J.T. Ellison

by The Cold Room (v5) (epub)

  A single meager tear slid down the girl’s cheek, and she whispered a word in Taylor’s ear. “Dolls,” she said. Then her eyes closed. She was too weak to cry anymore.

  Taylor looked around, saw an empty syringe on the floor beneath the coffin. Shit.

  “Hurry, Armstrong. She looks drugged. He must have given her something to speed things up. She needs a hospital, fast.”

  They rushed up the stairs, got Kendra situated in the back of the squad car, saw Armstrong off. Then Taylor called Rowena Wright.

  “I found her, Rowena. She’s on her way to Baptist right now.”

  The rest of Tim’s crime-scene team arrived and spread throughout the house, collecting every bit of evidence that they could. Paula and Max had been called to another case. Tim Davis was printing the coffin while Keri McGee filmed everyone’s actions for posterity. McKenzie had gone upstairs to get the warrant amended to include everything in the house. Julia Page was standing by the Plexiglas coffin, pale as a ghost, documenting their actions in a small Moleskine notebook.

  Taylor was searching Gavin Adler’s computer. The gray cat had settled onto her lap, purring its fool head off.

  “Have you ever seen anything like this, Taylor?” Tim asked. She was surprised, he never used her first name.

  “No,” she answered. “I’ve seen a lot, but this takes the cake.”

  She looked around the room, now brightly lit with Tim’s scene lights. She imagined the darkness, the fire in the stove casting shadows on the wall, the sounds of the girls’ muffled screams as they lay dying in the Plexiglas coffin.

  The computer was booted up. The screen asked for a password. Shit. Where was Lincoln when she needed him?

  She made a few desultory tries, Gavin, Adler, GAdler. All failed. She had a birth date from the ticket Armstrong gave the man; she tried that, forward, backward. Nothing. Then she remembered the word Kendra had whispered. Dolls. It was such an innocuous word. Why not give that a try?

  She typed in the word. Nothing. She tried it in all lowercase. Nope. She typed in DOLLS and the computer ran for a fraction of a second. She leaned closer. The desktop screen filled the monitor. Now that was just dumb luck.

  “Open sesame,” she whispered.

  She saw an icon blinking—iChat. She clicked on it. She was vaguely familiar with instant messaging; it wasn’t something she had a lot of time for nor an inclination to play with, but she knew enough. There was an ongoing chat, and Adler hadn’t erased the history.

  As she read, faster and faster, scanning the page, she felt the dread build in the pit of her stomach. They’d missed him. But that wasn’t all.

  “Oh, Jesus,” she said. She pulled out her cell phone, called Dispatch. “We need to amend the BOLO on the Prius. Please include the state of Georgia.”

  She hung up, then speed-dialed Baldwin. He answered on the first ring.

  She could hear the tremor in her voice. “I’m in Gavin Adler’s basement. We were wrong. Oh, my God, we were so wrong. Gavin Adler isn’t II Macellaio.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “Baldwin, there’s two of them.”

  “What do you mean, there’s two of them?”

  “Are you still in Quantico?” Taylor asked.

  “Yes, I am. I was going to catch a plane in about an hour.”

  “Maybe you should sit tight. I’ll come to you. We can catch a flight to Florence out of D.C. a helluva lot easier than from Nashville.”

  “Whoa. You need to back up, and tell me everything.”

  The words spilled out in a torrent. “All our leads ended up here, pointing to Gavin Adler. I’m at his house now, out in western Davidson County. We just recovered a victim, a young woman named Kendra Kelley, who was being held in a Plexiglas coffin. This is his house, Baldwin, this is the house of the man who killed Allegra Johnson and Leslie Horne. But it’s not Il Macellaio. We were completely wrong. Il Macellaio is still overseas. He’s in Italy, in Florence. We have to go after them. This guy, Gavin Adler, is Il Macellaio’s brother.”

  “His brother? Are you speaking figuratively, or do you mean a flesh-and-blood brother?”

  “A real brother. And they’ve been working together. I’ve only gotten a glimpse into their world, and I’m telling you, it’s horrific. By the way, I have a name for you to start working on for Il Macellaio. Tommaso. That’s all I’ve got. I’m waiting for a specialist to come and go through the computer system.”

