The Apprentice

“Because I recognized them for what they were,” said Dean. “These murders weren’t based on ethnicity. Two of the men were Albanian; one was a Serb. But they all had something in common. They were married to young wives. Attractive wives, who were abducted from their homes. By the third attack, I knew this killer’s signature. I knew what we were dealing with. But these cases fell under the jurisdiction of the local justice system, not the ICTY, which brought us there.”

“So what was done?” she asked.

“In a word? Nothing. There were no arrests, because no suspect was ever identified.”

“Of course, there was an inquiry,” said Conway. “But consider the situation, Detective. Thousands of war dead buried in over one hundred fifty mass graves. Foreign peacekeeping troops struggling to keep order. Armed outlaws roaming bombed-out villages, just looking for reasons to kill. And the civilians themselves, nursing old rages. It was the Wild West over there, with gun battles erupting over drugs or family feuds or personal vendettas. And almost always, the killing was blamed on ethnic tensions. How could you distinguish one murder from another? There were so many.”

“For a serial killer,” said Dean, “it was paradise on earth.”

TWENTY-TWO

She looked at Dean. She had not been surprised to hear of his military service. She’d already seen it in his bearing, his air of command. He would know about war zones, and he’d be familiar with the scenario that military conquerors had always played out. The humiliation of the enemy. The taking of spoils.

“Our unsub was in Kosovo,” she said.

“It’s the sort of place he would thrive on,” said Conway. “Where violent death’s a part of everyday life. A killer could walk into such a place, commit atrocities, and walk out again without anyone noticing the difference. There’s no way of knowing how many murders are written off as mere acts of war.”

“So we may be dealing with a recent immigrant,” said Rizzoli. “A refugee from Kosovo.”

“That’s one possibility,” said Dean.

“A possibility you’ve known all along.”

“Yes.” His answer came without hesitation.

“You withheld vital information. You sat back and watched while the dumb cops ran around in circles.”

“I allowed you to reach your own conclusions.”

“Yes, but without full knowledge of the facts.” She pointed to the photos. “This could have made the difference.”

Dean and Conway looked at each other. Then Conway said, “I’m afraid there’s even more we haven’t told you.”

“More?”

Dean reached into the accordion folder and took out yet another crime scene photo. Though Rizzoli thought she was prepared to confront this fourth image, the impact of the photograph struck her with visceral force. She saw a young and fair-haired man with a wisp of mustache. He was more sinew than muscle, his chest a bony vault of ribs, his thin shoulders jutting forward like white knobs. She could clearly see the man’s dying expression, the muscles of his face frozen into a rictus of horror.

“This victim was found October twenty-ninth of last year,” said Dean. “The wife’s body was never found.”

She swallowed and averted her gaze from the victim’s face. “Kosovo again?”

“No. Fayetteville, North Carolina.”

Startled, she looked up at him. Held his gaze as the heat of anger flooded her face. “How many more haven’t you told me about? How many goddamn cases are there?”

“These are all we know about.”

“Meaning there could be others?”

“There may be. But we don’t have access to that information.”

She gave him a look of disbelief. “The FBI doesn’t?”

“What Agent Dean means,” interjected Conway, “is that there may be cases outside our jurisdiction. Countries that lack accessible crime data. Remember, we’re talking about war zones. Areas of political upheaval. Precisely the places our unsub would be attracted to. Places where he’d feel right at home.”

A killer who moves freely across oceans. Whose hunting area knows no national borders. She thought of everything she’d learned about the Dominator. The speed with which he’d subdued his victims. His craving for contact with the dead. His use of a Rambo-type knife. And the parachute fibers-drab green. She felt both men watching her as she processed what Conway had just said. They were testing her, waiting to see if she would measure up to their expectations.

She looked at the last photograph on the coffee table. “You said this attack was in Fayetteville.”

“Yes,” said Dean.

“There’s a military base in the area. Isn’t there?”

“Fort Bragg. It’s about ten miles northwest of Fayetteville.”

“How many are stationed at that base?”

“Around forty-one thousand active-duty. It’s home to the Eighteenth Airborne Corps, Eighty-second Airborne Division, and Army Special Operations Command.” The fact that Dean answered her without hesitation told her this was information he considered relevant. Information he already had at the tip of his tongue.

“That’s why you’ve kept me in the dark, isn’t it? We’re dealing with someone who has combat skills. Someone who’s paid to kill.”

“We’ve been kept in the dark, just as you have.” Dean leaned forward, his face so close to hers that all she could focus on was him. Conway and everything else in the room receded from view. “When I read the VICAP report filed by the Fayetteville police, I thought I was seeing Kosovo again. The killer might as well have signed his name, the crime scene was so distinctive. The position of the male victim’s body. The type of blade used in the coup de grâce. The china or glassware placed on the victim’s lap. The abduction of the wife. I immediately flew down to Fayetteville and spent two weeks with the local authorities, assisting their investigation. No suspect was ever identified.”

“Why couldn’t you tell me this before?” she said.

“Because of who our unsub might be.”

“I don’t care if he’s a four-star general. I had a right to know about the Fayetteville case.”

“If this had been critical to your identifying a Boston suspect, I would have told you.”

“You said forty-one thousand active-duty soldiers are stationed at Fort Bragg.”

“Yes.”

“How many of those men served in Kosovo? I assume you asked that question.”

Dean nodded. “I requested a list from the Pentagon of all soldiers whose service records coincide with the places and dates of the slayings. The Dominator is not on that list. Only a few of those men now reside in New England, and none of them have pa

“I’m supposed to trust you on that?”

“Yes.”

She laughed. “That requires a pretty big leap of faith.”

“We’re both making a leap of faith here, Jane. I’m betting that I can trust you.”

“Trust me with what? So far, you haven’t told me anything that justifies secrecy.”

In the silence that followed, Dean glanced at Conway, who gave an almost imperceptible nod. With that wordless exchange, they agreed to hand her the vital piece of the puzzle.

Conway said, “Have you ever heard of ‘sheep-dipping,’ Detective?”

“I take it that term has nothing to do with real sheep.”

He smiled. “No, it doesn’t. It’s military slang. It refers to the CIA’s practice of occasionally borrowing the military’s special operations soldiers for certain missions. It happened in Nicaragua and Afghanistan, when the CIA’s own special operations group-their SOG-needed additional manpower. In Nicaragua, navy SEALs were sheep-dipped to mine the harbors. In Afghanistan, the Green Berets were sheep-dipped to train the mujahideen. While working for the CIA, these soldiers become, essentially, CIA case officers. They go off the Pentagon’s books. The military has no record of their activities.”