“It’s usually at least three or four weeks,” Craig replied, “but I can see if I can speed that along.”
“I always wondered about that.” Scott leaned forward so he could see Meg around Lauren. “How did we get that first tox result on Mr. Roth? That was less than a week.”
“Officer Turner called in a favor so they’d get the results run quickly,” Meg replied. “And I guess the poison wasn’t a low-enough yield or complicated enough that it needed extensive testing, or even the favor wouldn’t have helped.”
“I’m not sure that getting these test results faster will make the difference to us. The important thing to know is that our search times are cut to a fraction of the original window.” Scott looked down at Theo, snoozing at his feet, his heavy canine head centered between paws hidden by his draping, floppy ears. “We’re going to need as many dogs as possible at every scene to cover all the ground, and we’re going to need them to work faster. Then we might have a chance.”
“Is any forensic evidence going to come from the jail scene?” Lauren asked. “Anything that might lead us to a suspect ID?”
“Crime scene techs have swept the jail cell where Mr. Pillai was found as well as the stairwell railings and the third- and fourth-floor platforms, but there’s substantial smearing, and the concrete dust following the collapse just complicated matters.”
“And then I went staggering down the stairs after him, probably obliterating anything usable.” Meg shook her head in disgust.
“You’d just been clobbered over the head,” Brian pointedly reminded her. “If you hadn’t held on, you would have fallen down the entire flight of steps. They’ll have your prints on file, so if they get anything, they’ll disregard yours. Here’s a question I’ve been meaning to ask: Did you get a look at him?”
Meg gave a half shrug. “Sort of? Nothing to pin an identification on. When he originally came at me, I got an impression of size and strength that lines up with what we already knew from the Hampden Manor security tapes, but that was about all I got while fighting him. I will say, he was strong. If I hadn’t had training that kicked in on pure instinct, he probably would have tossed me over the railing to die down below. But it was dark and he came out of the shadows, so I didn’t get a look at him; then he was behind me, and then by the time I’d flipped him over my head and he was on the floor at my feet, the walkway was giving way, and cataloging his features was the last thing on my mind. Afterward I got a bit of a look at him, but he was covered in concrete dust. I think he was fair with light hair, but that’s the current suspect description, so I might have assumed that was what I was seeing. Really, considering how much dust I had on me, and how it made my hair kind of a ghostly gray, what I saw might not have any similarity to his real appearance.”
“You couldn’t swear it was the same man from the security feed and the description?” Craig asked.
Meg shook her head. “I’m sorry, no. Given the lighting, the circumstances, and my knock on the head, there’s nothing reliable for us to go on.” Meg caught a flash of movement behind Lauren. Standing, she spotted Kate Moore by her desk. “What is she doing here? Kate,” she called, waving. “We’re in here.”
Kate strode to Craig’s office door but stopped in the doorway at the sight of the entire team sandwiched inside. “Am I interrupting a meeting?”
“We’re reviewing the case,” Craig said. “Please join us.”
Brian stood and offered Kate his chair. “Sit. I’ll get another one from the bullpen.”
“Thanks.” Kate sat down and shifted her chair closer to Lauren. “Good thing we’re all friendly.”
“This is why I need a conference room,” said Craig. “I’m sorry about the crowding. This is what our impromptu meetings always look like.” He waited while Brian pulled another chair in and sat down in the office doorway, Lacey coming to sit at his feet. “Do you have something new for us?”
“I do,” said Kate. “Forty-five minutes ago, a man posing as a hospital orderly tried to get to Bahni Devar. We think he was trying to finish the job.”
There was silence for one second, and then everyone started talking at once.
“Whoa!”
“Did they get him?”
“How did he find her?”
“Is she okay?”
Kate held up a hand for silence. “First of all, he did not finish the job. We’ve had one of the hospital security guards stationed outside her door since she arrived, so anyone who wants to enter has to be on a list provided to the security staff daily, and their photo ID must be shown each time. As far as how he found her, that was the hospital’s fault. My instructions were that her name not be included on any public patient lists, but it was. He simply called Baltimore area hospitals until he found her by name. Then he showed up, dressed as a volunteer with what looked like a hospital ID and carrying a large flower arrangement, and he tried to enter the room. However, he wasn’t on the list and the guard blocked him. He jammed the flowers into the guard’s hands and power walked away. The guard checked the flowers for a card, but there wasn’t anything. He called down to the flower shop, but they didn’t have an order for that room. He called the security office and they tried to track the guy down but were unsuccessful. He just . . . disappeared.”
Tension arced through Meg as if by an electric charge. “This changes everything. He has a purpose.”
Kate nodded. “Exactly.”
“Hold on,” Scott interrupted. “What do you mean, a purpose? Of course he has a purpose, or else why would he have gone to all this trouble?”
“It’s not quite the same.” Meg stood and turned to face the map still tacked to Craig’s wall. “It makes me wonder how many of these are really his. Because what he did today proves that he’s not just doing this for kicks. He’s taking specific people, and it’s not just for the thrill. He actually wants these specific people dead.”
