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Fifty-One

Bridgeport, California

Saturday, October 26th, 11:01 AM Pacific Standard Time

Paige and I went back to the inn we were staying at in Bridgeport and were on a conference call with Jack and Kelly. We had considered going to visiting the Mavises to see if they could shed more light on the Evans family, but Jack had us proceeding otherwise—and for good reason. Nadia had come through with some findings on Frank Evans, and it would appear that he was lying about a lot of things.

“His phone records show that he received a call from a pay phone in Bridgeport two weeks after the mother’s funeral. The conversation lasted fifteen minutes,” Nadia said.

“Michelle called him, but for what?” I asked, knowing, unless we were suddenly mind readers, we’d have to get Frank to tell us.

“Really, it’s just an assumption that Michelle was the one to make the call,” Kelly pointed out.

I shook my head, not that she could see. We were doing this meeting via telephone. The Wi-Fi in the hotel was spotty at best. The closest FBI field office was in San Francisco, the better part of a five-hour drive away. “I think it’s a good assumption. And to talk on a pay phone tells me the conversation was probably something Michelle didn’t want traced.”

“Like they were conspiring to commit murder,” Kelly finished.

“Exactly like that.”

“Well, the guy’s lawyered up, so I’d say he has something to hide,” Jack updated us.

Nadia continued. “I was able to confirm that Frank Evans did fly out to California at the time of his wife’s funeral.”

“He lied about taking time off from his job, too,” Paige said.

“Seems like.”

Jack and Kelly would have had their hands full with Frank and not had time to speak with Frank’s employer to confirm what he’d originally told them.

“Now, I’ve got more for you,” Nadia said. “Several calls were made to Frank Evans along the stretch of I-40/I-81/I-66. Each phone call got shorter and shorter. And all the calls were made using pay phones. There were also calls from the cities where the shootings took place, and they were placed two days afterward.”

“It’s like Michelle was reporting in, telling her father that the murders had been done.” As I said the words, a chill ran down my spine. “What slime, using his daughter to do the killing.”

“But Frank’s not even sure Michelle is his daughter,” Kelly said. “And, really, she could be any one of the men’s who raped her mother.”

“Maybe that made it easier for Frank to use Michelle the way he has?” Paige tossed out.

“He’s certainly not father of the year, or human being of the year, for that matter,” Kelly seethed.

“Not that it helps, but there’s no question that Frank Evans is aiding his daughter.” Nadia’s voice cut into the room. “There was another charge from the same airline Frank took to fly to California, and when I followed that up, I was told that it was for a flight to Albuquerque for one passenger—”

“Let me guess, Michelle Evans,” I interrupted.

“Yes, Brandon.” Nadia didn’t sound happy that I’d cut her off. “It had her landing there seven months ago. From there, there’s another charge that was made at Auto Rentals in Albuquerque. I called and found out that a Honda Accord was rented, and it was just returned to a depot in Arlington, Virginia, yesterday.”

“Wow, she kept the same car all this time. That’s ballsy,” I commented.

“No, I think it’s more breadcrumbs,” Kelly said.

“Breadcrumbs?”

“Uh-huh. I’ve thought it before, but I almost think Michelle wants to be caught.”

Kelly’s theory sat out there.

“If that’s the case, I want to grant her wish,” I said. “Arlington, you said… But the map Paige and I found indicates her last destination is Baltimore, Maryland. Why ditch the car?”

“She is done with the killing.” Kelly sounded confident.

“We need to figure out how she’s getting from Arlington to Baltimore and how she’s paying for it,” Jack stated.

“It has to be cash,” Nadia began. “As I said, nothing new is popping up on credit cards—Frank’s or Michelle’s.”

“Where’s the breadcrumb now?” I mumbled.

“I said ‘breadcrumb,’ not homing beacon,” Kelly retorted.

“Nadia,” Paige started, “you said calls were made to Frank two days after the murders. Did any come after Reid’s?”

“No,” Nadia confirmed.

“Maybe she’s planning to update her father in person that the job was taken care of,” I reasoned. “But then what? Father and daughter reunited run off into the sunset, a twist on Bonnie and Clyde?”

“Except for other pieces in this investigation don’t fully fit,” Kelly cut in. “The breadcrumbs she keeps leaving behind.”

I got the distinct impression she was using the word just to bug me now.

“Why show her face at all? Why the note to Wise’s mistress— Oh, we haven’t heard back from Jane Powell, Jack, as to whether she got any note about Reid being a dangerous man.”

“I’ll call her again after we’re finished here,” he said.

Kelly went on. “And why the photos to the widows, warnings to the mistresses—assuming that was a pattern, too—and why give her mother’s name to the waitress at the Lucky Pub? Why leave the map and photo at her apartment?”

I hated to admit it, but it did feel like Michelle was leaving us a trail to follow. “She’s trying to find belonging,” I said. “And approval from Frank—who may not be her father. Possibly killing to impress him. He is the only father figure she’s ever known. And then he shows up in her life, in one of her darkest moments, just after she lost her mother. Biological father or not, she’d cling to him.”

“Michelle may see killing the men as a way to move forward, to get back with her father, to heal,” Paige picked up. “The little clues she’s leaving may indicate she wants to do what’s right, but she’s also driven by revenge at some level or she wouldn’t keep pulling the trigger.”

“I disagree.” This came from Kelly, and the rest of us fell silent.

“About what?” Jack eventually prompted her.

“I think revenge is Frank Evans’s motive. It might have fueled Michelle to start, but I think she was more driven by getting her father’s approval. Think about it. She joined the Marines to probably find him. Maybe even that was an act of seeking his approval, following in his footsteps. For Michelle, I think it was more about a mission, or at least that’s how she reasoned and justified her actions in her mind. She was at war—only this time, it was on the four men who raped her mother—and the commander-in-chief was Frank.”

I gave consideration to everything that Kelly had just said, and it could explain everything. “Frank Evans used his daughter to get revenge,” I reiterated.

“Frank doesn’t even view Michelle as his daughter half the time,” Kelly pointed out. “As far as he’s concerned, she could be one of the rapist’s. