“Maybe Maliah could look into that.”
“Maybe,” said Wren.
“I’ll ask her,” said Reilly.
* * *
“Well, it’s theoretically possible to find out what people are torrenting,” said Maliah. “Assuming they aren’t cloaking it in some way, which is fairly easy to do. But without someone for me to target, I don’t know what I can do.”
“So, you need a specific target,” he said.
“Yeah, I do,” said Maliah.
“Okay,” said Reilly. “Well, it was worth a try.” He started out of her office.
“Hey,” she said. “Aren’t you going to tell me about your son?”
He turned back to her. “What? What do you know?”
She sighed. “Okay, I overheard a little of what you were saying to Delacroix. You told her, but not me?”
“I…” He spread his hands. “I was going to tell you. Of course I was going to tell you. I was going to tell you at dinner tonight. We’re still on, right?”
“Yeah, we are,” she said.
“Great,” he said. He crossed the room and leaned down to kiss her. “See you later, then.”
“Later,” she said.
* * *
“Well, what do you think?” Maliah was cutting her steak. They were out at a nice restaurant in Shepherdstown, one that was pricier than what Reilly usually sprang for, but for some reason, he felt like he had something to prove. “Do you think it’s a copycat?”
“It could be,” said Reilly.
“You don’t think it’s that Hawk guy?”
“I don’t know.”
“But you’ve got to be leaning one way or the other,” said Maliah.
“I…” He popped a shrimp into his mouth and chewed.
“Are you refusing to consider Hawk because of Delacroix?” said Maliah. “Because you can’t do that, you know.”
He swallowed his shrimp. “Hey, come on. Give me some credit here, Maliah. You think I’m the kind of guy who would do that?”
“You don’t have to act all defensive,” said Maliah, bringing a bite of steak to her mouth.
“I’m not defensive,” he said. “Okay, maybe a little.”
Maliah finished chewing. “Yeah, you’re defensive because you’re guilty. You’re deliberately avoiding looking into him.”
“I’m not doing that,” said Reilly. “I don’t even like the guy. If it’s him, I will definitely arrest him.”
“Even if it pisses off Delacroix?”
“Of course,” said Reilly. “You think I’d let a murderer go free? Really? It’s like you don’t even know me.”
“You are protesting way too much.” She pointed at him with her fork.
“I am not!” Then he laughed. “No, I mean, I’m protesting. But I’m seriously not… I don’t know where this jealousy thing comes from with you. Why do you think I’m into Wren?”
She looked down at her plate. “I’m not jealous.”
“Since the moment you saw her, there’s been tension.”
“What? Since she showed up during our morning-after and you rushed down to talk to her?”
“Come on, Maliah.”
She shrugged. “Well, it’s not as though you haven’t been unfaithful before.”
Reilly’s lips parted.
She ate more steak.
Reilly’s voice was soft. “That’s hardly fair. I mean, yes, I was unfaithful, but so were you. And it was with each other, so…”
“So, what? So, that proves that we have sterling characters?”
“No, it’s only that I didn’t cheat on Janessa because of some defect I have. It’s not a habitual thing with me.”
“So, why’d you do it?”
“Why did you cheat on Jax?”
“He wouldn’t have sex with me,” she said. “We hadn’t done it in four years. Not once in four years. I was going insane.”
“Oh, maybe you said something about that once.” He picked up his glass of wine and took a sip. “Sorry. I don’t know why I forgot that.”
“It’s not something I liked to advertise,” she said. “He made out like it was my fault. Like I didn’t take care of myself, wasn’t sexy enough…”
“That’s bullshit,” said Reilly.
“I know.” She grinned at him. “I didn’t know before. I believed him for a while, but then I saw you looking at me the way you looked at me, and I started to wake up and realize he was just being a dick.”
“He was,” said Reilly. “A total dick.”
“And why was your infidelity a one-time thing again?”
