Split Second

“I’m guessing this must be the partner?”

“Yes. A couple of the articles mention how much the two men had in common and how competitive they were with each other. However, they seemed to have ended their partnership amicably. I wonder if they might still be in contact with each other. Maybe still in competition with each other, only with a new game.”

“But why now after all these years? If they were to do something like this, why not when Stucky first started his game?”

O’Dell sat down and tucked strands of hair behind her ears. She looked exhausted. As if reading his thoughts, she sipped her Diet Pepsi, which he had noticed was her coffee substitute. This was her third one of the morning.

“Stucky has always been a loner,” she explained. “I haven’t done any research on Harding except for these articles, but for Stucky to have chosen anyone as a business partner is remarkable. I’ve never thought about it before, but perhaps the two men had, and still have, some strong co

Tully shook his head. “I think you’re grasping at straws, O’Dell. You know as well as I do that statistically, serial killers don’t take on partners or accomplices.”

“But Stucky is far from fitting any of the statistics. I’m having Keith run a check to see if Harding has ever been fingerprinted. Then we can see if we have a match to the fingerprints being left at the crime scenes.”

Tully looked over the articles, sca

“Looks like there’s a slight problem with your theory, O’Dell.”

“What’s that?”

“There’s a footnote to this Wall Street Journal article. Stucky and Harding ended their partnership after Harding was diagnosed with some medical problem.”

“Right. I saw that.”

“But did you finish reading it? This part is blurred at the bottom from the copier. Unless Walker Harding found some miracle cure, he can’t be Stucky’s accomplice. It says here he was going blind.”

CHAPTER 49

Maggie waited until Tully left to meet his daughter. Then she began unearthing every scrap of information she could find on Walker Harding. She pounded the computer’s keys, searching the FBI’s files and other Internet sites and directories. The man had virtually disappeared after a

From what little she had read, she knew Harding had been the brains of their business, a whiz with computers. But Stucky had been the one who had taken all the financial risk, investing a hundred thousand dollars of his own money; money he had joked about wi

Harding appeared to have been reclusive long before his business venture with Stucky. Maggie could find nothing about his childhood, except that he—like Stucky—had been raised by a single, overbearing father. One directory listed him as a 1985 graduate of MIT, which made him about three years younger than Stucky. The state of Virginia listed no marriage license, driver’s license or property owned by a Walker Harding. She had begun a search of Maryland’s records when Thea Johnson from down the hall knocked on the open conference-room door.

“Agent O’Dell, there’s a phone call for Agent Tully. I know he left for a while, but this sounds important. Do you want to take the call?”

“Sure.” Maggie didn’t hesitate and reached behind her for the phone. “What line?”

“Line five. It’s a detective from Newburgh Heights. I believe he said his name was Manx.”

Immediately, Maggie’s stomach took a dive. She sucked in a deep breath and punched line five.

“Detective Manx, Agent Tully is at lunch. This is his partner, Agent Margaret O’Dell.”

She waited for the name to register. Even after a sigh, there was a pause.

“Agent O’Dell. Barge in on any crime scenes lately?”

“Fu

“When’s Tully go

So that was the way he wanted to play.

“Gee, you know, I don’t remember if he told me. He might not be back until Monday.”

She waited out his silence and imagined the scowl on his face. He was probably swiping a frustrated hand over that new buzz hairdo of his.

“Look, Tully talked to me last night about this McGowan woman down here in Newburgh Heights that’s supposedly missing.”

“She is missing, Detective Manx. Seems you have a problem with women disappearing in your jurisdiction. What’s up with that?” She was enjoying this too much. She needed to back off.

“I thought he should know that we checked out her house this morning and found a guy snooping around.”

“What?” Maggie sat up and gripped the phone.

“This guy said he was a friend and was worried about her. He had a screen off a back window and looked like he was getting ready to break in. We brought him in for questioning. Just thought Tully might like to know.”

“You haven’t released him yet, have you?”

“No, the boys are still chatting with him. I think we got him pretty damn scared. First thing, he insisted on calling his fucking lawyer. Makes me think he’s guilty of something.”

“Don’t release him until Agent Tully and I have a chance to talk to him. We’ll be there in about a half hour.”

“Sure, no problem. Lookin’ forward to seeing you again, O’Dell.”

She hung up, grabbed her jacket and was almost out the door before she realized she should probably call Tully. She patted her jacket down until she felt the cellular phone in the pocket. She’d call him from the road. No, of course, this wasn’t a matter of her ru

That was what she told herself. The fact was, she wanted to check this out on her own. If Manx had Albert Stucky or even Walker Harding, Maggie wanted him all to herself.

CHAPTER 49

Maggie waited until Tully left to meet his daughter. Then she began unearthing every scrap of information she could find on Walker Harding. She pounded the computer’s keys, searching the FBI’s files and other Internet sites and directories. The man had virtually disappeared after a

From what little she had read, she knew Harding had been the brains of their business, a whiz with computers. But Stucky had been the one who had taken all the financial risk, investing a hundred thousand dollars of his own money; money he had joked about wi