Last Words

12

Mia waited patiently outside the manager’s office in the rear of the apparel store where Colleen Preston had worked. The national chain clearly catered to young women-there were racks of colorful summer merchandise and accessories. The store sold everything from straw hats and flip-flops to summer formal wear. At the glass counter to the right of the door, several of the employees gathered, speaking in hushed voices. Judging by their furtive glances in her direction, Mia assumed the topic of conversation was the reason for the FBI’s presence.

Clarise Holden, the store manager, appeared in the doorway, offering an apology. “I’m sorry to keep you waiting, Agent Shields. I was on the phone with the national office. We’re all so upset about Colleen…”

“Understandable. I’m sorry you weren’t notified directly. Hearing about it through the news has to have made it even harder for you and your employees.”

The store manager, a thin woman in her thirties, re sponded flatly. “It’s been a terrible shock to us all. Colleen was such a cheerful person, so nice to the customers, even the crankiest ones. She never complained about her hours or anything else.”

“Ms. Holden, are you aware of anyone who might have been bothering Colleen?”

The woman held up a hand laden with silver rings. “I already answered all these questions for Chief Daley. Have you spoken with him? I’m assuming you’re working with him?”

“I did read the statement you gave to the Ballard police,” Mia said circumventing the question. She had not contacted the local police, and had not spoken with Daley. “You told him you really didn’t know much about the private life of any of the employees.”

“That’s correct. And I still don’t. I’m sorry, but Colleen just came in here and did her job. She didn’t hang around before or after her shift, and we never had a conversation about anything that didn’t pertain to her employment here.”

“Was she friendly with any of the other girls who work here?”

“Danielle Snyder. They worked the same shifts and sometimes took breaks together.”

“I’d like to speak with her. Is she in this morning?”

“She is. I’ll get her, if you’ll excuse me.”

Mia moved her handbag from the floor to her lap to permit the older woman to open the door. Clarisse Holden stood in the doorway and waved to someone, then stepped back inside the office. A moment later, a young woman in her early twenties stepped into the room. She had red hair and blue eyes and freckles, and under other circumstances might have appeared perky.

“You wanted to see me?” she asked warily.

“Danielle, this is Agent Shields from the FBI. She wanted to ask you a few questions about Colleen.”

“I already spoke with the police,” Danielle told Mia.

“I know you did.” Mia turned in her chair to make eye contact with the young woman who appeared flustered. “But I wanted to talk to you for a minute about Colleen.”

“Okay.” Danielle nodded.

“We’re trying very hard to find the person who killed her, Danielle. I know you’ve been asked this before, but if you can think of anyone who might have been bothering her, someone she might have mentioned, even one time…”

Danielle shook her head. “She never said anything about that.”

“How about someone from one of the other stores in the shopping center? Was there someone who came in to see her? Did she ever mention that anyone in particular got on her nerves?”

“No, nothing like that.”

“Ms. Holden said you and Danielle often worked the same shifts. Were you working the day she disappeared?”

“Yes.”

“Do you remember the last conversation you had with Colleen?”

Danielle’s eyes misted, and she nodded. “Yes. She was talking about going away that Friday with one of her girlfriends from high school. They were going to Ocean City for a long weekend. They’d rented a condo or something.”

“Do you know who the other girl was?”

“I only met her once. Jessica Flynn. She and Colleen had lunch together the day before…before Colleen disappeared.”

“Do you know how I can reach Jessica?”

“I think she lives in Ballard. She just moved back home, I remember that. She had been living in College Park, but she came back because she got a teaching job with the local school district. She got her master’s in May, I think she said. She stopped in here a few times since she’d moved back. She and Colleen were pretty tight.”

“Thank you, Danielle,” Mia said. “You’ve been very helpful.”

“Can I go back to work now?” she asked.

“Yes,” Mia told her.

“And thank you, Ms. Holden.” Mia pushed back her chair and stood. “I appreciate your time.”

“Of course.” Clarise Holden stood as well.

“By the way, the parking lot behind the store…is that accessible to the general public?” Mia asked.

“Yes. Each of the stores has so many parking spots allotted for their employees, but occasionally a customer will park back there. It’s not a private lot, if that’s what you’re asking.”

Mia thanked her again for her help, and left the store. Danielle was huddled with a coworker near a display of beach bags, discussing, no doubt, her interrogation by the FBI.

Mia got into her car and drove to the back of the shopping center. Behind the stores, parking was a narrow strip, two rows deep, with an entrance and exit a mere one-car width. Each store had a solid metal door opening out to the parking lot, but none had a window. Unless someone else was leaving their store at the same time Colleen had left, no one would have seen if she’d met up with someone when she left work that day. According to the statements taken by the Ballard police, no one saw anything.

