“On his computer mainly. Computer forensics is checking it out now. We also found a very well-stocked arsenal in a concrete bomb shelter in his basement. Guns and ammo and enough food to feed an entire town for a month. I’m checking through his bills and other files. Nothing’s popped so far. Except…” From next to her chair she grabbed an evidence bag. “I found this right before I came back for this meeting.”
“A highway atlas?” Luke asked.
“You got it.” It was the large variety, dog-eared and very well used. “He’s marked routes on the pages for Georgia, the Carolinas, Florida, and Mississippi. One hundred thirty-six routes are marked,” Nancy said. “I’ll have each route detailed. I don’t know what all the destinations are for, but I’m assuming none of it’s good.”
“We’re going to find out,” Chase said. “Good work, Nance. Hank?”
“I may have found Granville’s wife,” Germanio said. “Helen Granville bought a train ticket for Savannah.”
“Does she have family there?” Luke asked, and Germanio shook his head.
“I checked with neighbors and nobody seemed to know where her family was from. They said she was a quiet woman who didn’t say much. Almost all of them said they were shocked by all the events, except for one neighbor who said she wasn’t surprised to find that Granville was so depraved. She suspected Granville abused his wife.”
“Why did that one neighbor think differently?” Mary asked.
“She was an attorney in a legal aid clinic before she retired. Did lots of work with abused women. She said she never saw any bruises on Helen Granville, but that there was something ‘off’ about the woman. She once asked her if she needed help and Helen never spoke to her again. Here’s her card if you want to talk to her.”
Mary wrote down the woman’s name and number. “I will. Thanks, Hank.”
Germanio threw an arch look at Chloe. “I requested a warrant to check Helen Granville’s cell phone records, since none of the house phone calls look odd. And now that I got a warrant for Davis ’s phones, I’ll be following up on Kira Laneer, Davis ’s mistress. And when I get a warrant, I’ll check Mrs. Davis’s cell phone records to see where she’s gone. It’ll be harder for her to just disappear with two sons. I went to see Davis ’s sister Kate, but she wasn’t answering the door. I’ll go by again tomorrow.”
“Drive to Savannah first,” Chase said. “I want Mrs. Granville here. Ed, you’re next.”
Ed opened his box and pulled out a rusted piece of metal. “This is part of the cot we found in one of the bunker rooms. We cleaned it and looked at it under the microscope. That O isn’t completely closed.”
“So it’s not Ashley O-s, it’s C-s-something,” Luke said excitedly, and Ed nodded.
“Leigh’s doing a check with Missing Kids and the tristate missing person divisions.”
“Excellent,” Chase said, looking into the box. “What else?”
Ed looked at Pete, who’d pulled himself together. “Granville’s keys.”
Pete moved a copy paper box to the table. “Which hopefully fit Granville’s fire safe.”
Pete lifted the firebox to the table. Its outside was charred, but the lock was intact. “The fire investigator found this when he was poking around what used to be Granville’s study.” He tried the smallest key and everyone at the table leaned forward as it turned.
“This could be your ticket to fame, Pete,” Nancy teased lightly. “Geraldo tried this once, and look what happened to him.”
Pete gave her a ghost of a smile as he lifted the lid. “Passport.” He lifted his brows. “Another passport.” He opened them both. “Both Granville’s face, but two different names. Michael Tewes and Toby Ellis.”
“Our boy was mobile,” Ed drawled.
“Looks like. Stock certificates and a key.” Pete held it up. It was small and silver. “Maybe to a safe deposit box.”
“Simon Vartanian had a box at the bank in Dutton,” Luke said. “Granville might, too. Hopefully it’s not as empty as Simon’s was.” There had been no incriminating photographs documenting the gang’s rapes in Simon’s box as they’d hoped. “I’m going to Dutton for Sheila Cunningham’s funeral later this morning. I’ll check while I’m down there. Does the warrant cover the safe deposit box, Chloe?”
“No, but it won’t take long to get a new warrant as the key is covered under the original. What else, Pete?”
“Marriage license. Helen’s maiden name is Eastman, by the way. In case you want to track her family. Birth certificates, and last, this.” He pulled out a flat amulet on a silver chain and Luke’s eyes narrowed. The amulet was engraved with the swastika. Susannah had been right, the edges did bend. Each side was topped with a heavy dot. It was not a Nazi design.
“Oh, hell,” Chase muttered. “Neo-Nazis.”
“I don’t think so,” Luke said. “I have a lot more to tell. That design matches a brand Felicity Berg found on the hip of each of our homicide victims.”
Everyone around the table perked up.
“This amulet is too flat to make a brand,” Pete said, studying the engraving.
“Felicity also found a ring on Granville’s finger. Same design, also probably not the branding tool.” Luke drew a breath. “The symbol has shown up once more. On Susannah Vartanian.”
This drew surprised glances from everyone.
“Perhaps you’d better explain,” Chase said quietly.
Ridgefield House, Saturday, February 3, 8:20 a.m.
Rocky pulled her car into the garage. She was so tired. An accident outside Atlanta had brought traffic to a standstill for over an hour, during which she’d been on tenterhooks, just waiting for someone to hear the thumping in her trunk. Luckily it had been cold and everyone stayed in their vehicles with their windows up.
She would undoubtedly have found it difficult explaining the bound and gagged teenaged girl in her trunk. And like on the old Mission Impossible show, she knew Bobby would have disavowed any knowledge of her had she been caught. But I wasn’t caught. Perhaps now Bobby would believe in her again.
Before she explained all to Bobby, she needed an update from the nurse. Rocky hoped the nurse hadn’t given Monica Cassidy another dose of the paralytic. The sooner they got Monica out of ICU and into a regular room, the sooner they could kill her without all the fuss. Then the gem in her trunk would be just another item on the inventory. She dialed, anticipating the approval in Bobby’s blue eyes.
She’d done quite a lot for that approval over the years. Luckily she’d always been able to avoid murder. The thought of murder left her sick.
“You bitch,” the nurse screamed before Rocky could say a word. “We had an agreement. You fucking bitch.”
Her stomach rolled over. “What? What happened?”
“My sister,” the nurse hissed. “As if you didn’t know. Bobby killed her.” The nurse began to sob. “Beat her to death. Oh God, this is all my fault.”
“How do you know it was Bobby?” Rocky asked, trying to stay calm.
“Because of the picture, you damn idiot. On my phone. Of my son. He’s eight.”
“Bobby sent a picture of your son to your phone?” Rocky repeated.
“With a note. ‘Obey or he’ll die, too.’ Too,” she spat. “I rushed over here and… I just found her. I found her in the alley like the garbage. They left her like garbage.”
“What are you going to do?”
The nurse laughed hysterically. “What do you think? Whatever Bobby wants.”
“Did you give the girl another dose of paralytic?”
“No.” Rocky heard the nurse take deep breaths, trying to calm herself. “There was too much security in ICU last night after they brought that army chaplain in.”