“Why do you ask?”
She couldn’t very well explain her vague theory without sounding paranoid and suspicious. “One of their former neighbors expressed concern over a relative of theirs who seemed to be living off their generosity. Seniors are very trusting as a group and tend to be conned quite easily.”
“You’re right about that, Agent Elliott,” the director said, his voice decidedly more friendly. “I’ve seen well over a thousand cases of elder abuse and fraud in the twenty years I’ve been an adult care director. I don’t know if the Rubins were victims, however. They bought into a plan with Sunny Day when Mr. Rubin retired from county government so that when they were in need of care, they could move in and live here rent free. Medicare and Social Security pay for their food and medical needs.” He paused. “I can look into their finances for you, if you’d like. We have a board of trustees that manages the accounts for our residents. We’ve never evicted anyone for nonpayment. We receive donations and have many planned giving programs.”
“If you can, that would be very helpful to me. Even if nothing is odd, let me know.”
Megan thanked him for his time, then called Mrs. Lyons again.
“Hello?”
“Mrs. Lyons, this is Megan Elliott again, with the FBI. I have another question for you if you have a minute.”
“Of course, dear.”
“Did the Rubins ever talk about their daughter? Before she moved in with them?”
She didn’t say anything for a long minute. “I honestly don’t remember. I don’t think it came up. I didn’t know them well-we have more than four hundred houses and town-homes in the community. It was just because Kenny was my neighbor that I got to know them a bit, but it was only at social functions.”
“Do you know if they had any close friends I could call?”
“I’m sure they did, but I don’t know who. They lived on Sea Breeze Circle. Maybe the manager knows them. I’ll give you her number. Paula Andrews. A darling girl.”
Megan called Ms. Andrews next, but she wasn’t home. She left a message on her answering machine that she was an FBI agent and wanted to talk about the Rubins who had lived on Sea Breeze as soon as possible.
“Sounds like a promising lead,” Officer Dodge said as she turned south onto the Pacific Coast Highway.
“It seems clear that our female UNSUB has been an integral part of Rosemont’s killing spree for well over a year. That she moved to Orlando to specifically get close to Ken Russo so she could do that. Why him? He was the team leader of the mission that Rosemont was kidnapped from. Russo was the first victim.” He’d been killed seven months before Duane Johnson. How long did Rosemont and his partner plan these murders? Years?
“If he was the team leader, maybe he’d kept in touch with the other men,” Dodge suggested.
Megan straightened. “And he might have their current addresses. Or know how to find them.” And because George Price was AWOL, the killer stole the tags … why? Why was it important to the UNSUB and Rosemont to kill a homeless man and plant Price’s tags on him? Contact the FBI and bring them into the case?
It wasn’t common for the FBI to be involved with local homicides, but the killers wanted the FBI involved. If Megan wasn’t already called into the investigation because of the connection to victims in two other states, she would have certainly gotten involved when she received Price’s dog tag at her apartment.
The killers started in Florida with Russo. Then they did nothing for seven months before hitting Johnson in Texas. Two months passed, then they took out Perry in Nevada and “Price” in California two weeks after. Then they returned to Texas to kill Bartleton two days after John Doe. It would have been far more efficient to remain in Texas and move west. And it made no sense to kill a stranger and call him George Price.
Except to bring in the federal authorities. Except to bring Megan herself into the investigation.
Why her? She’d assumed that the killers sent her Price’s dog tag because she was the squad leader of Violent Crimes and had recently been in the media because of a complex and high-profile investigation, or because they’d been watching the crime scene and saw her arrive.
But they had known where she lived.
Suddenly, a chill slithered down Megan’s spine. For the first time she thought maybe there was something more going on here than simple revenge against the army and the Delta soldiers who Rosemont blamed for his captivity.
She called Hans to fill him in, but his voice mail picked up. Dammit. She dialed Jack’s number. He answered after the first ring. “Kincaid.”
“It’s Megan.”
He sighed audibly. “You okay?”
“Yes. I need to talk to Hans. Is he there?”
“We’re on a conference call with a profiler. My brother.”
“Oh. Good.”
“I can interrupt-”
“No, I’ll text him the information. I have a question for you. In February, around the tenth, were you and Scout on any mission out of the area?”
“Two short assignments, the first week of February we were in Honduras, the last week of February we were in Belize.”
“Thanks.”
“Why?”
“I’m just thinking about the timeline, why the killers jumped around when it would have been more efficient to kill their Texas targets first, then move to Nevada.”
“What about the witnesses?”
“They I.D.’d Rosemont. I’ll text Hans with the details.”
“When will you be back?”
Megan asked Officer Dodge their ETA. Her driver said, “An hour, maybe a bit more because of traffic as we get closer to Santa Barbara.”
“Did you hear that?” she asked Jack.
“Yes. Be careful.”
“I will. You too.”
Jack chuckled lightly. He wasn’t a man who laughed a lot, but when he did the humor in his voice was endearing and sexy at the same time. “I’ll watch my back, Blondie. And I want to watch yours, too, so get back quick. I’ll feel a lot better when you’re in my line of sight.”
She was still smiling as she e-mailed Hans the status of her investigation, and included the information about the Rubins and the woman who had claimed to be their daughter.
“I think this is our UNSUB. I know it’s a theory, but it’s the only thing that makes sense right now. She befriended Russo in order to learn where the Delta team members lived, then killed him and stole Price’s dog tag. The only thing I can’t figure out is why they sent me the dog tag. Me, specifically. Let’s talk when I get back.”
She hit Send and leaned back, closing her eyes briefly. Officer Dodge said, “I just called for a traffic update. It’s Friday; it’s always heavy with tourists. Take a nap if you want.”
“I don’t think I can sleep, but five minutes to think things through would be nice.”
“Feel free to bounce ideas off me. I’m pretty good with a puzzle.”
“Thanks.”
Megan turned her head and looked out the passenger window at the ocean beyond the cliffs, at the way the late-afternoon sun made the water shimmer like jewels. She frowned, knowing she was on the cusp of a solution, but fearing she was missing a critical piece of the puzzle.
Jack listened as Dillon asked questions over the speaker phone in the hotel conference room. He was impressed with his brother’s quick and intelligent analysis and thoughtful inquiries. He hadn’t seen Dil in action in two years, and he remembered that they were essentially in the same business. Jack gathered military intelligence to lay out a game plan; Dillon gathered psychological evidence.
“So Rosemont’s partner is female,” Dillon said after Hans laid out all the information they had to date.
“I’m ninety percent sure. There are no dead women in red dresses popping up, and unless there are three people involved-”
“I think you’re right,” Dillon said. “I have Rosemont’s medical records your partner had couriered to Quantico from New York-it’s the reason I was so late returning your call. I wanted to get a sense of who Rosemont was.”