Threads of Suspicion(61)
She already found the task force easy to be with. David was now involved in a detailed conversation with Paul and was more animated and relaxed than he’d been in days. Paul was drawing the rules of an aerial golf competition on the back of napkins. Drones would soon be changing sports, creating brand-new ones, if the people Paul talked with were to be believed. Drone golf, coming to the sky near you. Evie had to smile—such a guy thing. She’d impress Rob with her bit of insider sports information when they had their next dinner.
Ann caught her attention and nodded toward the outer office. Evie picked up her root beer, joined her friend. “You put together a really nice evening—feel free to do this anytime you like,” Evie mentioned.
“It sort of evolved when Paul decided he could spare a few hours of his Saturday to help out on the database work. Then Sharon called.”
With just the two of them in the room, Evie crossed to the flowers, pulled out the envelope, checked her name on the front, and drew out the card. She hadn’t done so earlier because occasionally Rob wrote delightfully personal messages she wouldn’t want to share with the others. She smiled, and because Ann was someone who would understand, offered her the card.
It was a sketched drawing of an archer with a bull’s-eye, an arrow in flight.
“You know I have my reservations about him, Evie, but this”—Ann held up the card—“Evie’s on target. Without needing to say the words, Rob is encouraging. I’m glad to see it.”
“He gets me, Ann, in some ways better than I do myself. I don’t have to wonder if he asked me to marry him with a misguided sense of who I’d be as his wife. We’re very much mismatched in other ways, yet he sees that as a good thing. He likes the counterbalance.”
“Well, the flowers are lovely, the message even more so. I see what you mean about his liking to brighten your life.”
Evie studied the floral arrangement. “I feel uncomfortable about the price tag, but I also have a sweet spot for beauty. I think these are tiger lilies,” she said, lightly touching a petal. “And whatever the purple ones are, they always make me smile.”
“I admit, I elbowed Paul. ‘Look what Evie’s guy sends her!’”
Evie laughed. “Yeah. It feels good to be romanced.”
The group came trailing in, and David leaned back against one of the desks. “I’m grateful to you all for the help, the hours of work on a weekend, and the meal. It’s appreciated. But it’s time. Let’s get the bad news over with.”
Sharon nodded. “Theo.”
Theo rolled a whiteboard out from the storage closet—Ann’s handwriting—neat, precise, accompanied by photos.
Not as bad as Evie was braced for. She glanced at David, saw fleeting relief on his face. Not nearly as bad as he, too, had been prepared to see.
“Five cases,” Ann said into the now-quiet room. “We’re pretty sure it’s only five, David. We’ve searched every concert date and location Triple M has played in the past. We’ve been debating case details for a few hours, eliminating those we conclude didn’t align.
“In date order, Chicago, Wisconsin, Indiana, Ohio, and back again to Indiana. Jenna Greenhill, Tammy Preston, Virginia Fawn, plus now Emily Close and Laura Ship.
“The Triple M concert connection held for the five, though there were differences on other case details. Three bodies have been found, all smothered. Two still missing—Jenna and Tammy.
“He’s traveling. Even the crimes have a travel component to them,” Ann continued. “The bodies were on back roads outside of town. Lived here, found here. Lived here, found here,” she indicated on printed maps. “The yellow dots are the concert venues. Not all these victims walked home from the concerts—some lived miles away.
“He’s choosing reasonably big cities,” Ann suggested, “good-sized concert turnouts, college towns. He grabs and goes. That’s what it looks like on first review. Someone able to blend with the college crowd, maybe drives a van, likely a van. He’s waiting at her place, comes at her when her guard is down. Then hauls the body away in the middle of the night. There are no signs of a break-in at these apartments. But the overall essence of the crimes suggests he might be picking their locks and getting inside, lying in wait. Theo suggested we should be looking for a teen with a B&E conviction—where he got his confidence—or even a locksmith now in training. He isn’t worried about how to get access without witnesses.”
“What you two have theorized about Wisconsin and Tammy,” Sharon said, picking up the summary, “makes a lot of sense for the trigger. He was successful with Jenna, that set a pattern in his mind, and he’s been re-creating that evening. The concert, the lifted driver’s license, being at the apartment ahead of them. He wants to experience it again. The cause of death for the last three makes it very likely Jenna was smothered too.”