Page 52 of Go Alone

Kate blinked. “But the cipher mentions old people. That’s a reference to Boyd Sutter and Barbara Finch.”

“You know what it’s not a reference to? Linus Varne. According to Leonard Odum, he was around forty when he died. That’s not old.”

Kate blinked again. Marcus was right. They had fixated on Varne and this mystery blond, blue-eyed man and built a case around him, blithely forgetting that the very first cipher had nothing to do with him.

But no, it wasn't a mistake. It wasn't like Curtis Dalby, where they'd found a connection and filled in the narrative behind it. They could track Linus Varne across time and connect him to all of their victims. Linda Marsh had looked at their killer's picture and identified him as Linus Varne. The blue van seen at Greer's house was registered in Curtis Dalby's name, and the man Linda had identified as Varne was using that name.

“I don’t get it,” Kate said, getting to her feet and leaving the restaurant. She’d paid for their meal already, so the barista didn’t stop her. “How can it not be Varne unless this person was using Varne’s name for years?”

“That must be what it is,” Marcus said. “Why don’t you keep focusing on the victim angle. Whoever this guy is, figuring out who he is is turning out to be harder than my marriage to Cheryl. Wow, I hate that I used that analogy.”

“I’m much too frustrated to care that you still think about your ex-wife sometimes,” Kate said.

“I don’t think about her. I—”

“Seriously, Marcus. I don’t care.” She sighed and ran her hands through her hair. “See if you can figure out who this guy really is. Hell if I know how, but see what you can do. Do you want me to pick you up?”

“No, that’s fine. I’ll call NCIC and give them the image. Maybe it’ll pop up under a different name.”

“I sure hope so, because I’m getting really sick of dead ends.” She sighed again as she stepped into the car. “I’m going to call Beverly Marsh and figure out who this other party to her divorce is.”

“Good luck. God knows we all need it.”

Kate hung up and sighed a third time. She smacked the steering wheel hard enough to bruise her palm, then closed her eyes and took deep breaths until she was calm again. How the hell did this keep happening? Each lead looked more solid than the one before it, and each ended at a stronger wall.

Thank God they’d gotten Linda Marsh’s number. The killer had all but declared who his next victim would be, so thank God for his arrogance too. Whoever he was, they could get ahead of him if they could just find out who had helped Martin steal Linus Varne’s home.

Linda answered on the fifth ring. “Hello?”

“Hello, Linda,” Kate said. “It’s Kate Valentine.”

“Yeah. I know. What do you need?” She sounded very unhappy to be talking to the FBI again.

She would no doubt love what Kate said next. “I need to talk to your mother.”

“No.”

Kate frowned. “I’m not asking.”

“I don’t care. She’s got nothing to do with this. She doesn’t even live in Columbus anymore.”

Kate took a deep breath and explained, “The killer left a cipher at the scene of Martin Cole’s death.”

“A cipher?”

“A message. He mentioned someone who helped Martin Cole seduce your mother and steal her house. If you know who that person is, then I don’t need to talk to your mother.”

Linda sighed. “I don’t get this. It’s Linus Varne. I told you that it’s him.”

“Linus Varne killed himself four years ago.”

Linda sounded genuinely shocked. "What? Then who was in that driver's license photo?"

“We’re trying to figure that out. In the meantime, we need to figure out who’s next on his list.”

Linda sighed. “Look, I… I mean, these aren’t good people, special agent.”

Kate’s lips thinned. “So we should just let them be murdered? Is that what you’re saying?”