Deadly Illusions(65)
Mandy’s stomach churned. If anyone deserved the death penalty, it was rapists and molesters. Pritchard was definitely sick.
Mandy delved further into the file. Judge MacIntosh wordlessly joined her a few minutes later, reading the screen over her shoulder. “I remember him,” he said. “He was really angry, not that he didn’t have a right to be. His story was especially terrible. Pritchard seemed to get off torturing him. I remember thinking that, odds were, he’d either kill himself or someone else if he didn’t get some therapy.”
“It’s him,” Mandy said. “I’m positive.”
“I believe you,” Judge MacIntosh said. “All the pieces fit.”
Mandy bit the inside of her cheek. She wanted to check one other thing. She pulled up an Internet window and Googled Andrew Wayne, adding Michigan to the search engine to narrow down the results.
After clicking on a few links, Mandy sat back in her chair, her heart heavy.
“What is it?”
“He’s a graduate student at Wayne State University,” Mandy said. “He’s getting a Ph.D. in chemistry.”
Judge MacIntosh knitted his eyebrows together. “I’m not sure why that’s important.”
“The detective in Eastpointe told Finn that the acid blend was specially made,” Mandy explained. “He also said the accelerant used in the fire was specially made, too.”
“Which would take a chemistry student,” MacIntosh finished.
“Yeah.”
“Well, I think you have your suspect.”
Mandy glanced at the clock on the wall. “I need to make a quick call.”
“Take your time,” the judge said. “I’m the judge. I can be as late as I want. No one can argue with me because I’m in charge. Why do you think I became a judge?”
“Thank you,” Mandy said. “I know I’ve been nothing but a pain for about two weeks now … .”
“You’re a hard worker,” MacIntosh said. “You have nothing to be sorry about. Sometimes there are things that are more important than work – and this would definitely be one of those things.”
“I’m still putting you on the spot,” Mandy hedged.
“Saving an innocent woman is not putting me on the spot,” he replied, puffing out his chest. “It makes me feel like a bit of a hero.”
“You were already a hero,” Mandy said, picking up her phone and shooting him a grateful smile.
“What’s up?” James asked when he answered.
“How did you know it was me?”
“Who else would be calling me from the courthouse?” James asked. “I have Caller ID, remember?”
“I didn’t think of that.”
“Yeah, you’re not the only smart one around here,” James teased. “Not that I’m not glad to hear from you – and if you want to have dirty phone sex on your lunch hour, I’m all for it – but something tells me you have something tumbling around that big brain of yours.”
“Yeah, well, I couldn’t shake the feeling that I recognized the guy from the video,” Mandy said.
“I sent the footage to Maverick,” James said. “He’s working on it right now. Hopefully he’ll have answers for us soon.”
“I’ve already matched it.”
There was silence on the other end of the phone.
“Are you there?”
“I’m just … dumbfounded. How did you match it?”
“Well, actually it was Judge MacIntosh’s idea,” Mandy said.
“You told the judge about this?”
“He presided over the case,” Mandy reminded him.
“Oh, yeah, continue.”
“He suggested having the security personnel go through the footage from the Pritchard case and see if they could find a match to our footage,” Mandy said.
“So, you sweet talked Clint,” James supplied.
“I felt guilty about that and couldn’t do it,” Mandy said. “You know how Clint is. It makes me uncomfortable. So, the judge ordered him to do it for me.”
James barked out a laugh. “You’re always full of surprises. What did you find?”
“He sent me two possibilities,” Mandy said. “I ruled out the first one right away. He was too tall.”
“And the second?”
“It’s him.”
“You’re sure?”
“I’m sure.”
“Okay,” James said. “Now we just have to put a name to the face.”
“I’ve already done that, too.”
“Seriously?”
“What? All I had to do was take the time stamp from the court footage and then match it up to the witness list,” Mandy said. “It’s not like it was rocket science.”