“George called me that night and explained that Maime had gotten into his email and read several messages. He asked me to cover for him. He said he was going to call me the next day and tell me off in front of her. Make it look like I was pursuing him and wouldn’t stop. But when he called, I didn’t answer the phone. He yelled at my voicemail like he was talking to me. I heard Maime crying in the background. He just kept trying to appease her, but she was sobbing and wailing. It was all extremely dramatic. Then I heard a slap and the call ended. I don’t know if she slapped him or he slapped her. I guess I didn’t want to think about it. He called me later that night after she went home.”
“Do you know if there was ever domestic violence between them?” Luke asked, looking between Cooper and me not really focusing on either of us.
“No, to be honest I sort of assumed she slapped him. She was always the more volatile one or at least that’s how it appeared. Not one person we interviewed indicated there ever was.”
“Based on his actions with Dean, he’s got a temper with men, but with women he plays the submissive role or at least he acts like he does?” Cooper inquired, still pacing.
We nodded in agreement. The women had been subdued. They couldn’t have fought him.
“I still don’t understand the motive,” I interrupted. “Even if I could admit he killed Maime, I don’t get the motive for the others.”
This wasn’t about defending George. I just still couldn’t find a plausible explanation for how George could kill that many women.
“Maybe he just snapped. Killed Maime and then just lost it,” Luke countered. He looked over at Cooper. They exchanged a look I didn’t understand.
“What?” I asked tentatively.
Luke patted the couch beside him for me to come over next to him. When I was seated he said, “Riley, will you please wear a wire and go talk to him? If we have any shot at a confession, you’re the one that will get it. Use what you know. Confront him. See what he does. See what you can get out of him. If he really has a secret hideaway, maybe he will tell you. I’ll keep you safe. We’ll be outside and will come in if anything goes wrong. Please.”
Cooper shot me a pleading look and reiterated, “We promise to keep you safe. If you push and he loses it, we are right there for you.”
I knew it could be dangerous. I also knew what was at stake. This wasn’t just about Maime anymore. There were innocent women that were dead. I felt like a lot was riding on me.
“Yes, I will,” I said, finally relenting.
CHAPTER 76
I PULLED MY JEEP TO A STOP in front of George’s house. I called him about twenty minutes earlier and told him I was coming by to talk. As I walked to the door, my eyes shifted to the direction of the unmarked police van down the road to the left. I knew Luke, Tyler and Cooper were inside listening, ready to act if things got out of hand. I just couldn’t muster up fear of George though. It seemed like such an atypical emotion to have for him, even after everything that had transpired.
“I’m glad you’re here. I’m sorry for what happened last time,” George said as I walked into the living room. He sounded sincere. I didn’t buy it.
I held my hand up, putting a stop to the conversation. I looked at him and shook my head. If he said more, Luke would be in the house before I even asked my first question.
I wanted George calm, loose and comfortable to talk. He had to let his guard down.
“You said you needed to talk?” George asked as we walked over to the couch and sat down. The house was as clean as I had left it. George looked pulled together. He was wearing a blue plaid shirt and jeans.
I sat on the couch, tipped my head back and closed my eyes. I knew George was watching me closely. “I’m just tired. Overwhelmed you know. I thought I was just coming down here to look for Maime, but it’s much bigger than that now.”
“I know,” George said.
He reached over and kneaded my shoulder with his hand. Each time his fingertips brushed up against my collarbone, I had to stop myself from flinching. His hands on me no longer felt comfortable or natural.
“Hey, remember when you used to tease me about running away? I could use that right about now. Skip out of town and pretend all this never happened.” I turned my head looking up at him making sure I was making direct eye contact. I let my eyes go soft, gazing up at him with a look I’d perfected through the years of dating when I wanted my own way.
George watched me closely. I pulled his hand from my shoulder and took it in mine.
“It’s been so crazy since I got here. We haven’t had time to just talk like we used to. It’s hard to admit, but I missed that.”
“First you’re cold, now this? What’s changed?” George asked me with a trace of disbelief in his voice.
“Nothing really, but we can’t find Maime if we aren’t on the same team. I guess you were right. I was listening to Luke and Cooper too much. You hired me. I haven’t been very fair. I’m feeling bad about that and thought I’d come over.”
“Where’s Luke?”
“I don’t know. The police station probably. We had a fight. He really believes you’re guilty, George. I just can’t believe you murdered Maime or any of those other women. That’s not that man I remember.”
“Well,” George said, a smile spreading across his face, “I’m glad to see you are finally coming to your senses. I didn’t kill Maime. I didn’t kill anyone.”
“Yeah, but someone did, George. And it’s someone close to you. Think about it. They have the jewelry. Most of the women seem to have some connection to you. Whoever it is set you up good. Got any ideas?” I asked, turning to face him, his hand still in mine.
“No.”
“No? That’s all you got for me? I’m trying to clear your name here, George. Give me something. Help me out,” I pleaded.
“I don’t know what you want me to say. I really have no idea.”
