“Wait. What about her phone? You said the bureau traced the call the killer made to me on her phone to the airport in Vegas. How did the phone get to-”
“The GO! package. He sent your gun and her phone. They knew it would be a way of further tying you to her murder. After your suicide, the cops would find her phone in your room. Then when it didn’t work out as planned, Stone called you from the airport. Maybe he just wanted to chat, or maybe he knew it would help set the idea that there was one killer out there who had gone from L.A. to Vegas.”
“Stone? So you’re saying McGinnis went to L.A. for Angela, and Stone went to Vegas for me.”
She nodded.
“You said the man with sideburns was no older than thirty. Stone is twenty-six and McGinnis is forty-six. You can disguise appearance but one of the hardest things to do without being obvious about it is to disguise age. And it’s much harder to go younger than older. I’m betting your man with the sideburns was Stone.”
It made sense to me.
“There’s another thing that indicates we’re dealing with a team here,” Rachel said. “It was right in front of us the whole time.”
“What’s that?”
“A loose end from the Denise Babbit killing. She was put in the trunk of her own car and it was abandoned in South L.A., where Alonzo Winslow happened upon it.”
“Yeah, so?”
“So if the killer worked alone, how did he get out of South L.A. after he dropped off the car? We’re talking late at night in a predominantly black neighborhood. Did he take a bus or call a cab and wait on the curb? Rodia Gardens is about a mile from the nearest Metro stop. Did he just walk it, a white man in a black neighborhood in the middle of the night? I don’t think so. You don’t end a murder as well planned as this with that kind of getaway. None of those scenarios makes much sense.”
“So whoever dropped her car off had a ride out of there.”
“You got it.”
I nodded and went silent for a long moment while I thought of all the new information. Rachel finally interrupted.
“I’m going to have to get to work, Jack,” she said. “And you need to get on a plane.”
“What is your assignment? I mean, besides me.”
“I’m going to work with the EER team at Western Data. I need to get over there now to get things ready.”
“Did they shut that place down?”
“More or less. They sent everybody home except for a skeleton crew to keep systems operating and to help with the EER team. I think Carver in the bunker and O’Connor on the surface, maybe a few others.”
“This is going to put them out of business.”
“We can’t help that. Besides, if the CEO of that company and his young cohort were dipping into stored data to find victims for their shared kill dreams, then I think their customers are entitled to know that. What happens after that happens.”
I nodded.
“I guess so.”
“Jack, you gotta go. I told Bantam I could handle this. I wish I could hug you but now’s not the time. But I want you to be very careful. Get back to L.A. and be safe. Call me for anything and, obviously, call me if you hear from one of these men again.”
I nodded.
“I’m going back to the hotel to get my stuff. You want me to leave the room for you?”
“No, the bureau’s paying my way now. When you check out, can you just leave my bag with the front desk? I’ll check back in there later.”
“Okay, Rachel. And you be careful yourself.”
As I turned to head to my car, I slyly reached out and squeezed her wrist. I hoped the message was felt loud and clear; we were in this together.
Ten minutes later the warehouse was in my rearview mirror and I was on the way back to the Mesa Verde Inn. I was on hold with Southwest Airlines, waiting to book a flight back to L.A., but I could not concentrate on anything other than the idea that the Unsub was actually two killers acting in unison.
To me, the idea of two people meeting and acting on the same wavelength of sexual sadism and murder more than doubled the sense of dread such dark things conjured. I thought of the term Yolanda Chavez had used during the tour of Western Data. Dark fiber. Could there be anything as deep and dark in the fiber of one’s being as the desire to share such things as what had happened to Denise Babbit and the other victims? I didn’t think so and the thought of it chilled me to the center of my soul.
SEVENTEEN: The Farm
The three agents comprising the FBI Electronic Evidence Retrieval team had commandeered the three workstations in the control room. Carver was left pacing behind them and occasionally looking over their shoulders at their screens. He wasn’t worried because he knew they would find only what he wanted them to find. But he had to act like he was worried. After all, what was happening here was threatening the reputation of Western Data and its business across the country.
“Mr. Carver, you really need to relax,” Agent Torres said. “It’s going to be a long night and your pacing back and forth like that will only make it longer-for you and us.”
“Sorry,” Carver said. “I’m just worried about what this is all going to mean, you know?”
“Yes, sir, we understand,” Torres said. “Why don’t you-”
The agent was interrupted by the sound of “Riders on the Storm” coming from the pocket of Carver’s lab coat.
“Excuse me,” Carver said.
He pulled the cell phone out of his pocket and answered it.
“It’s me,” Freddy Stone said.
“Hi, there,” Carver said cheerily for the benefit of the agents.
“Have they found it yet?”
“Not yet. I’m still here and it’s going to be a while.”
“I go ahead with the plan then?”
“You’ll just have to play without me.”
“This is my test, isn’t it? I have to prove myself to you.”
He said it with a slight note of indignation.
“After what happened last week, I’m happy to sit this one out.”
There was a pause and then Stone changed directions.
“Do those agents know who I am yet?”
“I don’t know but there’s nothing I can do about it right now. Work comes first. I’m sure I’ll be available next week and you can take my money again then.”
Carver hoped his lines fell within the bounds of poker talk for the listening agents.
“I’ll meet you later at the place?” Stone asked.
“Yes, my place. You bring the chips and beer. See you then. I gotta go.”
He ended the call and dropped the phone back into his pocket. Stone’s hedging and indignation was beginning to concern Carver. A few days ago he was begging for his life; today he didn’t like being told what to do. Carver began to second-guess himself. He probably should have ended it in the desert and put Stone in the hole with McGinnis and the dog. End of story. End of threat.
He could still do it. Later tonight maybe. Another two-for-one opportunity. It would be the end of the line for Stone and a lot of other things. Western Data would not be able to withstand the scandal. It would close and Carver would move on. By himself. Like before. He would take the lessons he had learned and begin again somewhere else. He was the Changeling. He knew he could do it.
I’m a changeling, see me change. I’m a changeling, see me change.
Torres turned from his screen and looked at Carver. Carver checked himself. Had he been humming?
“Poker night?” Torres asked.
“Yeah. Sorry for the intrusion.”
“Sorry you’re missing your game.”
“That’s okay. You guys are probably saving me fifty bucks.”
“The bureau is always happy to help out.”
Torres smiled and the other agent, the woman named Mowry, smiled, too.
Carver tried to smile but it felt phony and he stopped. The truth was, he had nothing to smile about.
EIGHTEEN: A Call to Action