Bones let out a slow whistle. Donovan thumped his forehead against the table.
“No wonder poor Laurie was on the run,” Mrs. A. said, shaking her head.
“Is there anything we can do to help?” Fred asked, appearing out of nowhere at the kitchen entrance.
“I wish there was.” I opened my laptop but no new emails had come in. “Right now, we’re waiting for intel. We should start getting information any time now.”
“Then I best get some breakfast cooking, while you have time to eat,” Mrs. A. said as she walked around the table and refilled our cups.
“That sounds great,” Grady said as he walked into the room.
As he walked over to retrieve a coffee cup, I noticed his hair was wet and he was wearing fresh clothes. He must have taken a shower. I lifted the collar of my shirt and sniffed it. I wasn’t sure how long it had been since I’d hosed myself down.
“You’re fine.” Grady laughed, sitting beside me. “You showered yesterday after your run.”
“The days are starting to blur together.”
“What’s the plan?” Bridget asked.
“I’m expecting a photo of our suspect any minute. When daylight hits, you guys can walk around town and ask the locals if they recognize him. Maybe we’ll get lucky.”
Donovan sighed. “That’s it? That’s the plan?”
“It’s all I’ve got until I get this guy’s personnel file and other background information. He could be anywhere by now.”
“Still nothing on the laptop?” Grady asked, nodding toward my laptop.
I sighed. “Not yet.”
“I’ll help cook breakfast,” Bridget said as she bounced to the other side of the kitchen to help Mrs. A.
I shook my head and grinned at her excess energy. Bones was doing the same as he watched her bop around, helping Mrs. A. “I didn’t get a chance to ask yesterday,” I said to Bones. “How did trainee Henderson go from you chasing him out of the building to ending up at the main house?”
“That’s your fault.” He pointed at me, but he was grinning. “I’m good, but a dozen trainees tackling me was more than even I could handle. By the time they let me go, you and Grady were running past me on your way to the house.”
“Tech recorded the trainees taking him down,” Donovan said, laughing. “It was a giant pile of arms and legs. We even have a great still shot of Bones’ face just before they pounced. We’re going to frame it and hang it in the gym.”
I smiled, sipping my coffee and imagining it.
“I’m just glad Whiskey was at the house,” Grady said.
Bones nodded at him before turning back to me. “The new classroom for the kids is the room between Grady’s office and your war room. Some of the off-duty guys are helping get it ready.”
“We’re also turning one of the downstairs offices into a nursery,” Donovan said. “Lisa wants to go back to work, but neither of us like the thought of leaving Abigail with a stranger at home. I figured it made more sense to hire someone to watch her at Headquarters since there are always trained guards around.”
“Especially since Lisa is an overbearing, over protective mother who’s in the middle of some type of neurotic crisis about germs?”
“It was the only idea I could come up with that didn’t involve Lisa strapping Abigail to her body and dragging her into the store,” Donovan said. “The doctor told Lisa to start spending time away from Abby. He’s hoping it will help her relax.”
I couldn’t relate to whatever Lisa was going through. “Where’s Kierson?” I asked Grady.
“He was on the phone talking to someone in the front room.”
“And now he’s not,” Kierson said, joining us in the kitchen and pulling out a chair. “That was Special Agent in Charge, Jack Tebbs.”
I snorted. “Why can’t you call him Jack or even Tebbs? You sound so pompous when you pile on the rest of it.”
“It’s professionalism. You should try it. Besides, he’s not a happy camper right now so fair warning. The preliminary autopsy came back on Sorato.” Kierson leaned back in his chair, giving me his annoyed look.
“I already told you he was murdered,” I said, shrugging. “You might as well say I was right—get it over with.”
“Profilers will be the death of me. You’re all impossible,” Kierson said, shaking his head.
“I’m not actually a profiler, remember? I’ve never taken classes to become one.”
