She was going to disappoint her mommy. She’d never make it to the volcano to get Michelle back. It seemed so much closer on the computer, but she couldn’t even see the mountain yet. She’d never be able to make things right and have her mommy love her again. But she couldn’t go home.
Maybe her mommy wouldn’t notice she’d left. Maybe she’d still be crying and Amanda could sneak back in tonight.
Her breath hitched in her chest as she wiped her tears. She’d go home and hide in the garage until everyone went to bed and then she’d go inside. No one would miss her.
“Amanda!”
She looked up. Mommy? “Mommy!” She jumped up and ran as fast as her tired legs could take her. “Mommy!”
“Oh, baby.” Her mother scooped her into her arms and hugged her so tight she couldn’t breathe, but she didn’t say anything because she’d never felt so good in her life. She cried uncontrollably.
“Mommy, I tried to get Michelle back, I tried, but Heaven’s too far away and I can’t find it.” Her mother’s tears mingled with her own. “You’re still crying, Mommy. I’m sorry.”
“No, baby, no. I’m crying because I’m so happy.”
“But-”
“I love you. I love you so much. You scared me, Amanda. I didn’t know where you were, I didn’t know why you’d gone.”
“I didn’t think you’d notice if I left.”
Her mother’s body stiffened. Then she sat on the ground and pulled Amanda into her lap and kissed her all over. “Baby, I love you. I’m the one who’s sorry.”
“You miss Michelle.”
“Yes. Yes, I miss Michelle.”
“I miss her too.”
“I know you do.” Brenda hugged her daughter tight to her chest, running her hand up and down her back, wishing she could take away the pain and sadness that had filled their lives since Michelle died.
She’d never forget Michelle. Michelle had a private space in her heart. But more important, she’d never neglect the rest of her family again.
They needed her. And what she hadn’t realized until now was that she needed them.
CHAPTER 16
Zack and Olivia didn’t talk much on the ride back from the Davidsons’. By the time they’d brought Amanda and Brenda back to the house, it was after noon. They went to the station, where the sketch artist shared her work, but it was too vague for the news media to use. The man could have been anyone, and the artist wasn’t confident that Sean had remembered enough detail.
The only thing Sean described well was the tattoo. When Olivia saw the sketch, she knew without a doubt that it was the same tattoo as on the man who killed Missy.
Brian Harrison Hall had the identical tattoo on his arm.
“The man in California who was just released had a tattoo just like that,” Olivia said. “A witness identified him by his tattoo.”
Zack looked at his copy of the sketch. “Blue eagle. California-” he glanced at the board. “That was thirty-four years ago. The first victim.” He paused, looked at Olivia. “We’d talked about how this killer probably doesn’t work with a partner, but what if he and this other guy-what did you say his name was? Hall?”
She nodded, not surprised that Zack remembered.
He tapped the tattoo sketch. “Okay, let’s think this through. Let’s assume that Hall was innocent-and I’m betting he was. If he suspected our guy, he would have said something about it, agreed?”
“Agreed.”
“So Hall is innocent, but it’s too damn coincidental that two men of about the same age and build, with the same tattoo, in the same town, with access to the same truck didn’t know each other.”
“You mean they might have known each other even if Hall had nothing to do with the murder?” It clicked. It made sense.
“Exactly.” Zack stood, paced. “Let’s say, because of the tattoo, that they served in Vietnam together. Hall got out when?” He grabbed a file and started flipping through it.
“April 10, 1972,” Olivia said, taking the file from him. She didn’t want Zack to see all the details in the file. She’d only written the victims’ first names on the white board.
If he delved too deep, he’d see that the first victim shared the same last name as her.
Zack looked at her in awe. “Good memory.”
She didn’t comment. She’d memorized Missy’s case file.
“I’d bet our killer served with Hall in Vietnam. Maybe they were released about the same time. Maybe there was bad blood between them.”
“Are you suggesting that our killer set Hall up? Framed him?”
“Anything’s possible at this point. But I think we have to go with the assumption that they knew each other, and that gives us something to go on.” He picked up the phone and dialed an extension. “It’s not going to be easy to get military records, but I think your people can probably get them faster.”
Into the phone, Zack said, “Chief? Travis here. Look, I think we need to contact the Seattle bureau. I meant to call you this morning, but with looking for Amanda Davidson… yeah, right… Two things. First, Agent St. Martin and I have a theory that our killer served in Vietnam and was discharged around April 1972-say between the end of 1971 and October 1972. Second, remember the marks on the victim’s forearms? Doug Cohn talked to several labs last night and the same marks appear on their victims. Twelve punctures. We need some expert guidance to help figure out what they could mean.”
Zack listened for a moment, then said, “Okay, you call and set it up, then have them contact me and Agent St. Martin and I’ll debrief them on what we’ve uncovered so far.” He hung up.
“You know,” he said, “after the chief puts in the request with Seattle, you should probably work as the liaison with your people. I don’t have a problem with it. I’ve met a lot of Feds who jerked this department around, but you’ve been fantastic. I wouldn’t have had half this stuff if you hadn’t brought it in.”
“I-” What could she say to that? She took a deep breath. “Zack, I think I should explain-”
“Hold that thought-I have an idea.”
“What?”
“Get Hall to cooperate.”
She blinked. “I don’t understand.”
“The guy who was just released. I’ll bet he knows exactly who we’re looking for. Even if he hasn’t thought of it, he’ll probably come up with a name if we ask the right questions-such as, did you know anyone who served in Vietnam who was in Redwood City with you? A lot of those guys would have hung out together. The atmosphere sucked for the military back then. I’ll bet he knows him, or can give us a couple of names of guys with a similar tattoo.”
Olivia didn’t know what to say. Yes, the idea was brilliant. Hall most certainly would have names. But the thought of her seeing him after she’d testified against him, back then and every time he came up for parole, terrified her.
But it had to be done. It was the biggest lead they had.
“I’ll call the district attorney’s office and ask them to get in touch with Hall’s lawyer,” she said.
“While you do that, I’m going to talk to Doug Cohn and see what’s going on with the lab files on those twelve marks.”
Zack walked by and squeezed her shoulder. The gesture was intimate as his fingers massaged her neck. “We’re close, I can feel it. Keep it up, and when we catch this bastard I’m treating you to dinner overlooking Lake Union.”
Then he left.
She let him go. She could have stopped him, told him exactly why she was here, but she didn’t. She was simply buying time.
In her notebook, she looked up the number of the San Mateo County District Attorney’s office, where Hamilton Craig was the D.A. She got passed from office to office, and finally someone told her he was unavailable and could they help her?
She didn’t want to talk to someone she didn’t know, so she hung up and found Gary Porter’s cell phone number.