Faces of Evil [1] Obsession

by Debra Webb

  “Mr. and Mrs. Sawyer, you know what Facebook is, I’m sure. It’s a popular social network for teenagers and, really, people of all ages.”

  Elaine nodded first. Steve seemed to do so just because his wife did.

  “Dana has a Facebook page,” Jess explained, “and there was a private message to her from a female friend who calls herself Beautiful Mind. She seemed worried that Dana hadn’t called her since yesterday.”

  The Sawyers shared a questioning look then shook their heads. “I have always respected my daughter’s privacy,” Elaine responded. “I have no idea who her Facebook friends are.”

  Dan wondered if Annette knew Andrea’s friends.

  “Detective Wells discovered that Beautiful Mind is actually Dr. Maureen Sullivan. She’s a psychologist in Birmingham who specializes—”

  “We know who she is,” Steve said. He looked confused for a moment then visibly shook it off. “She was Dana’s therapist for the first year after the accident. The Murray boy had been a part of her life all through high school. His sudden death was difficult for her even though they had ended their relationship several months prior.”

  Elaine seemed to have a more difficult time absorbing the implications of Jess’s announcement. “Why would Dr. Sullivan be talking to Dana now? Their last session was over two years ago.”

  “We’ll find the answer to that question for you, Mrs. Sawyer,” Jess promised. “It may very well be as simple as bumping into each other on Facebook. It happens all the time.”

  The worried parents nodded in unison. Dan hated to see another family going through this nightmare. It was bad enough four families had been devastated. Fury burned in his gut. Who the hell was doing this?

  “I believe I have all I need for now,” Jess said. “If you think of anything at all that might help our investigation, please call the chief’s office.”

  It was Dan’s turn. “We’ve had Dana’s car moved to the lab to check for anything the evidence techs may have missed. With your permission, we’ll take her laptop for additional analysis. Our hope is that we will find any communications with anyone who may know something about who she intended to meet at the flower shop.”

  According to the witness, Dana had gotten into the truck of her own free will.

  “You’re aware, I’m sure,” he explained, “that considering your daughter’s age, technically we have no jurisdiction over her decision to leave, alone or with anyone else, when no coercion is suspected. But, we have four other girls who have gone missing in the past three weeks. All around the same age as Dana and under similar circumstances in terms of the abruptness of their departures and the lack of advance warning to even their closest friends.”

  “Generally,” Jess added, “a girl of Dana’s age will tell someone when planning a decision of that magnitude. The cooperation of all her friends is essential, as is yours.”

  “Whatever we can do,” Steve guaranteed. “Anything. We have friends all over town looking for her.”

  Numerous search parties had been organized for each of the disappearances, to no avail. If Dana was number five in this unnamed case, search parties in the woods and throughout nearby neighborhoods might prove pointless. But Dan appreciated the need to go through the motions. He’d beat his share of bushes for the first forty-eight hours after Andrea went missing.

  As if fate had decided he needed a break, he, Jess, Wells and Vernon were on their way out as the attorney arrived. The minister pulled up behind him.

  “I’m going to the lab with Vernon,” Wells said. “Unless there’s some place else I need to be.”

  “Keep doing just what you’re doing, Wells,” Dan agreed. They had to catch a break soon. “Let me know when you’ve got something.” Assuming there was anything to get.

  Gina was going to be royally ticked off that he’d had to postpone the scoop he’d promised. She would use that for future leverage, he felt sure.

  While he deliberated the way to make Gina happy and keep Jess out of trouble, she climbed into the driver’s seat of his SUV. He went to the passenger side and opened the door. “Is there a reason you want to drive?”

  On the drive here he had broken every speed limit encountered. He’d never known her to be afraid of pushing the limits, but then that had been a long time ago.

  “Maybe I just want to see how one of these extravagant SUVs handle.” She smoothed her hands over the leather steering wheel.

