BEFORE HE LAPSES

by Blake Pierce

  He nudged Sandra but she could only manage a slow shake of the head. Tears were still flowing down her cheeks but her face was a blank slate.

  “Her records show that she was very involved in politics,” Ellington said. “She had a few internships for government bodies, right?”

  “She did,” Mike said.

  “Do you remember what the internships were for?”

  “The most recent one was something to help promote voter registration. But there was some other one she was involved in…helping a campaign manager with schedules and things like that.”

  “And she never mentioned any of the people she was working with?”

  “No. She was never one to really care about her social life. She was always more interested in making a career out of it. She has been since she was about sixteen. She always been very politically minded. She knew that neither of us,” he said, pointing to himself and then to his wife, “cared much for politics. But Marie tried pushing it on us. Bringing us fliers and pamphlets. Pins and flags and all this other stuff for candidates she believed in.”

  He had another moment here, choked up by the memory of his daughter’s passions.

  “I’m sorry. I need a moment…”

  “Of course.”

  “You’re welcome to look around her…her room. Upstairs, last room on the left.”

  Mackenzie and Ellington took him up on this offer right away. By the time they were halfway down the hallway toward the stairs, Mackenzie could hear Mike start to sob.

  They reached Marie’s room and Mackenzie was overcome with the feeling of the place being lived in. The fact that the room’s occupant would never set foot in it again was haunting.

  The room wasn’t a mess, not really, but it could have used a good cleaning. There were a few dirty clothes in the floor and clutters of notes and papers on her desk. Mackenzie went to the desk and looked around. She saw lots of notes that were scribbled through, mostly just to-do notes that Marie had made to herself.

  She also saw fliers for several different political figures, all the way up to presidential candidates. Some of them were marked up, Marie having made lines and notes as reminders. She had jotted words like Move to Action and Over-sell, making notes about what made the verbiage on the literature so powerful. It was a perfect little glimpse into what Marie was going to college for—a career in politics.

  She saw a small pin—a button people often wore on clothes and hats at rallies—for a local candidate she had never heard of.

  “Mr. Totino mentioned that Marie was working with a campaign manager for some politician, right?” Mackenzie asked.

  “Yeah. Why?”

  She waved her hand at the pile of material. “Marie was very much into this sort of thing. I think we need to talk to the campaign manager she was working with.”

  Ellington nodded, taking one final look around. As he, too, was about to look through the pile of material on the desk, they heard Mr. Totino call from downstairs.

  “Agents? I’m good now…if there are more questions, let’s do it now…”

  They wasted no time, wanting to get out of the Totinos’ hair as soon as possible. They headed back downstairs, where Mike Totino met them in the hallway. “Let’s finish up in the kitchen,” he said, still wiping tears form his eyes. “Sandra can’t do this right now. She’s…she’s going to be a mess for a while and…shit. Just…let’s get through this.”

  He led them into the kitchen, the house so silent that Mackenzie could hear the hum of the refrigerator.

  “Just a few other things,” Ellington said, again assuming the lead role. “You mentioned that Marie was working alongside a campaign manager. Do you happen to know who it was?”

  “No. Sorry. But it was for a local guy that was running for some position on city council. Neil Rooney.”

  “So she just assisted? Did she ever head these rallies up?” Ellington asked.

  “No. She was too focused on her studies. She usually just assisted. But damn, she was really passionate about this sort of thing.”

  Mackenzie was interested to see where Ellington would take things next. If she were in charge, she’d wrap it up here. These parents obviously needed some time to properly grieve. Also, it was clear that if there was any relevant information to get out of them, it wasn’t going to happen right now, so close to having the news delivered. Besides that, they had learned a little bit of information—information that was already starting to connect some dots in Mackenzie’s head.

  She was relieved when Ellington slowly got to his feet. He looked down at Mike Totino with as much empathy as he could muster—a look that broke Mackenzie’s heart a bit. “Thank you so much for your time,” he said. “We’ll leave you alone now. But if you think of anything at all that might aid us in the coming days, please don’t hesitate to call the police right away.”

  “Do you have other family here to come sit with you?” Mackenzie asked as they made their way out, unable to help herself.

  “Sandra’s sister should be here any minute now,” Mike said. “Thank you for checking.”

  Mike Totino closed the door behind them. When Mackenzie and Ellington were out on the porch, night had fallen. It was bitterly cold, the forecast calling for temperatures to drop below ten degrees that night. It made Mackenzie think of Marie Totino’s body in the Patapsco River; it made her hope that the poor woman had been dead before she’d been tossed into those frigid waters.

  Neither of them spoke until they were in the car, the heater churning as fast as it could to push out some heat.

  “Feel like a dead end to you?” he asked.

  “Maybe not. I’d like to see if we can find information on pastimes that Christine and Jo were involved in. We’ve known since speaking with Charles McMahon that Jo and Christine were both political science majors. And we now know that a third victim also shared that same major.”

  “So you think our victims are being targeted for their majors?” Ellington asked.

