„And you,“ Mia commented.
„And me. Somehow I factor into this. But it’s more about the victims. Think about the headstones and the letters. I’m only the P.S. The victims are the focus. Maybe I’m just sensitive because I’ve been talking to these people for the last few days, but I hear the same things over and over again. The victims who’ve been denied justice blame the system. They blame the criminal, the defense attorney, me, the judge. It’s a package.“
„Just like the box he leaves for you,“ Miles said. „Interesting parallel.“
„So where are you going with this, Kristen?“ Jack asked. „What’s the connection? Katie Abrams?“
Kristen shook her head. „I don’t think so. For one, there’s been no recent trigger with Katie Abrams. Second, there was no one who cared enough about Katie to avenge her. That was one of the things that made that case so hard. I think it’s someone else.“
„Maybe we’re all wrong, and we just have a wild card,“ Mia said quietly. „Maybe he reads about you in the paper, Kristen, and decided to give you these gifts because he’s crazy. Like John Hinckley, Jr. and Jodie Foster. Maybe there isn’t a connection other than you.“
„Then we have nothing,“ Kristen said flatly. „Because he’s been too smart to leave us anything mere than a bullet and a partial print and a cup of coffee.“
Spinnelli sighed. „What about the shack yesterday? Any prints, Jack?“
„A few partials from the picture frames, but they were under layers of dust. We took a few from the newspaper. The prints on the newspaper could have been from anywhere, but we’re running them. None match the partial we found on Conti’s body. There was writing on the back of both pictures. One said, ‘Worth: Henry, Callie, Hank and Paul.’ The other said, ‘Hank and Genny, 1943.’ “
Abe noted it. „So Paul was the other son, which makes sense because the records clerk told us the Worth property had passed to Paul Worth when Henry the father died. And we know from the marriage certificate that Genny married some guy named Colin Barnett. We have the parish church where Genny and Barnett married and the year and a picture of Genny. I say we pursue it, because it’s the only lead we have.“
„We have Paul Worth,“ Mia inserted. „He would have had his father’s old bullet molds. We should check him out, too.“
Abe acknowledged the point with a rueful smile. „That would be more obvious than a child that may or may not have been born sixty years ago, wouldn’t it?“
„I’ll follow up on Paul Worth,“ Kristen said. „If he owns that property you found yesterday, there should be records in the tax assessor’s office.“
„Good.“ Spinnelli wrote it all on the whiteboard. „What else?“
„One more.“ From the end of the table Murphy spoke up. „Marc asked me to get the details of the Aaron Jenkins’s sealed record. Jenkins plead down to sexual imposition. He tried to rape a girl under the stairwell in middle school seven years ago. But she’s not on any of your victim lists, Kristen. I checked. Her name is June Erickson.“
Kristen searched her mind. „I’ve never heard the name. Can we talk to her?“
Murphy grimaced. „If we can find her. Her family moved soon after the complaint was filed. I found some neighbors who said the girl had a hard time in school after that. Kids pushed her around because she reported Jenkins. Apparently he was a pretty popular kid back then. I’ve got listings for people with the same names as her parents and I’ll work through them today until I find them. I’ll let you know when I have something.“
„Then we have our direction,“ Spinnelli said. „Abe and Mia, find Genny O’Reilly. Murphy, find the Erickson girl. Kristen, you find Paul Worth, but don’t leave the building without one of us. If anybody makes any deliveries to your house regarding Judge Hillman, the officer sitting in front of your house will let us know.“
„And you?“ Abe asked.
„I’ll hold off the politicians and reporters that want to tell us how to do our jobs.“
Kristen gave him her latest list. „The Hillman cases with defense attorneys and accused. Assuming there is a connection and this is his revenge, one of these guys will be next.“
Thursday, February 26,
9:30 A.M.
Father Ted Delaney of the Sacred Heart Church fancied himself a bit of a detective, having watched Columbo religiously, as it were. So when Abe told him what they were looking for, the old priest plunged into the task with an enthusiasm that made them smile.
„I wasn’t parish priest then, you understand,“ he said, adjusting his glasses on the edge of his nose. „I didn’t arrive until 1965. Father Reed was two generations before me. He was old in 1943. I think he died before the war was over.“
„We figured we wouldn’t find the priest that married them alive,“ Abe said. „Do you remember any Barnetts in this parish? His name was Colin and hers was Genny.“
„I can’t say that I do, but the parish was much bigger then.“ He looked over his half-glasses with mild reproach. „People don’t go to church like they used to.“
Abe fought the urge to stare at his shoes. „Yes, sir,“ he said. „So how about the birth records? The baby would have been born around March 1944.“
Delaney chose a bound volume and slowly flipped the pages, his fingers thick and twisted with age. Finally, he looked up. „A son. Christened Robert Henry Barnett on March 2, 1944.“
One step closer. „Did they have any other children, Father?“ Abe asked.
„If you can wait, I’ll look.“
After what seemed like hours, Delaney’s old fingers came to a stop again. „A daughter, christened Iris Anne, May 12, 1946.“ Again, his fingers crawled from page to page. „Another son christened Colin Patrick, September 30, 1949.“
„Is it possible Genny is still alive?“ Mia asked.
„She’d be close to eighty now,“ Delaney said. „The death records are in another room. If you wait here, I’ll go check.“
When he was gone, Abe turned to Mia. „They didn’t name their firstborn Colin, Junior,“ Abe said, his voice barely a whisper.
Mia lifted a brow. „Seven-month baby. Jig was up. I wonder if Colin Senior knew ahead of time, or if he was surprised by a full-term son two months early.“
„She named her firstborn Robert Henry.“
„Hank is short for Henry.“
Abe nodded. „Either Colin Senior was a most forgiving man, or Genny slid that one in on him. She gave her son his biological father’s name.“
„Let’s hope at least one of the Barnett kids still lives in Chicago.“
„When the good Father comes back, we’ll check it out.“
Thursday, February 26,
10:30 A.M.
Kristen hung up the phone, frustrated with her attempts to reach the final few people on her victim list. Some had moved, some had just disappeared.
Spinnelli approached her, his face grim. „I was waiting until you were off the phone.“
„What’s happened?“
He handed her the list she’d given him that morning. One of the names had been circled in red. „Gerald Simpson didn’t show up for court this morning.“
Kristen pursed her lips. Simpson was a dedicated defense attorney. In his mind, all offenders could be rehabilitated, and prosecutors were vindictive and power-mad, just looking to convict to hasten their promotions. He defended with great zeal, but with little compassion for the victim. „So maintaining our assumption that this is connected to Hillman, we just narrowed the field considerably. I only faced Simpson in Hillman’s courtroom six times. Are we going to put any surveillance on those six defendants?“
„Already ordered. We’ve got a bulletin posted for Simpson’s car. I’m going to go interview his wife since Abe and Mia are still in the field. Maybe Mrs. Simpson will know something.“ But his expression clearly said he expected she would not.
„I’ll call the six victims.“