by Karen Rose
Kent shook his head in disgust. “Not special enough. I called around and found three chemical supply houses that could FedEx it to me overnight. No questions asked, pay by credit card.”
Steven pushed the photo aside. “Well, damn.”
“But at least you know how he’s overpowering the girls,” Davies said thoughtfully. “It’s a new piece of his MO. In Seattle, he just knocked them off with a pipe.”
Nancy fidgeted with her glasses, her face worried. “Nancy?” Steven asked. “What’s wrong?”
She bit her lip. “Well, yesterday I asked Dr. Bondioli at the school for the attendance rosters. I was thinking that all the known abductions have happened at night. Except for the day in the clearing. You figured that Pal, the Clary’s dog, attacked the killer sometime between ten and noon.”
“And whoever did it wouldn’t have been in school that morning,” Liz said slowly.
Steven’s gut twisted. “Please tell me Rudy wasn’t in school that day, Nancy.”
Nancy sighed. “I wish I could, but I can’t. He was there.” Davies paled. “Maybe he skipped a class and they just marked him present.”
“I thought about that,” Nancy said gently. “I checked the individual attendance records. He has Jenna between ten and noon. She marked him present and she of all people wouldn’t lie.”
“Could the attendance records have been changed?” Sandra asked. “Hacked?”
Nancy shrugged. “Sure. But teachers keep individual attendance records. It should be easy enough to check. I think he was in school that day, Steven. Which means—”
“He wasn’t in the clearing,” Steven finished grimly. “Which means the hair isn’t his.”
“Which means the hairs we found yesterday aren’t his,” Kent added, just as grimly.
Liz closed her eyes. “Which means all this time we’ve been looking at the wrong guy.”
“Sonofabitch,” Harry snarled softly.
“This can’t be right,” Davies said, sounding a little desperate. “It’s him.”
“We’ll check Jenna’s attendance records when we get to the school this morning,” Steven said evenly. “If he was there, we have to eliminate him as a suspect.” He looked away, furious with himself for allowing his team to become so easily sidetracked. He smacked the table with the flat of his hand. “Dammit.” Then he looked back at Nancy and made himself smile at her. “Good work, Nance. Really, really good work.” He stood up and paced. “Let’s review what we have. An athlete of some kind with dark hair. We still don’t know what the tattoo means.” He looked over at Davies who shook his head mutely. “We know Roosevelt High is a common factor, that the three dead girls all cheered at games their schools played against Roosevelt. We know our killer walked across sawdust and wears a size ten shoe and has access to a circular saw. We know someone ordered ketamine through Mr. Richards’s account, strange because the old man is dead.” He looked over at Harry. “Harry, see what more you can dig up on that while we question the rest of the kids.”
“Okay, Steven,” Harry said, his face dejected.
His whole team was dejected. Dammit all to hell. “Perk up, people. We’ve got him running. We just need to make him run faster, so we can make him trip.”
When everyone filed out, only Steven and Liz remained. “Don’t lecture me, Liz,” he said sourly, looking away. “I’m kicking my own ass hard enough for both of us.”
Liz put her hand on his arm and waited until he met her steady gaze. “Don’t kick yourself, Steven. I thought Rudy was the one, too. I even went out on a legal limb.” Her smile was wry. “I was going to surprise you with it this morning. I got William Parker’s records unsealed.”
Steven’s jaw dropped. “You did what? How?”
Liz shrugged. “Friend of a friend from law school is now a judge on the Washington State Court of Appeals. I told him what we had and asked if he’d release Parker’s DNA just so we could eliminate a suspect. I think he disagreed with the original ruling and pulled some strings to grant my request. The DNA prints should be here by courier by tomorrow afternoon at the latest.”
“Are you in any trouble?” Steven asked and watched her eyes flicker.
“No,” she answered slowly. “And if I am, I’ll take copies of your photos to the Bar and see if anyone can blame me. Especially the ones of Alev Rahrooh.” She stood up briskly. “Now let’s get back to the school for more rousing interviews with teenaged girls who think you’re totally tubular.”
