“What we’re really looking for is the absence of digitalis, yes?” Matt asked Kat.
“We’ll do all kinds of toxicology tests—including some not normally done,” Kat replied.
“Have you felt anything?” he asked her next.
Kat shrugged lightly. “No. But that doesn’t mean one of you won’t sense…something.”
Wong joined them in the room where Congressman Hubbard now lay.
“I have all the victims of the, uh, River Ripper here,” he told them, a look of distaste on his face. “They’re in the next room. I’ve been searching for anything they might have had in common, other than their size, their coloring, their age. Anything that might tell us more about why they were chosen. Do you want to make comparisons yourselves?”
“Of course.” Matt nodded. He shared Wong’s aversion to the “River Ripper” label, but he knew the media just couldn’t resist.
Meg fell into step with him as he followed the ME to the next room. Toe tags identified each of the victims. Cathy Crighton, the first to die, had been very badly cut by stones in the river and mauled by the creatures—beyond the brutality done by her killer. The second victim, the first one he’d seen, the woman Meg had feared might be Lara, was next. Her tag read Karen Grant. Genie Gonzales had been transported from Richmond and now, the last young woman, the prostitute Marci Henning, lay on the fourth stainless-steel table.
Matt viewed the four of them and realized that from a distance they really were remarkably alike. Just as he’d expected. But when he moved closer, he noted that the fourth was somewhat different.
“How tall was she, Dr. Wong?”
“Five-four,” Wong said, “approximately.”
“The cuts seem more jagged—as if they were done quickly,” Meg commented. He turned and saw that she was pale, but still right by his side.
“Good observation. Especially considering the condition of the corpse,” Wong said.
“But you still believe it’s the same killer?” Matt asked.
“Definitely. The kind of drugs found in the system and the amount of each, the way the first slash was made, the fact that the tongue is missing and the way the body cavity was torn open. Yes, I’d say the same man—right-handed, and following his method consistently. The difference is…he was either in a hurry on Ms. Henning, or…he was tired.”
“Interesting. If you’re a serial killer, why go after someone when you’re exhausted?” Meg wondered.
“Maybe he has a timetable,” Matt said. “Which is a very frightening idea.” He let out a sigh. “I’ll go over the morgue photos tonight and see if there’s anything else, anything at all that I can discover. So far, we know that Cathy Crighton left work and was probably taken off the street. It was likely the same with Genie Gonzales. We don’t know about Karen Grant, and we know that Marci Henning was working the street—and left in a black sedan.” He found himself gently touching Marci’s hair. A life never really lived, a life of broken dreams. And then death.
“All right,” he said. “Thank you, Dr. Wong.”
On the way out, he stopped at the table where the ME’s assistant was midway through Congressman Hubbard’s autopsy. He touched Garth’s shoulder and looked up at Meg; she needed to do the same. But he felt nothing except the coldness of death. Meg reached out, letting one hand rest briefly on the same shoulder, then shook her head. As they stepped into the hallway, Matt felt his phone ringing. It was Jackson.
“Meet me at the Walker house. We’ve had a strange development,” Jackson said.
“What is it?”
“A delivery was made to Congressman Walker.”
“Delivery of what?”
“A human tongue, Matt. A human tongue.”
CHAPTER 12
Despite the fact that no law enforcement personnel other than the FBI had been called in, it seemed like mass confusion at the Walker house.
The congressman’s wife was lying on the sofa in the living room, having been sedated already. Ginger was sitting nearby, holding Kendra’s cup of tea. Walker was pacing and his aides—Joe Brighton, Ellery Manheim and the very tall, brick-solid Nathan Oliver—moved throughout the house, trying to keep everyone calm.
“There was talk,” Walker was saying. “There’s always talk. But when I heard that Maddie Hubbard had her husband dug up—I knew! There’s a suspicion that someone killed him and now, whoever did it, they’re after me. This is insane! The political parties don’t get along, the independents don’t get along, we all fight among ourselves, but this is ridiculous. But they’re not going to get me down!”
