"Yes."
"Good," he said. "First I'll walk you through the approach I took, then a bit of what I learned." Opening the folder, he pulled out his notes. "My first step was to familiarize myself with all the background information, so I perused the relevant police files. That included everything having to do with the first assault on Cassie Manning, the arrest and conviction of Gerald Laws, court documents, and finally, information regarding the murder of Cassie Manning. After that, I reviewed your first stalking report--the one you made after you received the notes in Charlotte--and I spoke to the officer in charge of that particular case. It wasn't until late Tuesday evening that I felt like I had a pretty good grasp of everything.
"Now, with regard to Lester Manning, I'm comfortable telling you what you could probably learn on your own with a simple public records search." He glanced down again. "He's twenty-five years old and unmarried. High school graduate. He doesn't own any real property and there are no cars registered in his name. He lists his phone number and address as the same as his father's. With that said, I'm not sure how much time he actually spends there."
Maria was about to ask a question, but Margolis held up his hand to stop her.
"Let me finish, okay? You'll understand why I say that in just a couple of minutes. Now, I can share the next bit of information because I think it's important to the Fifty-C, but I'm not going to go into heavy details because those may or may not be important to any future criminal case, all right?" He didn't wait for an answer. "Since Cassie's death, Lester has had some problems with the law. He's been arrested four times, but not for anything violent or dangerous. It's all minor stuff--trespassing, vandalism, resisting arrest. Things like that. It turns out that Lester has a fondness for squatting in vacant houses. In each case, the charges were eventually dropped. I haven't looked into the reasons, but in cases like these, it's usually because there was little actual damage."
Beside her, Maria saw Colin shift in his seat.
"Other than that, I wasn't able to learn much, so I called Dr. Manning, Lester's father. I left a message, and surprising me, I got a call back within a few minutes. I identified myself and told Dr. Manning that I was hoping to speak to his son, and I will say that he was entirely cooperative and more forthcoming than I expected. Among other things, toward the end of our second conversation, he gave me permission to disclose the full nature of my call with him to you. Does that surprise you?"
Maria opened her mouth, then closed it again, not sure what to say. "Should I be surprised?" she finally asked.
"I was," Margolis said, "especially given the way you described him to me. But anyway, when I asked him if he knew where I might be able to find Lester, he asked me the reason, and I told him that it was regarding a police matter. To which he responded, and I quote, 'Does this have anything to do with Maria Sanchez?'"
Margolis let the words hang before going on. "When I asked him why he brought up your name, he said that it's not the first time you accused Lester of stalking. He said that after his daughter was murdered, you made the same accusation regarding some disturbing notes that had been sent to you. He insisted that his son, Lester, was not responsible then, and that he sincerely doubted that he was responsible for anything you were claiming now. He also said to tell you that while he does feel that you made a mistake by opting for the lesser charges, he's well aware that Gerald Laws was responsible for Cassie's death, and neither he nor his son blames you for what happened."
"He's lying."
Margolis ignored her comment. "He told me that he's not taking patients at the present time, and explained that he's currently working in Tennessee for the state prison system. He said that he hasn't spoken to Lester in weeks, but that Lester has a key to the house and occasionally stays in the apartment above the garage. He said that I'd probably be able to find Lester there. When I asked what he meant by 'occasionally,' Dr. Manning was quiet for a beat, and when he spoke again, I got the sense that I'd touched a nerve. He told me that 'Lester is a bit of a nomad' and there are times when he has no idea where Lester sleeps. I think he was referring to Lester's habit of staying in vacant houses. When I pressed him, he added that he and his son are somewhat estranged these days, and for the first time, he sounded almost... apologetic. He reminded me that Lester was an adult and made his own decisions and there was only so much he could do as a father. He also added that if Lester wasn't in the apartment at the house, my best bet was to try to find him at work. A place called Ajax Cleaners. It's a janitorial service with a lot of commercial clients. He didn't have the number offhand, but it was easy enough to find, and so my next step was to talk to the owner, a guy named Joe Henderson."
Margolis looked up from his notes. "Are you following me so far?"
When Maria nodded, Margolis went on.
"When I spoke with Mr. Henderson, he said that Lester wasn't a full-time or even part-time employee. He worked as an on-call employee--someone who could cover shifts when they were short-staffed or whatever."
"How could they call him if he doesn't have a phone?"
"I asked that very same question. The way it works there is they post open shifts on the employee section of their website--Henderson said it was easier to get a list of people and have them check than always scrambling to get the shifts covered. I had the sense there's quite a few people who check the list regularly. Anyway, Lester sometimes worked two or three nights a week, but in the last couple of weeks, he hasn't worked at all. Nor has Mr. Henderson heard from him. I found that interesting, so I called the house a couple of times, and no one answered. In the end, I sent my friend over there, and as far as he could tell, no one had been in the house or the apartment for at least a week. There were flyers in the mailbox, newspapers on the porch, that kind of thing. So I reached out to Dr. Manning a second time. And this is where things get kind of interesting."