  “Christ. There’s two of them. Okay, okay, give me a second.”

  She could hear him rustling papers, could imagine that he was running his hands through his hair, trying to get his mind to work harder.

  “Is the computer a desktop?” he asked finally.

  “No, it’s a laptop.”

  “Okay. Take it. Get to the airport, get up here. I’ll clear it with your bosses. We’ll analyze the system, glean as much information as possible. Did Adler flee to Italy?”

  “Yes. It’s all right here. Tommaso tells Gavin to come to him. To drop everything, dispose of the ‘doll,’ as he calls the victim we found here, Kendra Kelley, and come to him. He sent instructions for him to drive to Hartsfield International in Atlanta, I guess to throw us off the trail if we thought he might have tried to flee, to pick up a ticket at Alitalia and fly to Rome. And he calls him brother.”

  “So he may not be physically related?”

  “Baldwin, think about it. The DNA from Chattanooga matches the DNA from London and from Florence. The DNA matches.”

  “Holy shit,” he murmured. “Of course. I was so blind. There’s only one way the DNA could match two people.”

  “Exactly. They aren’t just brothers. They’re identical twins.”

  Thirty-Three

  Taylor hung up the phone with Baldwin. She closed the laptop, looked for a case. She didn’t find one, but did find a power cord. She bundled that together. Tim was wrapping things up with the coffin; the basement had been combed over. Samples of DNA had been taken, fingerprints, everything they’d need to nail Adler to the wall. If they could catch him.

  Keri McGee was watching all this with a trained eye, waited until Julia Page had gone upstairs for some air before approaching Taylor.

  “Is this something I need to erase from the tapes?”

  Taylor gave the girl a smile. “No. This is an instance of me taking the initiative. If I get busted, so be it. But Quantico is better equipped to handle this than we are. I just have to go downtown and plead my case to whoever I can find who’ll let me go. Baldwin said he’d fix it, but I can’t exactly run up there with evidence without authorization.”

  “Okay. I heard what you said. Identical-twin killers, huh?”

  “It looks that way.”

  Keri brushed her bangs out of her eyes. “You know, I had a Cajun granddaddy, his name was Welton Keif. I remember one time we’d gone out to the bayou to visit him, in this flat-bottomed skiff, water moccasins slipping through the murk, mosquitoes as big as your hand flitting around. We’d been visiting with a cousin of mine who’d had identical twins, and we brought pictures so he could see. We showed him the babies, told him they were identicals. He looked at us funny, said, ‘What the hell is an identical twin?’ We were taken aback, surely everyone knew what that was. But my mom explained anyway, that they were two little boys who were exactly alike who’d been born at the same time. He got this look of recognition on his face. Said, ‘Oh. Them’s born partners, that’s what they are. Born partners.’ Sounds like that’s what you have here, Detective Jackson. Born partners who are driven to kill. I wonder what made them that way?”

  “Born partners, huh? Well, they’re certainly partners in murder. I wonder what made them this way, too, Keri. If I can find out more about them, I might be able to answer that. Thanks for the input. Sounds like your granddaddy was a perceptive man.”

  “That he was, Detective. Too perceptive. He also said I’d come across another pair, far away from him. Looks like that was rather prophetic, don�
�t you think?”

  The hair rose on Taylor’s arms. “Yes, Keri, that’s a little strange.”

  “I’ll just get back to work now, Detective. You travel safe. Good luck catching these guys.”

  McKenzie met her at the top of the stairs. He had the gray cat in his arms, and the cat was snuggled into his shoulder, purring loudly. He looked settled in and happy.

  “His name is Art,” McKenzie said. “It’s on his tag.”

  “Art the cat. Well, that fits. These killers are imitating famous paintings, why not have a cat named Art? Hey, kiddo.” She scratched the gray behind his ears again, and she swore he smiled.

  “He’s really friendly. He seemed lonely, so I thought I’d give him a little love. Now I’m afraid to put him down.”

