The Guilty (Will Robie 4)

He said quietly, “What did you hear, Emma?”

“She was talkin’ to somebody on her phone. In her bedroom.”

“So how could you hear?” asked Reel sharply.

“Because I was hidin’ in her closet.”

“Do you do that often?” asked Robie.

“I went in there to steal some of her pot, but then I heard her comin’. So I jumped in the closet to hide.”

>

“Go on,” said Robie. “What did you hear?”

“She was talkin’ to somebody.”

“Do you know who?”

Emma shook her head. “She never said a name. But I did hear what she said. They were talkin’ about meetin’ somewhere. Tonight.”

“Where and when exactly?” asked Reel.

“Where they used to go. I mean her and Janet.”

“Near where Sherman Clancy’s body was discovered?” asked Robie.

She nodded. “Yes.”

“What time?”

“Midnight.”

“What was the meeting about?” asked Reel.

“Sara wanted money, in exchange for somethin’ she had. Somethin’ I guess the person wanted.”

“Do you know what that was?” asked Robie.

“No.”

Robie and Reel exchanged glances.

Robie said to Emma, “How much money?”

“Enough money to go somewhere else.”

“Smart girl,” said Robie.

Chapter

46

WELL, AT LEAST our ‘good cop, bad cop’ routine worked,” said Reel as she drove herself and Robie away from the Chisums. “But what a piece of work. I just wanted to slap her face.”

“She’s screwed up,” said Robie. “But then lots of people are screwed up.”

“Present company definitely included?” said Reel, eyeing him.

“Definitely included.”

“If Sara took a call from this person, the cops may be able to trace the call,” said Reel.

Robie pulled out his phone, called Taggert, and relayed this information without telling her about what Emma had told them of the meeting planned for that night.

“She’s checking it,” said Robie.

“We have a lot of time between now and midnight. Where to now?”

Robie pulled out a card. “I need to call them first.”

“Who?”

“The FBI.”

* * *

They met about ten miles east of Cantrell.

Special Agent Wurtzburger was there with two of his men.

Robie introduced Reel to the agents.

Wurtzburger eyed her. “So you work with Robie here?”

“I have the privilege, yes.”

Wurtzburger nodded. “Same agency?”

She shrugged.

“Good enough,” said Wurtzburger with a tight smile.

Robie held up the photo of the man and the kids he had printed out from the flash drive and explained to Wurtzburger how he had come by it.

Wurtzburger studied the image. “We can run this through our facial recognition databases, see what pops. So a pedophile, then?”

“Looks to be,” said Robie. “It might tie into the Rebel Yell.”

Wurtzburger put the photo away in his pocket. “I appreciate this, Robie. And in return let me be more frank with you than I have been.”

Robie studied him appraisingly. “Frankness is good,” he said.

“When I told you we were down here investigating casinos, that was not exactly true.”

“What exactly would be true?” said Reel sharply.

“I’m assigned to ViCAP.”

“Violent Criminal Apprehension Program,” said Robie.

“Yes.”

Reel added, “But that really deals with serial killers.”

“Among other things, yes.”

“So are you saying that you’re down here hunting a serial killer?” asked Robie.

“You could say that, yes.”

“Can you fill us in? Why here?”

“Sherman Clancy and Janet Chisum.”

“But what’s the connection?” asked Reel.

“There have been eight other killings in four different states in the last nine years.”

“Okay, but what connects those to the murders in Cantrell?”

“They were killed roughly in pairs with the same backstory. Older man, younger girl. The older man paid for the sex. Then the older man gets his throat slit in his car. The girl gets a bullet to the head and is tossed in a body of water.”

“Where were the other killings?” asked Reel.

“One was in New York. One in Pennsylvania. One in Tennessee. One in Arkansas. And now possibly the fifth set of murders here.”

Robie said, “So the killer presumably is going east to west. Nine years of operation? Is that usual?”

“I can’t say it’s unusual. I’ve worked serial killer cases covering decades of activity.”

“When were the murders in Arkansas?”

“Four years ago.”

Reel did a quick calculation in her head. She said, “So the other murders were spaced roughly eighteen months apart?”

“That’s right,” replied Wurtzburger.

“So the four-year gap might be significant,” she said.

“It might be, yes. There could have been an intervening event. The person might have been in prison, that actually happens quite a bit.”

“If so, he got out and is now killing again?” said Robie.

“Presumably, yes.”