"Because you couldn't reach him?"
"On the contrary," he said. "Again, I left a message, and again, I got a call back within minutes. When I told Dr. Manning that Lester hadn't been at work and that it didn't appear that anyone had been at the house or apartment, his surprise gave way to concern. He asked again about the police matter--I hadn't yet told him what it was--and I mentioned that I was looking into a case of slashed tires. He insisted that Lester wouldn't do such a thing. He said his son isn't violent; if anything, he's terrified of conflict of any sort. He also admitted that he hadn't been as forthcoming about Lester in the previous call as he could have been. When I asked what he meant, he told me that Lester..." Margolis reached for a page in the file. "Suffers from a delusional disorder, more specifically, 'persecutory delusions of the nonbizarre type.' While his son can generally function normally for extended periods, there are times when the disorder enters a more acute phase, sometimes lasting more than a month. In Lester's case, it has its roots in the occasional usage of illegal drugs."
Margolis looked up. "The doctor went into a bit more about the specifics of Lester's disorder--way more than I needed to know, in fact--but essentially, it can be boiled down to this: When Lester is in an acute phase--when the disorder moves from simple paranoia to actual delusions--Lester ceases to function entirely normally. In these moments, Lester strongly believes that the police are out to get him and that they'll stop at nothing to put him in prison for the rest of his life. He's convinced they want to hurt him, and he's convinced they will set other prisoners against him. He also has the same delusions about you."
"That's ridiculous. Lester's been stalking me!"
"I'm just telling you what the doctor told me. He also told me that Lester had been arrested a few times. It was always during an acute phase, which was why he would resist arrest. The police would generally use Tasers to subdue him, and Dr. Manning added that on two separate occasions, Lester was beaten by other prisoners while he was locked up. That, by the way, goes to what I said earlier about my suspicion as to why the charges were dropped. I'm guessing that Lester wasn't coherent and it di
dn't take all that long for everyone to figure it out."
Margolis let out a sigh. "But back to Dr. Manning. Like I told you, he sounded worried and he said that if Lester wasn't at the house or working regularly, then he was likely in an acute phase. Which also meant he'd likely be in one of two places: either hiding out in a vacant house somewhere, or at Plainview, which is a psychiatric hospital. Lester's checked himself in there numerous times in the past, more frequently since his mother died. In her will, she left a trust fund large enough to cover the cost of his treatment there. It's expensive, by the way. I couldn't get any answers on the phone, so I called my friend again and asked if he could head over to Plainview in person. He did that this morning, about an hour before I called you. And sure enough, Lester Manning is currently a patient there. He admitted himself voluntarily, but that's about all the detective could really tell me. As soon as Lester learned that a detective wanted to talk to him about Maria Sanchez, he just... freaked out. My friend could hear him screaming from down the hall and the next thing he knew, a couple of orderlies were rushing in that direction. Like I said, interesting, don't you think?"
Maria wasn't sure what to say. In the silence, she heard Colin's voice.
"When was he admitted to the hospital?"
She watched as Margolis's eyes shifted toward Colin.
"I don't know. My friend couldn't find out. Medical records are confidential and that kind of information can't be released without the patient's permission. That clearly wasn't going to happen. At least, not right then. But my friend knows what he's doing, and so he asked one of the other patients, and the guy said that he thought Lester had been there for five or six days. Of course, considering the source, you'd have to take that information with a grain of salt."
"In other words, it's possible that Lester slashed the tires and left the notes."
"Or he might have been in the hospital. And if he was in the hospital, then obviously it isn't Lester."
"It has to be him," Maria insisted. "I don't know who else it could be."
"How about Mark Atkinson?"
"Who?"
"Cassie's boyfriend. Because I looked into him, too. It turns out that he may or may not be missing."
"What does that mean?"
"I'm still doing some preliminary work on that, but here's what I can tell you. Mark Atkinson's mother filed a missing persons report on her son about a month ago. But after I talked to the detective and right before I called you, I spoke with her to get more information, and I'm still not sure what to make of it. She told me that in August, he sent her an e-mail saying that he'd met someone online and that he was quitting his job and going to Toronto to meet her in person. She had no idea what to make of that, but in the e-mail, he told her not to worry. He said he'd prepaid his rent and that other bills were being paid online. The mother says she received a couple of printed letters from him saying that he was on a road trip with the woman, one of them postmarked from Michigan and another from Kentucky, but according to her, they were--and I quote--'vague and strange and impersonal, and not what my son would write.' Other than that, there's been no contact with him, and she insists that he's missing. She says he would have called or texted her, and the fact that he hasn't done those things means that something has happened to him."
The new information left Maria's head spinning, and it was all she could do to stay seated. Even Colin seemed at a loss for words.