  Dan resisted the urge to loosen his tie at the idea of how many times she had run her hands exactly that way over his naked skin. He banished the memories.

  “Why not?” He passed the keys to her and climbed in. As soon as he closed his door, she eased away from the curb.

  Jess passed him a note. “Enter this address into your GPS. That’s our destination.”

  He should have anticipated a hidden agenda. Dan looked at the Mountain Brook address. “Who we going to see?”

  “Dr. Maureen Sullivan.”

  No surprise there. Jess had been in a hurry to go from the moment Wells gave her the news. “She won’t talk to us, Jess. You know that. Doctor-patient privilege. There are steps we need to take first. And she might not talk then.”

  “She doesn’t have to tell us anything.” Jess headed for the interstate. “We tell her and then we watch what happens.”

  Dan shook his head. She was grasping at straws. “You feel this compelled from a simple call me message?”

  “No.” She flipped open her notepad with one hand while she drove with the other. “I feel this compelled by the one that came after the call me message.” She passed the notepad to him.

  Dan stared at her neatly written notes. Underlined twice was: Don’t do it.

  ~*~

  Mountain Brook, 7:00 p.m.

  Jess parked the Mercedes at the curb in front of Dr. Sullivan’s home. “Looks like she has company.” The doctor was unmarried and lived alone, according to what Wells had passed along while they were en route. She drove an Infinity sedan. The Volvo parked behind her sedan was the unknown variable.

  “What do you want to bet it’s her attorney?”

  Jess wasn’t in a betting mood. “I guess we’ll just have to see.” No need to run the plate. They would soon know.

  With scarcely more than an hour before dark, Jess wanted this woman under surveillance twenty-four seven but that required additional manpower on a case that wasn’t even really a case. Five girls were missing and they didn’t have a speck of evidence indicating foul play.

  Even if Dan went for it, he had a hierarchy to whom he had to answer. As much as the mayor and every other powerful politician and influential citizen in the Birmingham area wanted these girls found, there was a limit to how far they could bend the law and extend resources. And the Bureau was waiting for BPD to prove there was a connection before doing any more than the cursory efforts already in place. Not even another missing girl had swayed their position.

  Jess could kick herself for leaving her car at Dan’s parents’ house. If she were in her own car, she could do the surveillance. She wasn’t on the city or the county’s payroll. In a few weeks, she wouldn’t be on any payroll.

  Dan rapped on the ornate door of the Sullivan home. The door opened immediately. The man who towered in the doorway was forty or better, had an enviable tan and wore wire-rimmed eyeglasses. But it was the haute couture suit that gave him away. The lawyer.

  “May I help you?”

  The lavish foyer behind him was empty but Jess, now in the betting mood, would wager that the good doctor was close by listening.

  “Yes, you may.” Jess smiled and flashed her soon-to-be useless creds. “I’m Special Agent Harris and this is Chief of Police Burnett. We’d like to speak to Dr. Sullivan.”

  The lawyer thrust a card at Jess. “I’m Edward Williams, her attorney. You and the chief may speak to me.” He acknowledged Dan with a nod.

  “In that case,” Jess suggested, “may we come in out of the heat?”

  “I�
��m comfortable right here.”

  Jess supposed he was. He had all that climate-controlled air circling around him. “Since you’re here, Mr. Williams, I assume you know a former patient of Dr. Sullivan’s has gone missing.”

  News in small towns traveled at the speed of light, straight to the local news networks, all of which were poised and salivating for actual news. When would people realize that no news was generally good news?

  “We have heard, yes. It’s tragic.”

  Jess adjusted the strap of her bag on her tired shoulder. “Your client left a couple of messages for Dana Sawyer on her Facebook. I’d like to know what those messages mean.”

  “I’m afraid my client is constrained by doctor-patient privilege. There are steps you will need to take if you intend to pursue questioning.” He puffed out his chest and smiled smartly. “Good day, Agent Harris, Chief Burnett.”