She thought it might be worth a shot, so she drove back around to the front of the center and went store to store, but learned nothing new. No one had seen Colleen leave that day.

On her way into St. Dennis, she called information and got a number for Jessica Flynn’s parents’ home. Jessica was at home, and agreed to meet with Mia immediately.

“Anything that can help,” she told Mia.

Following the directions Jessica gave her, Mia arrived at the Flynn home in less than fifteen minutes. Jessica was waiting for her on the small front patio. When Mia pulled into the driveway of the split-level home, Jessica walked to meet her. She was tall and pretty, a confident looking young woman with a mane of light brown hair and a tan she must have been working on for several weeks.

“Hello, Jessica,” Mia said after she’d gotten out of the car. “I’m Agent Shields. Thanks for agreeing to see me right away.”

“I don’t really know what I could tell you that might help, but you can ask me anything.”

“I just have a very few questions, Jessica.”

“Call me Jessie, please.” The girl pointed toward the house. “We can sit up there, if you want.”

“That would be fine, thank you.” Mia followed her to the patio and sat on one of the cushioned chairs. “Jessie, I heard you had lunch with Colleen shortly before she disappeared.”

Jessie nodded. “I drove over to the store on Monday, the day before…before.” She swallowed hard. “I had to give her money for the place we were renting on this trip we were taking. We were leaving on Friday for Ocean City for the weekend, and Colleen was going to see the guy who owned the property to pay him.”

“Was she meeting him that day?” Mia bit her bottom lip. This wasn’t reflected in the police file she’d read.

“No, I thought she was going to see him Wednesday.”

“Do you have a name? Do you know where she was supposed to meet him?”

Jessie shook her head, “No. It was someone Colleen knew who had a place to rent. She was handling everything. I just gave her my share of the rent at lunch. She was going to meet the owner and give him the money and get the key to the place.”

“Do you know the address of the place you were renting?”

“It was someplace on the beach.” Jessie toyed with a strand of hair. “She said it was right on the beach, and the owner was giving us a real good deal on the rent.”

“Condo? Single home?”

“Condo,” Jessie said. “It’s in one of those high-rises right on the beach, that’s all I know.”

“And she never mentioned the name of the person she was dealing with?”

“No.”

“Do you know how she found out about the place?”

Jessie hesitated and made a face, as if trying to recall. “I think she said he told her about it.”

“So it was someone she knew?”

“Maybe. Or maybe someone she called. I know for a while there, she was checking some places online.”

“Any particular website?”

Again, Jessie shook her head. “No. She called and told me she’d found a great place that was still available for the following weekend and did I want in, and I said sure.”

“Do you remember when that was?”

“A few days before I met her for lunch. The end of the week before, I think.”

“So you met her and gave her your share of the rent.” Mia looked up from the notes she’d been taking. “Was she planning on paying the owner in cash, did she say?”

“She said she’d put it in her account and write a check to the owner.”

“Do you know if she did that? If she wrote the check?”

“I have no idea. I never saw her again.” Jessie’s bottom lip trembled. “Do you think it’s him, the condo guy? Do you think he killed her?”

“I think we need to speak with him,” Mia said, “just as we need to speak with anyone who might have seen Colleen or had dealings with her that day.”

“I wish now that I’d asked more questions,” Jessie told her. “I wish I’d made her tell me who he was.”

“What do you mean?”

“When I asked her, she just said it was someone she’d met, and he was giving us a special deal, so he didn’t want his name passed around, because he usually charged more and he didn’t want anyone to know he’d given it to us for so much less. Do you think that was why it was such a deal?” She started to cry. “Because he wanted to kill her?”

Beck had just walked into the kitchen at the station when he looked out the window and saw Mia pull into the lot. She parked in the same spot she’d parked in the day before. He watched as she got out of the car and slammed the door, locked it with the remote, and dropped the keys into her bag. It was hard for him to look away, same as it had been the day before. Mia was one of those women that you couldn’t help but notice.

And Beck had noticed pretty much everything.

He’d noticed the thin gold band she wore on the middle finger of her right hand, her gold hoop earrings, and the small diamond set in a gold circle that she wore around her neck. Hair so dark it was almost black, worn straight down around her shoulders, neat but not fussy. Eyes as green as emeralds. She dressed conservatively in tailored linen, but then there were those mile-high heels. She was slender and not too tall, and feminine in the same way his sister Vanessa was feminine. Girly, he thought, but knew she wasn’t as much of a cream puff as she appeared. A cream puff wasn’t likely to make it through the rigorous FBI training.