“Pissed off husband? Bad business deal? Anything? If someone is setting you up there must be someone angry with you. That’s all I’m saying.”
George still didn’t say anything. He stared at me with a dumbfounded look on his face. He wasn’t giving anything away. We went round and round like this for several more minutes still not getting anywhere. I wasn’t getting any reaction out of him. It was time to push.
“George, if you have absolutely no idea who or why someone is framing you, then you have to have some involvement.”
George looked disgusted with me. He pulled his hand away from mine and got up. He walked over to his fireplace, leaned over and poked at the fire with the poker. I walked up behind him and put my hand on his back.
“George, look, things happen,” I cooed. “Maybe something was an accident that got out of hand. Maybe you got a call for ransom or something. You just have to trust that I can help you. It’s just you and me right now. Nobody else has to know. I need to help you get out of this.”
He jabbed at the burning logs more aggressively. He was agitated now.
“We both know that you know more. I trust you. I know that you didn’t hurt Maime or any of the other women. I believe you. But I also believe you know more. I need to know what that is.”
George turned to me, speaking low and directly into my face. “I don’t know any more than I’m telling you. Someone is setting me up. If I knew who it was, I’d have killed him myself, but I don’t know. Ask any way you want to. I can’t tell you what I don’t know.”
“Okay, I believe you,” I said, holding my hands up in defeat. I turned to leave but wanted one more shot. I tugged on the back of his shirt, leaned into him and asked, “Hey, George, for old times’ sake. If I had run away with you, where would we have gone?”
“You’re still stumped on that one?” George smiled wide like a Cheshire cat.
“I am, totally curious. I admit it.”
George moved to me, wrapped me in a hug, looked down at me and said, “Now, now sugar britches, you remember what happened to that cu
rious cat, don’t you?”
CHAPTER 77
THE DAYS CRAWLED BY. We were all a little stunned after my meeting with George. Curiosity killed the cat. I didn’t know if George was kidding or if it was an indirect threat. Luke wanted to go and arrest him that moment. It took about an hour back at my house to calm him down. The meeting didn’t get us anything other than we were pretty certain nothing was going to break George.
But now, everything seemed to grind to a halt. With so many things that had happened in such quick succession after I arrived in Little Rock, I was anticipating the same dreaded pace. But by mid-day Monday, everything was eerily quiet. The frantic pace was almost easier than the previous days. We were all on edge waiting for the next thing to happen, the next body to be found. But nothing happened.
Even the media was starting to get bored. A few of the national news stations started reporting the story less, weren’t hounding the local folks for interviews and comments quite as much. Much to George’s delight, his face was getting less air time.
It was a double-edged sword though. The less they played the story, the less pressure George and certainly the cops felt. Luke always felt like he could do his job better when he didn’t feel like the eyes of the world were on his every move and every decision. But with diminishing news coverage, the less people were talking about the cases and the victims. When people talk, it triggers things in their memories and potential new leads come in.
From Sunday morning on, Cooper kept a tight watch on David Norwalk. He didn’t go anywhere though. He stayed in his small two-bedroom house in West Little Rock. Occasionally, Cooper said, he’d run to the Kroger or Walgreens. Mostly, he just stayed at home. No one stopped by. Norwalk didn’t leave much. Cooper said he was starting to lose hope that Norwalk would lead them anywhere. But Luke remained confident, so Cooper kept up the pace. Cooper had called in two other private investigators he knew. They were working in eight hour shifts around the clock.
I would have been offended Cooper hadn’t asked me to help, but he knew I lacked patience for stationary surveillance. I was glad he hadn’t asked. I was still trying to run down information on the cellphone that was calling in the leads to the media. All we knew was that it was coming from a prepaid cellphone, which for the most part, is next to impossible to trace.
Late on Monday, Luke finally got the reports back from Verizon on Maime and George’s cellphones. Maime’s had been used once at the location of the rehab. Then it hadn’t been used again. The number she called was to a local cab company. At least it explained how she left the rehab. The cab company confirmed her fare from the rehab to her office where we knew she picked up her Land Rover.
From there, it’s obvious she met up with someone. We just didn’t know who or if she was a willing participant. We were back to having no idea where she had been abducted. I was still going through her cellphone records to see if there was any pattern for unrecognized numbers. There were a few I was trying to track down.
The report on George’s phone was less clear. It confirmed he called Laura on Friday night, and then tried Maime’s phone several times on Saturday like he said. From the location report Verizon provided, all the calls were made from or at least close to his house. George made very few calls the weeks prior. There was no record of contact with Lisa Cramer or unknown calls we couldn’t otherwise identify for the other victim found. George’s cellphone pinged at his home location almost all of the time. It was like he didn’t leave his house or left his cellphone at the house and potentially had another phone no one knew about.
Leads were just drying up. In addition to the cellphone records, I was still trying to reach out to Maime’s friends and others she might have known. I wasn’t getting very far. No one wanted to speak with me. Those that did, didn’t have much else to add.
