“Any other good news to share?” she asked sarcastically.
Neither the sheriff nor the M.E. responded.
“OK, my friends, let’s deal with our immediate realities. We have one dead child, killed by a fucking pervert who still has the little girl. There is nothing to go on. No suspects in the immediate area. A possible suspect maybe hiding in West Virginia. So you really don’t have shit. You don’t have to be genius to figure that out.
What we do have is a pack of rabid press wolves descending on our little piece of southwest Virginia, intent on eating our asses. There aren’t many days until our flea market and gun show gets under way, and let me fill you in on what’s happening. I’ve gotten calls from some of the hotel managers, who say they have families who have cancelled already. People say there’s no way they’re coming here when there’s a killer on the loose.
Gentlemen, do you get the drift? Frank, your folks and the state police need to step up your investigation. I don’t have to tell you what the flea market means to all of us. It’s our gold mine. We need our normal five hundred thousand visitors to show up and spend their money. If people are scared, they’ll stay home, and we can’t afford that.”
The sheriff sat still for a long minute before he spoke. “Libby, I’ve lived through more flea markets than I care to remember. I understand the impact it has on our economy.”
“So, what are we going to do, Frank? What’s your plan to catch this miserable son of a bitch?”
“Jim Craig is checking with his boss at the state police headquarters in Richmond to see what kind of a reward he can shake out of that tree. We have about five thousand dollars in our reward fund.”
Libby smirked, “Frank, you know as well as I do that five thousand dollars won’t get us jack. People need real incentive to get involved. Let’s say we offer fifty thousand dollars. How would that work, gentlemen?”
The sheriff smiled. “Great, but where in the heck will we get that kind of money?”
“Let me worry about that, Frank. All you need to do is announce at the press conference that we’re offering a fifty-thousand-dollar reward for information leading to the return of the little girl and an arrest. We need information, and we need it fast. Maybe some big money will shake some information out of someone. Someone must know something or suspect something. Money talks, Frank.”
“Let’s get something straight, Libby. I’ll be happy to make the announcement about a reward as long as there’s a fifty-thousand-dollar reward to give if someone provides information we can use. We can’t bullshit the public on this,” the sheriff countered.
“Frank, you worry about getting the information, and I’ll make darned sure we come up with the cash if we need to pay somebody.”
Dr. Kahn had been silent through the whole exchange. He knew that Libby could get that kind of money in a heartbeat and that she was supporting the sheriff in his reelection campaign. The sheriff was nobody’s fool. He understood the impact on the local economy if this year’s flea market crashed and burned. He also knew that the while most of the voters approved of Sheriff Pierce’s performance, they might vote for another candidate if the little girl wasn’t found and the killer brought to justice.
“Frank, not to worry. I’ll back Libby up on this and guarantee that the reward money will be available if you need it.”
The sheriff smiled a tepid smile.
* * *
During the past four days, he had tried to spend as much time as he could with Katie. She liked Cocoa Puffs for breakfast. They watched movies in the afternoon, and he read to her at night. She didn’t ask for her parents or brother very often anymore, and this pleased him. He was feeling more and more like the parent he had dreamed of being.
All of that was robbed from him long ago. They should have let him follow his passions. But they didn’t, and now, as a long time ago, he crashed through the window of sanity into the morass of insanity. Nightmares of those he had loved in the past haunted him enough to keep him from the abyss of deadly love that so fed his desire to kill. He had learned from past mistakes.
Every detail was planned to the second of execution. Nothing was left to chance. He had made serious mistakes only once and paid dearly for his stupidly. It had taken years of planning and severe abstinence. His fantasies carried him through years of living a successful and normal life that gave no indication of his deeply hidden lust for forbidden affection. He had inched so close to the line, only to pull himself out of a headlong dive into the hellhole of emotional abandon. He lunged at the last straws of self-control that saved those around him from his deadly ways.
“Why are you my new Daddy now?” Katie asked him as she sucked on the lollipop he had given her.
“Sweetie, your mommy and daddy died when that motel burned down. They asked me to take care of you and your brother. Pete got sick and died too. Now there’s only you and me. I love having you as my daughter.”
Katie looked at him with as much skepticism as her five-year-old brain could process. She understood that if she was happy, that made him happy. She knew he hit Pete when Pete got mad. She didn’t want to get him mad and get hit. She understood the correlation. She was a smart little girl.
“Katie, it’s getting late, and you have to take your bath. We can watch a movie on our new iPad while we’re in our tub. And if you’re a good little girl, you can have some ice cream before you go to bed.”
He started to fill the tub with warm water.
He then started the hidden video camera to record what he needed to see after she was gone.
He was alive in his fantasy.
“Rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub.
Rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub.
Now time for the tub,” he repeated as he filled the tub.
Suddenly Katie said, “I want my Barbie and Ken dolls!”
“Katie, we don’t have Ken and Barbie here. They’re gone.”
“If you’re my new daddy and you love me, you’ll get me a new Barbie and Ken. I want you to take me shopping with you.” She started to cry.
