“Stadium seating, forty bucks a seat plus tax,” David guessed.
“It sounds like a concert,” Evie agreed. “Let me get the rest of the report off the printer. Maybe the interviews will tell me what band was playing.”
“No need. I’ve already got it.” David had turned to his laptop and was searching the band website history page. “Triple M played at the Indiana State Fair, April 28, 2010.”
“A date match.” They stared at each other.
“Three cases,” David said, fury in his voice. “He’s been using Maggie’s concerts as his hunting grounds.”
“I’m so sorry, David.”
“Jenna, Tammy, Virginia. And Maggie, the connecting point. You’ve now got more than casual crossovers on your case, Evie. I’ll try not to step on your toes, but we will find this guy.”
“Partners all the way until it’s solved,” Evie promised. She didn’t want to touch the emotions coiling in him—she had no idea how to defuse them. Instead, she would put her attention where she could help, and that was on the case details. They both knew there might be other young women once they dug deeper.
“An obsessed fan?” she wondered aloud. “Or a vendor maybe? T-shirts? Food? They would travel the circuit just like the bands.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“He’s picking off college students, has to look young himself to blend in, not get remembered when cops start asking questions. So, someone close to their ages. Jenna was twenty-one, Tammy the same—” she paused, checked papers—“Virginia, twenty-three.”
“He’s in his early thirties now,” David guessed. “I need you to dig into the other similar cases on your board, tell me if there are more Triple M overlaps or more missing driver’s licenses. I’ll send the band-history page to the printer so you have concert dates and locations. We need to look for missing women around all those concerts. Virginia Fawn went missing six years ago. What’s he been doing since then?”
“I’ll do that next,” Evie agreed. “Ann is already on her way in. She can make sure we don’t miss a name. I’ll call and get us time with the Indiana detectives. Virginia’s body was found—there’s got to be something useful to work from with the physical evidence.”
“I’ll push on Tammy’s case in Wisconsin. Work with Saul’s notes, get the missing-persons file from their local PD, talk with Tammy’s parents, find out if they hired someone else after Saul. I hate to rip open their grief, then tell them we’re working a similar disappearance in Chicago, but it’s what has to be done.”
“Go see them in person? Make a road trip and link up with the local PD?”
“I’ll feel it out. If not today, Monday.”
“I’d vote for today. It’s only . . . what, a three-hour drive? Seeing the area after having viewed Jenna’s in detail, it’s going to click that these are similar cases or toss them apart as being separate.”
“Going today does make sense if we can pull it together.” He looked at the time. “Let’s make that call in two hours.”
Evie suspected as soon as they let it be known the three cases could be linked, getting others to join them in the search was going to be the easier part. The real challenge would be in coordinating things so that the various PDs didn’t step on each other.
Evie knew of one decision that could be made right away. “Don’t say anything to Maggie, David. This guy likely moved on to another hunting ground as he grew older, has probably been caught related to another crime by now. We figure it out, we make sure he’s in jail, but Maggie doesn’t hear a word of the overlaps we discovered. She had nothing to do with this, didn’t inspire it—it’s just bad luck he likes her music.”
“I agree about Maggie, and I sincerely hope you’re right about his already being in jail. It will make it easier to charge him with three murders once we crack the case.”
“Does this help in any way figure out Saul’s disappearance?” Evie asked, hoping to move him onto another track.
He considered that, shook his head. “Saul had a lot of suspended cases he could have picked up and worked on his own time, but there’s no obvious indication he had been looking at this one when he disappeared. Nothing noted in the file suggests he had a new lead.”
“Didn’t Saul’s sister mention he was considering a concert that Wednesday evening? I know you’ve got Saul’s movements now traced through Saturday night, so I’m not implying a concert is related to Saul’s disappearance too, but what concert was he talking about? Did you ever figure that out?”