The Betrayed (Krewe of Hunters) (12 page)

“There was security in the parking lot,” Aidan said. “But there were also dozens of trucks granted entry to service the food and drink concessions at the center.”

“Which probably brings us back to someone Richard knew. He either went out to see a person or persons he trusted—or he was taken in the greenroom, using the same scenario,” Sloan said.

Aidan pulled out his phone and called Van Camp. The detective was already at the convention center and had been advised about the chloroform.

“We may be too late, but we need to search the rooms of the security guys, plus Jillian Durfey and Taylor Branch,” Aidan said.

“Warrants are on the way, and Voorhaven and I are headed over to the hotel now,” Van Camp told him. “We may not need the warrants. If all of them are innocent, they won’t care whether we have warrants.”

“Or if they’ve already gotten rid of anything that might indicate they ever had a drug,” Aidan said. “But we’ll meet you there.”

He and Sloan stopped by the office at the morgue where Jane Everett was working.

“How’s it going?” Sloan asked.

“I’m ready to send this out,” Jane said. “Do you want to see?” She showed them the computer screen. While the face she presented wasn’t different in its shape, its lines or symmetry from the computer-generated version, it was somehow a totally new image. There was
life
to the woman. Her eyes were bright, her lips slightly curved. She’d been a lovely young blonde, and in Jane’s rendering, she was vivacious and
real.

“Beautiful work.” Sloan placed a hand on her shoulder.

She flashed a smile at him. These two were intimate, Aidan thought. Emotionally connected. They weren’t overt, both of them too dedicated to the job to indulge in any but the briefest of private moments. Jane turned to him. “Is this more like what you wanted?”

“Definitely,” he said. Jane was really good. He wasn’t an artist himself, but he could see that she’d created an image that was far superior to what they’d had. Looking at it, he felt that he’d remember this woman, even if he’d just seen her walking down the street.

“I’ll distribute it right away so we can get the media helping us,” she said.

Aidan and Sloan went back to the hotel. When they arrived, they found police and crime scene investigators there. The security crew, aka Muscles, Mischief and Magic, as well as Jillian and Taylor, were standing in the hallway—out of their rooms while they were being searched.

It had to be one of the most courteous examples of a search he’d ever seen. Courteous on both sides, the police and those whose rooms were under inspection.

Taylor Branch immediately approached Aidan. “They didn’t need warrants,” he said. “We would’ve willingly stepped out. I guess you have to go with us as your first suspects because it was Richard, but you only had to ask.”

“I figured as much,” Aidan acknowledged, and introduced Sloan all around. “You realize, Mr. Branch, that once you’re eliminated, we’ll be able to concentrate elsewhere.”

“Yes, that’s always the line, isn’t it?” Branch asked, a dry smile twitching his lips.

“Always—because it’s the truth,” Sloan said.

One of the crime scene techs emerged from Jillian’s room. “Detectives? Agents?” she called.

Aidan walked over to her with Sloan, Van Camp and Voorhaven joining them.

The crime scene tech wore a shirt with a name tag that identified her as Garcia. She held a green container in one of her gloved hands.

“Could be chloroform,” Sloan guessed, frowning as he looked at Aidan. “We’ll test it.”

“I believe so,” Garcia said.

They all turned to Jillian Durfey, who stood close enough to hear. She stared at them in astonishment. “That’s
not mine!
” she protested.

“It was in the bottom dresser drawer, under what appears to be your clothing,” Garcia informed her.

“No, no, no!” Jillian backed away, hands raised. “Oh, no, no. You planted that!
Someone
planted that! I loved Richard. I adored him. I wouldn’t have hurt him for the world.”

“We have to take you in for questioning,” Van Camp told her.

“I didn’t put it there! I’ve never seen it before, I swear!” Jillian said passionately.

“We have to take you in. I’m sorry.” Aidan studied the young woman. Her eyes were huge and filled with horror as she looked at Taylor Branch. He was staring back at her in shock and growing anger, but managed to control his response. “I’ll get our attorneys on this. Don’t say anything until you’ve been advised.”

“But I didn’t do anything. I’m telling you—” Jillian began.

Voorhaven had come up behind her. “Will you come with us voluntarily or do I need cuffs?”

“Cuffs!” she repeated, spinning to face him.