Kate picked up the thread. “And when Mrs. Devar survived her abduction, he returned to finish the job. To make sure she ended up dead. So now the question is, why?”
A sudden chill filled Meg, and she whirled back to face Kate. “You need to beef up security on Mrs. Devar.”
“Already done. There will be an agent on her door twenty-four/seven until further notice. Before, it was a precaution. Now, it’s a requirement. Oh, I need to show y’all something.” She pulled out her phone and brought up a photo. She turned it around to face the room. It was a police sketch.
“Is that him?” Meg stepped forward for a better look. She held out one hand. “Can I take a closer look?”
“Of course.”
Meg took the phone and studied the sketch intensely.
“Is that the guy you saw on Saturday?” Brian asked.
“Still really hard to tell. I wouldn’t have been able to describe him well enough to create a detailed sketch. That being said, nothing strikes me as being out of place from what I saw that night, in the low light and under a coating of dust. I assume you showed this to the guard who stopped him?”
“Yes. He says the man purposely tried to stay half-hidden behind the flowers and then tossed them at him so he was scrambling to hold on to them while the guy turned and walked away. So he never got a full view of him.”
Meg handed the phone to Brian. “You have to think he did that on purpose, too. No one is getting a full look at him.”
Brian handed the phone to Lauren so she could see the sketch. “Except the one little old lady he assumed had dementia but was actually sharp and aware and cataloged every aspect of his appearance. That one little old lady could be how we bring him down.” He stood and joined Meg at the map and stared at the flags. “Back to the victims—there has to be a connection between them. Well, between some of them, if we assume that we’ve included some deaths that aren’t involved.”
“We need to do a seriously deep dive on the victims we know are involved. Even if we look at only these four victims, the ones we can directly connect to this suspe
ct, what connects them? McCord’s initial work didn’t lead to anything tangible. Then again, there are additional players now.”
“And the goal is the death of the victims.” Lauren passed Kate’s phone to Scott. “What about life insurance? Any way they could all have the same beneficiary?”
“They don’t even all have life insurance,” Kate said. “I looked into that with their families. You know the rule—you don’t insure your dependents. Many of these people were totally dependent on family and caregivers, so there was no need to insure them to care for those left behind. Some had modest policies to cover funeral expenses only, but most had nothing. That’s not our motive.”
“Could they all share some secret?” Brian asked. “Something so terrible they all needed to die to keep it hidden?”
“But then Mrs. Devar doesn’t make much sense,” Meg reasoned. “Her memory is mostly gone, and what’s left is disappearing by the day. She simply isn’t a reliable witness in any way.”
“Still, we should keep it on the list of possibilities.” Kate took her phone from Scott and started making notes. “It’s possible the killer didn’t know how advanced her dementia was.”
“Will you update Rutherford with these new details?” Craig asked.
“As soon as I get to my desk. He needs this new information for his profile.”
Meg shifted uncomfortably in her chair, knowing her next request was pushing her control of this case. “Kate, with your approval, I’d like to put McCord back on this. He’s done some research on these people, but I’d like to see if he can find more. In conjunction with our work, of course. But sometimes, with his connections and investigative reporting skills, he can pull facts out of seemingly thin air.”
Kate paused for a moment, considering, but then nodded her assent. “As long as he continues to sit on the story until I release him to go public with it, I don’t have a problem with that.”
“I’ll call him today and get him back on track. If we can figure out a connection, we can maybe figure out who the next victim or victims might be. If we can do that, maybe we can beat him to the punch.” Her smile was full of determination. “It’s time we started calling the shots. Let’s make it happen.”
CHAPTER 25
Light Painting: Moving a handheld light source within a dark space while the shutter of the camera is left open.
Monday, November 12, 1:22 PM
S Street Dog Park
Washington, DC
“This feels like old times.”
Meg looked up at the sound of McCord’s voice and grinned. “You mean like when I stalked you in this very park posing as an innocent dog owner but was really fishing for information?”
“And here I thought it was my boyish good looks that won you over.” McCord sat down beside her on the iron bench encircling one of cherry trees lining 17th Street NW. He unclipped Cody’s leash, and the golden retriever took off in a blur of frenetic motion to join the pack of dogs racing around the open green space.
Tucked into a compact triangle between S Street NW, New Hampshire Avenue NW, and 17th Street NW, the dog park was a green oasis surrounded by rows of Victorian brownstones and neat apartment blocks. In the middle of bustling Washington, DC, it was a spot for dog owners to safely let their dogs run free while they breathed in the fragrant garden air.
It was also conveniently close to McCord’s brownstone apartment. And it was here that Meg had tracked McCord down last April when a serial bomber terrorized the eastern seaboard and had used McCord and the Washington Post as his own personal mouthpiece. After a rocky start, Meg and McCord had agreed to work together to solve the case. That success had led to other cases, and they’d been working together when a case required it ever since.
Meg looked up at the graceful tree branches stretching wide overhead. Back when they’d met, the trees had been a glorious pale pink profusion of DC’s iconic cherry blossoms; now they were resplendent in tones of crimson, gold, and topaz.
