Fielding now wanted to show her some insect data, larvae that hatched from one of his bodies out at the Body Farm, determining some special facts about the type of mite he was currently fascinated with. He mumbled something about larval sacs having a kind of beauty all their own.
“ Yeah, I expect they do, Dr. Fielding.”
“ Are you staying over long enough to have dinner?” he then asked. “I would love to take you to dinner.”
She realized now how hard he had been staring at her, and why. She did not interest him as much as his insect findings, but she did interest him. “No, I'll be going directly back. Time being so limited, you see.”
“ Of course. Maybe you'd like to return for another visit? Really get familiar with what we do here.”
“ Perhaps in the future.”
“ It does indeed sound like a most impossible case, an absolute horror. I certainly do not envy you your job, Dr. Coran.”
The man works nine to five studying decay in corpses, and he's pitying me, she glumly thought.
She stood to leave, and he insisted on walking her back to the waiting helicopter. “You know, all the variables that make it impossible for me to be precise on how long Maureen Decampe has to live could also be working in her favor, you realize?”
“ The nights of dry lightning, no rain, drought conditions, yes, they have worked in her favor, I'm sure.” Jessica knew that decay fed more rapidly in dampness.
“ But then a bam like you describe is in itself a micro- ecology,” countered Dr. Fielding, ushering her along the corridor and out into the light, “and it will be dimly lit, no sunshine, and little wind blowing through, if he's using it as a prison, a place to keep someone locked inside, and to keep others out.” Jessica nodded several times. “Then we must find her tonight.”
“ But you understand, this is all assuming she has had no respite from contact with the decaying corpse.”
“ What do you mean?”
“ If her captor is wishing to prolong her agony, he will feed her, give her water, drag it out.” Fielding gritted his teeth and shook his head as if to shake out an image. “My God, all the years I've worked with decaying corpses, and it would never have occurred to me that someone could concoct so horrid a murder as you are suggesting.”
“ Vengeance is a strong motivator, Syd, and often it acts as the mother of invention.”
Dr. Fielding's eyes opened beyond the sad, fleshy slits they had become with early middle age, working in the field he did. “You think the killer inventive? Imaginative?” He actually smiled like a teacher trying to embarrass her. Was it a trick question?
“ Not really; he's just very familiar with images he's taken from the Bible.”
“ I should like to learn more about this citizen among us.”
“ I would love to tell you more, but I have to get back to the task force.”
“ Sorry I couldn't have been of more help to you,” he said, accepting her hand in his, shaking it, and warmly smiling. “You remind me of a tenacious colleague of mine.”
“ Oh, and who would that be?”
“ Dr. Bass, of course, another jack bull.”
“ Me… a terrier? Funny, I do seem to recall someone characterizing me as a tenacious bitch on more than one occasion.”
“ Oh, no, I only meant it in the best possible light, that you are tenacious-a good quality to have for a medical examiner and seeker of truth.”
“ Why, thank you. Doctor. I've been called just about everything, but that is the nicest thing I've heard in a long time.”
“ You have a high PQ.”
“ PQ?”
“ Persistence quotient”
She smiled and again thanked him. They parted with promises to see one another again, Jessica telling him that when she could find the time, she would come for a longer visit to the facility.
The helicopter flight back gave Jessica the freedom to think; she weighed up everything they knew at this point including what Fielding had said about the variables quite possibly favoring that DeCampe remained alive still.
SIXTEEN
A case of serial murder is heinous, a hate crime awful, and a case of self-righteous and fanatical vengeance just as brutal as any…
Time passed, and a number of possible leads were looked into without result. Everyone in and around the Washington, D.C., area having anything to do with crime fighting by now had learned what the task force was interested in. In fact, RE/MAX had become a half-joking battle cry. Then a phone call came in from the D.C. Police Department's Missing Persons Unit. A Detective Charles Price grumbled out that he had gotten wind they were interested in any Missing Persons case involving a realtor.
“ What have you got for us?”
“ Got your APB, so when a report came in sounding like the ball park…” After listening to what Price had to say, she replied, “And you say this is a RE/MAX local office? Give me the address where she works.” Jessica jotted the information down.
When Jessica looked up, she saw that all the others in the ops room were staring at her. “It's a case recently called in, a daughter worried about her mother. She coincidentally works for RE/MAX; left work and never got home. I'm going to interview her coworkers.”
The realtor's name was Nancy Willis, and she had gone missing, and no one knew why. The partner's name was Carmella Drew, a leggy, well-dressed, and businesslike person with fine features and an unfortunate nose. Jessica asked her a series of questions, but Carmella made it clear that she knew nothing; in fact, she appeared to be so clueless that Jessica began to wonder if her business partner's disappearance had nothing whatever to do with Purdy and the DeCampe case, and all to do with a case of murder unraveling before her, one that involved getting rid of the bothersome business associate.
“ So you have no idea whether she went out on a call or not?”
“ No.”
“ No record of an appointment?”
“ None, no.”
“ I see. Did she keep a calendar? An appointment book?”
“ She kept her appointment book with her at all times.”
“ A desk calendar?”
“ Yeah, her office. This way.”
Jessica scanned the calendar for a week before DeCampe's abduction. A look at her watch told her it was nearing nine P.M. She'd had to drag Carmella back to the closed office to have a look at Nancy's desk. “Any new clients recently who looked like this man?” Jessica asked, holding out the newly drawn composite of Isaiah Purdy.
“ She didn't always check with me when she rented out a place. We each generate our own business, you see, and at the end of the month, we give out perks and benefits and bonuses if things are going well. Lately, we've had few things to cheer about.”
“ So she didn't always bring clients into the office?”
“ That, and I wasn't always here. I've only just returned from some time off.”
Jessica saw several names of prospective customers and appointments on the calendar. She read them off to the partner. “Any of these clients rent property out of the way, in a remote setting?”
“ Lately, that's all anyone wants: remote, preferably with a moat.”
Jessica read the names aloud. “Gideon Brown, Mark and Marilou Piper, Damon Shaw.” They were all jotted down on days just before the abduction.