George and I had spoken a few times over the course of those few days. He had told me that Edwin had suspended him from the law firm with pay until his daughter was found. He told George he wasn’t happy about still having to pay him, but the other partners in the firm insisted that George was innocent until proven guilty. They agreed that it brought too much speculation to have him at the office and to continue to deal with clients. They wouldn’t allow him to be fired, which George said is what Edwin wanted.
Things between George and me remained strained. After the other day, I didn’t feel like there was much left to say. I couldn’t just drop the case, he had paid us. I didn’t like leaving work unfinished, but it was hard to speak with him.
Late Monday, I talked to my mother. We had a long and civil talk. I tried breaking the news that I planned to return to New York only long enough to pack up my things, get my dog and move back to Little Rock permanently. She wasn’t hearing any of it.
We settled on more neutral topics – my weight, my lack of a husband and the fact that my sister was dating my ex-husband. These were at least neutral topics for my mother. For me, it was same old same old with her.
I wanted to tell her about Luke, but she wasn’t hearing that either. It wasn’t Luke per se. It was the fact that Luke was in Little Rock. I’m not sure why my mother despised the place so much. I think it was because I liked it, and it was far away from her. I could never gather another reason from her.
During the conversation, my mother was just focused on my sister Liv and her relationship with Jeff. My mother thought they made the perfect couple. She kept cautioning me that I better not make trouble for either of them. I assured her I wouldn’t. There was still an edge in her voice cautioning me. I wondered if she was already planning their wedding. We hung up before I got to tell her about Luke.
Each night, Luke came over after he was done with work. Some nights were later than others. I’d leave dinner in the fridge and hear him heating it up and moving around my kitchen. I knew he liked some time to himself after work to just decompress so I gave it to him. When he was done eating, he’d shut the lights off, lock up the house and come upstairs. He’d shower, brush his teeth and climb naked into my bed.
Every night, whether I was asleep or not, he’d pull me into his arms and cuddle against me. If I was awake, we’d make love and fall asleep together. The nights I was asleep, I’d wake briefly as he sweetly kissed my cheek goodnight and would fall back to sleep soundly in his arms.
Tonight, he was supposed to be back somewhat early. When he called at nine to tell me he was still in Hot Springs, I knew it would be another late night. I went to bed on my own again.
At one in the morning, when he finally crawled into bed, I woke up enough to tell him I loved him, but he was asleep before the words even left my mouth.
I laid there watching him sleep. I hoped that I wouldn’t disappoint him and that we’d both make it through this case strong on the other end of it.
CHAPTER 78
MY CELLPHONE BUZZED on the nightstand, waking me from my sleep. I reached over, blindly slapping the nightstand trying to find my phone. Before I could get my bearings, the call went to voicemail. They immediately called back.
“What?” I asked, trying to focus my sleepy eyes on the screen to see who was calling. I reached my hand over and hit a cold spot on the bed next to me. Luke must have left already. I’m usually not such a sound sleeper so I was surprised I hadn’t woken when he left. It was only seven-fifteen on a Friday morning.
“Can you be ready in fifteen minutes? We need to go somewhere. I’m outside. Let me in,” George said, barely taking a breath between sentences.
I hadn’t seen him since my interview with him at the start of the week. I didn’t really want to see him now, but he was still my client.
“I can let you in, but I don’t know that I can be ready that quickly. Where do we need to go?”
George didn’t respond. I slid out of bed and pulled on shorts and a tee-shirt. I stepped on the cold hardwood floor and headed down the stairs to let George in the house. I looked out the side window next to the front door but didn’t see George or his truck.
<
br /> “George, where are you?” I asked impatiently.
“I’ll be right there. I figured you didn’t want Emma to know I was at your place so I parked down the block,” George explained. He came into view seconds later. He wore jeans, a heavy sweater, and a ball cap pulled low on his face. I clicked off the call and set my phone on the table next to the front door. I opened the door and stood back, giving him room to enter.
“Hurry. Go shower and get ready. We don’t have much time,” he demanded as he crossed the threshold.
“What’s the rush? What’s going on?” I insisted.
George gently turned me around and guided me towards the stairs. “I’ll explain in the car. I’ll wait here. Hurry. We really don’t have much time.”
I figured fighting him wasn’t going to do much so I jogged back up the stairs, closed and locked the bathroom door and started the shower. I let the hot water rain over me. I showered quicker than I wanted, not because of George’s urgency, but because I didn’t like being naked with him in my house even with the bathroom door locked.
By the time I was ready to go, my half-dried hair was under my Boston Red Sox hat. I was dressed in jeans, sneakers, and a long sleeve tee.
I bounded back down the stairs and found George sitting on the couch. I grabbed my wallet and keys from my downstairs office and let George walk ahead of me out the door. I grabbed my cell off the table and closed and locked the door behind me.
His truck was down at the end of the block near the side street. As we walked, I demanded that George tell me what was going on. Stopping near his truck, I flat out refused to get in until he gave me an answer.
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