what Ed was trying to write,” he told the chief, “but I’m going to work on it. I know this is important.”

  Bell came up to them. “Do you have the notepad?” he asked the chief.

  Sawyer held up both the pad and the pen. Noah explained where he’d found the pen. “The strap on Ed’s right hand was unfastened,” he told Bell. “The pen was under the bed. I believe it’s clear that he wrote that note and that Kaely left it for us. That means it’s important.”

  “Looks like gibberish to me,” Bell said. “But we’ll do what we can with it.”

  The detective charged with contacting car rental companies came up to the chief. “We found the car Jason Oliphant rented,” she said.

  “Where was it?” Sawyer asked.

  “In the long-term parking lot at the airport. Way in the back where no one else was parked.” She frowned at them. “I think we should prepare ours
elves. The officers who located it say there’s blood inside. A lot of blood.”

  Thirty-Seven

  Although Bell told Noah to go back to the hotel and get some sleep before they gathered at the Command Post in a couple of hours, Noah had no intention of closing his eyes. He went back only to take a quick shower, change clothes, and check on Mr. Hoover. After feeding him, Noah left the doors between his and Kaely’s suites open. He made some coffee and then sat down on the couch, pulling up the image of the note he had on his phone. Then he sent it to his email and went over to the table, where he’d put his laptop.

  He quickly hooked it up to the printer he’d brought with him and printed out the image. He took it back to the couch and stared at it. Kaely wouldn’t have left it behind unless it would help them find her. Why had the Copycat Killer taken her and Jason? It didn’t make sense. This wasn’t his MO. Anytime a killer changed his method, it was important to figure out why. It was obvious now that the Scripture he’d put in his victims’ mouths was meant for Kaely. Maybe for Jason too. Was this some kind of twisted revenge? But why? Ed’s kids weren’t responsible for their father’s actions.

  He took out his phone again and pulled up the verse from Deuteronomy on a Bible reading app. For I, the Lord your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me. Noah was pretty sure this guy was intent on some kind of justice. He stared at the words punishing the children for the sin of the parents. But if the Copycat Killer was imitating The Raggedy Man because he looked up to him, why would he see Ed as someone committing sin? Wouldn’t that mean he was committing sin as well?

  And the most confusing question? Why get Raymond to kill Ed if Ed is some kind of hero to this nut? Punishing the children for the sin of the parents. For some reason the phrase kept running through his mind. What was he missing? It felt as if it were right in front of him, but he couldn’t see it. Was he just too tired?

  Mr. Hoover came striding in from Kaely’s room. He didn’t come straight to Noah. Instead, he walked around as if looking for something. Kaely. Noah fought back tears.

  “She’s not here, Hoovy. But we’re going to get her back. I promise.”

  The cat sat down and stared at him for several seconds. Then he walked over to the couch, jumped up, and settled next to Noah.

  Noah ran his hand over his soft fur. Would he be able to keep that promise? Was Kaely still alive? Mr. Hoover put his paw on Noah’s leg. Noah didn’t try to wipe away the tears that washed down his cheeks. “Please God,” he whispered. “I don’t know what to do. Please, please help me. We both need her.”

  Kaely kept trying to free herself, pulling hard against the cords that kept her bound to the rickety chair. He’d put a hood over her head before he drove her to this place in his car, right after she met him by her own car in the hospital parking lot. She’d had no choice but to follow his instructions since he said he had Jason. Maybe she hadn’t profiled him completely, but she knew his threats were real. She couldn’t take any chances with her brother’s life.

  From what she could tell, they were inside an old house, in the basement. The windows, small and close to the ceiling, were covered with something. Black paper? She wasn’t sure. She wanted to get a better view of the entire area, but her chair was tied to a large support beam in the middle of the room, and she couldn’t scoot very far. He’d also secured her wrists with plastic handcuffs.

  She noticed a large mound of dirt near the outside wall, but that was about as much as she could see. Why was it there?

  Jason was in a bad way. Like her father, he’d been knifed, and although their abductor had cleaned and dressed the wound, her brother was weak. He’d lost a lot of blood. He was lying on an old mattress on the floor, his right hand tied to a pipe with a rope.

  “His fault,” she’d been told. “He didn’t have to fight me.”

  If only she could get free, she’d help her brother and then either kill or arrest the man who’d brought them here. She didn’t care either way. She and Jason were alone now. She’d heard his car start up and take off. She had to find a way to free herself.

  But the more she struggled, the more she realized that, without help, she and Jason were at the mercy of a madman.

  A little after eight in the morning, Noah joined the rest of the team at the Command Post for a strategy meeting. SAC Howard was there, but the meeting was brought to order by Pauline Harper. Where was Sawyer? Noah looked around, finally spotting him across the room. He was talking on the phone. Odd. Usually when a session like this was called, it was a priority. Other things were put aside until the meeting was over. The call must be important.

