“Why?” Roth, a man who looked like a cross between a weasel and a lizard with a disposition to boot, asked snidely. “Is it going to help you profile this guy? That is why you’re here, isn’t it?”
“I’m sorry, do you have a problem?” I asked. “Because if you do, either speak up or shut up.” He looked around the room for support, but none came. “That’s what I thought.” I turned to the men. “Look, I know I’m not an agent anymore, so you don’t have to listen to me. But this isn’t my first time at the rodeo. I have more hours working this type of case than all of you combined. We need to work together, so save your resentments and focus on the task at hand. Got it?”
I walked over to one of the maps of Richmond on the wall. Tacks with little pieces of paper sticking out marked key places. One tack had Abducted written on it. Green tacks stuck out where all the state parks and forests are. There must have been at least a dozen. “Have agents been dispatched to these parks?”
“No, but all rangers have been put on alert. They’re patrolling now,” Clarkson answered.
“They’re gonna need help. Those parks are thousands of acres large.”
“They’re state parks—we have no jurisdiction until the body is found,” Jones pointed out. “There is no physical proof that this is our UNSUB.”
“The state police are already chafing at our involvement,” Clarkson said.
“Jesus,” I said under my breath. I hated this jurisdictional crap. While we were fighting over a bone, the rabbit was getting away. “Is Roy Campbell still superintendent?”
“Yes,” Clarkson answered.
I pushed past him, walking toward the nearest phone to call the head of the Virginia State Police. The superintendent’s direct phone number was on the wall. I dialed. Time to use the old Ballard charm.
“What?” Roy Campbell shouted into the phone. I could hear the ringing of a bank of phones and a gaggle of people conversing in harsh tones in the background. I could just imagine the pandemonium inside that office. Glad I wasn’t there.
“Roy, it’s Iris Ballard.”
“Iris Ballard? Well, hell, girl. Never thought I’d hear your voice again,” he said with a chuckle.
“Yeah. I’m up here on the Woodsman case.”
“I thought you quit.”
I scoffed. “Yeah, me too. But what can you do?”
“Tell me about it.” He paused. “So, I doubt you called just to shoot the shit. What can I do for you?”
“Do you have your men helping the park rangers searching the parks?”
He thought the answer over carefully. “They have been dispatched. Why?”
“Will you let one of our agents be there with your guys at each park? Ones with experience in this type of crime?”
“Why?”
“I don’t want some rookie trampling over my evidence or puking on the body.”
Silence. Then, “You Febes have no respect for us.”
“I have the utmost respect for you and your boys—you know that,” I assured him.
“The answer’s no.”
I sighed. “Look, we both know this is going to be our case as soon as she’s located. Not to mention the fact that kidnapping is a federal offense. This is our case.”
“There’s no proof she’s been kidnapped,” he countered. “She’s just a missing person right now.”
“Bullshit! If you thought that, then why did you pull jurisdiction over the local police?” I asked.
“We’re certain she’s crossed county lines, and her body’s probably going to be found on state property.”
“We don’t know that yet.”
“Of course we do. Shenandoah’s too far away.”
“So you admit you suspect the Woodsman,” I said.
He was silent on the other end. Got him. “We’re not ruling it out as a possibility, no. But until then it’s ours.”
“We’re all on the same side, Roy. I know you want the publicity on this, and maybe, if you’re nice now, we’ll let you in on the investigation when we find her.”
“You have no authority to make deals, Iris.”
“But I do have the ear of the man who does,” I said. “And you know how persuasive I can be.”
He mulled this over for a moment. “Just one agent per park?”
“Yes. And when she’s found, let our people examine the scene. No bullshit.”
“Fine, but we get credit for finding her no matter who does. And if he’s apprehended in state, we’re in on the bust.”
“You got it. We’ll dispatch the men right away. Have you told your boys to concentrate only on the shores of the lakes and rivers?”
“Yes, Iris. We all don’t have our heads up our asses here.”
“I didn’t think you did.”
“You’ll owe me for this one.”
“And I’ll make good, I promise. Thanks again.”
“Well, I’ve always had a soft spot for you—you know that.”
“We do turn into marshmallows around each other, no?” We both chuckled. “ ’Bye.” I hung up the phone with a smile, then turned back to the table where all the men were situated. They stared at me wide eyed in what I thought was awe. “What?”
“Nothing,” Jones muttered, turning back to his file.
Whatever. “Call Richmond—tell them to send out a dozen of their best agents to each of the twelve parks in the area. Instruct them that they are just there to assist, not to boss the state police around. This isn’t our case until we prove this is the Woodsman. Don’t step on their toes.”
“We’re going to need Agent Hudson’s approval before we implement anything,” rat-faced Agent Roth said.
“You want to waste time on a live kidnapping? He’ll agree. Just do it.”
Roth glared, and I glared back. Asshole. I raised my eyebrow in a dare, but he didn’t take the bait. He just turned back to the map. I rolled my eyes and walked out of the car to find our wayward boss.