And there’d been that odd comment about the one brother who was dead…

Overall-that odd comment aside-the package was pretty nice.

Still, he had a bone to pick with her.

He realized his mind was wandering. He snapped back to the task at hand-getting a cold drink for the FBI profiler who sat in his office. He grabbed a bottle of water from the refrigerator and a paper cup and went back into his office.

Mia arrived seconds after he’d handed the water and cup to the profiler.

“Hi, Beck,” Mia said as she entered the room with a perfunctory knock on the door. “Hi, Annie. You made it.”

“Your directions were great, thanks.” Anne Marie McCall smiled as Mia dragged a chair closer and hung her bag on the back.

“I had a very interesting morning,” Mia told them.

“So I heard.” He replied dryly from behind his desk.

“From…?”

“From Chief Daley over in Ballard. He got a call from the parents of Jessica Flynn asking about the FBI agent who’d interrogated their daughter less than an hour ago.”

“Yes, that was me. So?”

“So he wasn’t happy, thought I’d done an end run around him by sending you over there.”

“I’m trying to find a common link between the victims, so I followed up on some witnesses his department interviewed. And, by the way, picked up a bit of information his people missed. So what’s the big deal?”

“The big deal is he’s pissed that he wasn’t informed first.” Beck sat in his chair and returned her stare. “Look, most of the communities around here are covered by the state police, but there are a few that have retained their own departments. St. Dennis is one, Ballard is another, Cameron…there are a few more. The point is, we try to stick together, work together-”

“And he’s pissed because he thinks you sent me into his town to second-guess his officers.”

“That pretty much sums it up.”

“I’m sorry, I had no idea. Last night, I was reading through the file, and it was in my head that the guy we’re looking for is local. Maybe not from St. Dennis, but close enough to know the town. I mean, obviously, since he knew where you lived. I thought if we could figure out what the victims had in common, we’d be closer to figuring out who he is. I called this morning when I was on my way to Ballard but you weren’t in.”

“You could have left a message.”

“I did. I left the message for you to call me.”

He leafed through the messages in his in box, then held one up.

“My apologies,” he said, silently cursing the fact that he’d somehow missed the message.

“Look, I’ll call the chief over there and tell him you didn’t know I was going to do interviews this morning.”

“I told him that.”

“And he believes you?”

“Of course. We’re friends.”

“Which makes this even more difficult. I see.” She nodded slowly. “I’ll make certain that I reach you next time.”

“Fine. Now, are you going to tell me what you found that Daley’s people missed?”

“Yes, but I think we need to bring Annie-Dr. McCall-up to date on the case.”

“Chief Beck has already done that,” Annie told her. “He was just filling me in on some of the observations you made about the unsub.”

“How’d I do?” Mia asked.

“From what I’ve heard about the case so far, I think your comments regarding his need for control are right on the money. And I agree, this man has very serious issues with women. He has a need to abuse them, degrade them, totally dominate them. I think when you find him, you’ll find that he has what appears to be a seemingly normal life, even a normal love life. He could be married, or has been. He’s very good at keeping this other side of himself hidden.”

“You think we’ll find him?” Beck asked.

“Absolutely. He’ll lead you right to him, if you give him enough time. The downside of that is, the longer it takes to find him, the more women will die.”

“As far as we know, this is his third victim,” Beck told her.

The profiler shook her head.

“He’s way too accomplished to be a novice. He’s got his act down pat. I’m sorry to say he’s had lots of practice. No one starts out at this level of expertise.”

Beck turned to Mia. “You were going to have someone at the FBI look into similar crimes…”

“And we’ll have his report as soon as he finishes it, yes. But there’s a strong possibility that there won’t be any matches.”

“Because maybe his victims haven’t been found?”

“Exactly.” Mia nodded. “These murders are unique. I think if there were others with similar characteristics in the system, we’d have heard by now. They’d pop right out.”

“Maybe what we need is a run of missing women from this area over the past ten years,” Beck said thoughtfully.

“Let’s start with five,” Mia suggested. “I think if he’d been at this for more than that, some of his victims would have surfaced by now. Let’s see how many cases of missing young women on the Eastern Shore remain unsolved.”

“Do we want to limit the area?” Beck asked.

“No. Let’s go farther. So far, none of the victims have been tourists, they’ve all been living within a ten-mile radius, but who knows if he’s roamed, or how far. Let’s do the Eastern Shore to the ocean,” Annie suggested.

