The Mark

28

Six hours and still nothing. There was no trace of Henry Parker. No sign of the Davies girl. It was like they’d vanished into thin air. The roadblocks had gone up, but not fast enough. They had no way of telling if Parker was still in St. Louis, had crossed state lines, or if he was hiding in a fucking shrubbery outside this very house.

His head was wracked with pain and guilt, and through it all agent Joseph Mauser could hear Linda’s voice.

You’re letting him go. The man who killed my husband. How does that feel, agent? How does it feel to know my family is smaller by one and you can’t do anything?

He and Len sat at a table in the Davies kitchen. They’d managed to reach Lawrence and Harriet Stein on their vacation in Santorini. Told them their daughter had been kidnapped. The Steins would be on the first flight back to the States, but had no idea where their daughter might be.

“Who are her friends?” Mauser had asked.

“Um…we’re really not sure.”

“Old classmates, boyfriends, someone she might contact for help?”

“Maybe my sister?” Lawrence Stein had suggested. “Or Harriet’s ex-husband maybe, I always thought Barry and Amanda were close.”

Clearly these two didn’t know their daughter very well. They couldn’t offer any names. They couldn’t name any friends she’d seen in the past year. They were about as helpful as asking a stranger on the street if he knew where Amanda Davies was. Linda would have been appalled. She took such pride in being a good mother, never understanding how awful some parents could be.

They’d discovered a trunk full of old notebooks in Amanda’s room, one of the strangest things Mauser had ever seen. Every one was filled with descriptions of people Amanda had met. They were being combed through for leads, but there were literally thousands of names to follow up on, and most of the entries were hopelessly dated.

Denton was drinking a bottle of water, tapping his finger against the dining room table. St. Louis PD had been coming in and out of the Stein house all night, still looking for forensic evidence that could provide a clue. Everything in Amanda’s room had been bagged and tagged. Joe only hoped the poor girl would live to sleep in her own bed again.

“What if Parker somehow crossed state lines?” Joe said, half to himself. “As much as I hate to do this, we might need to expand the search to adjacent cities.”

Denton looked at Joe. He seemed to know that Mauser had resigned himself to this. The last thing he wanted to do was allow local authorities to collar Parker before he could wrap his hands around that young neck, and squeeze. But the longer they waited, the greater chance he would be picked up on someone else’s terms. Or not at all.

“I know how bad you want him, Joe. We all do,” Denton said. Mauser nodded. He’d been awake for nearly forty-eight straight hours. His eyes were heavy. And he’d probably built up such a tolerance for caffeine that coffee had been rendered useless.

Joe reached into his pocket, took out his cell phone. With a heavy heart, he dialed the Department of Justice.

When the operator answered, Mauser asked to be connected to the DOJ’s Criminal Division. Ray Hernandez was an old friend. Guy worked around the clock. No family, no children, no life. Maybe that’s why they’d bonded.

“Department of Justice, Criminal Division. This is Hernandez.”

“Hey, Ray, how’s my favorite burrito bandit?”

A hearty laugh came from the other end.

“Joe, you alky fuck, how’s it going? Hey, I heard about your sister. Man, I’m so sorry, please give Lin my best. Are you close to catching this Parker dick?”

“We almost had him last night, but there was a pretty big snafu I won’t bore you with. Anyway, Ray, I need your help. I need you to run a search of all violent crimes in states including and adjacent to Missouri in the last six hours.”

“That’s a lot of crimes, my friend. Any chance you can narrow it down?”

Joe thought for a moment.

“Okay, limit the search to grand theft auto and armed robbery.”

“Gotcha. I’ll run a check in Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Kansas, Oklahoma, Arkansas, Tennessee, Kentucky and Illinois.”

“And cross-check the victims and criminals to see if they have homes or businesses in St. Louis or neighboring counties.”

“Will do. I’ll call you back.”

“Oh, and Ray?”

“Yeah?”

“Check on homicides, too.”

“You got it.”

Half an hour later, Mauser’s phone rang. It was Hernandez.

“Okay, here we go. In those nine states, in the last six hours, there’ve been three grand theft autos reported, seven armed robberies and three homicides. All of the GTAs and robberies have suspects that don’t match your Parker fugitive.”

“What about the homicides?”

“First 189 was last night in Little Rock, four hours ago. A burglar broke into the home of Bernita and Florence Block, strangled Mr. Block with a garden hose, stole his antique coin collection and her costume jewelry. The perp was apprehended a mile away, still had the garden hose tubing on him.”

“America’s dumbest criminals. Go on.”

“The other two 189’s were a pair of stabbing deaths in Chicago, David and Evelyn Morris. Perp wasn’t apprehended. But get this,” Ray said. “According to David Morris’s tax statements, our man works construction in St. Louis, also does some side work for neighbors in the area. Repairing decks and fences, seems to report all his income, amazingly. I cross-checked Morris’s credit card charges, and we got a hit within your time frame.”

“Where?”

“Morris bought a pack of cigarettes from a grocery store less than a mile from the address you’re at right now.”

“Jesus Christ,” Joe said. “You said Morris lives in Chicago?”

“Lived in Chicago until last night. Guy’s got two kids. Messed up world.”

Two more children left without hope.

Mauser bolted out of his chair and threw on his coat. Denton followed, confused. “Thanks, Ray, I’ll buy you a beer next time I’m in town.” He hung up.

“What is it?” Denton asked. Mauser sprinted to their car, Denton chugging behind him. “Joe, what happened?”

“Call the Chicago PD. Get them to halt all transportation that’s left the city in the past six hours. I want any buses or trains searched. Have them station cops at O’Hare as well as all bus and train terminals. I’ll call Lambert International and get a plane on standby.”

“You want to clue me in to what the hell’s going on?”

“We found Parker,” Joe said, gunning the engine. “And now he’s wanted for three murders.”