Genesis (14 page)

Faith shook her head as if she could make no sense of what he
was saying. Will wasn't sure he could help her. He had never
understood his relationship with Angie Polaski. He had known her
since he was eight years old and there wasn't much he had figured
out in the ensuing years, except that the minute she felt to close to
him, she headed for the door. That she always eventually came back
was a pattern Will had come to appreciate for its simplicity.

He told her, "She leaves me a lot, Faith. It wasn't a surprise."

She kept her mouth shut, and he couldn't tell if she was mad or
just too shocked to speak.

He said, "I want to check on Anna upstairs before we leave."

She nodded.

He tried again, "Amanda asked me how you were doing last
night."

Faith suddenly gave him her full attention. "What did you tell
her?"

"That you're fine."

"Good, because I am."

He stared his meaning into her: Will wasn't the only one holding
back information.

"I
am
fine," she insisted. "At least I will be, okay? So don't worry
about me."

Will pressed his shoulders into the wall. Faith was silent, and the
low hum of the emergency room was like static in his ears. Within
minutes, he found himself fighting the urge to close his eyes. Will
had fallen into bed around six that morning, thinking that he'd manage
at least two hours' sleep before he had to go pick up Faith. He'd
negotiated down the morning's activities as each hour passed, thinking
first that he'd skip taking the dog for a walk, then taking off eating
breakfast from the list, then finally removing his usual coffee.
The clock had ticked off each hour with excruciating slowness,
which he marked every twenty minutes when his eyes shot open, his
heart in his throat, his head still thinking he was trapped back in that
cave.

Will felt his arm itching again, but he didn't scratch it for fear of
drawing Faith's attention to the gesture. Every time he thought about
the cave, those rats using the flesh on his arms for a ladder, he felt his
skin start to crawl. Considering how many scars Will had on his
body, it was foolish to obsess about a couple of scratches that would
eventually heal without leaving a mark, but it kept troubling his
mind, and the more his mind was troubled, the more he itched.

He asked Faith, "You think this Kidney Killer thing has already
hit the news?"

"I hope it has so when the real story comes out, those Rockdale
County idiots look like the ignorant pricks they are."

"Did I tell you what Fierro said to Amanda?"

She shook her head, and he relayed Fierro's ill-timed accusation
involving the Rockdale County chief of police's pole.

Faith's voice was little more than a shocked whisper. "What did
she do to him?"

"He just disappeared," Will said, taking out his cell phone. "I
don't know where he went, but I never saw him again." He checked
the time on his phone. "The autopsy's in an hour. If nothing comes
out of this kid, let's go to the morgue and see if we can get Pete to
start early."

"We're supposed to meet the Coldfields at two. I can call them
and see if we can make it closer to noon."

Will knew Faith hated sitting in on autopsies. "Do you want to
split up?"

She obviously did not appreciate the offer. "We'll see if they can
move up the time. Our part of the postmortem should be fairly
quick."

Will hoped so. He didn't relish the idea of lingering over the morbid
details of the torture Jacquelyn Zabel had endured before she'd
managed to escape to safety, only to fall and break her neck while
waiting for help. "Maybe we'll have something more to go on by
then. A connection."

"You mean other than both women were single, attractive, successful
and pretty much hated by everyone who came into contact
with them?"

"A lot of successful women are hated," Will said, realizing the
moment that the words came out of his mouth that he sounded like a
sexist pig. "I mean, a lot of men feel threatened by—"

"I get it, Will. People don't like successful women." She added
ruefully, "Sometimes other women are worse than men."

He knew that she was probably thinking about Amanda. "Maybe
that's what's motivating our killer. He's angry that these women are
successful and they don't need men in their lives."

Faith crossed her arms, obviously considering the angles. "Here's
the trick: he's picked two women who won't be missed, Anna and
Jackie Zabel. Actually, three women, if you count Pauline McGhee."

"She's got long dark hair and brown eyes like the other two victims.
Usually, these guys like a pattern, a certain type."