“Agent Sokolov just came and took the tongue. We don’t know for sure that it was human,” Ellery Manheim offered.
“Agent Sokolov isn’t a liar!” Walker stopped his pacing for a moment. “She said ‘judging by its appearance, it is, but there’s a degree of decomposition and degradation.’ She was pretty damned sure it was human.”
“You have to drop out. You have to! It’s as simple as that!” Kendra Walker wailed from the sofa.
Nathan Oliver slammed one giant fist into his palm.
“I will not give them that satisfaction. I will not!” Walker swore. He’d resumed his pacing. He stopped again, staring from Jackson to Matt and then Meg. He pointed a finger at her. “You! You and your friend Lara. Is this her? Is this her way of hurting me for some supposed slight of mine?”
She was in a congressman’s house. She was a public servant. But that was too much. “Lara Mayhew may well be dead, Congressman Walker. And if she’s alive, she’s staying as far from this…this mess as possible. How dare you accuse an innocent woman who isn’t here to defend herself?”
“There was a human tongue on my doorstep!” Kendra snapped.
“You have cameras and a gated yard. Have you checked your security footage?” Matt asked.
Walker paused; obviously, the idea hadn’t occurred to him, odd as that was. “Nathan!” he yelled at the big man. “Get on that. Get on it immediately.”
The big man abruptly left the room.
“My home. It showed up at my home!” Congressman Walker said. He turned to Jackson. “And what the hell are you people doing about it?”
Meg noted that when the congressman spoke to Jackson, he had the look of a man who wished he hadn’t said those words. But Jackson didn’t respond with anger; he just stood there, towering over the man, his features perfectly controlled.
“Everything that’s humanly possible, Congressman. That’s what we’re doing. Perhaps the mystery will be solved when we see your home security tapes.”
“A tongue,” Kendra moaned. “A human tongue.” She managed to sit up, struggling a bit, and gestured at Meg. “You’ll be with us, right? In Gettysburg? If Ian insists on going through with the speech, you’ll be there? I mean, in the same house, on the same floor? Maddie Hubbard said you would. I don’t care what police and agents they put around the house, but I want someone who’s a known factor with me.”
“Yes, Mrs. Walker, I’ll be there,” Meg said. She was surprised that this seemed to calm the woman. Maybe Kendra had heard that she’d been an officer in Richmond before applying to the academy. Or maybe she simply wanted someone she’d met before.
But wouldn’t her own people be there, as well? Meg wondered.
As if in answer to her silent question, Ellery Manheim cleared his throat. “Kendra, you realize that Joe, Nathan and I will be there, too.”
“Yes,” Kendra said in scathing tones. “And you were all here today, too, when a tongue appeared on our doorstep!” Kendra groaned. “I’m sorry. No one was in the house at the time. It’s just that I’ll be with Maddie, and Ian will have to practice his speech and shake hands and pet dogs and kiss babies, and you’ll have to be vigilant for him… I want Agent Murray nearby.”
Meg w
anted to say that she’d actually promised to be there for Maddie, and Adam had agreed, but as far as security for Kendra Walker was concerned, it wasn’t really up to her. Still, wherever Kendra was, Maddie was sure to be, too.
“I’ll check on that outside footage with Mr. Oliver,” Matt said.
“No need.”
Nathan Oliver had come back into the room, looking pale and sickly.
“There is no footage. The main computer was off,” he said.
“What?” Walker demanded.
“Oh, God!” Once more Kendra sat up, putting her head in her hands. Meg thought she was going to berate the household again, that she’d accuse them of either an atrocious crime or atrocious negligence.
“My fault!” she whispered. “The children were here earlier that day… I forgot that my computer’s connected with the cameras. The kids were playing some kind of game. I didn’t check… It didn’t occur to me that…”
She started to cry softly. Her husband crouched beside her. “Kendra, Kendra, we’ll find out what’s going on!” he vowed. “But, baby, I can’t be intimidated by this. We have to stand up to whoever is doing these things, can’t you see?”