Steven followed her out the conference-room door. “Makes me sound fat,” he grumbled.
Liz laughed and lightened his load for just a moment. “Steven, you are many, many things, but fat is not one of them.”
He threw her a mock glare. “That didn’t sound like a compliment.”
She was still chortling as they walked to the parking lot. “It wasn’t meant to be.”
Thursday, October 13, 9:15 A.M.
Jenna was waiting for Steven in the conference room, drumming her fingers against the table. When he came in, she stood up. “I don’t have a lot of time,” she said without greeting or preamble.
Steven placed his briefcase on one of the chairs and looked at her, his brown eyes narrowed. “Good morning to you, too.”
Jenna flushed. “I’m sorry, I really don’t have a lot of time. I’ve got another teacher watching my class and I have to get back. Lucas says you plan to talk to Josh Lutz this morning.”
Steven nodded, rather coolly she thought. “I do.”
“Why?”
“Because he knew—knows Kelly,” he said. “We’re talking to everybody who knows her.” His eyes softened and he trailed a finger across her jaw. “Why does this upset you?” he murmured and she felt her ire melt away.
“He’s a gentle kid,” she said quietly. “I think he gets knocked around at home. I don’t want to see him get knocked around here at school.”
Something flashed in Steven’s eyes. “Nancy, scratch the rubber hose,” he called behind him. “Jenna objects.” Jenna looked over his shoulder to see Nancy busily labeling bags while Lucas set up cups and bottles of soda. The older woman looked away, but not before Jenna saw her smile.
“Okay,” Jenna conceded. “You won’t use the Dragnet technique. How will you talk to him?”
“Like everybody else,” Steven said evenly and Jenna felt badly for even raising the subject.
“I’m sorry, Steven,” she murmured. “I just hate to see him hurt. He’s been ridiculed over all the things that have happened to me this last week. It’s just not fair for him to be singled out because he has the misfortune to be Rudy’s brother. He’s a nice boy.”
Steven sighed. “I promise we’ll be gentle, Jenna. Now go to your class.”
Thursday, October 13, 3:00 P.M.
“Steven, we have a problem,” Lennie said.
Steven turned from the bulletin board, where he’d been staring at the pictures, hoping some wisdom would pop into his head. Rudy was not their killer. Josh Lutz had been absolutely no help at all, his eyes and manner confirming everything Lucas and Jenna had told him. Josh was at best slow, at worst abused by his brother and/or father.
He had no suspect. Kelly was still missing. And to ice the cake, Al Pullman had called an hour before to tell him none of Rudy’s friends had any dog bites, so they were no closer to knowing who had attacked Jenna.
Steven raised a brow. “Only one?”
Lennie shook his head. “We have an appointment with the governor in thirty minutes. He wants to understand how we could have four missing girls and no suspects.”
Steven gritted his teeth. “Because we took a little side trip to Seattle and back.”
“Not a good answer.”
Steven checked his watch. “I have to be at the school to pick up Jenna in an hour.”
“I say there’s a good chance you’ll be late.” Lennie gave him a sour look. “Have Davies pick her up. He’s not doing anything special right now.”
Steven’s laugh was totally w
ithout mirth. “Does the phrase ‘over my dead body’ mean anything to you?”
Thursday, October 13, 4:30 P.M.
The school day had ended and Jenna was waiting for Steven, grading papers to keep her mind and hands occupied. She was trying very hard not to look at Kelly’s empty chair or think about what horrors the young girl must be facing when a voice from her doorway startled her.
“Jenna, I need to borrow some silver nitrate. Do you have any?”
Jenna looked up to see Otto Bell, the faculty leader of the photography club, standing in her doorway. Otto tended to run out of developing chemicals often, so she kept several bottles on hand.
“I should have some, Otto,” she answered, grabbing her key to the chemical closet. “Let’s take a look. My inventory says I should have three bottles,” she murmured, searching. “Here we are.”
She pulled out the first dark brown bottle and smaller, empty bottle to fill for Otto. But when the crystals poured out, she and Otto both gasped. “That’s not silver nitrate,” Otto said.