This took him by surprise. He wanted her to be happy so he could be happy, at least for the time being. “Sweetie, if you stop crying, we can go shopping tomorrow. It’s too late tonight. All the stores are closed.”
She looked at him and smiled a little smile and stopped crying. He picked her up and gently set her down in the tub. He stepped in beside her. The warm water soothed his naked body.
“Rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub.
Rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub, rub-a-dub.”
He banished all thoughts of Ken and Barbie.
CHAPTER 25
As the cancellations for motel rooms began to mount, motel owners soon discovered that their rooms were a hot commodity for a different reason: The horde of media personnel who were descending on Fancy Gap and Carroll County needed a place to sleep. The deep pockets of ABC, NBC, and FOX News could accommodate much higher room rates. Even the old motel in Fancy Gap was full of media curiosity seekers who wanted to be near the exact area where the children were abducted. Ms. Tillwell was no one’s fool: What was once a thirty five-dollar-a-night room suddenly became a one hundred and fifty-dollar-a-night room. She knew the sudden notoriety of the location could disappear as quickly as the fog.
This crush of media presence was not lost on the Prestons. Mary had promised Tim and Susan that she would take all calls from the press and help prioritize them according to which ones would most benefit their cause. The regional and local presses would have the most access to them for interviews, since they believed that Katie was close by. The only national interview they had planned was on The Today Show, though Fox News and the Oprah channel had called to set up something.
They had already had sit-down interviews with WXII, the NBC affiliate out of Winston-Salem, which maintained the greatest market penetration in the Hillsville, Galax, and Fancy Gap markets. They had also talked to the Fox channel out of Ch
arlotte to cover the area south of I-77. Since the Winston-Salem Journal was the most widely read big-city newspaper in Carroll County, they had granted an extensive interview with two reporters. The story was plastered all over the front page for days.
Mary wanted them to talk with the USA Today reporter, as well as the team from People magazine. Tim thought that was a good idea but Susan opposed it—at least for now. She was convinced that good coverage in the local markets would increase the chances their message would be seen by whoever had Katie or by someone who might have seen something important.
As Tim and Susan rounded the corner in front of the Carroll County Government Center, they couldn’t believe their eyes. The large parking lot was overflowing with media vehicles of all sizes. Antennas and dishes sprouted from the rooftops of mega vans, and a maze of electrical cables covered the ground.
Tim drove around to the sheriff ’s entrance and parked in a spot the sheriff had reserved for them. The sheriff was standing outside his office when they arrived. He smiled as they approached and opened the door to his office for them. As they entered, two people stood to greet them.
Libby Thomas extended her hand to Susan. “Mrs. Preston, I’m Libby Thomas, chairperson on the county board of supervisors. First of all, on behalf of all the citizens of Carroll County, I want to extend our deepest condolences to you and your husband on your loss. Please understand that you have all the resources of our county at your disposal.”
The other man in the room introduced himself to Tim. “I’m Herman Licata, county administrator. Please accept my condolences. We’re doing all we possibly can to help find your daughter.”
After they all sat down, Tim scanned all of their faces slowly and said, “Susan and I, as well as her sister, Mary, know that all of you are working really hard at finding our little Katie. Nothing prepared us for all of this. We go through life with the bad-things-won’t-happen-to-me-and-my-family attitude. Then, all of a sudden, something horrific blasts a hole in the very fabric of your existence.
Susan and I want to thank you, sheriff, for all you’ve done already. We know that your deputies have been working day and night to find our little girl. The kindness of all the people in Carroll County has been endless. Thanks for bringing Father Tony into our lives. He has been a rock for us. You all should know that Susan and I pray every moment of every day for Katie’s safe return. We haven’t given up hope. We do need to know if anything at all has developed that might give us any hope of her being found—alive.”
Sheriff Pierce replied, “Tim, I so do wish we had something new to share. We have followed up on hundreds of leads. Each and every one has led to a dead end so far. The one person of interest from Surry County in North Carolina has fallen off the face of the earth. His mother hasn’t heard from him, and he hasn’t called her or used any of his credit cards. We think he’s somewhere in West Virginia. The folks at the state police have been working their leads as well. The DNA that was collected at the motel hasn’t matched up with anything on record anywhere.”
There was silence in the room until Libby Thomas spoke, “Tim, before we go in to talk to the press, I want you to know that we’re going to announce that a fifty-thousand-dollar reward will be offered for the safe return of Katie. We hope and pray that this might motivate someone to share information.”
Susan and Tim looked at each other before Susan spoke, “I really don’t know what to say. This is such a surprise. Are you going to announce this at the press conference?”
“ We are, Susan,” the sheriff answered. “With as many reporters as there are here today, the message will get out quickly. One of my deputies counted over one hundred and fifty people sitting in the hall. Have you been bothered by the press?”
Mary spoke up. “I’ve been handling the press. We decided to limit the number of national interviews because we truly feel that Katie is close by. The local TV stations in Virginia and North Carolina have been very courteous, as have the newspapers from both states. I agree that a large reward should get somebody’s attention.”
