“Girlfriend’s name?” Chloe asked, shaking her head.
“Lulu Jenkins,” Nancy said. “I didn’t touch anything.”
“Yeah,” Chloe said, annoyed, “but if we find him, it’s fruit of an unlawful search.”
“Who’s gonna tell him?” Nancy asked, exasperated. “You?”
Chloe turned to Chase, glowering. “Your people are going to get me sanctioned.”
“Calm down. Nancy, don’t do that again. Chloe, Nancy’s not gonna do that again.”
“So he’s a diabetic,” Luke said. “He has to come up for insulin soon.”
“Excellent,” Chase said. “Ed, did you get that scan of the bunker property?”
Becky, Luke thought. The name Beardsley heard as someone was being buried.
“No. They were supposed to come at three and I was busy with the cemetery crime scene then,” Ed said. “Sorry, Chase. It’s dark now, so we’ll start at daybreak tomorrow.”
“I got us some help,” Chase announced. “Four new agents.”
“When do they start?” Luke asked.
“A few have already started. One of them located Isaac Gamble, the nurse whose tracking badge was closest to Beardsley last night when his IV was tampered with. Gamble said he went to a bar, and the bartender and the security video alibi him.”
“So somebody else tried to kill Beardsley,” Pete said.
“Looks like. I’ve got two of the new agents viewing the video we took at the cemetery, trying to find who fired.”
Psychologist Mary McCrady leaned forward. “And why he dropped his gun?”
“He made a mistake,” Ed said, “or he didn’t want to be caught with it.”
Mary shrugged. “You could be right. But if you think about the coordination involved to have pulled this off… If Kate Davis fired a blank, the shooter had to wait for the exact moment of the shot to shoot Gretchen French. And he’d have to know in advance that Kate planned to shoot. That doesn’t seem like someone who’d drop a gun by mistake. I think he wanted you to find it.”
“Mind games,” Luke said. “He’s playing with us.”
“I think so,” Mary said. “Did Kate Davis know her gun had blanks?”
“Not blanks,” Ed said. “Just one blank. The rest of the chambers had live shells.”
“Round puzzle, all yellow,” Chase said. “You’re right, Mary. If Kate intended to hurt Gretchen before she could go public about the rapes, then she wouldn’t have had any blanks. If she’d planned just to scare her, she would have had all blanks. And if she was aiming for someone else, we’re missing a yellow puzzle piece.”
“Whoever she was aiming at knew Kate would be coming to the cemetery with a gun,” Luke said. “Someone was very prepared.”
There was a knock on the door and Leigh stuck her head in. “Chase, Germanio’s on the phone from Savannah. He says it’s urgent.”
Chase put him on the speaker phone. “Hank, we’re all here. What’s going on?”
“I found Helen Granville,” Germanio said. “She’s dead.”
Chase closed his eyes. “How?”
“Hung herself. I found her sister’s house, but there were police already here. The sister found Mrs. Granville swinging from a rafter in the bedroom.”
“Did you call our ME in the Savannah field office?” Chase asked.
“He’s on his way. Helen Granville’s sister said she arrived here last night and was very frightened. The sister had to work today. When she came home, Helen was dead.”
“Did she say Granville’s wife seemed suicidal?” Luke asked.
“No, just ‘very frightened.’ The sister is pretty shaken up. I may be able to get more out of her when she calms down.”
“Keep me updated.” Chase ended the call and sighed. “Very, very bad day. Let’s finish this meeting. We all need to sleep. Talia, what did you find up in Ellijay?”
“The dogs never picked up the scent. Borenson might have been taken away in a car.” She looked at Luke. “Crime lab found nothing on the ugly bulldog. You want her?”
“Me?” Luke said. “Why me?”
“Because she’s going to a shelter otherwise. I’d take her, but I already have four dogs and my roommate says we can’t have any more.”
“I gave Daniel my last dog,” Luke said. “I can’t take another one.”
She shrugged. “She’s a nice dog. I hope somebody’ll want her at the shelter.”
Nobody moved and Luke sighed. “I’ll take the damn dog.”
Talia smiled. “I knew you would.”
“But you have to come down to Poplar Bluff with me tomorrow,” Luke said. “I have to interview teenaged girls who wouldn’t discuss the circumstances of Kasey Knight’s disappearance two years ago. You’re better talking to girls than I am.”
“Okay,” Talia said. “I’ll go, but you have to bring me some of your mama’s food.”
“Wait,” Nancy said. “Did you say Poplar Bluff?”
“Yeah,” Luke said. “It’s about two hours south of here.”
Nancy took a list from her pocket. “And one of the places Mansfield had mapped.”
Chase leaned forward. “What else is on that list?”
Nancy looked up. “Panama City, Florida,” she said.
“Ashley Csorka,” Luke murmured, and Nancy nodded.
“This is Mansfield’s hit list,” she said. “This is where he went to grab the girls.”
“We can match against last knowns in the missing kids database,” Luke said, energized. “And to pictures in the catalog. This list is gold.”
“We need to know if Mansfield grabbed them or lured them,” Talia said, “and if he lured them, then how? Once we know how they’re being taken, we may be able to track them to Rocky.”
“And find the missing girls,” Luke said.
“Good work, people,” Chase said. “Let’s go get some rest. I’ll get the stenos to work on matching this list to the missing kids database during the night. Once we know names, we can begin informing parents. Be back here tomorrow at eight a.m.”
Everyone had risen when Leigh opened the door again, her expression pinched. “A call came in on the hotline, for Luke. A woman claims to have info on the girl in ICU.”
Luke jerked around to look at Chase. “We never released her existence to the press. Is she still on the hotline, Leigh?”
“No. She wants to meet you in front of the ER in twenty minutes. Alone.”
“I’ll go now, but the Csorka girl’s father’s supposed to be here at six.”
“I’ll stay,” Talia said. “I’ll talk with him and get his daughter’s DNA sample to the lab.”
“Thanks,” Chase said. “The rest of you get some sleep. I’ll call if anything happens.”
Chapter Fifteen
Raleigh, North Carolina, Saturday, February 3, 5:45 p.m
Harry Grimes crouched next to a stain on Dr. Cassidy’s garage floor. “It’s blood.”
Steven turned to the elderly neighbor. “What time did his car leave, ma’am?”
“About noon. The doctor always stops and asks me how I am. He didn’t today. I thought he was preoccupied.” She wrung her hands. “I should have called the police.”
Harry stood up. “Did it look like the doctor driving?”
“I don’t know. I don’t see so well these days. I’m so sorry.”
“Thank you, ma’am. You’ve been a big help.” When she was gone, Harry met Steven’s eyes. “Nobody remembers seeing Genie Cassidy on that bus.”
“Steven, Harry.” A crime lab tech motioned to them. “Kent has something.”
Kent Thompson, CSU, was sitting at the doctor’s computer. “The doctor got an e-mail from Genie around eleven this morning, saying she was at the bus station and would he pick her up. He says he will and that he’s got their plane tickets for Toronto.”
“He was going to take her out of the country?” Steven asked.
“That’s what we’re supposed to think. Look at the envelope info on the two e-mails.”