Sound of Darkness

Four

It had been a pretty picture, seeing the way Brant Pickering had held Sally Smithson, almost as if she were cherished porcelain, loved and fragile, and not to be broken.

But Mark wondered.

Too good? Too caring to be true?

They met up with Ragnar in the hall.

“So, the boyfriend is in!” Ragnar said.

“I thought it was...touching,” Colleen said. “Maybe just what she needs right now.”

“That’s what Jackson thought,” Mark said.

Colleen looked at him quizzically.

“Someone else is out there,” he said. “I don’t believe Carver is the same man who kidnapped Dierdre. Naturally, the boyfriends are people we need to look at.”

“I’m hoping that was real,” Colleen said.

“She wanted to see him?” Ragnar asked.

“Yes, and for some reason, he was in town. He had moved to New York, according to Sally,” Mark said. “Jackson and Angela are on it. They’ll find out if he could have been in the area when Sally or Dierdre were taken, or if there is proof that he was in New York.”

“You found Sally in Carver’s basement!” Colleen said. “If they were working together, then we wouldn’t have a copycat out there, we’d have an accomplice.”

“It’s possible,” Mark said. He shook his head. “But I don’t think so. Hey, we’ve all gone through classes on spotting lies, on watching reactions, and looking for the truth that lies beneath. How answers can twist and turn, but mostly, how body language can give someone away. I don’t believe Carver had any idea another woman was buried out in the woods.”

“So that’s not really an accomplice,” Colleen stated.

“A fan,” Ragnar suggested.

“Maybe,” Mark said. “Or an accomplice gone rogue.”

“Someone helping him who wanted a kill all his own?” Colleen suggested.

There were some things to be said for the new partner who had made Mark and Ragnar’s team a threesome. She was asking good questions, comprehending his thoughts easily enough. And it didn’t hurt that she was stunning—that had worked well with Carver when they’d wanted to get reactions out of him.

And maybe most important of all, Mark thought, the dog liked her.

“I hope we find proof that Brant Pickering is innocent,” Colleen said. “Sally needs...well, I think he really loves her.” She shrugged.

“It looked like the real deal to me too,” Mark assured her. “But it will still be good to know what Angela and Jackson might discover.”

Colleen smiled. “Social media. So many people reveal so much on there.”

“Even seemingly routine posts are a big help. Time stamps with a person at a certain place or with certain people. Anyway, we’ve at least seen Brant Pickering. I say we now need to find out about Dierdre Ayers’s parents and her boyfriend, Gary Boynton,” Mark said.

“Should we leave them?” Colleen asked.

“A cop is watching the camera set discreetly in her room,” Mark said. “Jackson covers his bases.”

“You want parents or boyfriend?” Ragnar asked him.

“Your pick,” Mark told him.

Ragnar grinned. “Parents—they might be easier to find.”

“Let’s hope we get somewhere,” Mark said.

He and Ragnar headed for the elevators. Red walked along obediently, but Mark realized Colleen had hesitated.

She was looking back at Sally’s hospital room.

She looked at him. “I’m worried about leaving them alone.”

He smiled. “They’re not really alone. Jackson made sure of that from the get-go. There’s a good cop on this, and even if he did look away, there’s a screen at the nurses’ station. They can see anything that goes on. And we have another cop in the hall. We’re good to go. Besides, I thought you liked what you saw in Brant Pickering?”

“I did—I do. I guess I have some of your ‘suspicious of everything that walks’ in me too.”

He grinned. “We’re good. Sally and Dierdre have eagle eyes on them.” He shrugged. “Let’s see your take on Gary Boynton.”

“Have any idea where we’re going?” she asked.

“Yes, our subject lives in Fairfax. We’ll head there.”

“And if he’s not home?” she asked, catching up with him. Ragnar was holding the elevator door.

“Angela is checking out his work and his hangouts,” Mark assured her. “But I think we’ll find him home. Not even Dierdre’s parents are permitted to see her yet. If he is guilty of anything, he’ll be playing the victim.”

“Should we call and make an appointment?” she asked.

“You could, you know,” Ragnar told Mark.

Mark glanced at him and sighed and pulled out his notes. He put a call through to Gary Boynton. The man answered.

Mark knew he would.