  “Your client is also aware,” Jess said before he could close the door, “that Dana Sawyer is one of five girls who have gone missing under the same circumstances.”

  “As I said, Agent Harris,” Mr. Williams returned, “we saw the news and we sympathize with your position. You must, in turn, understand ours.”

  “Any information your client has,” Jess pushed when he attempted to shut her out a second time, “could make the difference between whether those girls live or die.”

  Movement beyond the fancy attorney drew Jess’s attention.

  Williams turned to his client. “Maureen, do not allow this agent’s dramatics to influence your emotions. We have already discussed these possibilities. Our position on the matter cannot change.”

  “You can make up your own mind, Doctor,” Jess said, ignoring the attorney’s glare.

  “And lose your license,” Williams warned.

  Sullivan had been crying. Her eyes were swollen and red. She wrung her hands as if she couldn’t decide what to do with them. She wanted to talk but she was afraid of the consequences; that was obvious. Ultimately, she looked away, mouth shut tight.

  Jess acquiesced. For now. “All right, Mr. Williams. I’ll be sure to notify you and your client first when we find the bodies.”

  She turned her back and descended the steps. Sullivan launched an argument with Williams but he closed the door before Jess could hear what she had to say.

  Fury scaled her rigid backbone as Jess strode to the SUV. She would never understand how a doctor could hold back information when a life or lives were at stake. Wherever Dana Sawyer had been going, her therapist knew something about it. That information could lead them to all the girls.

  If they were together.

  Reanne Parsons may have gone off with a boy named Tim. Dana obviously had someone she intended to meet. There was not a single shred of evidence that connected these five disappearances. Only that hard, cold instinct of Jess’s that warned this was all tied together.

  Jess climbed into the passenger seat and slammed the vehicle door. She didn’t want to drive anymore. She wanted her Audi so she could sit out here all night and watch this woman. If nothing else maybe the effort would save Dana Sawyer.

  When Dan was behind the wheel, Jess turned to him. He wasn’t going to like her request but that would be nothing new. “If Detective Wells or Harper could bring my car, I’d like to keep an eye on Sullivan tonight. If she has any idea—”

  “Out of the question.” Dan started the engine. “First—”

  Her cell rang. She grabbed for her bag. Damn. Damn. Damn. “Why won’t you listen to reason, Burnett?” Jess fished for her phone. “Sullivan may very well try to track down Dana herself. If she does something stupid like that she’ll need backup—protection, I mean.”

  Burnett stared at her, his expression somewhere south of furious, but not more than a hop, skip and a jump.

  Her cell blasted another ring. She hit the screen and shoved it to her ear. “Harris.”

  If she were lucky it was Wells. Jess could persuade the ambitious detective into pulling an all-nighter with her.

  “Harris, we have a problem.”

  The rush of cold and then hot that dashed over Jess’s skin, soaked all the way to her bones, left her speechless for a moment.

  She summoned her voice. “And what would that be?” She refused to bother with the formalities of addressing her superior by the book at this point. Why cater to Special Agent in Charge Gant’s rank? He had probably already submitted the paperwork for her dismissal. In reality, they had several problems, starting with him. Besides, Burnett was listening. He already knew too much.

  “He walked two hours ago.”

  Jess went completely still deep inside where her thoughts usually raced like the Gumball Rally when on a case. She couldn’t breathe much less speak.

  “You need to watch yourself, Harris. We’re doing everything we can to put this case back together but God only knows where he’ll be by then. We’ve got surveillance on him but based on his history, if it lasts the night, it’ll be a miracle.”

  Reality nudged her. Jess blinked. “Thank you. I appreciate the update.” She didn’t bother with a goodbye. She shoved the phone back into her bag, deep in the bottom as if that would somehow conceal what she did not want to acknowledge.

  “Did Harper find something?”

  “No.” She shook her head for emphasis and maybe to clear it.

  He shifted into Drive but his attention failed to shift from her.