“Jillian, just go with them. I’ll take care of it,” Taylor Branch promised her.

Van Camp came to stand by Aidan. “You want the interview, I imagine?” he asked in a low voice.

“Yes, thanks,” Aidan said. “I’ll follow you in about fifteen minutes.”

Van Camp and Voorhaven left with Jillian. She kept looking back, her eyes wide, tears streaming down her cheeks.

“That’s absolutely impossible,” Muscles—or Cory Stile—insisted.

“The chloroform was in her drawer,” Garcia said flatly and dispassionately.

Muscles shook his head. “She’s...she’s far too sweet and what she said was true. Jillian hero-worshipped Richard Highsmith. And I saw her—we all saw her!—testing the sound equipment.”

“She’s not under arrest,” Aidan explained. “We just need her to answer some questions. She’s right that the chloroform could have been planted. This is a hotel. There are passkeys. Maids and other staff come into the rooms. As I said, we’ll need to talk to her and, actually, Mr. Branch, an attorney isn’t going to help much at this point, because we’re going to try to find out if
the chloroform
was
planted in her room.”

Branch scowled. “That’s what you say when you want to bully and trick people into confessions. You just want to ask questions,” he added sarcastically.

“I’m sorry you believe that,” Aidan said.

Branch started toward his room. “They’re not done in there,” Aidan told him.

Irritated, Branch stopped. “Fine. I’ll wait.” He pulled out his cell phone. “I need to get in touch with a lawyer right now. I can do that here as well as anywhere.”

Mischief—Rob Little—walked over to Aidan. “Muscles told you the truth. We’ve all come to care about Jillian. She’s a good kid. Idealistic. That’s why she loved her job, working for Richard. I’m telling you, you’re wrong.”

“Who in this group had access to her room?” Aidan asked.

The three “Shields” and Taylor Branch looked at one another.

“All of us,” Mischief replied.

“Then we’ll all have to talk, won’t we?” Aidan said quietly.

* * *

“Please? Pretty please?” Grace asked Mo over the phone.

“Oh, I don’t know,” Mo said.

The local attractions were reopening. Grace was on duty that night—and now she wanted Mo to play a part at the Haunted Mausoleum.

Sleepy Hollow and Tarrytown always put on a spectacular Halloween season. Like Salem, New Orleans and various other places of historic interest, Sleepy Hollow had the reputation and the buildings, graveyards and other locations to create a spooky atmosphere and attract visitors.

Philipsburg Manor put on Horseman’s Hollow, there were readings at the Old Dutch Church and a wonderful Haunted Hayride. Grace’s venue, the Haunted Mausoleum, was both effective and successful. There wasn’t really a main mausoleum; instead, there were several family tombs and graves on the property. The largest building was an old mortuary, originally built and opened just before the Civil War. It had done a booming business as the death toll during the fighting increased, and it had survived as a working mortuary well into the twentieth century. Finally, it was purchased by Grace’s employers in the late 1980s.

These days, visitors were taken on a tour through the main building and then out to the graveyard. At Halloween, the mortuary offered grim reapers, the dead trying to rise out of coffins and “the gauntlet,” a hallway filled with character actors portraying historical personages from all over the world known for their heinous acts, including Vlad Dracul, Countess Bathory, Jack the Ripper and more.

The cemetery itself concentrated on specters from local lore. Among them were Major Andre, the Woman in White, a Native American maiden who had killed herself over her lover, and the Bronze Lady—a large statue from the cemetery said to cry real tears. The infamous historical-murderer actors made appearances now and then, too.

While the haunted house was pure fun, visitors also went away with a booklet that gave real histories of the characters, and information on the other ghost stories of Sleepy Hollow.

There was usually a Headless Horseman of Sleepy Hollow who rode around the property, too.

He was not going to appear that night.

“Mo, if you don’t take Alicia’s part, they’ll hire someone else—someone I don’t know. Or trust. Come on, please?”

“What’s wrong with Alicia?” Mo asked worriedly.

“She’s in the hospital with an emergency appendectomy.”

“Oh, I’m sorry!” But the last thing Mo wanted to do that night was play the Woman in White.

“If the Horseman isn’t being used—”

“The Horseman is Robbie Anderson. He’s becoming H. H. Holmes for the night in the Gauntlet—and he’s not a woman.”