  “Maybe not for their majors. But maybe all of these young women had something in common other than their majors. Like advisors in some cases. Or maybe friends. The fact that they were allowing these men to get this close to them…it makes me keep going back to the killer being a friend.”

  “It almost makes me wish Holland was Marie Totino’s academic advisor.” He thought on this for a moment and then sighed. “Okay, so let’s see what other information we can get on clubs or activities that Christine Lynch and Jo Haley were involved in. Man…Deputy Wheeler is really going to start to hate us.”

  “I doubt it. I think he’d much prefer us throwing more work at him as opposed to having a campus-wide panic over a serial killer.”

  Ellington nodded as they drove back to the station. She caught him looking in her direction, little side glances to make sure she was feeling okay. Truth be told, she was feeling rather well—much better than she had at this same time yesterday.

  To her, that alone was a good sign. Maybe with this one thin thread to potentially link the victims, the end was closer at hand than she could have hoped.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  When they got back to the station, there seemed to be a very tense mood in the air. Mackenzie noticed that they received a few stares from the officers, some of which seemed to be filled with disappointment. She’d seen similar glares before, usually when local PD started to feel as if a bureau presence was hurting more than it was helping.

  “What the hell happened here?” Ellington asked under his breath.

  “No clue,” Mackenzie answered.

  But as she saw Wheeler coming toward them, marching as if he had a trillion things to do, she thought they were about to find out.

  “What’s going on?” Mackenzie asked.

  “The story hit social media about an hour or so ago. And people are already doing their own detective work, making the connections. Three young women—all Queen Nash students—in under two weeks.”

  “Any idea where t
he posts originated?”

  “It looks like Hazel Isidro posted something on Facebook earlier today and someone made a comment about another body found today, somewhere in a river—but no one had a name. Not yet anyway.”

  “How bad is it?” Ellington asked.

  “Not too bad yet. But we’ve seen how social media can make things explode out of nowhere. I can pretty much guarantee you that most of the students on campus are going to know about this by morning. Probably even before that.”

  “What does that entail in terms of police manpower?”

  “Extra security, fielding hundreds of calls from anyone that thinks they see someone suspicious. It can get bad. That’s why everyone here is on their toes. The chief is on his way to meet with the president of Queen Nash right now to see what can be done to maybe curb the panic.”

  So much for heading off campus panic, Mackenzie thought.

  “Deputy Wheeler, have you been working with anyone specifically at the college to get the information on the victims?” Mackenzie asked.

  “A woman at the registrar’s office. She’s been very helpful.”

  “I know it’s after hours, but we’d like to get as much information as we can on Jo Haley and Christine Lynch. We’re particularly looking for any clubs, internships, or assorted groups they might have been involved with.”

  “It’s after hours, so that might take a while.”

  “That’s fine. Oh…and does the name Neil Rooney mean anything to you?”

  “Yeah, actually. He was running for city council vice president last November. Why do you ask?”

  “Marie Totino was involved in assisting with rallies and fundraisers for him. She was working closely with his campaign manager. I’d like to find out who that is.”

  “I see. I can get someone to find that information for you. Shouldn’t be too hard. There are lots of political science majors that help with things like that come election time. I’m sure it’s the same on most campuses that offer the major, but it can get pretty active around here.”

  “Do any of them ever get out of hand?” Mackenzie asked.

  “No. Actually, they tend to be very formal and peaceful. We get a little rumble here and there but nothing like you see on the national news.”

  “Do you think we—” Ellington started to ask. The ringing of his phone interrupted him. He checked the caller ID, frowned, and then said: “Excuse me a second.”

  Mackenzie watched as he turned away and spoke quietly under his breath. That’s got to be McGrath, she thought. And with that thought came another of those odd flutter-like sensations in her stomach.

  And this time, she was sure the baby had nothing to do with it.

  “Yes sir, hold on,” Ellington said. He muted the call and turned back to Mackenzie and Wheeler. “Deputy Wheeler, can you excuse us for a moment? This is our director on the phone.”

  “Sure. Feel free to use the conference room if you need to.”

  They walked away from Wheeler and headed to the conference room they had been using as a makeshift office.

  “What’s he want?” Mackenzie asked.

  “I don’t know. He said he wants to speak to both of us. I’ll just put him on speakerphone.”

  There were several questions tearing through her head but she knew they were all useless. She’d not have them answered until they spoke with McGrath.

  With the conference room door closed behind them, Ellington took the call off of mute and placed it on speakerphone. “Okay, sir,” he said as they took seats beside one another. “We’re here.”

  “Thank you,” he said. “I’ll get right down to it. I sent the two of you there, hoping to get in front of this thing before it became a big campus-wide concern. I’m seeing where word is starting to get out. And with the third victim popping up today, I think I should replace the two of you with someone else.”

  “With all due respect, why?” Mackenzie asked.

  “Because the two of you are too involved. And if it gets out that I had a pair of agents that were recently married and have been romantically involved for months—and that they could not close the case—it’ll be a circus for the bureau. I made a judgment call in sending you two out together and I’m man enough to admit that it was probably the wrong decision. This has nothing to do with your performance. I asked you to wrap a series of murders in a fairly escalated timeframe.