He sighed. “Listen, Janessa and I just grew apart. We weren’t having sex either, but neither of us were initiating. We just… fell apart. I don’t know. We yelled at each other. We weren’t good to each other. It was a toxic environment.”
Maliah went back to her steak. “Well, it’s all well and good to say this stuff, but the truth is that you and I were both presented with less-than-ideal relationships, and we chose infidelity to get through. There were other choices. Healthier choices. Choices that would cause others less pain. But we both chose to go down this path.”
“What’s your point?” he said. “Is your point that you’re justified in being jealous of Wren?”
“I’m not jealous.”
“Okay,” he said in a tone that meant anything but okay.
“I didn’t mean to pick a fight with you, Cai.”
“Could have fooled me, because all you’ve done is insult me during this entire conversation.”
“Now, that is not true.”
“First, I’m such a crap police officer that I’m going to not properly investigate the case. Then I’m pandering to Wren. Then I’m probably going to sleep with Wren, since I’m a confirmed cheater—”
“You are twisting my words.”
He sat back in his chair. He had lost his appetite. “Maybe we shouldn’t talk about work.”
She laughed. “Yes, definitely, Cai, this is all about work.”
“You don’t trust me,” he said quietly.
“Do you trust me?” she said.
“Yeah,” he said.
“Easy to say when you haven’t been tested,” she said.
“Let’s talk about something else,” he said. “Something less heavy.”
“Okay,” she said. “You’re right.” She speared one of her asparagus stalks with her fork. “What else do we talk about?”
“Um…” He tried to think, but the truth was that they hadn’t engaged in a lot of conversations. Sure, they’d talked drunkenly at the bar, but that had been all about the subtext underneath, which was the maneuvering to get themselves into bed together. None of that had landed for him. He couldn’t remember any of it.
“We do talk, don’t we?” said Maliah, looking troubled.
“Yeah,” said Reilly. “We talk.”
But after that, they sat silently for a long time.
CHAPTER SIX
“So, it occurred to me that if we’re putting Hawk back on the table, we should also put Isaac Scott back on the table,” said Wren to Reilly. She was clutching the coffee he’d left for her on her desk and leaning against his office door.
“Is Hawk back on the table?” said Reilly.
“Sure,” she said.
“If you say so,” he said. “But, uh, who’s Isaac Scott again?”
“He’s an old guy who lives on the compound,” she said. “He’s still pretty devout. Follows all the teachings of the FCL. He’s the one who found Jenny Smith’s body.”
“Oh, right, that guy.” Reilly nodded. “Sure. I remember him. But didn’t he have an alibi for one of the girls? He was at Virginia Beach or something.”
“Right, well, I checked into that,” said Wren, “and the uniforms were never able to follow up on it. They tried several times to contact the family that he was supposed to be on vacation with, but they couldn’t get hold of them. Which doesn’t mean that he was lying. But it does mean tha
t he doesn’t have an alibi.”
“So, you’re saying if Major didn’t do it, Isaac could still be on the hook for everything?”
“Yes.”
“Could he be the copycat?”
“I…” She shook her head. “Doesn’t really fit the profile. Of course, there’s always the chance that my profile is wrong. I don’t entirely know how Vivian indoctrinated the people that she got to murder for her. Maybe there are commonalities, enough to explain the similarities…”
“That’s quite a leap,” said Reilly. “None of the original murders carried out by the FCL bear any real similarity to Major’s killings.”
“I know,” she said. “Pretty much everyone was shot, not drugged and suffocated. And they weren’t arranged in the readiness pose. Something creepy like that would have pointed to the Fellowship right away. But maybe there’s something more to it, something that’s connected to her. A kind of symbolism.”
“Well… what? Garrett Edwards and Lexi Hill, they’re both in jail. And the other couple, the people who first turned Vivian in… what was their name?”
“Freeman,” said Wren. “Karen and Terrence Freeman.”
“They’re the ones who disappeared, right?”
“They’re dead,” said Wren. “My mother must have had them killed, along with David Song. He disappeared too.”