“No. You’re just the person my top-level profiler calls when she needs someone to read a case for her. That’s even worse. And, yes, you were right. The ME said there were definitive signs of a struggle and the damage to the windpipe is not consistent with suicide.”
“Told you,” I teased, sticking my tongue out at him.
“So, what does this mean?” Kierson asked.
“That someone wanted him dead.”
“He was in FBI custody!”
“Yeah. Sucks bad for you and Jack, doesn’t it?” I hid my smirk behind my cup of coffee. “Did Genie get access to Brian Griffith’s file yet?”
“Maggie and Genie are at the US Marshal’s office now. We should have it any minute.”
My phone rang, and when I looked, I saw it was Maggie. I answered as I got up and walked out the French doors into a private garden. “Tell me you have something.”
“Genie and I are on our way back to the hotel. You’re on speaker phone.”
“Hello, Kelsey,” Genie giggled.
“Hi, Genie. Thank you for traveling to Arlington for me.”
“All part of the job. We couldn’t copy and send the information to you while still at the Marshal’s office. Their internet servers could’ve traced and tracked it. But we’ll send it as soon as we’re back at the hotel.”
“Okay. Maggie, did you get a chance to look at Griffith’s file?”
“Yeah, but I can’t get a read on this guy. He’s good, too good. He has a score of accomplishments, but then there’s a crap load of complaints against him too. None of the complaints have turned into formal reprimands though. There’s always either lack of evidence or the people speaking against him pull their complaint before there’s a formal investigation. He tends to work alone, and because he’s that good, they let him. The few partners he has had, never lasted long.”
“What about around the time when Laurie and Caleb disappeared? Did Griffith have a partner back then? It would’ve been a little over three years ago.”
“Not when she ran, but six months earlier, he had a partner request reassignment to another unit. It stuck out in the file because the new job was a step down. Basically, career suicide.”
“We need to interview him. He’s not going to talk to a Fed, though. Get his details to Charlie. She’s somewhere in town digging into Laurie’s background. If he’ll talk to anyone, it will be her.”
“We ran into her earlier. She was checking in as we were leaving the hotel. We scheduled to meet up later to compare notes. What’s happening there? Any luck tracking Griffith down?”
“No. We found Laurie’s car, but he was long gone. Where does the Marshall’s office think he is?”
“His schedule says he was in the office three days ago, but left to check on someone in witness protection and would be back on Thursday.”
I tried to see the timeline in my head, but I couldn’t figure it out. “What day is it?”
“Tuesday.”
“If he left Friday and drove straight through, he would’ve arrived Saturday night. He waited another day to take her, narrowing his time to get back home. It’s a tight timeline. Everything points to him heading your way, but where? It doesn’t leave him much time to spend with Laurie at a third site.”
“You don’t think he can inflict enough damage in twenty-four hours to make her suffer?” Maggie snapped.
“We both know that’s not what I meant. Get out of your own head.” Maggie and I both had been in torture situations, hers not that long ago. “If we’re going to catch t
his guy, we need to look at everything from his perspective. He’s meticulous. He wants to punish Laurie. He wouldn’t take her anywhere that could tie back to him, but he’d also want a location where he’d feel confident that he wouldn’t be interrupted.”
“If he’s as smart as I think he is, he may have already killed her,” Maggie said.
“No. I don’t think so. He’s got a plan. This was premeditated. He knew where she worked. He knew where she lived. He knew the terrain. If he was going to kill her quickly, he would’ve done it at her house. No,” I said, shaking my head. “This isn’t a crime of passion. He owned her, and she betrayed him. He’s going to take his time to teach her a lesson.” I let out a slow breath, trying to clear my thoughts. “Did you get any other insight from his file?”
“He’s highly intelligent, but he’s a show-off, always needing to prove he’s better than his coworkers. His lack of keeping a partner could be that he’s a control nut. You could be on to something there.”
“All right. Send me the file when you can and make sure Charlie talks to his old partner.”
“What are you going to do?”