  “But word has barely made it out,” Ellington argued. “We were just speaking with Deputy Wheeler. For right now, it’s just some commotion on Facebook.”

  “Which, as you know, means it will be on the eleven o’clock news tonight.”

  “Director McGrath, we can—” Mackenzie started.

  “It’s not up for discussion. I want both of you to take a back seat. I want you to remain there, but your role is being demoted. You’ve worked on it for the last two days so I want you there as resources. I’m sending Yardley and Harrison up there in a few hours, so they’ll be active when morning comes and this is a campus-wide thing. And if it gets too out of hand within the first twelve hours or so, I’ll send backup.”

  Mackenzie stood up and started pacing. She was furious, but at the same time, she understood.

  “Agents?” he said. “Am I understood?”

  “Yes sir,” Ellington said, his tone indicating that he really didn’t think it was okay at all.

  “Before you leave, please make sure the point of contact down there has contact information for Yardley and Harrison.”

  “Will do,” Ellington said, ending the call. He then put his hands on his hips and uttered a curse under his breath.

  “He had to,” Mackenzie said, though she didn’t like the decision any more than Ellington. “He was essentially doing us a favor by allowing us to work this together.”

  “Still. This thing is about to blow up and that’s when he takes us off of it?” He fumed a bit before looking straight at Mackenzie and giving her a weak smile. “Then again…if this thing is on campus by morning…if the entire campus knows there’s a serial killer out there, that would be stressful as hell for you.”

  “I’m a big girl. I’d be fine.”

  Still, the way his anger seemed to flush away when he realized that this might be in her best interest was reassuring to her. Even when it came to his career, he was putting her and their baby over everything else.

  “Well, I guess that’s that,” Ellington said. “I say let’s get copies of all of the files and make the best of it.”

  “The best being what, exactly?” she asked, still a little deflated.

  “Being holed up in a room together while two other agents get to face the public outcry in the morning.”

  “That is an interesting way to spin it,” she said.

  “Come on. Let’s go tell Wheeler what’s going on.”

  They left the room together and Mackenzie did her best to hide the fact that she was secretly relieved over the news. Yes, it was terrible to be demoted; it made her feel as if she had done something wrong, that she was somehow inferior.

  But the little knot in her stomach that had formed when she knew McGrath was on the phone was growing into something else—something very much like nausea.

  Apparently, being pushed to the back seat on the case was making the baby feel a little sick, too.

  CHAPTER FIFTEEN

  Maybe it was because her hormones were all over the place or maybe it was the knowledge that they were newlyweds…but the first thing Mackenzie and Ellington did when they returned to the hotel was make love. As far as Mackenzie was concerned, it was an amazing way to work out the tension and anger she felt over being given a back seat role in the case. And although she felt a sick stomach a few times, she was able to fully enjoy the moment of it. She also enjoyed the idea that despite being pregnant, their sex life had been nearly unstoppable and unquenchable ever since she’d shared the news with Ellington.

  When they were done, they took turns in the shower and by ten o’clock, they had
a functional little workspace going within the room. Ellington was set up at the small table by the window while Mackenzie had her laptop and papers spread out on the bed. As she started to look through the case files, she saw via her phone that she had an email from Wheeler. She opened it and saw that he had attached several documents that had come from the university. She opened it and saw that it was the information she had asked for—any clubs or activities Christine or Jo had been involved in.

  She read through it and started jotting down notes. “Wheeler got that information for us,” she told Ellington as she wrote. “It doesn’t look like the girls were part of any of the same clubs, but Jo and Marie did both sign up with an organization that allows students to help with the campaigns of local politicians. They both used it to fulfill some requirement of their majors.”

  “Nothing on Christine Lynch?”

  “Nothing that I can see yet.”

  “I’m over here looking at the volunteer page on Rooney’s site. It’s easily accessible and it looks like it’s open to just about anyone. The fine print does say that preference will be given to those with political aspirations or an academic background in politics. And it lists the campaign manager as Daniel Humphrey.”

  “So it’s not like these girls had an automatic in,” Mackenzie said. “They probably signed up just like anyone else. And at some point, they had to speak with Daniel Humphrey, apparently.”

  “That might be one of the things we need to find out.”

  “Is Rooney a Republican or Democrat?”

  “An Independent. And from what I can tell, he has quite the following. He lost the election Wheeler was telling us about, but it came much closer than anyone had expected.”

  “Is there a contact number for Daniel Humphrey?”

  “No. Just an email address. I’m going to send one right now.”

  They fell into silence again as Mackenzie looked over the files Wheeler had sent her. She created a little list of similarities between the girls, finding nothing entirely new. Same major, same interests from what their transcripts and files stated, same year of college. But that’s where it stopped. Different academic advisors. Different apartment buildings. From the looks of it, the only strong connection between any of them was the fact that Jo and Marie had both interacted with Humphrey.