Sean looked at Lynch.“Where do you hold your press conferences?”
“In the lobby on bad days,” the man answered.“But the weather’s nice today, so it’ll probably be on the front steps of the station.Anyway, we have two hours until then, so let’s get to work.”
The two NCSP detectives left to re-interview the victims' families and friends while Lynch headed back to his desk in the detective bureau to work through the new batch of messages from the hotline.Sean picked up one of several phones on the conference table and dialed the number for Agent Karen Winslow, which was listed on the report in front of him.
He was surprised and pleased when she answered on the second ring.“Special Agent Winslow.”
“Agent Winslow, this is Agent Sean Malone in Elizabeth City, North Carolina.”
“What can I do for you, Agent Malone?”
He grabbed a nearby legal pad and a pen.“Sean, please.”
“Then feel free to call me Karen.Now that we have the niceties out of the way, what can I help you with?”
Sean got straight to the point.“Well, it seems we have a serial down here who matches one you had last year in Philly.Pennies on the forehead and the word ‘slut’ carved into the vics’ torsos.”
He could almost hear the female agent sit up straighter on the other end of the line.“Holy shit!How many has he killed down there?”
He sighed.“Three in the past three months.”
“Fuck!Goddamn this bastard.”
“How did your homicides stay out of the news up there?I never heard about them until I got the hit in N-DEx.”
“We got lucky,” Winslow admitted.“The first one was a prostitute—no one claimed the body, so she was sent to a potter’s grave.Must have been a busy news day, and without details of how she died, the press wasn’t interested.The second one was, and still is, a Jane Doe.We think she may have been a transient, passing through the area, but couldn’t match her to any missing persons and got no leads after running a police sketch on the news.We didn’t release the fact she was a homicide victim—just an unattended death.She spent four months at the morgue before being buried next to the first vic.
“The third one was new to the area.After the body was released, the family brought her back home to Vermont.Anyway, no one except us and the local detectives knew about their connection.And I think for the first time in my career, there were no leaks from the PD or medical examiner’s office.”
“You’re right,” Sean agreed.“You got damn lucky.I was hoping you could share what you have in your files.”
“I can overnight everything to you.”He heard her shuffling papers around.“Give me a phone number where I can reach you and your email so I can send you some preliminary stuff.Then the address for the file.”Sean gave her all the information she’d requested before she added, “I wish I could come down there and assist you.Unfortunately, I have to appear in court this week.Damn, I want this fucking bastard bad.”
“You and me both.We also have a profiler driving in from Quantico.”
“Who’s coming?”
He leaned back in his chair.“Doctor Suki Ralston.Do you know her?”
“Absolutely!I’ve worked with Suki on several cases.Was hoping to get her last year for this one, but she was unavailable.Listen, I have to run—I just sent you an email containing the initial reports and autopsy results.I’ll overnight the copies of the rest.Let me know if you have any questions or leads.”
“No problem.Wait, one more thing.What were the dates on the pennies?Were they all the same?”
“Yeah.They were all 1993.Yours?”
“Same here, 1993.Another unknown piece to the puzzle.All right, I’ll let you know if we find anything, and thanks.”When Sean hung up, he received the new email on his laptop.Sending the documents to the printer, he hoped there was something in there to give them a lead or two before this psycho killed again.
Chapter8
By a quarter to eleven, Sean was more frustrated than ever.The information in the Philadelphia files brought him no closer to understanding the killer.The women from Pennsylvania could have been carbon copies of the ones from North Carolina in the looks department—blonde, in their twenties, with similar body types.The pennies, carvings, and public dump scenes also tied them all together.But that’s where the differences ended.
The three local vics had all been working women—in legal professions—while only the last one in Philly had been working and had gone missing from a nightclub.The first one had probably been picked up by the suspect posing as a john, and investigators had never figured out where victim number two had encountered her killer.
Sean now had three new victims to add to the timeline, but the suspect count still stood at zero.“Fuck.”
Sean stood and stretched as Brad, Brian, and Rafe entered the room.They looked as frustrated as he felt.Since they were due in Sheriff Griffin’s office in a few minutes, the group decided to wait until after the press conference to compare notes.
Griffin met them in the hallway.“Let’s get this over with.God, I fucking hate these things.”
