Even In Darkness--An American Murder Mystery Thriller

by Lynn Hightower

  Harris points a finger. I don’t like people to do that, but I endure.

  ‘Mrs Miller, are you aware of what’s at stake here? I can have you arrested for obstruction of justice just for violating the crime scene.’

  I hold my hands out. ‘Let’s get on with it, shall we? If you want to arrest me and put me in handcuffs, go ahead. I’d prefer to call my attorney first. I just bring that up because with handcuffs on it’s going to be hard to dial.’

  Harris sighs. ‘Don’t make things more difficult, Mrs Miller. Let’s do it like this. You go and wait in one of the interrogation rooms. We’ll make you comfortable; get you coffee, whatever you need. And I’m going to send somebody out to your daughter-in-law’s house to connect up with the kidnapper on the web cast which –’ he checks his watch – ‘is three hours and some odd minutes from now.’

  I lean forward. ‘You read the note, Agent Harris. The kidnapper specifically asked for me and told me not to bring in the FBI.’

  He places both palms on the desk, as if preparing to rise. ‘You think? Most kidnappers ask for me by name.’

  ‘How many victims have you gotten killed during your career, Agent Harris?’

  He doesn’t even look at me. Just crosses the room, stands patiently by the door, waiting for me to comply. ‘I can have you removed, Mrs Miller, if that’s what you’d prefer.’

  ‘Do what you have to do. But you’re not going to find that computer.’

  He stands very still, eyes narrow. ‘What makes you say that?’

  ‘I’m just making a prediction, Agent Harris. I think when you go up to the attic to find the laptop, it won’t be there. But that’s just an opinion.’

  He moves back into the office and stands over me, bending close enough that I can feel his breath on my temple. ‘Mrs Miller, I’m a compassionate man. So if you don’t cooperate and hand that computer over immediately, and you cause the deaths of your granddaughter and daughter-in-law, I will personally escort you from your jail cell to their funerals.’

  I push him gently away. ‘That isn’t going to work with me, Agent Harris. But I will negotiate with you. If you agree that I will be on the web cam making contact with the kidnapper, just like he asks—’

  ‘You’re not running this operation.’ He inclines his head toward the door. ‘This way, please, Mrs Miller.’

  I stand. ‘Go back through the photographs of the dead evangelists. Jimmy Mahan, Gloria Schmid and Darrin Lane. Tell me this man doesn’t have a problem controlling his rage. At least consult Russell Woods on this. It’s his investigation, from the Lexington end, he’s got some insight into this guy.’

  ‘Woods will agree with me.’

  ‘If he does, so much the better. Because if you go this route, and the kidnapper kills Caro and Andee like I think he will, then you have somebody handy to share the blame.’

  ‘I want that computer.’

  ‘You’re not getting it.’

  He picks the phone up and sets it on top of the paperwork on the corner of his desk. ‘Call your lawyer. I’ll arrest you when you’re done.’

  I don’t know the number by heart, not yet, but Smitty’s business card is in my wallet, so at least I don’t have to call information. As expected, Smitty is in conference with a client, but at least he’s not in court. I tell his assistant that this is an emergency, and that I need to speak to him now. She sounds intrigued. I wait three minutes, then hear Smitty’s voice on the line. I’m aware that a minor miracle has just occurred.

  ‘What’s the big emergency, Joy? And where the hell are you? I don’t know this area code on the caller ID but it says Federal Bureau of Investigation.’

  ‘It’s Arkansas.’

  ‘You’re in Arkansas? On purpose?’

  ‘I’m here picking up Ruby, Caroline’s dog. Evidently, after the breakin and kidnapping, the police dumped her off at the pound.’

  ‘So you drove … never mind. And for this you need a lawyer? How did you get tangled up with the local FBI?’

  ‘They’re arresting me for obstruction of justice.’ I glance at Harris, who is burrowing through the papers in the middle of his desk. He doesn’t even look my way.

  I hear noises from the other end of the phone line that make me think Smitty Madison’s irritation is no longer directed at me.

  ‘For picking up a dog?’ Smitty sounds incredulous.