I found Luke in the empty dining car, sitting in a small booth with his head hung and hands on top of his head. If I didn’t know any better I would have said he was praying, but Luke wasn’t religious. “Luke,” I said from the door. Startled by my voice, his head jerked up. I walked over to the booth and took the seat opposite him. “Are you okay?”
“Odd question, coming from you.”
“Well, you know there can only be one crazy person on this team, and I’m afraid the position is filled.”
This got a smile. “I’m okay. Just need a minute. I’m sorry I yelled.”
“I’ll forgive you if you tell me what’s the matter,” I said with a grin.
“I’m just…” He trailed off. He shook his head and scoffed. “I can’t believe I actually ever enjoyed this. I loved the chase, the strategizing, the…making a difference. I don’t anymore. I can’t stand it. I didn’t even want this case. I tried to get out of it, but ‘best man for the job,’ they called me. I refused, and they gave it to me anyway.” He scoffed again. “Next thing I know I’m in charge of the whole thing. I’ve barely slept since it began.”
“You seem to be doing a great job.”
“Tell that to Audrey Burke.”
“Why didn’t you want it? You were always chasing after the big cases.”
“No, you were always chasing after them. I just came along for the ride.”
“Shut up. We both were,” I said. “Me for glory and you for promotions. And you’ve made it. You’re in charge of the biggest case in America. Next thing you know, you’ll have Reggie’s job.”
“I don’t want Reggie’s job. I don’t even want to work Violent Crimes anymore. I was quite happy in Art Theft.”
“You transferred to Art Theft?” I asked, absolutely stunned. “Why?”
He shook his head. “I told myself it was because it meant a promotion, but really I’d seen enough dead bodies to last four lifetimes. After seeing you…” He closed his eyes, trying to push the image out of his mind. “After failing you, I j
ust couldn’t do it anymore.”
My mouth dropped open from shock. “Luke, you didn’t fail me.”
“When you needed me I was…with some woman whose name I never knew,” he said, voice hollow, “and didn’t bother to answer my phone. If I had, who knows what would have happened? I would have gotten there in time.” He looked away from me and out into the black night. “You said I failed you, and you were right.”
“When I said that I was angry. I was hurt. I lashed out at everyone, especially you. I was drowning in guilt. It wasn’t your fault we slept together, and it certainly wasn’t your fault Hayden died.”
“It wasn’t yours, either.”
It was my turn to look out into the night. “I could have been stronger. I should have killed him before he had a chance to get to Hayden. Instead I ran away like a coward.”
“The man had just stabbed you in the gut. What else were you supposed to do?”
“I should have looked for my gun, or pulled the knife out and stabbed him then and there. It was my job to protect innocent people, and instead of doing that, I decided to save my own hide. He didn’t want Hayden; he wanted me.”
“There was no way you could have known Hayden would come home that moment.”
“I should have—”
“Iris, bad things happen,” Luke said. “It’s nobody’s fault; it’s just life. There’s no rhyme or reason to it; it just is. Nothing you could have done differently that night would have changed the outcome. Nothing you could have done weeks before would have changed it. He didn’t die because we slept together. He didn’t die because you failed at your job. It was his time to go, and you just need to accept that. And once you do, maybe you can begin to live again, like he would have wanted you to.”
“Is that why you wanted me on this case? To get me to accept life?”
“No. I’m not that selfless. I did it because the idea of taking on this case without you was unthinkable. Every time I’m about to bust someone, I look to my left for you. And each time I find some stranger in your spot, it just feels wrong. You’re my partner. No one else will do.”
I had no idea what to say except, “Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.” He squeezed my hand again. “And you’re the only person I wouldn’t shoot for throwing an ashtray at me. Anyone else…” He waved his hand. “Dust.”
“Sorry about that,” I said.
“I’m sure I deserved it.”
“Not even a little.”
His smile faded. “I really missed you. So much. More than I ever thought I would.”
I reached across the table, taking his hand. “I missed you too.”
He smiled again, this time with the full force of his heart. I met his eyes. They shone with so much warmth and love I felt myself blush. His grin changed as my cheeks did, with a mix of mischief and longing. My cheeks felt like they were on fire. I hadn’t been looked at like that in years. The butterflies had come out of their cocoons after a two-year hibernation and fluttered at full force. I felt like a gawky teenager being flirted with by the Prom King. I should have felt uneasy, but I didn’t.
I liked it.
The door between the trains swished open, and Luke broke our gaze to look up. He quickly released my hand, which I pulled back. His back straightened and the smile vanished. All business. I turned around to see who the interloper was. A beet-red Clarkson stood in front of the door, unsure whether to leave the room or not.
“Yes, Clarkson?” Luke asked, his voice full of authority.
“Um, the Richmond office is on the phone. They need your final go-ahead to send out our people to the parks.”
Luke’s eyes narrowed. “Agents in the parks? When did that directive occur? I thought—” Clarkson and I exchanged a glance. Luke saw it and his eyes narrowed in confusion. “What happened?”
I cleared my throat. “I called Superintendent Campbell and negotiated. He’s allowing one of our agents in on the search in each of the state parks so we can start preserving evidence right away. In exchange they get credit for the find, and if we catch him in Virginia, they get to be there when we do.”
“And he agreed?”
