Linda grabbed a chair from an unoccupied desk. “Let’s have it.” “We thought Reverend Gordon Sayles was a father figure to Pamela, but the good pastor had some nasty skeletons in his closet.” Amy ran an index finger along the page. “While they were married, Sayles was caught having sexual intercourse with an inmate and fired by the prison. This inmate claimed Sayles raped her when he was providing spiritual guidance in his office. Sayles denied the allegations, calling the woman a ‘mentally disturbed liar.’ But other inmates came forward with similar tales of Sayles forcing himself on them.”
Linda’s shoulders hunched, her dejected face in her hands. “Was Sayles convicted?”
“Yes. He was sentenced to twenty years at the Minnesota Sexual Offenders facility in Moose Lake, Minnesota.”
“Wow,” Lyle said. “Do we know his current whereabouts?”
“He died of pancreatic cancer in 1995.”
“Can you blame Pamela?” Linda said sympathetically. “I’m not justifying her crimes, but this woman cannot catch a break. Interesting that her prey of choice were all widowed pastors.”
Lyle stretched his long legs. “What if Pamela knew these men earlier in life and they, like Sayles, did something that scarred her, and it became her goal to extract punishment?”
Linda’s lips drew into a tight smile. “Nice work, Amy. As to your theory, Lyle, it would require meticulous planning to reenter their lives as someone they wouldn’t recognize. It’s worth investigating that angle, but we’ll have to push much deeper into her past. These were recently widowed men, sucked in by her charm. They lived all over the Midwest, so she’d have had to track their movements and lifestyles. It’s a long shot at best. Plus, the pastors’ wives all succumbed to cancer.”
“What if they didn’t, but were murdered instead?” Lyle stated.
Linda felt jitters up her spine. “You mean Pamela killed them to get close to these men?” She shook her head. “That’s farfetched at best. She’d have to be a criminal genius.” She thought a moment. “If you want to pursue this approach, start with Sayles. It will take tenacious investigators willing to go over the same territory multiple times. If you hit a dead end, let it go. We need to get these murders solved.”
“Agreed. But I’m willing to delve in if the road takes us there,” Lyle said. “I have a gut feeling widowed pastors aren’t the only common denominator that connects everyone.”
Linda cocked her head. “I’ll contact former LPD officers who have moved onto other departments. A lot have stayed in the Midwest. It can’t hurt. They may have stumbled across a link we’ve overlooked.”
Lyle and Amy nodded their heads in unison.
“I’ll request that list,” Linda said, rising from the chair. Maybe Lyle is onto something, Linda thought, returning to her office. Only time will answer that.