“That’s easy enough to get.” Beck stood. “I’ll have Garland start on that right away.”

He excused himself from the room.

“So how are you feeling?” Annie asked.

“I’m fine. Why?”

“You sounded a bit tired last night,” Annie said gently. “I was worried that maybe you’ve been working too hard for too long without a break.”

“I’m okay. I don’t need a break.”

“Mia, we all need a break once in a while.”

“I’m okay, really. But thanks.”

“I’m going to have to stick around to read over the files Beck has had copied for me. It’s going to take me hours to get through it all. Any chance I could bunk in with you at Connor’s tonight?”

“Sure. I’d love to have you stay.”

“Thanks. I’ll call Evan and let him know where I’ll be.”

“Do you think he’ll mind? After all, you’ve only been married for what, six months now?”

“Six months and eighteen days, but who’s counting?” Annie smiled.

Beck came back and closed the door behind him.

“ Garland is on it. He’ll let us know as soon as he has some results,” he told them.

“So what else do you need, Dr. McCall?” Beck asked. “You have copies of the files, the photos, the reports…”

“That should keep me busy for a while,” Annie said. “Perhaps we could meet in the morning and go over the case?”

“Whenever you’re ready,” Beck replied.

“Let’s say eleven tomorrow assuming you work on Sunday. That should give me enough time to get through all this. If I feel I need more time, I’ll give you a call.”

“Sunday’s are like any other day around here.” Beck nodded. “Thanks for making room in your schedule for this, Dr. McCall. I’m sure you’re busy.”

“It’s an intriguing case. I’m looking forward to examining the files.”

Beck turned to Mia. “Before you leave…”

“Right, Jessica Flynn. She’s the girl who was going to rent a condo in Ocean City for a long weekend with Colleen Preston.”

“We know that.”

“Yes, but what you don’t know is that according to Jessie, Colleen was supposed to be meeting with the owner of the condo on Wednesday-the day after she disappeared-to pay for the rental and get the keys. But what if she met up with him a day early?”

“Would it be too much to ask that Jessie knows the name of the owner?”

“It would be,” Mia told him. “It seems that Colleen was the only one who had any dealings with the owner. She made all the arrangements. Jessie didn’t even know where this place was located, except that it’s a high-rise right on the beach.”

“Of which there are dozens in Ocean City.”

“Anyone around here own one of them?” Mia asked.

“Only about a third of the population of St. Dennis,” Beck said.

“Why would you buy a place on the ocean if you live on the bay?” She wondered.

“There’s been a building boom in Ocean City over the past ten, twelve years. Like I said, there are dozens of those high-rise condos on the beach. Lots of people have bought them as investments and rent them out. Then there are people who like the ocean, and a condo is an affordable way of having that weekend place. At least it used to be affordable, I don’t know what those places are going for now. If it’s rented during the summer, it can pretty much pay for itself.” He sighed. “So, yeah, many people around here own condos in Ocean City.”

“Don’t people who rent mostly go through rental offices? Would you deal directly with the owner?” Mia asked.

“You might if you knew the owner personally,” Beck replied. “Then again, there’s always the possibility that there was no condo, that it was just a ruse to get her to meet him someplace. And maybe Jessie just assumed that the person who had the key was the owner instead of a rental agent.”

“Jessie told me that she’d given the money to Colleen and that Colleen was going to give this guy a check.”

“Then we’ll check with her bank and get a look at her recent transactions,” Beck said. “We’ll need a warrant, but that won’t be a problem.”

“Do you think there’ll be a check?” she asked.

“Nah. I think the whole condo thing was a means of getting to Colleen. But it’s a thread to pull on. So let’s see if anyone knows if Holly or Mindy had any dealings with anyone in real estate before they disappeared.”

Beck glanced at his watch, then stood. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting with the mayor. Dr. McCall, unless I hear from you, I’ll see you at eleven. Agent Shields, you’ll be there?”

“I will.”

“Good.” He started toward the door, then stopped. “You’re not planning on that walk around my neighborhood in the middle of the night tonight, are you?”

“No.” Mia walked into the hall ahead of Annie. “Tonight I’ll be reviewing the file on Mindy Kenneher. And I promise, if I have any thoughts about interviewing anyone connected with the case, I’ll give you a heads-up.”

“I’d appreciate it.” Beck turned off the light at the wall switch. “The chief of police over in Cameron was pretty adamant about not bringing the FBI into his investigation.”

“We’ll bring him around,” Mia said over her shoulder as she and Annie headed for the lobby.

“No doubt you could,” Beck said under his breath as he watched her walk down the hall. “No doubt at all…”