“Almost immediately,” Clarkson said.
Luke did a double take. “Thank you.”
I shrugged. “It’s what I’m here for.”
A quick smile crossed his face and mine. God, he was handsome when he smiled. I’d forgotten that. My stomach did another somersault. At that rate it could have won a medal in the next Olympics.
“Sir?” Clarkson asked. Luke and I turned. “Um, Richmond’s still waiting for your orders.”
Luke cleared his throat. “Right.” He scooted out of the booth. “Are you coming?” he asked me.
I shook my head. “I’ll meet you in there.”
Luke nodded and walked out behind Clarkson, leaving me to gain control of myself again. It took a full minute for the flopping to stop, and that was accomplished only by thinking of Roger when he was changing his pants in the office and I walked in on him. Ugh. I really needed to rein in my hormones before I started drooling. That would have done a great deal for my respectability. I shook my head and let out a long sigh. I really felt like banging my head against the table to reset my damn brain. It was just a stupid smile and a little friendly handholding. I’d never felt that around him before. Okay, not that much anyway, except for the night we…no. I threw a tree across that train of thought. I’d just been away from the opposite sex for too long. Under the right circumstances even Roth would have looked good to me. Especially if he gazed at me like…I pushed the image out of my mind. It was just an emotional moment, nothing more. It wouldn’t happen again.
Yeah, even I didn’t believe that.
Chapter 10
Audrey Burke was abducted in the parking lot of her three-story redbrick office building. The only indication that she was ever there was her locked Xterra, which sat among a flurry of police cruisers and black CSI vans. Two dozen people behind yellow crime-scene tape had already begun examining the pavement, the trees, anything they thought could be a clue.
The Virginia Medical Center sat on Route 250, a busy street even at five in the morning. Easy access in and out, good for a quick getaway. He took a chance abducting her here. Any passing motorist could have seen him grab her, but none had come forward yet. As we rolled by the building, I glanced up at the second-floor windows and saw men in Crime Scene Investigation windbreakers examining Audrey’s office. It was really a waste of manpower since she was grabbed outside, but as always, better safe than sorry.
Uniformed police officers stood at various spots around the police tape, trying to keep the lookie-loos out. People’s desire to see dead bodies had always bothered me. Did they really need to see a man missing the top of his head lying dead on the pavement? Did they want that image to follow them everywhere for the rest of their life? Of course, I chose to do just that as my profession, so who was I to throw stones? My grandfather always said, “Where there’s shit, there’s flies.” I thought of this phrase whenever I saw the press. They fed off torture and degradation, and the Woodsman provided both that night. I counted five news vans, all with their antennas pointing to the sky. Newscasters stood in front of their cameras, speaking into their microphones and occasionally gesturing behind them. The newspapers were here as well. Flashbulbs popped, lighting up the night sky with splotches of white. This was huge. A prominent citizen kidnapped in front of her office with no witnesses—by a serial killer, no less. The FBI brought in. It was a reporter’s wet dream.
We all shuffled out of the car and walked to the tape where a uniformed officer waited. The men all pulled out their badges to show the officer. He nodded and lifted the tape for us to pass. We walked over as a tight group to the blue Xterra, where a swarm of CSI techs were hard at work. Some dusted for prints on the handles and doors while others inspected the interior and exterior of the car. There were only two evidence markers next to the car, so precious little physic
al evidence had been found yet.
An eerie purple light illuminated the whole car as a tech swept the floor with a black light to see if there were any fluids present. I stepped toward it and poked my head through the open door. “Have you found anything?” I asked the CSI tech.
He sat up, taking off his protective glasses. “Nothing. No prints, no fibers, and no evidence of foul play.”
“Nothing?”
“Judging from what I’ve seen, or really what I haven’t seen, I’d have to say she walked out of here all by herself.”
“It is a possibility,” Clarkson said.
“Possible, not probable,” I said. “This reeks of the Woodsman.”
“I agree,” Luke said.
“Well, you’re going to have a hard time proving it,” the tech said. “We’ve been here for two hours and haven’t found a thing. Nothing in the office, in the bushes, nowhere. This guy’s good.”
“There’s nothing here,” Roth said with a sigh.
I spun around to face him. “There’s a lot here,” I said. “He’s here. What happened is here. Don’t be so quick to dismiss.” I turned around so I didn’t have to see his sneering face, but I could feel the daggers nonetheless. “I think we should do a recreation. Maybe something will dawn on us.”
“Good idea,” the tech said, jumping out of the car and shutting the door.
The men followed me the fifty feet between the car and the building until we reached two glass doors with wire mesh inside that served as the main entrance to the building. I positioned myself in front of the doors where Audrey would have been. Luke stood off to the side for a better vantage point. I turned around and looked at the tech. “We’re positive she wasn’t abducted inside?” I asked.
“The door was locked when the first officer arrived,” the tech said. “Each person with an office has a key, and there was nobody but Dr. Burke here past eight. Most left around seven.”
“And we’re sure she left at eight thirty?”
“She called the nanny saying she was leaving the office right then. That was eight thirty,” Luke answered.
Beautiful Maids All in a Row Page 10