“You pretty sure about that?” said Reilly.
“Well, I don’t have proof, but if you’re asking if I think they showed up to kill Oliver Campbell, then no, I don’t.”
“Well, okay, then,” said Reilly. “So, Isaac Scott.”
* * *
Isaac Scott was carrying a shovel over his shoulder. He had been transplanting rose bushes out by the amphitheater. He was a bit of an all-around handyman for the FCL. “I’m not still a suspect, am I? I thought you arrested Major.”
“We did,” said Wren. “And we’re convinced we got the right man. But in case we didn’t, we just want to talk to you about the night when Oliver Campbell was murdered. Where were you?”
“Oh, Lord,” said Isaac, setting down the shovel, the blade biting into the earth. “I can’t even remember. It was a typical day. I could have been anywhere on the compound. The truth is that I spend a lot of time alone.”
“Try to think,” said Reilly. “It was a Monday. You do anything specific on that day of the week?”
“No, I don’t have a weekly routine. I just go where I’m needed,” said Isaac. “I could ask Kimora. She might now. She has the schedule for me.”
“I’ll ask Kimora,” said Wren. “Don’t worry about that.”
“But you insist on thinking that I did it,” said Isaac. “Even though I thought I told you I was on vacation with the Daramonds.”
“You did,” said Wren. “We’re looking into that.”
“Still?” said Isaac. “That was a long time ago.”
“I’m sorry,” said Wren. “We’re just having trouble getting in touch with the Daramonds. But what I’m going to do is go by and talk to them myself. I don’t think they’ve taken well to phone calls from the police.” She turned to Reilly. “Sometimes people on the compound don’t much like outside interference.”
“Yeah, we’ll go there after this,” said Reilly.
“Good,” said Isaac. “And you’ll see that I’m innocent. I would never have done such a thing.”
“Listen, Isaac, I don’t want you to take this the wrong way,” said Wren. “But the thing is that you’re very, um, devoted to the Fellowship. And I believe that you would do anything if you thought it was in the service of the Lord. Even killing.”
“Well, that’s not true,” said Isaac.
“No?” said Wren.
“Didn’t David Song say that if the word of your masters goes against the teaching of the Lord, you must deny it?”
“Did he?” said Wren. “I don’t remember hearing David Song talk that much.”
“Well, he did speak,” said Isaac. “Much of the time. He did his best to guide his flock. But he himself was taken in by Vivian Delacroix. She was a powerful personality. He admired her. He was taken in by her fire. But he had no idea that she was doing such horrible things. If he’d known, he would have put a stop to it.”
“Look, we don’t know,” said Wren. “Maybe David knew. Maybe he didn’t. The fact that my mother killed him seems to lean towards the idea that—”
“She didn’t kill him.”
“Well, then where is he?”
“He’s here with us,” said Isaac. “As best as he can be.”
“What, like spiritually?”
“Yes,” said Isaac, picking up the shovel again. “Listen, is this going to take much longer—”
“So, you’re telling me that if my mother had ordered you to kill someone—”
“She never did! I wasn’t at those bonfires. I don’t like to take too much LSD. I’ve done enough of that. It’s a tool to expand one’s mind, but my mind is plenty expanded, thank you very much.”
“You were never there?”
“Never,” said Isaac. “And if I had been ordered to kill, I would have refused, and I would have told her that she was working in the service of evil, and I would have kicked her out of the compound.”
Wren raised her eyebrows. “Well, she wouldn’t have listened to you. She might have had you killed.”
“Right, well, I suppose would have gone to David Song, then,” said Isaac. “Can I go now?”
* * *
Reilly pulled the car into the driveway of the Daramond cabin. “This the place?”
“Yeah,” said Wren. “Looks right. I can’t remember exactly, though. If it’s not this one, it’s the one next door. We’ll try there if I got it wrong.”
“All right,” he said. “Hey, you really think Isaac Scott’s our guy?”
“No,” she said. “I don’t.”