  ‘I went into Caroline’s house and crossed the crime scene tape.’

  ‘Why did you do that?’

  ‘I had to pick up Ruby’s pills—’

  ‘Who in the hell is Ruby?’

  ‘Ruby is Caroline’s dog.’

  ‘Got it. Go on.’

  ‘Anyway, I needed Ruby’s food and her bed and her medication. She’s old, and has a whole bunch of pills she takes.’

  ‘Don’t we all. How’d you get in, and please tell me you already had a key.’

  ‘Well, I did.’

  ‘Good. And I would imagine your daughter-in-law gave it to you, with blanket verbal permission to go in anytime.’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Anything else?’

  ‘There was a note from the kidnapper sewn into Ruby’s collar.’ I do not admit that I destroyed the second page that directed me to the email. The FBI does not need to know that I have met this man before.

  ‘What the hell?’ Smitty is silent. Then, ‘What did it say?’

  ‘Instructions for me to log on to a computer he put in the attic of Caroline’s house. I’m supposed to talk to Caro and Andee on a web cast three hours from now.’

  ‘Jeez Louise,’ Smitty mutters. ‘At least we’re getting somewhere. He’ll probably ask for a ransom. That will be good news for you, on the legal front.’

  ‘Maybe not. I took the note straight to the local FBI office and they don’t want me doing the web cast. They want one of their agents handling it. And I think that’s a big mistake. So I’ve got the computer and I’m not giving it up till they agree.’

  ‘Oh my God. Is Harris in there with you?’

  ‘He—’

  ‘Yes or no.’

  ‘Yes. He says I have to stay in their interrogation room until they get a free moment to put me in jail.’

  Smitty inhales deeply. ‘If it comes to that, which it very well might at the rate you are going, you sit there and drink their coffee and don’t say a thing. As far as the web cast goes, listen to me, Joy. You got your opinion and they got theirs, but this is their job and some of them are pretty good at what they do. And you’re out of time. And God knows you’re in enough trouble. So you suck it up and cooperate. Ask Agent Harris to put us on speaker phone.’

  I cradle the receiver on my shoulder, thinking what to do.

  Harris looks up at me.

  ‘My attorney wants you to put us on speaker phone.’

  Harris pushes a button and takes the receiver from my shoulder.

  ‘You there, Agent Harris?’ Smitty’s voice is booming.

  ‘Right here.’

  ‘It looks to me like this is a simple matter of miscommunication between you and my client. I personally see no reason why we can’t clear things up without getting into any kind of accusations of false arrest. My client, who has a key to her daughter-in-law’s home, entered the premises to pick up medication for the family dog, who she drove all the way out to Arkansas to retrieve from the pound. I’m sure she misunderstood you. She seems to think you feel this constitutes reason to put her in jail.’

  ‘No, of course not,’ Harris says.

  I stare at him but he avoids my eyes.

  ‘Mrs Miller is in possession of a computer left by the kidnapper. I’m arresting her for obstruction of justice and withholding evidence because she’s refused a direct request to turn it over.’

  ‘I find that hard to believe, Agent Harris, since she went straight to your office as soon as she got the kidnapper’s note. In the dog collar, wasn’t it? Too bad your own investigators didn’t find it themselves, but no doubt you’re unders
taffed.’

  ‘We are not understaffed, Mr Madison. Your client objects to the way we’re running the investigation and seems to be convinced she should be running things herself.’

  ‘I think we can all see why she might feel that way. Joy, are you there?’

  ‘Yes, Smitty, I am.’

  ‘Joy, you can’t tell the FBI how to do their job. After all, they’re the ones who will be accountable for whatever happens to Caroline and Andee, isn’t that right, Agent Harris? I think this is another miscommunication. No doubt, Joy, you were confused by the whole thing with the computer. And if you’ve actually got it, you’ll give it back.’

  There is a long moment of silence. Harris looks at me and I’m not happy. Maybe Smitty is right, but it isn’t his call. Every attorney I’ve met is a judge in waiting. Part of their training must be arrogance school.

  ‘Look, I need to get back to my conference,’ Smitty says. ‘And Agent Harris, you are clearly on a very tight schedule, so I’ll let you get to it. If you need me, Joy, call me back.’