  “McKenzie, we’ve got work to do. Have you found any pictures of this guy, anything that might help us identify him? We only have the photograph from his license to go on, and it was issued in 1998. You know how deceiving those pictures can be. He could have changed his look four times since then.”

  “No. This place is clean. Except for all those CDs and the basement, this place is sadly devoid of personality, actually. Um, Jackson? I kind of promised Art I’d take care of him.”

  Taylor ran her hand across her forehead. “Well, we need to call animal services and let them come take him.”

  “No. They’ll, they’ll—” He looked at her frantically, mouthed the words put him down.

  “Not necessarily. What do you propose?”

  “Can I keep him?”

  McKenzie sounded so much like an eight-year-old who’d found a stray that Taylor had to laugh.

  “McKenzie, this is going to be our little secret. You may foster the cat until we figure out what needs to happen with him. Is that fair?”

  He just nodded, a wide grin plastered across his face.

  “Okay then. That’s settled. I need to go back to the CJC and secure permission to go to Quantico. Though I have no idea who I’m going to do that with. Can you stay here, continue running the scene? Tim has oodles of evidence that needs to be logged, and I want your eyes on it. Then I want you to take the license photo of Adler, put it in a six-pack, and see if Hugh Bangor can identify him. What’s the word on Kendra Kelley?”

  “She’s being pumped full of Narcan and she’s responded well. Looks like she’ll be okay.”

  “That’s great news,” Taylor said. “Is she awake enough to talk?”

  “Not yet. Why are you going to Quantico?”

  “The Macellaio task force is all there already. They need this piece of the puzzle.” She tapped the laptop. “Baldwin’s working it with our superiors. I’ll fight for you to come, too, you’ve been instrumental in this case from day one.”

  “Well, don’t worry if they say no. I’ve got enough here to keep me busy.”

  Gracious of him. He walked into the kitchen, singing softly under his breath to the cat. Sheesh. Big man gone soft over a fuzzball. Though she had to admit, Art was kind of cute.

  She had bigger problems to worry about than one of her detectives fostering a criminal’s pet.

  She caught herself. McKenzie wasn’t one of her detectives, he was her partner. She didn’t have her command back. Yet.

  Taylor stopped at home to pack a bag and grab her passport, just in case. By the time she made it to the CJC, the orders had been secured for her trip to Quantico. A commander she’d worked with in the past, Joan Huston, was in the Homicide offices when she arrived.

  “Commander,” Taylor said.

  Huston patted her sun-streaked brown hair and smiled, then handed her a file folder. “Detective. I’m overseeing Homicide until we get things straightened out with Lieutenant Elm. I’ve got your clearance for Quantico. I appreciate the request to take Detective McKenzie, but we’ve decided that he doesn’t need to travel at this time. He can be your conduit to the investigation in Nashville. You’ve been authorized on a TPSPA both for Quantico and for any overseas travel that may be necessary. A temporary special assignment to the FBI’s behavioral unit was the best we could do on this short notice. It’s on the FBI’s dime, which made it easier for the chief to swallow. You need to hurry, you don’t want to miss your flight. I do hope you’ll keep me informed of your progress.”

  Wow. That was easy. Baldwin must have made some interesting phone calls. “I will. Thanks so much for helping.”

  “You got it. Do us proud. We’ll have all this—” she waved her hand around in a circle, meaning Homicide “—figured out upon your return.”

  She smiled again and shook Taylor’s hand. She’d always gotten along with Huston. It was nice to have someone of rank actually smile at her again. Maybe things were getting ready to turn around.

  It was early enough that the drive to the airport wasn’t too bad. She dumped the car at Executive Travel and had them shuttle her over to the terminal. Her flight to D.C. was in forty minutes, and she still needed to get her weapon checked and registered. Flying armed wasn’t an easy proposition, but once she got to the airport, all the provisions she needed had been arranged for. With her weapon surrendered and secured, she was escorted through security, her bag x-rayed, and fifteen minutes later she was on the plane.

  That had to be a record run through an airport. She liked working with the FBI. They knew how to make things happen.

  The flight was going to take two hours. She did the only rational thing. She put her head against the window, and fell asleep.

