Once Gone (18 page)

Not easily intimidated, the man stared back at her. But he didn’t move toward her.

Riley heard footsteps approaching behind her, and then the sound of the Senator’s voice.

“What is it this time, Agent Paige? I’m a very busy man.”

The security man stepped aside as Newbrough walked in front of her and stood there. His photogenic politician’s smile had a sarcastic cast to it. He was silent for a moment. Riley sensed right away that they were about to engage in a battle of wills. She was determined not to move from the couch.

“You were wrong, Senator,” Riley said. “There wasn’t anything political about your daughter’s murder—and nothing personal either. You gave me an enemies list, and I’m sure you passed along that same list to your lapdog at the Bureau.”

Newbrough’s smile twisted into a slight sneer.

“I take it you mean Special Agent in Charge Carl Walder,” he said.

Riley knew that her choice of words was rash and that she’d live to regret it. But right now she didn’t care.

“That list was a waste of the Bureau’s time, Senator,” Riley said. “And meanwhile another victim has been abducted.”

Newbrough stood firmly rooted to his spot.

“I understand that the Bureau has made an arrest,” he said. “The suspect has confessed. But he hasn’t said much, has he? There’s some connection to me, you can be sure of it. He’ll tell all in due time. I’ll make sure that Agent Walder follows through on it.”

Riley tried to hide her amazement. After yet another abduction, Newbrough still considered himself to be the primary target of the killer’s wrath. The man’s ego was truly outrageous. His capacity to believe that
everything
was about him had no limits.

Newbrough tilted his head with seeming curiosity.

“But you seem to be blaming me somehow,” he said. “I take umbrage at that, Agent Paige. It’s not my fault that your own fecklessness has led to the capture of another victim.”

Riley’s face tingled with rage. She didn’t dare reply. She’d say something far too rash.

He walked over to a liquor cabinet and poured himself a large glass of what Riley assumed to be extremely expensive whiskey. He was obviously making a point of not asking Riley if she wanted a drink.

Riley knew that it was high time for her to get to the point.

“The last time I was here, there was something you didn’t tell me,” she said.

Newbrough turned to face her again, taking a long sip from his glass.

“Didn’t I answer all your questions?” he said.

“It’s not that. You just didn’t tell me something. About Reba. And I think it’s time you did.”

Newbrough held her in a penetrating stare.

“Did she like dolls, Senator?” Riley asked.

Newbrough shrugged. “I suppose all little girls do,” he said.

“I don’t mean as a little girl. I mean as an adult. Did she collect them?”

“I’m afraid I wouldn’t know.”

Those were the first words Newbrough had said so far that Riley truly believed. A man this pathologically self-centered knew little about anybody else’s likes and interests—not even those of his own daughter.

“I’d like to talk to your wife,” Riley said.

“Certainly not,” Newbrough snapped. He was adopting a new expression now—one that Riley had seen him use on television. Much like his smile, this expression was carefully rehearsed, undoubtedly practiced thousands of times in a mirror. It was meant to convey moral outrage.

“You really have no decency, do you, Agent Paige?” he said, his voice shaking with calculated anger. “You come into a house of grief, bringing no comfort, no answers to a bereaved family. Instead you make veiled accusations. You blame perfectly innocent people for your own incompetence.”

He shook his head in a gesture of injured righteousness.

“What a mean, cruel little woman you are,” he said. “You must have brought terrible pain to a great many people.”

Riley felt as if she’d been punched in the stomach. This was a tactic she hadn’t been prepared for—a complete turning of the moral tables. And he’d hit her own genuine guilt and self-doubt.

He knows exactly how to play me,
she thought.

She knew that she had to leave right now or she’d do something she’d regret. He was practically goading her in that direction. Without a word, she got up from the couch and walked out of the living room toward the front entrance.

She heard the Senator’s voice call after her.

“Your career is over, Agent Paige. I want you to know that.”

Riley brushed past the butler and charged out the front door. She got in her car and started to drive.

