“I started with surrounding counties and now I’m working my way outward.”
“The old reverse-onion strategy.”
“Yeah, but if I don’t turn up anything in the next few hours, I may bag it.... Shall we say seven tomorrow? I’ll text you my address.”
“Great. I’ll pick up a bottle of wine.”
After signing off, I took a minute to toss Alice’s latest strategy around in my mind. I’d told her on Friday that serial killers often felt most comfortable having their own killing field, but there were certainly exceptions. I recalled reading about one who had worked along miles and miles of an interstate highway on the Eastern Seaboard, leaving each body not far from the road. It took law enforcement a long time to realize the connections because the killer had struck in four or five different states. But that was years ago. If there were similar victims elsewhere in this case, the police surely would find them through database searches.
And yet I couldn’t warm to the notion that such a crime spree had happened around Lake George. To me, at least, it still felt like the killer was from here, was herenow, watching the action, taking in everything that was going on. And most likely reading my posts.
As I started to toss my phone on the desk, I realized Nolan had still not returned my call, so I phoned over to the parish center and reached Emma.
“I did give him your message,” she said, “and he promised to be in touch. I know today has been very busy for him.”
“Will he be at the parish center tomorrow?”
“I assume he’ll drop in. He’ll be participating in the ten o’clock mass with Father Jim.”
“Thanks.” I would have to catch up with him there.
I needed to scramble now and churn out my post. I texted Beau saying I hoped we could FaceTime later, and for the next hour I devoted my attention to writing the story, focusing mostly on the news about Amy and Page.
By the time I’d sent it off, my stomach was growling but I didn’t have the psychic energy to go trolling for another take-out spot. I wolfed down a handful of cheese-filled Ritz Bits I’d brought from New York as emergency rations and used the next hour to sketch out notes for what I wanted to say in the video tomorrow, and then I managed to reach two of the reporters who’d asked me for quotes about finding the bodies, spending a couple of minutes on the phone with each of them.
Finally, I returned Matt Wong’s call.
“Sorry I haven’t stayed in touch since you got here,” he said. “You know what it’s like when you’re in a new job and under an insane amount of pressure.”
“No problem. What can I do for you?”
“Just wanted to say congrats. Pretty amazing, you getting a call like that.”
“A totally lucky break.”
“So what was the scene in that basement like? It must have been pretty grisly.”
There was a small piece of information I wanted from Wong, and the only chance of securing it would be to cough up a morsel from my end first. But I had to be careful about what I divulged. Killian had demanded I keep pertinent details about the crime scene under wraps, and I had myjournalistic turf to protect as well. Just because Wong was suddenly acting all nicey-nice didn’t mean I wanted to swap info with him in the same way I had with Alice.
“Unfortunately, that’s one area I can’t discuss, Matt. The cops insisted. I take it you heard that they think the two other bodies are the missing campers?”
“Yeah, that’s already old news.”
“I could pass along an interesting nugget in that department if you like.” I thought fast, ransacking my brain for a slim bone I could toss him without it costing me anything.
“Let’s hear it then.”
“Can I ask you a question in return?”
“You can ask. I can’t guarantee I’ll be able to answer.”
“Okay, when the two campers disappeared ten years ago, one reason the cops believed they’d simply taken off was because an ex-boyfriend of Page’s claimed she’d talked to him about doing that. But he apparently held a grudge against Page and may have made that stuff up. It seems the cops were too quick to buy into the theory.”
“That’sit?”
“To me, it’s certainly worth checking out.”
“All right, all right. What’s your question?”