Kendra gazed into her husband’s eyes. “I do see,” she said. “I do. And we will prevail, Ian, yes, we will!”
Meg looked over at Jackson and Matt. Despite what had happened here today, they weren’t sharing the information about the tongues of the River Ripper victims.
She had to pray that if the tongue proved to be human, it would match one of the victims.
And that it wouldn’t belong to Lara Mayhew.
She wouldn’t allow herself to think that way. She just hoped they were leaving the congressman’s house soon.
“We have the box that was left on your doorstep and the, uh, item inside it,” Jackson said. “Forensic units are dusting the porch and the gate and trying to discover how someone slipped in. The box is a white carton like the ones used for takeout at Chinese restaurants around the city. We’ll still see what prints, if any, are on it. Mrs. Walker, we can’t offer any guarantees, but we have the best men and women working this investigation, with some of the best equipment in the country. The Capitol police are stationed outside. You have your own people in the house and I intend to send agents to be here around the clock. You’ll be safe.”
Unless the danger is inside your house! Meg thought.
“Thank you, Special Agent Crow,” Kendra said. “Yes…and I… I’m going to bed. I’ll have Ginger sit with me. I’ll be fine. After some sleep, I’ll be okay.”
But when she tried to stand, she stumbled. Her husband was instantly at her side.
“I’ll see you upstairs, Mrs. Walker,” Ellery said, nodding to Ian, who nodded in return.
“Thanks, Ellery.”
Ellery began to walk her toward the stairs, but she pulled back. “Nathan, you’re sure the security cameras are running now?”
“Yes, ma’am.” Once she’d gone upstairs, Jackson turned to Walker. “One of my agents is on his way now. Will Chan. If anything can be extracted from your cameras, he’ll do it.”
“I’m glad,” Walker said distractedly. He walked over to a cherrywood table with a bar service and poured himself a drink. “Gentlemen—and Agent Murray? Would you join me in a Scotch? No, wait, sorry, you’re working. Lord forgive me, I need this.” He swallowed down the shot, throwing back his head.
“We’ll take our leave now, Congressman, and give you some peace. As I said, Will Chan will be here soon, along with two agents who’ll stay for the next twelve hours.”
“Thank you—and forgive me. I didn’t mean to be rude or abusive,” Walker said. “Neither did my wife. I can’t tell you how shattering it is to open your door and find…what we found.”
“We understand,” Jackson murmured.
“I’ll see you out.” Joe Brighton headed to the front door; Jackson, Matt and Meg followed.
“He really is a good guy and Kendra is great,” Joe told them. “It’s very upsetting. The Hubbards have always been close friends, and now Garth is gone and Maddie’s digging him up—and there’s a tongue on the Walkers’ doorstep.”
“Perhaps it wasn’t human,” Meg suggested.
“I’d know a cow tongue—and that was no cow tongue. It was human,” Brighton declared. “But you people are doing your jobs, and we appreciate it.”
“That we are,” Matt said. “However, it would’ve helped if there’d been security footage.”
“I’ll take it upon myself to see that it’s up continuously now. I’ll check it every hour, even when the kids aren’t here.” They said their goodbyes.
At the cars, Jackson paused with them. “Go home. You two need to drive to Gettysburg tomorrow. The forensic unit has the box and Kat’s taken the tongue to the morgue. We’ll see if it fits one of our victims. We’ll pray that it does—and that there isn’t a fifth one out there.”
“It was convenient that the security camera was down, don’t you think?” Meg asked.
“Beyond a doubt,” Jackson replied.
Matt squinted back at the house. “I’m convinced there’s something not right here.”
“I feel the same way—but at least we have an in now. We have plenty of reason to be around, which will give us a chance to discover what’s going on. I’ll call the minute we know anything. You need to get up north.”
