“And he is objectively smart,” I said. “Great math skills, a low-income townie getting into Oberlin.”
He said, “Then he kills the janitor six years later and earns himself another notch? That makes me wonder if all that good self-esteem led him to do others in between or before ours. But let’s dial back to the here and now. Assuming Flick is our button man, how would the actual contracting go down? The families know him as a helpful tutor, why would they think he’d be willing to hunt humans?”
“Maybe they didn’t until he found a way to let them know.”
“How would it work its way into a conversation? Keisha’s doing great with equations and by the way I can take care of ol’ Jamarcus? Big risk, Alex. All he’d need was one solid citizen ratting him out.” He smiled. “Unless getting the prodge into college outweighed all that.”
I said, “There is another possibility. There were no conversations between Flick and the parents. No contracting, period. What if Flick took it upon himself to defend his students?”
“Mister Math decides it’s kind to be cruel? C’mon, Alex.”
“If Flick had been abused by his stepdad and was proud of how he’d set things right, why not? The earliest California murder we know about is Whitney Killeen. It’s not unusual for tutoring sessions to venture beyond subject matter. We know that Rhiannon Sterling had high praise for Flick. What if she’d complained to him about all the terrible stress her dad was going through because of a horrible, unfit bitch of a stepmother intent on depriving Daddy of access to his darling two-year-old? If she painted Whitney in a bad enough light, Flick could’ve been inspired to come to the rescue. Just like he did for himself at age fifteen. I’m not saying a normal person could slide into murder that easily. No doubt Flick enjoys shooting people and I will bet there’s a sexual component to it. But he needs some sort of justification. Once he got it from Rhiannon, he stalked Whitney, found the right time and place, did the deed.”
“He’s a rescuer but leaves a two-year-old in a boat?”
“Maybe he was planning to pluck Jarrod out of there and drop him somewhere safe. Then the neighbor showed up first and made Flick’s life easier. In any event, it would’ve been at least Flick’s third successful kill and really fed his ego. And his libido. So when Keisha Boykins—smart, sweet, chronically ill—came to him upset about Jamarcus Parmenter, it would’ve felt like another golden opportunity to be noble.”
“Or Gerald and Kiki somehow connected with Flick to do Parmenter. Ditto O’Brien, who’d worked for Gerald.”
“Parmenter’s a possibility as a parental contract but so far O’Brien’s relationship with Boykins was brief and tangential and we have no evidence there was any conflict with Keisha. I know how you feel about coincidence but this one wasn’t necessarily huge, because O’Brien worked security all over town. So I still think his murder was more likely related to the Culver City victim. A case that was never pursued criminally, giving Flick yet another level of self-justification.”
“Murder for fun rationalized as a good deed.” He shook his head. “If there was no criminal charge, how’d this brother—you know I can find his name—learn O’Brien had attacked and dumped his sister?”
I said, “I’ve been wondering the same thing and now I’m going to try to find out. Got a spare office?”
Chapter
38
My workspace: the same large interview room, expanded visually by solitude.
The two whiteboards, wiped clean and free of images, had been pushed against a wall. I sat at the long table and pulled out my phone.
Milo stood in the doorway for a second before closing it.
—
Lee Falkenburg said, “Hi. What’s up?” Tight voice; guarded.
I said, “Things have changed and I really could use more information. I’ll do everything I can to protect your source. But without me, the police may get there first.”
“Why do you say that?”
“A suspect has been identified and there’s a good chance he’s got a connection to the Saucedo case. We’re talking multiple murders, Lee.”
“Oh God. What kind of connection?”
“In confidence?”
“Of course.”
“There’s a link between the suspect and Vicki’s brother. I’ve told the cops my assumption the brother wasn’t criminally involved and I’ve withheld his name but it’s only a matter of time before they identify him.”
“If he wasn’t involved, what’s the connection?”
“He may have complained about his sister’s attack and unwittingly given the suspect ideas. For your sake I’m not going to say more.”
“Multiple murders,” she said. “How many?”
