Scream For Me

Daniel frowned and crouched at the ditch’s edge. “How old is she?”

“Fifties, maybe,” Malcolm said. He pulled the blanket away. “You know her?”

The woman had well-teased yellow-blond hair. “No. I don’t think so anyway.” Daniel looked up at Ed in consternation. “He broke pattern. Why?”

“Maybe he tried to get at all the younger ones and they were too careful to be caught alone. Or maybe she’s important to him.”

“Or both,” Daniel said. “Go ahead and bring her up, Malcolm.”

“Daniel?” Alex asked from behind him.

Daniel abruptly turned. “You don’t want to see this, honey. Go back to the car.”

“I’m sure I’ve seen worse. You look upset and… I got worried.”

“It’s not Bailey,” he said, and she relaxed a little. “It’s an older woman this time.”

“Who?”

“We don’t know. Stand back, they’re bringing her up.”

Malcolm and Trey lifted the stretcher out of the ditch and laid the body on the open body bag they’d stretched on the gurney. Behind him, Alex gasped.

Daniel and Ed turned in unison. Alex was standing rigidly still. “I know her. It’s Delia Anderson. She rented me the bungalow. I recognize her hair.”

“At least we know where to deliver the bad news.” He looked at Maria

She nodded brusquely. “I have seen worse, Daniel. Not often, but I have. I’ll go back to the car and wait for you. See you later, Ed.”

Ed was thoughtful as they watched Alex walk back to Daniel’s car. “I’d ask if she had a sister, but that would be in really bad taste.”

Daniel managed to choke back what would have been a startled laugh. It was one of those moments civilians didn’t understand. When the burden got so heavy, dark humor was the only nonaddictive, non-destructive release. “Ed.”

“I know.” Ed glanced at Maria

This time Daniel couldn’t hold back the chuckle, but dropped his head so nobody could see him smile. When he looked up he was serious.

“I’ll go deal with Mrs. Woolf.”

“Yeah, yeah,” Ed was muttering when Daniel walked away.

Maria

Maria

“How do you know?”

“Because I’ve sat next to her at Angie’s Beauty Shop every Thursday for the last five years,” Maria

“We’ll have to confirm her identity,” Daniel said. “Why are you here, Maria

“I got a text tip on my cell.”

“You’ve been in communication with a killer.” Daniel said the words slowly, hoping by some miracle they’d sink in. “The killer of your husband’s sister.”

She sneered. “I don’t know that. He never said, ‘I killed them, go see.’ ”

“Just ‘Go see where there happens to be a freshly killed body.’ ” Daniel rolled his eyes. “I don’t see the difference, Maria

Her chin lifted. “No, I guess you wouldn’t.”

“Why are you and Jim doing this? Please help me understand.”

Maria

Daniel wanted to shake her. “But you’re letting a killer use you.”

She lifted her brows. “Aren’t you? You can’t say that this case and this killer haven’t gotten even more attention because you’ve been investigating.” Her voice became grand. Mocking. “The great Daniel Vartanian, son of a judge, brother of a serial killer. But Daniel has risen above it all, sworn protector of truth, justice, and the American way.” She cocked her jaw. “It’s enough to bring a tear to your eye.”

Daniel stared at her, stu

Maria

He stared, completely taken aback. “I don’t understand you.”

“No, I suppose you don’t. I guess that’s why it’s a good thing we still have the Bill of Rights.” She popped the memory card from her camera and glanced up at the barrel-chested agent who’d been her tail. “I’ll go with Tiny here and make you guys a copy of the pictures. It’s what Jim told me to do if I got caught.”

“Can you at least refrain from printing anything until we’ve notified the Andersons?”

Maria

Atlanta, Friday, February 2, 8:50 a.m.

“So how does this woman co

“She used to work at the Davis Bank in Dutton,” Luke said. “It’s on her real estate website. She lists Davis Bank as a lender for qualified home buyers.”

“That doesn’t seem motive enough to kill her,” Chase said doubtfully. “What have you found out about Jared O’Brien’s family?”

“Only what I was able to glean from the Internet,” Luke said. “But you’re go

Daniel sucked in a breath. “Then he went to high school with Janet and the others.”

“At the begi

“Kate said he was a drunk,” Daniel said. “I know he had a record. I had Leigh run him-Jared O’Brien was arrested for DUI twice in Georgia.”

“Jared disappeared the year Mack was a junior in high school,” Luke said. “The mill goes belly-up because Jared spent all the money, and the mill gets bought out by guess who?”

Chase sighed. “Who?”

“Rob Davis.”

Daniel’s mouth opened. “No way.”

“Way,” Luke said. “The father’s widow, Lila O’Brien, declares bankruptcy a few months later.”

“And Mack transfers to the public school.” Daniel lifted his brows. “The timing works. The O’Briens must not have gotten much from the sale if Mack had to transfer.”

“The mill’s privately owned, so the terms aren’t in the public record,” Luke said, “but I’d say that assumption is fair.”

“So we may have a motive for revenge against the Davises,” Chase said, “but the rest of this? How would Mack even know about the ‘club’? He would have been nine years old at the time. And what about Jared? He disappeared, but nobody’s found a body. For all we know, Jared could have come back and started all this.”