  SIXTEEN

  The Arkansas FBI agents make better coffee than the ones in Kentucky. Their furniture evidently comes from the same catalog. I sit alone in an interrogation room and time one hour and forty-seven minutes, more than half of the three hours left before the Dark Man expects to see me on the web.

  I have been cycling between despair, rage and stoicism, and am in the stoic part of the cycle when the door finally opens, catching me in a moment of outward calm. The woman who peers in from the hallway wears a slimming pantsuit of navy blue. Her hair is collar length, and dyed blond. She emits energy and the slightest hint of Chanel.

  ‘Mrs Miller? I’m Agent Tina Buckman. I’m going to coach you for the web cast. Will you please come with me?’

  I take a breath. Coach me for the web cast?

  I like the fine lines of experience in Agent Buckman’s face and the intelligence in her eyes. I follow obediently.

  People look up when we walk by. Agent Buckman is early forties to mid, and has excellent posture. She smiles and waves at two or three other agents, winks at a man carrying files into a storeroom, and points me into a tiny office. She guides me to a chair before she settles behind the desk.

  ‘I thought we’d be more comfortable in here. I don’t want either of us distracted, wondering if somebody’s peeping at us through the two-way, just to see how it’s going along.’ She cocks her head and looks me over carefully. ‘You should know that I’m an experienced field agent. I have twenty-three years with the bureau, and I worked the kidnapping detail in St Louis for eight years. I’ve been on domestic terrorism since Nine Eleven, but they pulled me off for the afternoon to work with you. I’m good.’ She winks at me, and I see an actual dimple. ‘You seem pretty steady yourself. It’s my call to decide whether or not you can pull off the web cam meet with the kidnapper. I’m saying yes. You’re still up for it? You’ll work with me on it?’

  ‘Absolutely.’ I glance at the clock on the wall.

  She shakes her head at me. ‘Don’t do that. Thinking about the time is my job, and I want you to trust me to do it.’ She leans forward. ‘Our agents are already at Caroline’s house, and the techs have the computer system up and running. We’ll do the broadcast there, so it’ll go out on the right server with the right IP address.’

  She taps a fingernail, gathering her thoughts. The desktop surface is clear except for a paperweight, a painted rock that looks like a child’s project from school. ‘Here’s what I think we can be safe in assuming. One, the kidnapper wants you to know that Caroline and Andee are alive. Harris seems to think this little bit of theatre will be followed by a ransom demand, but I’m not so sure. My gut says the time for that has come and gone.

  ‘Second, the kidnapper wants to connect with you. The only way he feels sure you’ll cooperate is by using your granddaughter as bait. He wants your attention, and he dreads any possibility of rejection. That’s why I think that not using you on the web cast, as he instructed, would be a fatal mistake.’

  The word fatal sticks in my mind. My stomach is cramping suddenly and it takes concentration not to double over.

  ‘We have three major goals. One, make contact with the kidnapper, and confirm that both Caroline and Andee are alive. Two, get anything we can on their location. We’ll be looking at the visuals from the web cast itself, and tracking down coordinates through the net.’

  Agent Buckman leans across the desk. ‘No matter how smart this guy is, no matter how careful, we’re going to get a lot of information from this web cast. Our tech guys will follow the bounce across the Internet. What you need to do is pay attention to what Caroline says. Be sensitive to the possibility that she’s trying to lead you.’

  I nod my head.

  ‘I want you to ask her questions. Ask her if she knows where she is.’

  ‘But—’

  Buckman holds up a hand. ‘Ask her if she knows where she is. The kidnapper will expect that. Chances are she won’t know. Ask her if there are highway noises, diesel fumes. Think sight, sound and smell.’

  ‘But don’t you think it could backfire?’

  ‘You’re worried about making him mad? Don’t be. He’s left himself open for this, he’ll be expecting it. He’ll control his end, don’t do it for him. If Caroline gets upset with your questions, then back down. But be prepared to get everything you can.