"Jackie Zabel's successful. You said Anna was well put together.
McGhee drives a Lexus and had a kid on her own, which, take it
from me, is not easy." She was silent for a beat, and he wondered
if she was thinking about Jeremy. Faith didn't give him time to ask.
"It's one thing to kill prostitutes—you've got to go through at least
four or five before anyone notices. He's targeting women who have
real power in the world. So we can assume he's been watching them."

Will hadn't considered that, but she was probably right.

Faith continued, "Maybe he thinks of it as part of the hunt—
doing reconnaissance on them, finding out about their lives. He
stalks them, then he takes them."

"So, what are we talking about here—a guy who works for a
woman he's not particularly fond of ? A loner who felt abandoned by
his mother? A cuckold?" Will stopped trying to profile their suspect,
thinking the characteristics were a little too close to home.

"It can be anyone," Faith said. "That's the problem—it can be
anyone."

Will felt the frustration he heard in her voice. They both knew
that the case was reaching a critical point. Stranger abductions were
the hardest crimes to solve. The victims were usually randomly chosen,
the abductor a practiced hunter who knew how to cover his
tracks. It was sheer luck finding the cave last night, but Will had to
hope that the kidnapper was getting sloppy; two of his victims had
escaped. He might be feeling desperate, off his game. Luck had to be
on their side, if they were going to catch him.

Will tucked his phone back into his pocket. They were less than
twelve hours out and close to hitting a brick wall. Unless Anna woke
up, unless Felix could offer them a solid lead or one of the crime scenes
revealed a clue they could follow up on, they were still solidly on
square one with nothing to do but wait until another body showed up.

Faith was obviously considering the same problems. "He would
need another place to hold a new victim."

"I doubt it's another cave," Will said. "It would've been pretty
hard to dig. I nearly killed myself digging the hole for that pond I
put in my backyard last summer."

"You have a pond in your backyard?"

"Koi," he provided. "It took me two full weekends."

She was silent for a few beats, as if she was considering his pond.
"Maybe our suspect might have had help digging the cave."

"Serial killers usually work alone."

"What about those two guys in California?"

"Charles Ng and Leonard Lake." Will knew about the case,
mostly because it was one of the lengthiest and most expensive in
California's history. Lake and Ng had built a cinderblock bunker in
the hills, fitting the chamber with various torture devices and other
implements to help them act out their sick fantasies. Both men had
filmed themselves taking turns with the victims—men, women and
children, some whom had never been identified.

Faith continued, "The Hillside Stranglers worked together, too."

The two cousins had hunted women on the margins, prostitutes
and runaways.

Will said, "They had a fake police badge. That's how they got the
women to trust them."

"I don't even want to consider the possibility."

Will felt the same way, but it was something to keep in mind.
Jackie Zabel's BMW was missing. The woman at City Foods this
morning had been abducted right beside her car. Someone posing as
a police officer could have easily fabricated a scenario to approach
their vehicles.

Will said, "Charlie didn't find evidence of two different attackers
being in the cave." He had to add, "Then again, he wasn't exactly
eager to stay down there any longer than he had to."

"What was your impression when you were down there?"

"That I needed to get out of there before I had a heart attack,"
Will admitted, feeling the rat scratches on his arms start itching
again. "It's not the kind of place you want to linger."

"We'll look at the photos. Maybe there's something you and
Charlie didn't see in the heat of the moment."

Will knew that this was a distinct possibility. The photos of the
cave would probably be on his desk by the time they got back to the
office. They could examine the scene at leisure, the claustrophobia of
the surroundings kept safely at arm's length.

"Two victims, Anna and Jackie. Maybe two abductors?" Faith
made the next connection. "If that's their pattern, and Pauline
McGhee is another victim, then they need a second victim."

"Hey," Leo called, waving them back. He stood at a door with a
large sign on it.

"'Doctors' Lounge,'" Faith read, a habit she'd gotten into that
Will both loathed and appreciated in unequal parts.

"Good luck," Leo said, patting Will on the shoulder.