Waves of rage, frustration, and exhaustion crashed over her. A woman’s life was at stake, and nobody in the world was rescuing her. She was sure that Walder was just expanding the search area around Gumm’s apartment. And Riley was sure they were looking in the wrong place. It was up to her to do something. But she no longer had any idea what to do. Coming here certainly hadn’t helped. Could she trust her own judgment anymore?

Riley hadn’t driven for more than ten minutes before her cell phone buzzed. She looked down at it and saw that it was a text from Walder. She had no trouble guessing what it was about.

Well,
she thought bitterly.
At least the Senator didn’t waste any time.

When Riley reached Quantico and walked into the Behavioral Analysis Unit, both the chief and Bill were waiting for her in Walder’s office. She realized that Bill must have been called in especially for this meeting.

Special Agent in Charge Carl Walder rose from his desk.

“The Senator’s lapdog?” Walder said, his babyish face knotted with anger.

Riley lowered her eyes. She really had gone too far with that remark.

“I’m sorry, sir,” she said.

“Sorry isn’t going to cut it, Agent Paige,” Walder said. “You’ve completely gone off the rails. What were you thinking, going to the Senator’s house to confront him like that? Do you have any idea the damage you’ve done?”

By “damage,” Riley was sure that Walder meant his own personal embarrassment. She couldn’t get very worried about that.

“Have you found Cindy McKinnon yet?” she asked in a low voice.

“No, as a matter of fact, we haven’t,” Walder said sharply. “And frankly, you’re not helping us find her.”

Riley was stung.

“
I’m
not helping?” she replied. “Sir, I keep telling you, you’re charging the wrong man, and you’re looking in the wrong—”

Riley stopped herself in mid-sentence

Cindy MacKinnon was what mattered right now, not Riley’s ongoing battles with Walder. This was no time for petty squabbling. When she spoke again, it was in a milder tone.

“Sir, even though I feel he may be withholding something, I may have been wrong to unilaterally go and see the Senator without checking with you, and I apologize. But forget about me for a moment. That poor woman’s been missing for well over twenty-four hours. What if I’m right, and someone else is holding her captive? What’s she going through right now? How long has she got?”

His voice cautious, Bill added, “We’ve got to consider the possibility, sir.”

Walder sat down and said nothing for a moment. Riley could see by his expression that he, too, was concerned about the possibility. Then he spoke very slowly, giving weight to each word.

“The Bureau will handle it.”

Riley didn’t know what to say. She didn’t even quite understand what Walder meant. Was he acknowledging his possible mistake? Or was he still determined not to veer from his present course?

“Sit down, Agent Paige,” Walder said.

Riley sat in the chair next to Bill, who glanced at her with mounting concern.

Walder said, “I heard about what happened with your friend today, Riley.”

Riley was jolted a little. She wasn’t surprised that Walder knew about Marie’s death. After all, word that she’d been first on the scene was sure to make its way back to the Bureau. But why was he bringing it up now? Did she detect a note of sympathy in his voice?

“What happened?” Walder asked. “Why did she do it?”

“She couldn’t deal with it anymore,” Riley said in a whisper.

“Couldn’t deal with what?” Walder asked.

A silence fell. Riley couldn’t shape an answer to that question.

“I’ve heard you don’t think Peterson is dead,” Walder said. “I guess I can understand why you can’t shake that idea. But you’ve got to know that it doesn’t make sense.”

There came another pause.

“Did you tell your friend about it?” Walder asked. “Did you tell her about this obsessive idea of yours?”

Riley’s face flushed. She knew what was coming next.

“She was too fragile for that, Agent Paige,” Walder said. “You should have known it would make her snap. You should have used better judgment. But frankly, Agent Paige, your judgment is shot to hell. I hate to say it, but it’s true.”

He is blaming me for Marie’s death,
Riley realized.

Riley was fighting back tears now. Whether they were tears of grief or indignation, she didn’t know. She had no idea what to say. Where could she begin? She hadn’t planted that idea in Marie’s head and she knew it. But how could she make Walder understand? How could she explain that Marie had her own reasons to doubt that Peterson was dead?