She turned her attention back to McCord. “I’ve always been attracted to your wily mind, McCord.”
McCord let out a bark of laughter. “Good thing your sister loves me for my mind and my body.” He waggled his eyebrows comically.
Hawk and Cody raced up to them, and Cody dropped a bright green tennis ball at McCord’s feet. He picked it up and lobbed it into the middle of the green space. Hawk and Cody tore off after it, and were joined by another four dogs as they barreled toward the far end of the park.
McCord was chuckling as he turned to Meg. “He really loves it here. Loves to kick up his heels with whoever happens to be handy.”
“He looks great now.” Meg followed the pack of dogs, her gaze locked on Cody. “He’s filled out nicely, and Cara says his manners are almost flawless.”
“Yeah, she’s done a great job with him.”
“You’ve done a great job with him,” Meg countered. “Cara is a great teacher, don’t get me wrong, but I know how much work the dog owner puts into training their dog. You live with him day in and day out. The instructor is your support system, but you’re doing all the work. And it’s paying off. He’s a great dog.”
“Thanks.” McCord grinned, gazing after his dog as Cody rolled on the ground with one of the other dogs. Then they were both up and racing to the far end of the park, Hawk sprinting behind them. “And as much as I love to hear you singing Cody’s praises, I know you’re here for something. So, what’s up?”
“I was actually going to stop downtown. You know, at the office where you work?”
“Working from home today on an exposé for next week, hopefully. If I know I’m going out for research, I’ll often start my day that way. And Cody loves it when I work from home.”
“I’m sure he does. Are you too busy to do some snooping for us?”
“I’m never too busy for snooping when the story is good, and this one is. I can make the time for this and the exposé.”
“Look at you, multitasking like a woman. I’m so proud.”
“This is how you convince me I should be helping you?”
“You know as well as I do you’ll jump through hoops to get an exclusive on a big case. You in?”
“That goes without saying. I’m just giving you a hard time because I can. What’s new with the case?”
“We need to kick up the investigation.” She paused as Hawk trotted over, snuffled at McCord’s leg’s, stood still for a stroke from Meg, and then bolted toward to the pack. “Something interesting happened this morning. He went after Bahni Devar at the hospital. We think he intended to finish the job.”
McCord’s eyebrows shot straight up. “He went back to try to kill her a second time?”
“Yes. He wasn’t successful.”
“I’m glad to hear that. You went through a lot so she’d survive. I’d hate to see him win now. But he needs her to die. It’s not just about taking them and leaving them to die at his handpicked sites. He actually needs them to die. Why?”
“I knew that you’d see the significance without my having to spell it out. The why is where you come in.”
“How?”
“The Bureau is full of agents, but sometimes you’re better at digging deep and pulling out investigative angles no one else can manage. We have a group of victims, and maybe more if we go back to Agent Moore’s potentials list. You’ve sketched out some possible connections in their ethnic backgrounds, but I don’t think we’re convinced your thalaikoothal is the motive. So what else connects them?”
“Considering their connected ethnic background, it seems likely there may be some basis in that. I assume you’re in a rush.”
“Lives could depend on it. I missed him on Saturday and—” She broke off at McCord’s narrowed stare. “Okay, we all missed him on Saturday, so he’s out there and still a threat. Unless he has a specific list and that list is complete, he’s going to be on the hunt. Even if the list is already established, as long as people are on it, he’ll be hunting.”
“What about Mrs. Devar? Is she still under guard?”
“Now more than ever. Kate is keeping an agent on her door twenty-four/seven. He won’t get to her again. Whatever his end game, we’ve already got him beat there. But if we can figure out what it is, we’ll have a chance at tracking him down before he goes after someone else.”
“Or providing protection to anyone else who might still be a target.” McCord scanned the dog park, stopping when he found his dog. “I’ll give him ten more minutes to play, then he should be ready to nap for a few hours and I can work in peace.”
“Do you need to go into the office now?”
“Nope. Anything I need there, I can access from home. I can put off the other story for a few days and work on this full time so you get an answer sooner.”
“Your editor isn’t going to be upset that you put an existing story to the side?”
“Not when we get the exclusive on this one. This one is time sensitive, the other isn’t.” He glanced at his watch. “If something pops sooner, you’ll hear from me, but I’ll update you on how I’m doing Wednesday morning no matter what.”
“That sounds perfect. Thanks.”
“No problem. Someday I’m going to have a Pulitzer for investigative reporting sitting on my shelf, and it could very well come out of work like this. But even without that incentive, you know I’d be in the trenches with you.” A speculative gleam came into his eye, and Meg knew he had the scent every bit as much as her dog did at a search site. “Making that second attempt so soon on Mrs. Devar was a tactical error, because now we’re on his trail. And we’re going to make damn sure he’s going to regret it.”
CHAPTER 26
Holy Grail: A high-risk, high-reward exploration that requires extensive research, planning, and sometimes collaboration and teamwork.
Monday, November 12, 8:29 PM
Jennings residence
Arlington, Virginia
No Man's Land Page 18