Robbie Anderson was a historian, but he was also big in local theater.

“I’ve seen Robbie play a woman,” Mo said.

“Please?” Grace continued, as if Mo hadn’t spoken. “My bosses know you and love you, and they said I could ask you first!” she told her. “And you know Sondra, who’s in charge of the horror nights? She loves you. She’s said you’re our best backup possibility.”

Mo sighed. “Okay, okay. Just until Alicia can come back!”

“Pick you up in an hour.” Grace abruptly ended the conversation.

“Fine.”

She hung up. Rollo was by her side, looking at her reproachfully. He must have sensed that she was going out—and that he wasn’t going with her.

“You’ll be okay. Candy and Daniel are here. And you need to watch the house,” Mo said.

As she spoke, Candy came sweeping into the room. “Mo!”

“What?”

“Come! Come quickly.”

Mo followed Candy to the front of the house. When Candy tried to pull back the drapes, they just fluttered, so Mo took over.

“I will move them one day!” Candy insisted.

Mo nodded. “Sure, but what is it, Candy?” she asked.

“Look. Look there.”

Mo did. And then she saw him, a dark figure near the trees. He grew more distinct as she blinked.

It was man, a dead man.

It was Richard Highsmith.

Forgetting safety, Mo rushed to the door and threw it open. She slipped out of the house and called softly, “Hello! I’m here. Come and speak with me!”

The figure seemed to vanish instantly.

There was nothing there now but the trees.

“Told you! Told you he was lurking around,” Candy said.

“Tell me when you see him again, okay? I can’t do anything if he vanishes as soon as I speak. I have to get ready. Thank you, Candy. Maybe...maybe he’ll come closer to the house next time. Maybe you and Daniel can try to reach him.”

“We can try,” Candy promised her. “We can try.”

* * *

Aidan sat across from Jillian Durfey. She’d been given a soda and he was trying to make the interview easy on her.

She was still crying when he’d arrived.

She’d finally stopped. Now she just sat there dully, repeatedly denying that she’d ever had the chloroform.

There were no prints on the bottle; it had been wiped clean.

An attorney had yet to turn up.

“What do you think could have happened—if you never had the chloroform?” Aidan asked her.

She shook her head, threading her fingers through her hair.

“I...I don’t know. Someone came and put it in my room. I know that much. I’ve never seen that bottle or vial or whatever before. I swear it,” she said. Her voice wasn’t passionate anymore. It was flat and tired.

“Who do you think would have done such a thing?” he asked.

“Someone else.”

“Maybe Muscles? Or Mischief or Magic? Or...Taylor Branch?”

“That would be crazy! We all worked for Richard. We depended on him. We’re all being used and framed.”

He leaned toward her. “Jillian, we’ve pulled the security tapes from your hallway. If anyone went to your room, we’ll find out who it was.” That wasn’t the truth. The hotel manager had been apologetic and mortified to tell them that at the moment, the security cameras were for show. Their first company hadn’t worked out. The camera systems had failed and they were in process of redesigning the system.

But Jillian didn’t know that.

She lifted her head and looked at him. “All I can tell you is it wasn’t me.”

He leaned back in his chair, watching her.

“I loved him. It wasn’t me,” she said again.

Sloan was with Taylor Branch in another interrogation room. Voorhaven and Van Camp were working with Muscles, Mischief and Magic, leaving one man alone and observed by Purbeck while he waited his turn. Separating them—giving them time to sweat and wonder what the others were saying—was one way of getting at the truth.

“I don’t
know
what’s going on. But look at me! I’m barely a hundred pounds!” she said in confusion. “How on earth could I have done this? Knocked out a big man, dragged him to some other place and cut off his head, then found a woman and attacked her, too—all while doing the sound check.” She hesitated and seemed to brighten. “Bari!” she said. “You have to talk to Bari, the woman from the convention center. She’ll tell you. She saw me all the time. Well, almost all the time. Oh! That’s who else you need to check out—the convention center people! They were in charge of the trucks and vendors bringing people into the parking lot. Someone—”

There was a tap at the door, and Aidan rose and went to open it. Purbeck was standing there. “Sorry, but there’s a woman who got through to me. She said it’s urgent and that you weren’t answering your cell phone.”