“Yes.”
“I’ll be damned. If you told me she was in tenth grade I’d believe you.” He set the frame on his desk, then removed a sheet of paper from the printer. He put it next to another sheet of paper on his desk. “Did a printout of all the missing person cases from ten years before Virginia Thistle disappeared until three months ago. Then I broke it down to females in their late teens and early twenties. And for what it’s worth, besides your girlfriend and Brandy Parker, there were two other names who fit a pattern.” He picked up one of the sheets of paper on his desk and read from it. “Linda Helfer and Connie Birch.” One’s twenty, the other’s seventeen. Linda Helfer vanished two-and-a-half years ago and Connie Birch disappeared nineteen years ago.” He returned the piece of paper to his pocket. “Now, this isn’t a pattern that’s neat and clean, but if you look at the timetable starting with Virginia Thistle twenty-four years ago and ending with Connie Birch two-and-a-half years back…it seems that every four or five years a young — or in Virginia Thistle’s case, young-looking — girl disappears.” He leaned back in the chair.
“But you don’t know if these two other girls have been heard from since?”
“There’s no record of their parents contacting us to say that they came home. I’m gonna be contacting the families… or at least trying to. Odds are the one from two-and-a-half years back will still have people here, but the one from nineteen years ago…I don’t know. You know how people are around here. You either stay here awhile, then go…or you never leave…like us.”
“Things are finally starting to fall in place, Perry.”
“So? Where’s it gonna get me? What started out as an almost impossible task trying to solve one murder, is turning into an even more impossible job trying to solve two, three, four and maybe even five additional murders. I’ve been thinking that if I failed at getting to the bottom of Brandy Parker’s death people would be understanding, considering that so much time had passed since her death. But now…if word gets out that there’s been some kind of serial killer around here all these years…I’ll have to deal with something even bigger.”
“What?”
“I’d hate like hell to have it come out that all these other women were done in while my dad was Chief.”
“People aren’t gonna blame anybody…whether you get results or not.”
“You’re dreaming, Coffin Boy. If somebody doesn’t get nailed for Brandy Parker, they could let it by. But if it gets out that all these other girls might’ve been killed by the same guy…they’re gonna get on my tail. I’ll never live it down and my father goes to his grave in disgrace. Shit!”
“Don’t you think you’re being a little premature in your doom? See what you can learn about the two new girls you found. Maybe they’re both alive and well. And maybe Alyssa is too. And so might Virginia Thistle.”
He sneered as he said, “Oh, now you’re having a change of heart? Now nobody’s been killed but Brandy Parker? All this crap about other victims started because of you!”
“I’m just trying to be supportive, Perry. I know you’re frustrated. I feel sorry for you.”
“I don’t want your fucking pity!” He stood up. “I don’t want anything from you.”
“You seemed to want some of the information I gave you.”
“Yeah, well, all your cemetery buff bullshit hasn’t led me anywhere. I wish you’d never brought it up. I’d have been a helluva lot better off. I’m beginning to think that whoever put Brandy Parker’s body in that mausoleum did it out of dumb luck.” He suddenly turned off his computer. “Here’s what I’m gonna do. First thing in the morning I’m contacting the families of these two new girls. If they’re both alive and well I’m not gonna give one second of time to the Thistle’s case or your old girlfriend’s. I’m gonna do whatever more I can on Brandy Parker, then, I’m gonna keep the case open… and forget about it until the day comes when I or someone accidentally stumbles onto something that leads to a killer.”
“You want me to do anything more?”
“No.”
“Not even acting as a liaison between you and Quilla Worthington?”
“Just stay out of my way and keep doing what you do best…burying people. By the way, speaking of Quilla Worthington, her mother called in here. She hasn’t come home for two nights. Disappearing must run in the family.” Perry leaned back in his chair.
“She’s been investigating the case herself.”
Perry smirked. “Right!”
“Maybe she accomplished what you couldn’t.”
“What are you saying?”
“Maybe she found the killer and he’s got her.”
“Bullshit.”
“You think you have problems now? If anything happens to that kid you might have six murders to account for. You talk about being disgraced in this town, let me tell you something, you’ll be tarred and feathered.” I pointed to his computer. “It’s a good thing you’re so adept on that thing. If Quilla stays vanished you’ll be spending the rest of your life making eight bucks an hour as a word processor.”
I turned and left, nodding good-bye to Oscar in the outer office. As I headed back to the Home I wasn’t sure how I felt. A part of me was relieved that I didn’t have to be around Perry and think about the case. But another part made me wonder if Perry would half-ass his investigation and deny Quilla, Gretchen and I the closure we so desperately wanted.
It was close to midnight when I swung into the parking lot of the Home. I was surprised to see a vehicle parked in the lot. It was Viper’s ancient VW bug. I pulled alongside it, got out of my car and looked inside. Viper was sleeping. I nudged his right calf a couple of times, waking him.
“Hi, Mr. Coltrane,” he said, rubbing the sleep from his eyes and sitting up.
“Did you get my message?” I asked. I assumed Gretchen had finally reached him and that he’d come to see me.
“What message?”
“From Gretchen.”
“I didn’t get any message from anyone today. Our phone was out of order all day.”
“Then why are you here?”
“To pick up a magazine from Mr. Fowler. Yesterday, Quilla and I went to his house to get a bunch of ’em and…”
“You saw Quilla yesterday?”
“In the afternoon. She went with me to Mr. Fowler’s.”
“And she was okay?”
“Yeah. Why wouldn’t she be? I can’t believe I fell asleep.” He glanced at his watch. “Whoa…I’ve been out here for three hours. Mind if I get out and stretch my legs?”
“Go ahead.” He opened the door and got out. “Quilla didn’t come home last night or the night before and as of a couple hours ago, she hasn’t been home tonight.”
“She stayed at my house night before last.”
“Why didn’t she tell her mother?”
“We kind of got drunk and forgot. She’s mad at you.”
“Why?”
“Because you were giving up on finding the killer.”
“Did she stay at your house last night?”
“No.”
“Where could she have stayed?”
He got a bemused look. “She has a few other places to crash, but that’s only when she’s pissed at her mom. She said they’re getting along good since her Aunt’s funeral so she wouldn’t have had a reason not to come home last night. I’m starting to feel weird about this. In fact, I think I’m gonna, like, pass out.”
Suddenly, Viper fell into my arms. I picked him up and carried him inside, into my office where I placed him on the sofa. I took an ammonia pellet from a drawer and opened it under his nose. He regained consciousness instantly.