The sheriff stood up. “Time to go to the press conference. This should be interesting.”
Susan was stunned when she entered the conference hall. The room was jam-packed with reporters and TV people. She suddenly felt the true impact of her family’s ordeal. It had quickly morphed into one of the biggest stories in the whole country. She realized that as devastating as Pete’s death was, the fact that Katie was still missing fueled the inferno of interest. She prayed that they would soon have a happy ending.
They sat in their assigned seats on the elevated stage. Jim Craig joined them. The flashes from the cameras were almost blinding. The TV lights lit the room white. Sheriff Pierce welcomed everyone to the press conference and gave an overview of what had happened and where the investigation stood at that point. He mentioned the police’s person of interest who might be somewhere in West Virginia, as well as the fifty thousand dollar reward.
After the sheriff had finished, Tim stood and thanked them all for coming. He praised the sheriff’s department and the state police for all of their hard work. He then paused and slowly said, “We are first and foremost parents. We pray for Katie’s safe return every waking moment. We cry when we think that our son has been taken from us…forever. I lost my mother a week ago, and now I will never squeeze and hug my son again.” He reached over, hugged Susan, and wiped the tears running down her cheek. You could hear a pin drop in the crowded room.
He looked again at the room and continued, “Susan and the rest of our family and friends pray for a miracle to happen to bring our sweet child back to us. I again want to thank all those who helped putting the reward together. To us it’s more than money—it’s our daughter’s life at stake here. I would switch places with Katie if I could so that she might live the rest of her life.
I only pray that someone out there might have any kind of information that might be helpful to getting our little Katie back to us—alive. Thank you all for your thoughts and prayers.”
There was silence in the room before the first question was asked. Reporters asked a variety of questions and, much to the sheriff ’s surprise maintained a level of civility. The session lasted all of fifteen minutes.
No one noticed him in the back of the room. He knew they wouldn’t because for the moment he was one of them. As the room emptied, Tim and Susan sat for two separate interviews that Mary had arranged. The sheriff watched as each was taped. When they were finished, he walked out to the car with them.
“Sheriff, thank you for your help today. That means a lot to us. We’re having a prayer meeting with Father Tony tonight at six o’clock. Might you be able to join us?” said Susan.
“My wife and I have an appointment at four this afternoon. I’ll try to be there if we finish early.”
Susan took his hand and squeezed it hard. “Thank you, sheriff, and may God bless you.”
He watched them from afar as he sat in his van.
He felt his power swell as he drove away.
CHAPTER 26
Quinn and Louisa were cooling down after a late-morning, six-mile run on a mountain trail that Quinn had cut on a nearby ledge that dipped down into the valley and back up near the Parkway. The day was blessed with a cool, westerly breeze that swept atop the mountain ridge.
“Mister McSpain, a woman could get used to this living. A beautiful home on God’s acre. This most incredible view at your doorstep, with Mother Nature to provide natural air conditioning while the rest of the world below swelters in the summer heat. Ye s sirree, Bob, this place has it going on. Now if it only had a chief cook and bottle washer that would be nirvana!”
Quinn took her hand and led her into the bedroom, where he stood her in front of the full-length mirror. “Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who cooks the best of them all? Mirror, mirror, on the wall, who is the most athletic of them all?”
Louisa turned and looked into his eyes. “I have suddenly found the person and place I c
ould only dream of in that other life. Is all of this real? Do I wake up some morning and find myself back in Arlington in that sea of uncaring and brutal humanity?”
He put his hands on her cheeks and spoke softly. “Louisa, this is not all perfect. The power goes out from time to time; it rains; it snows; and when the cloud deck settles in, the fog blankets us into never-never land. I snore, I belch, and I love to fart, and those are my finer points. I will always try to run and bike faster than you do. I ask no quarter; I give no quarter.
Now having gone over my finer points, I must suggest that I am under the gravitational pull that first attracted me when you sat next to me on that barstool at DC Coast. I am a true romantic at heart. My wonderful life with Ellen was precious every moment we were together. I never expect that to be repeated, and it never will be. With you, I have new feelings that are unique to you and me. The intense chemistry I feel is, well, getting better. And I like that.”
Louisa put her head on his chest for a moment before she looked up into his eyes and said, “Is there even the slightest chance I might get an extension on my reservation here?”
He thought for a moment. “I hate to make important decisions on an empty stomach. Let’s have lunch and take another look at your request later.”
“Huh, typical man—always thinking about his next meal before anything else!” They both laughed as she led him into the kitchen.
Quinn turned the TV on to watch the noontime news while Louisa headed to the refrigerator. He saw Tim and Susan at the press conference.
“Come here, Louisa. The Prestons are talking to the press.”
They sat next to each other on the ottoman and forgot all about eating as they were glued to the screen. After the segment was over, Quinn looked at Louisa as she brushed away a tear that was working its way down the side of her nose. So much for her tough FBI image, he thought. What he felt and experienced with her was light years away from the cold and insensitive tags that had been hung on her.
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