‘‘It didn’t matter,’’ said Diane. ‘‘She could have wanted to tell me the warden was possessed by aliens and it wouldn’t have mattered. It was a rare opportunity to see what she had to say.’’
‘‘Why was that important?’’ asked Drew. This time he directed his question to Kingsley.
‘‘Because she shows signs of being a serial killer that we know almost nothing about. She appeared seemingly from nowhere and killed in a very calculated fashion. We don’t even know her true identity,’’ Kingsley said. ‘‘We’re searching for clues.’’
‘‘What does that mean?’’ asked Merrick. ‘‘She’s not Clymene O’Riley?’’
‘‘We don’t know who she is. The murder investigation found no record of her existence prior to her marriage to Robert Carthwright—the husband who died in a tragic accident before she married Archer O’Riley,’’ said Kingsley.
The two deputy marshals exchanged worried glances. Diane understood—they just realized the object of their hunt was a lot more sophisticated than they had imagined and their job was going to be much harder than they expected.
‘‘No match on her prints, I assume,’’ said Merrick.
‘‘None,’’ said Diane. ‘‘She was run against every available database.’’
‘‘I see,’’ said Merrick. He looked around the room, then back at Diane. ‘‘Let’s back up for a moment. I’m aware that the crime scene unit is in this building and you are director of the unit. Why are we in the main office of the museum? Do they give you a key?’’ ‘‘Yes, they do,’’ said Diane. ‘‘I’m director here too.’’
Merrick raised his eyebrows. ‘‘We thought you were just having dinner here.’’ He smiled for the first time. ‘‘Is there anything you can tell us that might help us apprehend Clymene O’Riley? Any place she might have mentioned that we could look for her? Any person she might turn to? Do you think she will go to see this guard’’—he looked at his notes—‘‘Grace Tully?’’ He seemed to be asking either of them.
‘‘I don’t know,’’ said Diane.
Kingsley was shaking his head. ‘‘No. I don’t think she would.’’
‘‘Why?’’ asked Drew.
‘‘Because you would think to go there. Clymene is a planner. She’s probably been planning this escape since she was incarcerated and got a good look at her prospects. She already knows where she is running to, and it isn’t anyplace we are likely to know about.’’
‘‘You’re saying she’s smart,’’ said Merrick.
Kingsley nodded. ‘‘Yes. Very high IQ. And very detail oriented. That’s one of the things that makes her so dangerous.’’
‘‘She’s fluent in French and Spanish,’’ said Diane.
‘‘That expands the possibilities,’’ said Drew. ‘‘Anything else?’’
‘‘Yes,’’ said Kingsley. ‘‘I’m guessing she’s a master at disguises.’’
‘‘You guess?’’ said Drew.
‘‘I don’t know very much for sure. It was whatI... we were working on—finding out about her. We believe that Archer O’Riley was not her first victim.’’
The two marshals were quiet for a moment. Diane guessed they were absorbing the information— thinking about their next move.
‘‘You’ve given us some leads to work with,’’ said Merrick. ‘‘We thank you for your time.’’ He put two business cards on the table. ‘‘If you think of anything helpful, call us.’’
They were rising to leave when Drew turned and asked, ‘‘What do you think she will do if she’s cornered?’’
‘‘Give up to fight another day,’’ said Kingsley.
‘‘You don’t think she’ll want to shoot it out?’’ said Merrick.
‘‘No. She would always have the hope of escape, I think. Clymene is very pragmatic,’’ said Kingsley. ‘‘If you do find her, your biggest problem will be to not be seduced by her.’’
‘‘What?’’ said Drew. The two of them gave slight, derisive laughs. ‘‘What do you mean? I’ve seen her mug shot. Not what I’d call a babe.’’
‘‘The mug shot isn’t representative of her looks. But it’s not just her looks. She has a special gift,’’ said Kingsley. ‘‘She knows how to appeal.’’
‘‘What do you do?’’ said Merrick. ‘‘Wear tin foil on your head when you go see her?’’
Diane laughed. Deputy Marshal Chad Merrick had a sense of humor after all.
Kingsley smiled and scratched his head. ‘‘We get special training,’’ he said.
‘‘Sure you do,’’ said Drew.
‘‘If all you have is the mug shot,’’ said Diane, ‘‘the local paper will have photos from the trial.’’
‘‘Have you spoken with Rev. Rivers, the counselor at the prison?’’ said Kingsley.
‘‘He had gone for the day,’’ said Drew.
Diane and Kingsley exchanged glances. ‘‘That’s how she got out,’’ said Kingsley.
‘‘What?’’ said Merrick. ‘‘You’re saying the prison chaplain helped her escape?’’
‘‘It’s a very good possibility,’’ said Kingsley. ‘‘I would look at him.’’
The two deputy marshals left, turning down Diane’s offer to walk them to the door, saying they remembered the way out. Diane and Kingsley stayed in her office.
‘‘I didn’t expect this,’’ said Diane.
‘‘No. Now we really need to find out who she is. I know the U.S. Marshals have had a lot of experience at this, but in this particular hide-and-seek contest my money’s on Clymene,’’ he said.
‘‘And here I thought she was planning her appeal,’’ said Diane. ‘‘Listen, we need to find out if there are any family movies of her—Archer’s son might have some. I’d like to get a recording of her speaking.’’
‘‘If you want to try a forensic linguist,’’ said Kingsley, ‘‘we have one. Michael loves to analyze voices.’’
‘‘That’s a good place to start. I have some other ideas too. Jin will love it. Jin is another member of my crime scene crew. He just finished calibrating a new DNA lab here in the forensic unit.’’
‘‘How is her DNA going to help?’’ said Kingsley. ‘‘I don’t see how that will locate her, or where she’s from.’’
‘‘I’m not going to look for her. I’m going to look for a relative.’’
Chapter 14
Ross Kingsley looked at Diane for a moment with a blank expression, then smiled.
‘‘People with similar DNA to hers,’’ he said, ‘‘Like siblings or cousins?’’
‘‘Right. I’m hoping the DNA profile of someone related to Clymene is in one of the many databases we have access to. If we can find a relative, then we have a link to who she is and where her family is from. That would give the marshals places to look and give us family history we need.’’
‘‘I like that. Any more ideas?’’ asked Kingsley.
‘‘A few. Analyzing her speech should give us some clues. And I need to talk to David. He’s my king of databases. I think we can do something with our face recognition software. She may have made her face look a little distorted in the mug shot, but that would not have changed the indexes used by the software. We also have photographs taken by the media during her trial.’’