  ‘Third, and this is more important than you may realize. We want to give Caroline and Andee hope and confidence. We don’t want them giving up. If an opportunity to escape comes up, we want them in the frame of mind to get away. It might surprise you, but sometimes people are afraid to try. The mental prison is always more confining than the physical one. On the other hand, we don’t want them going to the other extreme and doing something desperate that has no chance of working out.’

  ‘How do I do that?’

  ‘By looking at them the same way you looked at me before you started watching the clock.’

  ‘Sorry.’

  She turns sideways in her chair. ‘I have an idea I want to run by you. One reason you drove all the way out here was to pick up their dog, right?’

  ‘Right.’

  ‘What kind of dog is it? Is it fairly calm?’

  ‘She’s a golden retriever/Irish setter mix. She’s old. She’s calm.’

  ‘Perfect.’ Agent Buckman leans back in her chair with a small smile. ‘I want you to get the dog in front of the camera. It will do a world of good for Caroline and Andee’s morale, don’t you think?’

  ‘Brilliant. Yes.’

  She points to the clock. ‘We’ll talk more on the way – if you have any questions, the drive over is the best time to ask them. But I don’t want you scripted and looking over-rehearsed. Remember, we want him to think you’re on your own, and that you didn’t come to us for help. I’ll be there, inside the house, and so will several other agents, but none of us will be in sight during the actual web cast.’ She grins. ‘It’ll be a battle getting the techs out of the room, but I don’t want any possibility that someone sneezes, or that you slip and look at me or one of the other agents. So it’ll just be you and the web cam.’

  ‘And Ruby the dog.’

  ‘There you go.’

  SEVENTEEN

  The flutter of nerves hits my stomach as soon as Agent Buckman and I walk up the driveway to Caroline’s house. The dogs are barking. If Leo had been here the night Caro and Andee disappeared, either Leo or the Dark Man would be dead.

  I check my watch. If all goes well, I’ll be seeing Andee and Caroline and hearing their voices in less than an hour. I am starting to feel strangely unreal, as if I’ve taken a double dose of cold pills.

  But I am full of hope. I am not alone anymore.

  And however good the Dark Man is with computers, he will be up against the FBI. On the drive over, Buckman gave me an overview of their Cyber Crimes Program, including the well funded Innocent Images National Initiative (IINI), an internation
al, intelligence-driven, multi-agency operation that goes after online child pornography and child sexual exploitation.

  The closest Cyber Action Team (CAT) is already inside the house. FBI agents, analysts, computer forensic experts and malicious code experts who travel worldwide at the drop of an e-mail.

  Our team leader is Salvatore Pacino, no relation to actor Al Pacino. ‘Brilliant, but irritable,’ Buckman told me on the drive over.

  We ring the bell, then go inside. A short man, robust and white-haired, is walking toward us from the bathroom off the hall and I can hear the rush of water that means the toilet has just been flushed.

  ‘Please close that front door up,’ he says. His shoulders are slumped. He looks like he’s had a long day already.

  Buckman waves me in. ‘Sal, this is Joy Miller.’

  I shake his hand. I hear noises in the kitchen, and see a man in shirtsleeves move in and out of the dining room.

  Pacino takes my hand. His eyes are bright and alert under heavy eyebrows that ought to be trimmed. ‘This is a terrible thing, the young mother and the child. They have put up the good fight, good for them. We will get him, this bastard.’

  I don’t have the courage to admit that it was Leo who knocked over the chairs and mangled the carpet chasing after Ruby when I brought her in.

  He points a thick finger at his watch. ‘I show you what we got here set up.’

  I lied to Agent Harris. I didn’t touch the laptop, I left it where it was. It has been unpacked and set up on the dining room table. It is an Apple MacBook, slim and black, the screen thirteen inches square. It is wedged between three open cases that hold interesting electronics.

  Three men and one woman are moving from the kitchen to the dining room. The CAT team in action around the coffee pot. No one introduces me.

  Buckman shakes her head and starts pointing. ‘Sal, we’ve got to modify this set up. We don’t want the kidnapper catching sight of all this stuff.’

  Pacino’s eyelids droop, lizard-like. ‘You think I don’t check the line of sight?’