  “First of all,” Harper said, “I want to tell you that the BAU has been called in. We’re bringing the full force of the FBI into this investigation since one of our agents has been abducted.”

  She ran over all the facts they had so far. Nothing new. Her coffee brown eyes swung to him. “Special Agent Hunter, I’d like to hear exactly what happened last night at the hospital.”

  Noah cleared his throat. “Agent Quinn visited her father’s room twice. After the second visit, she left the hospital without telling me. I found our car still in the parking lot with the driver’s side door wide open and the car keys in the seat. Then after questioning some of the staff, I learned she’d received an envelope left for her at the information desk in the lobby.”

  Harper held up her hand. “I believe we sent people in to question the person who received the envelope, and we also viewed the CCTV footage?”

  A man Noah didn’t know responded. “The woman working the front desk couldn’t give us a good description of the man who left the message. She seemed . . . a little sleepy. All she could tell us was that he was a white man wearing a hoodie and sunglasses. We looked at the video. This guy knew there were surveillance cameras. He purposely kept his face hidden. The same is true of what the cameras caught of him in the parking lot. Agent Quinn’s car was just out of range, so we have no recording of what happened to her out there. Not sure he knew his abduction wouldn’t be seen, but with a disguise, he probably didn’t care.”

  “Can you describe his body type?” Noah asked.

  “Yes. Slight. We asked the woman at the desk if the person who left the envelope could have been a woman. She admitted it was possible. She mentioned that if it was a man, he had a rather high voice.”

  “Then it couldn’t have been Raymond Cooper,” Noah said. “He’s big. Really big. With a very deep voice.”

  “We know Cooper’s not behind this,” Chief Sawyer said, walking up to the desk.

  “But is he working with someone who is?” Noah asked.

  “He was.” The chief sighed. Noah noticed how tired he looked. Sawyer had been out of commission about a year ago with a heart attack. He hoped the older man wasn’t pushing himself too hard. “But he’s not now,” Sawyer said. “He was found dead about an hour ago.”

  Noah was taken aback. He hadn’t seen that coming. “What happened?”

  “He phoned his wife early this morning and said he was sorry for everything he’d done, including stabbing Oliphant. He told her he did that because she and their baby daughter were in danger from the person he was working for, and he had to protect them. Then he asked her to leave the house and go stay with her mother. He let her know he loved them, then ended the call. He must have shot himself in the head not long after. A park employee found his body in Gray’s Lake Park.”

  “Then someone else is definitely behind this. Someone who used Cooper to carry out his wishes,” one of the police detectives said.

  “Or hers,” Noah added. He told them about Kenny seeing Cooper and Dr. Engle talking, with Cooper acting suspiciously.

  “We’ll look into it,” Harper said. “We’re still following up on Deputy Warden Clark.”

  “What about Warden Galloway?” Noah asked. “He told us he was going to have one of the guards keep an eye on Kenny.
I think it might have been Cooper. He’d have a lot of influence over him, and the UNSUB would probably be someone Cooper was really afraid of. Otherwise he would have simply called the police or—”

  “Notified the warden?” Harper said. “Good thinking, Agent Hunter. And Galloway would certainly have access to the laptop.” She nodded toward the police detectives sitting together. “Can you get on that? I want to know the whereabouts of both wardens. Have we located this Dr. Engle?”

  “We’ve tried to reach her, but she’s not answering her phone,” one of the detectives said.

  “Send someone to her house. We need to find her. Now.”

  Harper leaned on the tabletop. “We need a lead, people. So far, we have no direct evidence. Nothing to help us locate our UNSUB. We’ve got to find our agent and her brother fast, before it’s too late.” She stood. “You’re dismissed for now. Get on your assignments. Report to me when you have something.”

  Everyone around the table but Noah got up and left. Harper frowned at him. “Something else, Agent Hunter?”

  “Well, I don’t really have an assignment, do I? I was sent here to help Agent Quinn. Obviously, that’s not happening now.”

  She sat down. “Did you finish your assignment at Anamosa? Did you interview the prisoners? The guards?”

  “Not really. I was supposed to start seeing inmates today and then talk to some of the guards tomorrow.”

  “Then go back there. See if you can find anything helpful. See if Dr. Engle is at the prison. It’s a long shot, but we’ve got to do everything we can.”

  “Okay. But I need someone to let me into the area of the prison where she has her office. I don’t have the latest code, and prisoners and guards aren’t allowed in . . .” He ended his sentence in a whisper, suddenly feeling frozen to his seat.

  “Are you all right, Agent Hunter?” Harper asked.

  He shook his head. “Have you been able to reach Parry Clark?”

  Harper stood and called out a name. The detective she’d told to find him hurried up to the table.