Faith asked, "You're leaving?"

"The doc just handed me my ass on a platter." Leo did not look
particularly bothered by the fact. "You guys can talk to the kid, but
unless this breaks toward your case, I need you to stay away."

Will was slightly surprised by his words. Leo had always been
more than happy to let other people do his work.

The detective said, "Trust me, I'd love to hand this over to you,
but I got my bosses breathing down my neck. They're looking for
any reason to kick me. I'll need a solid connection before I send this
up the chain to get y'all on the case, all right?"

"We'll make sure you're covered," Faith promised. "Can you still
keep a lookout for us on missing persons? White, mid-thirties, dark
brown hair, successful, but not someone who's got a lot of friends
who will miss her."

"Brown and bitchy." He gave her a wink. "What else I gotta do
except gumshoe your case?" He seemed okay with it. "I'll be at the
City Foods if anything comes up. You've got my numbers."

Will watched him go, asking, "Why are they pushing Leo out? I
mean, other than the obvious reasons."

Faith had been Leo's partner for a few years, and Will could see
her struggling with the desire to defend him. Finally, Faith said,
"He's at the top of his pay scale. It's cheaper to have some fresh-faced
kid just off patrol doing his job for half the pay. Plus, if Leo takes
early retirement, he leaves twenty percent of his pension on the
table. Throw in the medical, and it gets even more expensive to keep
him around. The bosses look at that kind of thing when they're doing
their budgets."

Faith was about to open the door, but stopped when her cell
phone started ringing. She checked the caller ID and told Will,
"Jackie's sister." She answered the phone, nodding for Will to go
ahead without her.

Will's hand was sweating when he pressed his palm to the wooden
door. His heart did something weird—almost a double beat—that he
put down to lack of sleep and too much hot chocolate this morning.
Then he saw Sara Linton, and it did it again.

She was sitting in a chair by the window, holding Felix McGhee
in her lap. The boy was almost too big to be held, but Sara seemed to
be managing it well. One arm was wrapped around his waist, the
other around his shoulders. She used her hand to stroke his hair as she
whispered sounds of comfort in his ear.

Sara had looked up when Will entered the room, but didn't let his
presence disturb the scene. Felix stared blankly out the window, his
lips slightly parted. Sara nodded toward a chair opposite, and Will
guessed from the fact that it was less than six inches from Sara's knee
that Leo had been sitting there. He pulled the chair back a few feet
and sat down.

"Felix." Sara's voice calm and in control, the same tone she had
used with Anna the night before. "This is Agent Trent. He's a policeman,
and he's going to help you."

Felix kept staring out the window. The room was cool, but Will
could see the boy's hair was damp with perspiration. A bead of sweat
rolled down his cheek, and Will took out his handkerchief to wipe it
away. When he looked back at Sara, she was staring at him as if he'd
pulled a rabbit out of his pocket.

"Old habit," Will mumbled, embarrassed as he folded the cloth in
two. He had been made well aware over the years that only old men
and dandies carried handkerchiefs, but all the boys at the Atlanta
Children's Home had been made to carry them, and Will felt naked
without one.

Sara shook her head, as if to say she didn't mind. Her lips pressed
to the top of Felix's head. The child didn't move, but Will had seen
his eyes dart to the side, checking out Will, trying to see what he was
doing.

"What's this?" Will asked, noticing a book bag beside Sara's chair.
He guessed from the cartoon characters and bright colors that the bag
belonged to Felix. Will slid it toward him and opened the zip, brushing
away stray pieces of colored confetti as he explored the contents.

Leo would've already gone through everything in the bag, but
Will took out each item as if he was carefully examining it for clues.
"Nice pencils." He held up a packet of colored pencils. The packaging
was black, not the kind of thing you usually saw on children's
items. "These are for grown-ups. You must be a very good artist."

Will didn't expect a response, and Felix didn't give one, but the
boy's eyes were watching carefully now, as if he wanted to make sure
Will didn't take anything from his bag.