That was overstating the obvious. What they had was a bottle of sand.
“Could someone have stolen it when they were ransacking your classroom?” he asked.
She looked over at him, biting her lip. “With all the vandalism, I’ve watched the chemical stores, but I haven’t opened each bottle.”
Otto lifted his bushy black brows that made her think of a great hairy giant. “I think it’s time we did,” he answered and, pulling out his cell phone, called his photography club and ordered them to join him. “More hands,” he said. “We’ll get an inventory in short order.”
In the past she might have refused, but now Jenna nodded her thanks. “I appreciate it, Otto.”
He clasped her shoulder. “I’ve wanted to do something to help all along. This is my chance. Have a seat, Jen. I’ll bring out all the bottles while you take the inventory.”
Thursday, October 13, 6:00 P.M.
Neil had been driving around for hours, aimlessly. Trying to accept the truth that Rudy Lutz had not been at the Clary clearing, that he was not their killer. Unable to. In his gut he knew Rudy Lutz was William Parker. He also knew the blood lust that drove a boy to kill three years ago would not simply die. William Parker wouldn’t stop killing.
Neil slid his rental car into a parking place and looked up at the school. Roosevelt High. He’d stayed away before, not wanting to alert Rudy to the fact that he was here. That he was on to him. There didn’t seem to be a lot to lose at this point. He got out of his car to see what he could see.
He’d lost Parker once. He didn’t intend to let it happen again. Clearing or no clearing. Alibi or no. Parker was guilty and by God, this time Neil would see him pay.
Maybe then he himself would find peace.
Thursday, October 13, 6:00 P.M.
Jenna sat on the school’s front steps, very annoyed. Steven was late. So late the security guys had locked the school. So late she needed to wait outside because he wouldn’t be able to get into the building to find her. So late she’d had to call Mark and tell him she’d be missing their Thursday night karate class. I should have driven myself, she thought. She wouldn’t wait around like this every night because Steven couldn’t be depended on to be punctual.
But Steven would be there. He’d sent a message that he’d been called away that afternoon, but he’d get her as soon as he could. And at this point, she had more on her mind than Steven’s whereabouts and missed sparring matches. She was missing chemicals. Quite a few chemicals.
Shivering from the wind, Jenna stared at the revised inventory list, trying to figure out why someone would steal these items. She was missing the silver nitrate plus bromine, chlorobenzonitrite, and propylamine. They were rather unusual chemicals to steal, she thought, her thoughts drifting back to her pharmaceutical days. The syntheses that used these ingredients were complex, so complex that to complete the synthesis, one needed a sophisticated lab. It certainly wasn’t possible to complete such syntheses in her little high school lab.
“Jenna, you’re still here.”
Jenna looked up to find Neil Davies standing at the base of the school’s steps. “Neil.” She started to smile a welcome, but her eyes suddenly narrowed in concern. “Is Steven all right?”
Neil shrugged. “Don’t know. Haven’t seen him since this morning.” He looked around. “Are you supposed to be here alone?”
Her patience snapped. “No, I’m not supposed to be here alone,” she said testily, then watched his face fall and felt guilty. “I’m sorry, Neil. I’ve had a bad few days. I guess you all have, too.”
He shook his head and leaned against the iron railing. “That’s an understatement.” He was quiet for a moment, then asked, “You tell your family about the wrecked car?”
Jenna nodded. “I finally told them the truth. They were not as upset as I thought they’d be.”
Neil ventured a grin. “More worried about you, huh?” Jenna nodded again, this time a small smile curving her lips. “Fancy that.”
“I kind of hoped it would turn out that way.”
“Mmm.” When he didn’t say anything, the silence grew awkward. “So, Neil, you never did tell me where you’re from.”
One corner of his mouth lifted and Jenna thought he was a very handsome man. Not as handsome as Steven by a long shot, but still the kind that made women swoon. “Wales,” he said.
“More recently than sixty years ago.”
He looked impressed. “Good memory.”