Bill spoke up again. “Sir, go easy on her, okay?”

“I think I’ve been going too easy on her, Agent Jeffreys,” Walder said, his voice becoming stern. “I think I’ve been too patient.”

Walder held her gaze for a long moment.

“Give me your gun and your badge, Agent Paige,” he finally said.

Riley heard Bill let out a gasp of disbelief.

“Sir, this is crazy,” Bill said. “We need her.”

But Riley didn’t need to be told twice. She rose from her chair and took out her gun and her badge. She placed them on Walder’s desk.

“You can clean out your office in your own good time,” Walder said, his voice steady and unemotional. “Meanwhile, you should go home and get some rest. And get back into therapy. You need it.”

As Riley turned to leave the room, Bill stood up as if to go with her.

“You stay, Agent Jeffreys,” Walder demanded.

Riley eyes met Bill’s. With a look, she told him not to disobey. Not this time. He nodded back to her with a stricken expression. Then Riley left the office. As she walked down the hall, she felt cold and numb, wondering what to do now.

When she stepped out into the cool night air, tears finally started to flow. But she was surprised to realize that they were tears of relief, not despair. For the first time in days, she felt liberated, free from frustrating limitations.

If nobody else was going to do what had to be done, it was still up to her. But at long last, nobody was going to tell her how to do her job. She’d find the killer, and she’d save Cindy MacKinnon—no matter what it took.

*

After Riley, later again, picked up April and drove home, she found as they arrived home that she couldn’t deal with fixing dinner. Marie’s face still haunted her and she felt more exhausted than she had ever been.

“It’s been a bad day,” she told April. “A terrible day. Will you settle for grilled cheese sandwiches?”

“I’m not really hungry,” April said. “Gabriela keeps me stuffed all the time.”

Riley felt a deep pang of despair.
Another failure
, she thought.

But then April took another look at her mother, this time with a hint of compassion.

“Grilled cheese will be good,” she said. “I’ll fix them.”

“Thank you,” Riley said. “You’re a sweetheart.”

She felt her spirits lift a little. At least there would be no conflict here at home tonight. She really needed that little break.

They had a quick and quiet supper, then April went to her room to finish homework and go to bed.

As exhausted as she was, Riley felt she had little time to waste. She went to work. She opened her laptop, pulled up a map of the victims’ locations, and printed out the section she wanted to study.

Riley slowly drew a triangle on the map. Its lines linked the three places where the victims had been found. The northernmost point marked where Margaret Geraty’s body had been dumped in farmland two years ago. A point to the west marked where Eileen Rogers had been more carefully placed near Daggett some six months back. Finally, the point to the south marked where the killer had achieved full mastery, posing Reba Frye by a stream in Mosby Park.

Riley circled the area again and again, thinking, wondering. Another woman might soon be found dead somewhere in this area—if she wasn’t dead already. There was no time to lose.

Riley hung her head. She was so tired. But a woman’s life was at stake. And it now seemed to be up to Riley to save her—without official help or sanction. She wouldn’t even have Bill to help her. But could she solve this case entirely on her own?

 She had to try. She had to do it for Marie. She had to prove to Marie’s spirit—and maybe even to herself—that suicide wasn’t the only option.

Riley frowned at that triangle. It was a good guess that the victim was now being held somewhere in that area of a thousand square miles.

I’ve just got to look in the right place,
she thought.
But where?

She knew that she would have to condense her search area, and it wasn’t going to be easy to do. At least she was familiar with some of the general area.

The uppermost part of the triangle, the point closest to Washington, was mostly upscale, rich, and privileged. Riley was all but sure that the killer didn’t come from that kind of background. Besides, he had to be holding the victim in a place where no one could hear her scream. Forensics had found no sign of the other women’s mouths being gagged or taped. Riley drew an X through that well-to-do area.

The two southern points were both parklands. Might the killer be holding the woman in a rented hunting cabin or on a campsite?

Riley thought it over.

No,
she decided.
That would be too temporary.