Page 51 of Go Alone

Marcus wasn't very sure about those analogies, but he got the point. It was the same reason he'd overlooked Beverly Marsh and Curtis Dalby. He was looking for something specific instead of just taking a wide view.

He decided to go back to the reason he’d called Anita. “Could you give me Leonard Odum’s number? We’ve got direct connections to Holt, Brannigan, and Cole, but right now, we only have an indirect connection to Greer.”

Anita’s tone grew slightly protective. “I’ll give you his number, but I guarantee you Leonard doesn’t have anything to do with this. He didn’t even live in that house when Howard moved in next door.”

Marcus frowned. “Who did?”

“A man named George Rust. He moved to Florida after his wife died to be close to his kids.”

Marcus nodded. “Okay, well, there might still be a reason Varne killed Greer in Odum’s house. Even if that house wasn’t stolen, he might have picked it for… Hell, I don’t know. I just want to know if Greer said anything to him that might help us find him.”

Anita sounded mollified. “All right. I’ll text it to you. If I were you, though, I’d be thinking about who the next victim will be. Finding out where Varne is now is going to be a crapshoot. We might need to shift our focus to figuring out where he’s going next.”

“That’s a good idea,” Marcus agreed, “and I’ll let you get started on it, but we’re in this position in part because I didn’t focus enough on the past. I want to make sure we have a thorough understanding of everything that’s happened so far.”

“Fair enough. I’ll send that number.”

She hung up, and Marcus’s phone beeped a moment later. He dialed the number, and a moment later, an elderly bass voice answered. “Hello?”

“Is this Leonard Odum?”

"Speaking. Your caller ID says FBI. Is that true?"

“Yes, sir. This is Special Agent Marcus Reid. I’m working on the investigation into your neighbor’s murder.”

“I see. How can I help you, Special Agent?”

Marcus paused a moment while he passed a pair of kids riding tricycles across a bridge that crossed the creek. When he was past them, he said, "I'm trying to figure out exactly why our killer murdered Howard. I was wondering if he ever mentioned anything to you about a Linus Varne."

“Varne? Why would that matter?”

“Because Linus Varne is the man who killed him,” Marcus replied. “I think that Howard stole Linus Varne’s home or forced him out of it somehow. I think that might be what motivated Varne to kill him.”

Leonard was silent for a long moment. When he spoke again, there was a brittleness to his voice. “Special Agent, you’re mistaken. There is no way Linus Varne could have killed Howard Greer.”

Marcus frowned. “We have a positive identification of Linus Varne and witnesses to his presence at three of our crime scenes with a strong personal connection to the fourth victim.”

“Then your witnesses are mistaken as well. Howard did interact with Linus Varne. He condemned Varne’s cabin next to Muddy Fork out by the hamlet of Funk about four years ago, and he carried a great amount of remorse for not doing more to help Mr. Varne after the fact, but there is simply no way that Linus Varne could have killed him.”

“Why not?” Marcus demanded.

“Because, Special Agent. Linus Varne killed himself the day he received his eviction notice.”

Marcus stopped dead in his tracks. After a moment, Leonard called his name, the sound obscured by the sound of a freight train as it rumbled past the edge of the park. He remained frozen where he was, the phone pressed to his ear, while the rumble of the train faded into the distance.

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Kate was pondering the meaning of the latest cipher when Marcus called her. She answered and said, “Hey, Marcus. I think we need to look for the next victim. This cipher suggests there will be at least one more. Listen to this. ‘Martin and his collaborator drove a man from his home. Their crime is more heinous than the others because they pretended to covet a man’s wife to hide their covetousness for his house.’ There’s someone else. I think we need to contact Beverly Marsh and find out who that might be.”

“Yeah, that’s probably a good idea,” Marcus said. “I told Anita to start working on it, so she might have a head start, but yeah, you should probably do that. In the meantime, we need to figure out who the hell our killer is.”

Kate frowned. “What do you mean? We verified that it’s Linus Varne. We found his van, and Linda identified him. We have descriptions of him at three of the scenes.”

“Well, I just talked to Leonard Odum. Turns out that Linus killed himself after Howard condemned his cabin out in another hamlet about five miles west of Millbrook.”

Kate flinched, spilling coffee over her hand. Thankfully, the cup had gone cold, so she had only the mess on the table to worry about. “What?”

"Yep. Apparently, Howard wasn't just a background player in the life of Linus Varne. He condemned his cabin as his last act before retirement. Varne hung himself in the cabin the day he was supposed to leave. Leonard was a friend of his, I guess. He found the body and decided not to tell anyone out of respect."