  Thirty-Four

  Taylor woke when the plane began its skidding run down the Potomac. She reset her watch for Eastern time, brushed her hair, and swiped on some ChapStick. Baldwin was meeting her at the gate. Another perk for the FBI.

  She deplaned, was met in the jetway by an airline official who handed her both her overnight bag and her gun case. She’d carried on the killer’s laptop, in her own case, so she attached that to her bag and strolled up the jetway. As she exited, she saw Baldwin waiting. He had on a white Brooks Brothers button-down and chinos, looked endearingly preppy and handsome, his green eyes flashing in welcome. And weary. Too many long nights, too many murders. It was starting to take a toll. But his face lit up when he saw her, and he enveloped her in a hug that took her breath away.

  God, just being near him made her feel more settled.

  Reagan National Airport had changed since she was last here. Of course, that was ages ago, everything in this town but the monuments would have changed, and they’d added a few new ones to the city, too. D.C. could never be accused of being a static entity.

  They chatted about nothing until they exited the terminal, the humidity smacking her in the face like a wet washcloth. Funny, she knew Nashville was just as humid, but it felt wetter here.

  Dodging a multitude of people going in every direction but theirs, they reached the curb, where a driver sat with a big black sedan that fairly screamed government. Baldwin held the door for her. The air was on full blast and gave her a chill. Baldwin slid in beside her, and the driver wormed his way through the mass of taxis and cars to the exit. Within ten minutes, they were heading south, toward Quantico, on I–95.

  “Ready?” Baldwin asked.

  “As I’ll ever be. Tell me what you know.”

  “We’re heading to Italy in the morning. The carabinieri are looking for Adler. He landed in Rome early this afternoon, made it through customs before the alert went out. Well, I shouldn’t say that. The alert had gone out, but they didn’t pay it enough attention. He was smart, drove to Atlanta, took the first flight out. Georgia Bureau of Investigation has already impounded the Prius. Oh, and we have his passport photo.” He handed her a black-and-white glossy eight-by-ten photograph.

  It was a much more recent shot than Adler’s driver’s license. The man who looked back at her didn’t send waves of fear crashing through her system. He was…boring. Nondescript. Not terribly handsome, not ugly. Where so many mixed-race children took on the most glorious aspects of their parents’ blood, nothing e
legant leapt out about Gavin Adler. He had curly black hair and a round face, with skin so light that if his full lips didn’t have a slightly ethnic bent to them, she would have assumed he was white. Wide brown eyes. His nose wasn’t big, nor was it small, but a bit thick through the nostrils. He looked…more scared than scary. How had this benign little man killed four women? How had he had sex with their corpses? How did he manage to have an elaborate chamber in his basement solely for the purpose of hastening his victims’ deaths?

  Taylor was used to evil, saw it every day. But she had a hard time seeing much of anything in Gavin Adler’s face.

  “This is him? This is the man who’s created such havoc?”

  “Half of him, anyway. We have the Italians, the Brits and Interpol using facial recognition software to look for another man like this in their passport rolls, people who’ve traveled in and out of the country. But we don’t know what country issued II Macellaio’s passport, or what name he’s traveling under, so that makes it difficult. We don’t know travel dates. We have very little to go on over there. Tommaso isn’t exactly an uncommon name over there. It’s like us pulling all the records of people named Tom.”

  Taylor tapped her laptop bag.

  “Hopefully, this will change everything. I assume you’ll be able to trace the IP address he was using and narrow a location down pretty damn quick. I doubt Tommaso is his real name.”

  “Maybe, maybe not. We have been trying to track it down, and we do have a possible on the Tommaso front. There’s a famous art photographer named Tommaso. It’s a long shot, but it just might be him.”

  “An art photographer?”

  “Yeah. And catch this. He takes photographs of paintings for the art catalogs for the museums.”

  “Well, that fits. How’d you find him?”

  “One of my profilers, Charlaine Shultz, is a big art fan. When we said the name she mentioned this guy. We searched on Google for him and he showed up everywhere. We even know where he lives.” He paused for a moment. “Care to guess?”