“If he left Virginia three days ago, then he was here, watching Laurie. This is a small town. Someone had to have seen him. I’m going to talk to as many people as I can until I have a better lead to follow.”
“Good luck. We’re just pulling into the parking lot at the hotel. Give Genie five minutes to send the file, and I’ll go wake Charlie.”
“Later.” I hung up and looked around. The sky was starting to move from black to blue and soon would be light enough to see more than a few feet. I heard the patio door behind me open and close, but I knew it was Grady even before he folded his arms around me.
“You’re cold,” he whispered, leaning in to kiss my neck.
“I just need a few minutes,” I said, leaning my head back to rest against him. “It’s nice out here. Calming.”
“Take a moment then.” His arms held me snugly as he hummed a peaceful tune and swayed us back and forth as I looked at the slowly brightening sky.
~*~*~
Ten minutes later, I was about to tell Grady it was time to go back inside when my cell phone rang again. “I guess break time is over,” I said as I looked at the screen and saw it was Charlie.
“Duty calls.” Grady kissed my cheek before releasing me and stepping back inside.
“Kelsey,” I answered.
“McKenzie’s coworkers were a bust.”
It took me a minute to remember that McKenzie and Laurie were the same person. Lack of sleep was slowing my brain. “It was a long shot. Did they say anything?”
“Everyone was eager to help, even though I was calling them in the middle of the night. They suspected she was being abused, but no one could get her to admit it. They also said it was unlikely she had any friends outside of work. Her husband had a tendency of showing up at the office to check on her. No one had a good vibe about their relationship.”
“I’m reading him as the controlling type, so that fits.”
“And jealous. I called Griffith’s ex-partner Lincoln, too, instead of driving all over to track his ass down. He was quite chatty once I convinced him that we were talking off the record. Just before he requested a transfer, he had stopped by Griffith’s house. Griffith wasn’t home yet, but his wife said he could wait on the patio. She was bringing him a glass of lemonade when Griffith got home and freaked out. He called her a whore and ordered her back inside the house. Then Griffith turned on Lincoln when he tried to defend McKenzie. Things got heated, and Griffith told him that if he ever went near his wife again, he’d kill him. Lincoln told me that based on the way Griffith was acting, he didn’t doubt him for a minute.”
“Why didn’t he report Griffith?”
“He was worried he’d make the situation worse for McKenzie. He wasn’t sure what Griffith would do to her if he reported the threat. I did get the impression that Lincoln might’ve helped her and her son flee though. It explains how she was able to hide for so long.”
“Shit.”
“Yeah. I’m not sure how helpful any of this is, but it’s all I’ve got.”
“It’s more than what I had. I need to go. I’ll call if I can think of another lead to follow.”
My thoughts jumbled as my brain tried to put all the pieces together. A cool breeze drifted by and I shivered, deciding to head inside.
“I was about to fetch you,” Grady said, turning his head to grin at me. “What’s wrong?” he asked, reaching out for my hand as his smile faded.
I sat next to him and shook my head. I was still in processing mode. Mrs. A. set a plate of french toast, fried potatoes, and a bowl of cut fruit in front of me. I looked around, seeing that everyone else had already eaten. “Thank you,” I said, picking up my fork.
I watched the fork shake in my hand before setting it back down.
“Talk to me, babe,” Grady whispered, wrapping his arm around me. “You’re trembling.”
“He’s not just going to kill her. He’s going to torture her. He’s prone to violent rages, and not only did she leave him, but she’s been with another man. He’s going to—”
I gasped, trying to catch my breath, but couldn’t get my lungs to inflate. I looked up at Grady as my nails dug into his hand. In a blink, he had me sitting on his lap on the floor and both of his arms wrapped around me as he rocked me back and forth. I knew he was talking to me, but I couldn’t make out the words. Someone turned off the light above the table, and while the light on the other side of the room was still enough to illuminate where I was, it didn’t seem as glaring. As Grady’s voice penetrated my ears, I closed my eyes and concentrated on pulling a slow breath in. Then another.
