Last Words

“And he’s pissed because he thinks you sent me into his town to second-guess his officers.”

“That pretty much sums it up.”

“I’m sorry, I had no idea. Last night, I was reading through the file, and it was in my head that the guy we’re looking for is local. Maybe not from St. De

“You could have left a message.”

“I did. I left the message for you to call me.”

He leafed through the messages in his in box, then held one up.

“My apologies,” he said, silently cursing the fact that he’d somehow missed the message.

“Look, I’ll call the chief over there and tell him you didn’t know I was going to do interviews this morning.”

“I told him that.”

“And he believes you?”

“Of course. We’re friends.”

“Which makes this even more difficult. I see.” She nodded slowly. “I’ll make certain that I reach you next time.”

“Fine. Now, are you going to tell me what you found that Daley’s people missed?”

“Yes, but I think we need to bring A

“Chief Beck has already done that,” A

“How’d I do?” Mia asked.

“From what I’ve heard about the case so far, I think your comments regarding his need for control are right on the money. And I agree, this man has very serious issues with women. He has a need to abuse them, degrade them, totally dominate them. I think when you find him, you’ll find that he has what appears to be a seemingly normal life, even a normal love life. He could be married, or has been. He’s very good at keeping this other side of himself hidden.”

“You think we’ll find him?” Beck asked.

“Absolutely. He’ll lead you right to him, if you give him enough time. The downside of that is, the longer it takes to find him, the more women will die.”

“As far as we know, this is his third victim,” Beck told her.

The profiler shook her head.

“He’s way too accomplished to be a novice. He’s got his act down pat. I’m sorry to say he’s had lots of practice. No one starts out at this level of expertise.”

Beck turned to Mia. “You were going to have someone at the FBI look into similar crimes…”

“And we’ll have his report as soon as he finishes it, yes. But there’s a strong possibility that there won’t be any matches.”

“Because maybe his victims haven’t been found?”

“Exactly.” Mia nodded. “These murders are unique. I think if there were others with similar characteristics in the system, we’d have heard by now. They’d pop right out.”

“Maybe what we need is a run of missing women from this area over the past ten years,” Beck said thoughtfully.

“Let’s start with five,” Mia suggested. “I think if he’d been at this for more than that, some of his victims would have surfaced by now. Let’s see how many cases of missing young women on the Eastern Shore remain unsolved.”

“Do we want to limit the area?” Beck asked.

“No. Let’s go farther. So far, none of the victims have been tourists, they’ve all been living within a ten-mile radius, but who knows if he’s roamed, or how far. Let’s do the Eastern Shore to the ocean,” A

“That’s easy enough to get.” Beck stood. “I’ll have Garland start on that right away.”

He excused himself from the room.

“So how are you feeling?” A

“I’m fine. Why?”

“You sounded a bit tired last night,” A

“I’m okay. I don’t need a break.”

“Mia, we all need a break once in a while.”

“I’m okay, really. But thanks.”

“I’m going to have to stick around to read over the files Beck has had copied for me. It’s going to take me hours to get through it all. Any chance I could bunk in with you at Co

“Sure. I’d love to have you stay.”

“Thanks. I’ll call Evan and let him know where I’ll be.”

“Do you think he’ll mind? After all, you’ve only been married for what, six months now?”

“Six months and eighteen days, but who’s counting?” A

Beck came back and closed the door behind him.

“ Garland is on it. He’ll let us know as soon as he has some results,” he told them.

“So what else do you need, Dr. McCall?” Beck asked. “You have copies of the files, the photos, the reports…”

“That should keep me busy for a while,” A

“Whenever you’re ready,” Beck replied.

“Let’s say eleven tomorrow assuming you work on Sunday. That should give me enough time to get through all this. If I feel I need more time, I’ll give you a call.”

“Sunday’s are like any other day around here.” Beck nodded. “Thanks for making room in your schedule for this, Dr. McCall. I’m sure you’re busy.”

“It’s an intriguing case. I’m looking forward to examining the files.”

Beck turned to Mia. “Before you leave…”

“Right, Jessica Fly

“We know that.”

“Yes, but what you don’t know is that according to Jessie, Colleen was supposed to be meeting with the owner of the condo on Wednesday-the day after she disappeared-to pay for the rental and get the keys. But what if she met up with him a day early?”

“Would it be too much to ask that Jessie knows the name of the owner?”

“It would be,” Mia told him. “It seems that Colleen was the only one who had any dealings with the owner. She made all the arrangements. Jessie didn’t even know where this place was located, except that it’s a high-rise right on the beach.”

“Of which there are dozens in Ocean City.”

“Anyone around here own one of them?” Mia asked.

“Only about a third of the population of St. De

“Why would you buy a place on the ocean if you live on the bay?” She wondered.

“There’s been a building boom in Ocean City over the past ten, twelve years. Like I said, there are dozens of those high-rise condos on the beach. Lots of people have bought them as investments and rent them out. Then there are people who like the ocean, and a condo is an affordable way of having that weekend place. At least it used to be affordable, I don’t know what those places are going for now. If it’s rented during the summer, it can pretty much pay for itself.” He sighed. “So, yeah, many people around here own condos in Ocean City.”

“Don’t people who rent mostly go through rental offices? Would you deal directly with the owner?” Mia asked.

“You might if you knew the owner personally,” Beck replied. “Then again, there’s always the possibility that there was no condo, that it was just a ruse to get her to meet him someplace. And maybe Jessie just assumed that the person who had the key was the owner instead of a rental agent.”

“Jessie told me that she’d given the money to Colleen and that Colleen was going to give this guy a check.”

“Then we’ll check with her bank and get a look at her recent transactions,” Beck said. “We’ll need a warrant, but that won’t be a problem.”

“Do you think there’ll be a check?” she asked.

“Nah. I think the whole condo thing was a means of getting to Colleen. But it’s a thread to pull on. So let’s see if anyone knows if Holly or Mindy had any dealings with anyone in real estate before they disappeared.”

Beck glanced at his watch, then stood. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I have a meeting with the mayor. Dr. McCall, unless I hear from you, I’ll see you at eleven. Agent Shields, you’ll be there?”