“I agree,” Matt said. “We still have no idea what the hell’s going on and how it all connects, but if anyone’s planning anything big, it’ll be at Gettysburg. A speech on hallowed ground? What better place to strike?”
* * *
Matt drove straight to his house, not even thinking to ask Meg if the plan he’d settled on was all right with her. When she asked where they were going and he told her, she just nodded. “I packed for a week, so I’m fine. But I do want to get Killer.”
Killer jumped all over Meg when they collected him from the office and he also lavished his affection on Matt. In fact, the little dog seemed so gratified to see him that it was almost embarrassing. “Hey, mutt,” he whispered. “I called you ugly—I guess you’ve forgiven me. Or you don’t care.”
As soon as they reached his house, Matt dug in his refrigerator; he’d hoped his place would be decent, and it was. He had Mrs. Briar clean for him once a week, and she did his shopping, too. He was pleased to find a good selection of groceries and offered Meg her choice.
He felt her standing behind him as he studied the refrigerator, felt her arms come around him, and he turned to face her.
“I think you’re showing your age, Special Agent Bosworth,” she teased. “I thought you were considering another activity before dining.”
He smiled and kissed her, glad she’d initiated the contact. He’d been afraid she’d obsess about the object left on the Walkers’ doorstep, afraid she’d worry that it belonged to her missing friend.
“Showing my age, eh? Well, I suppose I’ll have to totter around and prove myself!”
He pulled her hard against him, his hands sliding along her body.
Killer barked.
“Upstairs,” she whispered against his lips.
“He is a dog, you know.”
“Yes, and he’s watching!”
She freed herself from his arms and headed for the stairs, warning Killer, “You behave, young man, and we’ll have something delicious very soon—although I’m sure they were giving you treats all day!”
Matt recognized that she could be as determined as he was. Following her into bedroom, he closed the door. Apparently, Killer knew the rules; there was no more barking.
He looked at Meg; she looked back at him. All admissions were out in the open, and they were ready for this. Ready for each other.
The Glocks had to go first, and then they removed th
eir own clothing and each other’s.
It had been a long day. Naked, they fell together on the sheets, entwined like a pair of desperate teenagers.
He loved it when she moved beneath him. Loved the sounds she made.
“Showing my age?” he whispered. “Old?”
“Yeah, but you’re managing,” she teased in return.
They were soon spent, breathing hard. He glanced over to find her huge blue eyes on him.
“A little late for this question, but…is there someone in your life?”
He shook his head. “No. And I figured the same for you. Or we wouldn’t be here.”
She smiled. “What faith you have in me.”
“I think I’m a good judge of people.”
“Me, too, but…your cabinet is supplied with everything.” Including condoms.
“I’m not involved, though. That doesn’t mean I haven’t had a woman stay on occasion,” he said.
“Ah,” she murmured. She smiled and curled against him. He stroked her face and then kissed her, and they made love again, more slowly, more thoroughly, sensuously and seductively… Then Meg pulled away from him and rose. “You have a robe somewhere?” she asked.
“I do indeed. Closet. Seemed like a good place for it.”
She grinned and took his terry robe from the closet. He liked the way it looked on her. She told him, “I’m going to dive into your fridge and see what you’ve got. I’m starving. In fact, I’m going to find something to munch on while I’m cooking!”
“Right behind you,” he said, and he was. Rolling off the bed, he reached into a drawer for a pair of sweatpants, dragged them on, then started down the stairs. He almost called out to her, some joking remark about her cooking, but the words froze in his mouth as he hit the first-floor landing.
There was…someone in the house. They were not alone.
Meg stood, completely still, in the parlor, staring at Killer—who sat at the feet of an apparition.
Matt presumed that the pretty blonde in the white halter dress had to be Genie Gonzales. She was barely there, her presence little more than a trick of the lights against the dying day. And yet he could see her.
Krewe of Hunters Series, Volume 5 Page 21