Margolis looked from one to the other. "So that's where I am right now. If you're wondering what my plan is, moving forward, I'm going to give the good doctor another call and see if he can grease the wheels and find out when Lester was admitted. Or better yet, have his son give the physicians at Plainview permission to tell me. Depending on what I learn there, I may or may not check into the Mark Atkinson thing. But frankly, that's a lot of legwork, and again, I don't know how much more time I can commit to this."
"It's not Atkinson," Maria repeated. "It's Lester."
"If that's the case, then for now, I wouldn't worry."
"Why do you say that?"
"Because," he said simply, "as I just told you, Lester is in the hospital."
"It doesn't make any sense," Maria said to Colin. They were in the parking lot, the sun inching out from behind thin strands of clouds. "I've never met Mark Atkinson. I've never talked to him. As far as I know, I've never even seen him. Why would he be stalking me? He wasn't even dating Cassie when Laws went to jail. He didn't come into the picture until later. It doesn't make any sense."
"I know."
"And why the hell would Lester think I'm out to get him?"
"It's a delusion."
She glanced away, her voice becoming quieter. "I hate this. I mean, I feel like I know even less than I did before I came here today. And now I have no idea what I'm supposed to do, or even what I'm supposed to think about all this."
"I'm not sure what to make of it, either."
She shook her head. "Oh, one thing I forgot to tell you. I had to cancel with Jill and Leslie tonight because it's my mom's birthday. I'll be at my parents' place tonight while you're at work."
"Do you want me to come by after my shift?"
"No. Dinner will be over by then. My dad makes the meal--it's the one time a year that he actually cooks--but it's not a big deal. It'll be just the four of us."
"Are you going to stay there overnight? Or head back to your condo?"
"I'm thinking of going home. It's probably time, don't you think?"
Colin was quiet for a moment. "How about I meet you there? Just hang at your parents' and I'll call you when my shift is done."
"Would you mind?"
"Not at all."
She let out a sigh. "I'm sorry that as soon as things started clicking between us, all this had to happen. I hate that you're having to deal with it."
He kissed her. "I wouldn't have it any other way."
CHAPTER 21
Colin
When he got home, Colin pulled the computer from his book bag and set it on the kitchen table. He was as confused about the whole situation as Maria was, and his instinct was to try to learn as much as possible.
The first step was to understand the mind-set of Lester Manning. Or rather, persecutory delusions of the nonbizarre type. He'd wanted to ask Margolis more about it when it came up, but it wasn't his place to ask, and Maria had let it go. Fortunately, there were dozens of web pages on the topic, and he spent the next hour and a half learning as much as he could.
He'd been under the impression that the disorder was similar to schizophrenia, but while certain symptoms like hallucinations and delusions were common in both types of patients, a patient was diagnosed with either schizophrenia or a delusional disorder. Schizophrenia often also included disorganized speech or delusions of the bizarre type. Bizarre meant impossible--the belief that the patient could fly, or read the minds of other people, or hear voices that could control their actions. Nonbizarre delusions--the kind that Lester suffered from--were at least plausible, but untrue.
In Lester's case, assuming he suffered from a delusional disorder, it made some sense that he might believe the police were out to get him. According to Avery Manning, the police had used Tasers on him and put him in jail; while there, he had been beaten by other prisoners. And in the end, the charges had been dropped, which might underscore Lester's belief that he never should have gone to jail at all.
His paranoia regarding Maria also made sense, Colin admitted, if plausibility was the sole criteria. Not only had Maria failed to protect Cassie, but if Lester hadn't written the notes--as Dr. Manning maintained--then Maria had sent the police after him for no reason. Not just once, but twice now...
Margolis had also been right in that a person with the disorder could, as a general rule, function normally, depending on the severity of the disorder. The spectrum of delusions could run from something as simple as overvalued ideas to near psychosis; another couple of the articles stated--just as Avery Manning had told Margoli
s--that delusions weren't rigidly fixed. They could fluctuate in intensity and could be aggravated by the use of certain drugs.
Still, as much as everything he read made sense, and while he understood that Lester truly believed his delusions... there were aspects of the disorder that didn't line up for him. If Lester was terrified of Maria, would he have delivered roses to her? Would he have sent over a drink? And if those were meant to be peace offerings of sorts, why would he have included the messages he had? Why taunt if what you wanted was to be left alone? And why come to Wilmington to do it? Wouldn't he have wanted to keep as much distance between them as he could?
Initially, Colin had wondered why Margolis had bothered looking into Mark Atkinson, but Margolis was smart enough to recognize the same inconsistencies and wonder how to reconcile them. Hence, he'd called Atkinson's mother, and from there the story got even more confusing.
He may or may not be missing?
As vague as it was, Margolis was accurate in his description. A quick search brought up a photograph of a missing persons poster on Pinterest, no doubt created by Atkinson's mother. Other than that, there was nothing at all. He supposed he could do the same kind of search he'd done for Lester Manning, but what would be the point? According to Margolis, any information that might be helpful was inaccurate as of the date Mark Atkinson left for Toronto. Or went missing.