“Damn,” I heard Kierson say. “I heard about her panic attacks, but that was the first one I’ve witnessed.”
I leaned my head against Grady’s chest as he continued to sing a slow country tune and rub my back.
Bones was sitting on the other side of the table and leaned over the side to look at me. “You going to eat that french toast or can I have it?”
Grady and I both laughed.
“It’s yours. Leave the fruit, though.” I took a few more purposeful breaths before I nodded to Grady. I climbed off him, then offered a hand to pull him up.
“If you get the french toast, I get the potatoes,” Donovan said, taking the plate away from Bones and winking at me.
Bridget set a glass of milk in front of me and took my coffee cup away. I didn’t complain because I knew I’d had too much already. The panic attacks were worse when I was hyped on caffeine. I looked over to see Fred holding Mrs. A. as tears streaked her cheeks.
“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
“Is the man who took Laurie really going to kill her?” she asked.
I nodded. “If she’s still alive, she doesn’t have much time.”
Bones and Donovan both set their silverware down and pushed their plates away.
“What do you know?” Donovan asked.
“He’s prone to jealous rages if she even talks to another man. He threatened to kill his old partner after his wife did nothing more than get him a glass of lemonade. Griffith abused her regularly. And he’s been in the area at least a few days before he took her. He would’ve seen her with Casey.”
“Son of a bitch,” Fred swore. “What’s this guy look like?”
“I have the file from Genie,” Kierson said, clicking on his laptop. He turned the laptop to show us the picture of Brian Griffith. It was a profile picture, most likely from his ID badge. His pale blue eyes stood out eerily against his tanned complexion and brown, almost black, hair. The smile on his face wasn’t fooling me. Those eyes were cold, heartless eyes.
“Oh, my God!” Mrs. A. screeched before she fainted.
Bones dove toward her, and with Fred’s help, they caught her before she hit the floor. Bridget ran to the sink to wet a towel.
“He was here!” Fred sai
d, still staring at the picture as he held Mrs. A’s head on his thigh. “I sold him a car two months ago!”
“Two months? Are you sure?” I asked, moving closer to Fred.
“I’m sure.” He nodded. “My dealership is between here and Brighton, so I get a lot of customers from out that way that I don’t know personally, but I remember him. He paid cash for a used 1996 Ford Bronco. It was blue and the rear quarter panel was smashed in. The engine still had some good miles to burn, though. I gave him a good deal.”
“Can you remember anything else? Anything he might’ve said?”
“Said he was going fishing,” Fred said. “Strange though, because he didn’t look like a fisherman. He was wearing jeans and a T-shirt, but they looked brand new. His shoes were those fancy leather loafers, not boots.”
“And you’re sure this was two months ago? Not this week?”
“I’m sure,” Fred said. “I keep records on my phone. Never know when it will lead to another sale.”
Bridget and Bones were helping Mrs. A. off the floor and into a chair. I squatted down in front of her as Kierson got the date from Fred and called Genie.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“Just a shock, I suppose,” she said, glancing briefly back at the laptop. “He stayed here.”
“At the inn? When?”
“A couple months ago. The dates will be in my ledger at the guest station. I remember he seemed nice, but not real chatty. He kept to himself for the most part.”
“How long did he stay?”
“Not more than two or three days as I recall.”
“What name was he using?” Bridget asked as she walked back into the room carrying the ledger.
Mrs. A. turned a few pages and then pointed to the entry. “Bradley Whit. Stayed August 27th and 28th.”
“That’s the name he gave me, too,” Fred said, looking up from his phone.
I looked over at Kierson. He nodded that he’d heard before he moved into the foyer to continue talking to Genie.
“Where’s the best place to talk to as many people as possible? I need to find out who else saw him and what he was up to.”
“Fred can handle that,” Mrs. A said, turning and nodding at Fred. “Have them meet at the school gym.”
Day and Night Page 11