  Why didn’t he just let it go? “It was…personal.” Undeniably, regrettably very personal.

  Burnett drove. She sat in a kind of coma. Eric Spears was free. At least six women were dead. All brutally raped and murdered with slow, methodical torture techniques. And no one had been able to stop him. The six bodies they had found were probably only the first peek at a much larger, much uglier history of depravity. Spears was forty years old. He’d likely been doing this far longer than anyone other than Jess suspected. Definitely longer than the five years the Bureau had tagged.

  He was out.

  And it was her fault. She had made a terrible mistake. The chances that he would have walked anyway had been stacked deep in his favor. But her role had ensured that, barring a miracle, none of the evidence he’d stockpiled could ever be used against him. The only way he would be stopped now was if some of his old work, assuming she was right about that, was uncovered or if he killed again and got caught.

  Otherwise he would just keep killing and his victims, all women, would keep dying horrific deaths.

  Because of her.

  How could she possibly believe for one second that anything she was capable of doing would save these girls?

  Jess stared out her window, focused on the blur of trees and houses. Don’t think about it. There was nothing she could do. The damage was done. She couldn’t go back and make it right.

  When Burnett dropped her off, she would drive back and watch Sullivan’s house. Jess doubted the woman would risk leaving until her attorney had taken his leave and she had the cover of darkness. Then again, she might not take the risk at all. Not every woman was as rash as Jess.

  “Burnett.”

  She started at the sound of his voice. If she hadn’t been so distracted she would have noticed he’d gotten a call. Could be Harper or Wells with an update. Or Patterson. Griggs, possibly. Maybe there would be a real break and they could find these girls and wrap up this case. Then Jess could disappear into nowhere. Some place where he wouldn’t find her.

  There were many times in a woman’s life when she wanted to be the object of a man’s desire. His total obsession. But this was not one of those times.

  Would Spears really take that kind of risk? His intelligence level would indicate otherwise…but the part of him that could not control the impulses driving his obsession with achieving pleasure in the only way he could ruled him to a large degree.

  Burnett’s cell phone slid back into its leather holster, the sound not unlike that of a weapon easing back into its keeping place. She shivered. If Sp
ears came after her, no one close to her would be safe. Not her family…not Dan.

  Focus, Jess! She kicked Spears and Gant out of her head and reached for some semblance of composure. No need to borrow trouble, she had two handfuls already.

  “Did you really think you could keep this news from me?”

  So the call hadn’t been an update. Perfect. One of his people had obviously seen the news. The question was, how would Wells or Harper or any of the others under his command know about her connection to Spears?

  “Thanks for blabbing my secrets to the world.” You couldn’t trust anybody anymore.

  “Wells,” he clarified. “I told her to keep an eye on any press releases related to the guy. I didn’t tell her why.”

  “That’s something, I suppose.” Jess hated, hated, hated anyone knowing her secrets. Wells was no dummy. She would figure it out.

  “You’ll stay at my house tonight.”

  “No.” She glared at him. “I will not! I am a trained agent. I can take care of myself.” Not to mention she wasn’t going to be caught in his house alone with him under any circumstances. Life or death included.

  “Jess, you have two choices.”

  That was a tone she hadn’t heard in half a lifetime. Before she could set him straight, he laid down the law according to Dan Burnett. “You will either stay with me or I will assign a uniform to you. One who won’t take any of your crap.”

  “Fine.”

  “Here we go with the fine again.”

  “You can stay with me but we will not stay at your house. We’ll stay at your parents.” As much as she dreaded the idea of spending twenty-four/seven with him, she preferred that to another stranger knowing her business. Better the devil she knew.

  “Fine,” he conceded.

  Her car was at the senior Burnett’s house. Chances of persuading him to change his mind about the surveillance were greater in an environment that was not his usual habitat.

  “We’ll stop by my house so I can get a change of clothes.”

  That she could do. “Fine.”

  “God, I hate that word.”