“But we’re going through a good bit of trouble to eliminate him.”
“Might as well. Having someone good and eliminated, it’ll feel as though we’ve accomplished something.”
“Or, we’re just stalling,” said Reilly.
Wren got out of the car and slammed the door.
He got out too. Why had he said that? He should keep his mouth shut. He followed her to the door of the cabin.
She knocked on the door.
A teenage girl answered the door, her hair in braids that hung down her back.
“Hi Vickie,” said Wren.
“Hey,” said Vickie. “I guess you want my mom.”
“Actually, I can probably just ask you,” said Wren.
“Ask me what? Don’t you work with the police?” Vickie looked warily over Wren’s shoulder at Reilly.
“I do, but you’re not in any trouble, and neither is your family,” said Wren. “I’m here to ask about Isaac Scott.”
“What about him?”
“Last summer, when you went on vacation, did he come along?”
“Oh, yeah.” Vickie made a face. “Yeah, he was there. It was so awkward. I can’t believe my mother brought him with us. It was weird. He kept making all these comments about how vacations weren’t really part of the Lord’s plan for his children and stuff, but he was happy enough to eat our food and bask in the sunshine. He’s kind of creepy, you know?”
“In what way?” said Wren.
“Well, my sister, Jessica, she’s like eleven. I swear that old Isaac guy was checking her out in her bathing suit.”
Wren turned to look at Reilly, who raised his eyebrows.
Then Wren turned back to Vickie. “But he was with you, at Virginia Beach? He was there?”
“Yeah, he was there. I just said he was, didn’t I?”
* * *
“Well, he’s got a confirmed alibi,” said Wren from the passenger seat of Reilly’s car. “We eliminate him. It doesn’t matter if he was looking at girls in bathing suits. None of that matters.”
“Except it’s bothering you,” said Reilly.
&nbs
p; Wren didn’t say anything. Instead, she pointed through the windshield. “Take your next right.”
“Got it,” said Reilly, executing the turn. “It’s bothering me, too, I can’t deny it. Could he have been involved somehow? Could Major have had an accomplice?”
“Two of them,” said Wren. “Right. I thought of that for the last case, but I never thought of it for this one. The crime scenes don’t support it. They’re focused and straightforward, an execution of one man’s vision.”
“Right,” said Reilly. “Except that man with the vision is in jail, and we have a nearly identical scene.”
“I know.” She sighed. “Um, that cabin there.”
“That one? With the tricycle in the yard?”
“Yup, that’s it.”
Reilly pulled up to park along the side of the road. “What if he’s the copycat?”
“Except the copycat didn’t kill young girls.” Wren pointed at the cabin. “Anyway, maybe Kimora will know if there’s a reason to suspect that he did it or not.”
“Okay,” said Reilly.
Wren opened her door, and Reilly followed suit. They got out of the car and walked over the gravel driveway to the walkway to the porch. They climbed the steps onto the porch, which was littered with Barbies, plastic toy shopping carts, and trucks. Wren knocked on the door.
The door opened and Kimora was there, baby on her hip. “Wren! Hey, long time.”
“Hey,” said Wren. “You got a minute?”
“I never have a minute,” said Kimora. “I am busy all the time.” Kimora headed up the historic preservation society that ran the tours of the murder sites. She also managed the upkeep of the public spaces on the compound. She had a lot on her plate, not to mention her three small children, which were always underfoot while she was doing scheduling and working. “But come in anyway.”
Wren gestured. “This is Detective Reilly. I work with him.”
“Oh, Lord,” said Kimora. “Is this about the murder stuff?”
“Yeah,” said Wren. “Basically, we know that you make a schedule for Isaac Scott, and we were wondering if we could try to figure out what he was doing the night that Oliver Campbell died.”
“Um… yeah,” said Kimora. She put her baby down in a bouncy harness that was attached to the door frame. Then she got out her phone and started scrolling on the screen. “What day was that again?”
Wren Delacroix Series Box Set Page 43