“Umm-hmm. So where, Detective Davies?”
“Seattle,” he said, surprising her.
“Really? What brings you all the way to little old Pineville, North Carolina?”
“I thought I could help on Steven’s case,” he said and she detected a touch of self-pity.
“But obviously you were wrong. Have a seat, Neil, and tell me a story.”
And after a long look, he sat. “I thought I knew who was killing the girls. I was wrong.”
“Mmm. So should I deduce that you’ve met this killer, or thought you’d met him, somewhere in the past? Say, Seattle?”
“I should have gone to Ph.D. school,” he murmured ruefully. “I’d be a lot smarter than I am.” He looked out into the darkness of the parking lot. “And Alev and Kelly might still be home with their parents,” he added, his voice bitter.
Jenna digested this. “Steven believed your lead, didn’t he? And then you realized you were wrong and the whole investigation was in the toilet.”
“Right again.” “So what now?”
He turned his head to look at her and she saw he was lost. Totally lost. “I don’t know.”
“Will you go back to Seattle?”
He shrugged. “I don’t know. Not a whole helluva lot left for me there.”
“So I take it you’re not married.”
“Was. Not anymore.” Neil looked down at his hands. “I kind of got obsessed with a case.”
“A serial killer of young girls in Seattle?”
He nodded. “Yeah.”
“You didn’t catch him then. What happened?”
For a minute she thought he wasn’t going to answer, then he shrugged. “The evidence I gathered had been tainted.”
“Like O.J.’s glove?” she asked wryly and he looked up at the sky with another unwilling smile.
“Just like that. I gathered it right. I swear I did. By the rules. By the book. Just like I’d done a hundred times before. But something happened. The records showed I’d been in the evidence room the night critical semen samples disappeared—and then reappeared the following morning.”
“They accused you of contaminating evidence.”
He nodded morosely. “And even though I had a concrete alibi, a fucking judge let a killer go.”
“And because you blame yourself for not catching him then, you come all this way, bent on catching him now, only you’re wrong and quite possibly made everything worse. Am I on target?”
He nod
ded. “Right once again.”
“So you punish yourself for something you should have done or shouldn’t have done.”
“That’s me.”
Jenna shook her head. “That’s bullshit.”
He darted a quick look her way and scowled. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“It means get a life, Neil. You goofed. Pick up and move on. Lots of people have.”
“You mean like Steven.”
Jenna heard the sneer in his voice as he said Steven’s name. “Among others, yes. Why don’t you like him, Neil? He’s a good man.”
Neil’s laugh was hollow, launching warning bells in her head. He looked away, his jaw taut. “Do you know what it’s like to lie awake and stare at the ceiling?” he asked, his voice hard.
“Yes,” Jenna said unflinchingly.
“Night after night?” he pressed.
“Yes,” Jenna answered.
“For years?”
“Yes.” She could hear the edge in her voice. She was growing weary of his self-pity.
He fished in his pocket and brought out a pack of Winstons, still in the plastic. “I haven’t smoked in years.”
“So don’t start again now,” Jenna snapped.
The corner of Neil’s mouth lifted. “If my wife had been more like you . . .” He shoved the cigarettes back in his pocket, unopened. “So do you still lie awake night after night?” he asked.
She thought about the enveloping warmth of Steven’s body during the night, the utter safeness of his arms around her, and couldn’t stop the satisfied smile that curved her lips. “Not anymore.”
He turned his head, only his head, and she was startled by the way his dark eyes had hardened. “Because of him.”
“Yes,” she said, but it came out crackly. She cleared her throat. “And you? Can you sleep?”
He nodded, then pulled the cigarettes from his pocket. Nervously tapped the pack against his palm. “The first night I saw you I slept for the first time in three years.” He closed his hand into a fist, crushing the cigarettes. “And dreamed of you.”
Jenna blinked, unsure of what to say. “Neil, I—”
Neil lurched to his feet. “Stop. Let’s just leave it alone, all right?” He strode toward the parking lot and she jumped to her feet to follow him.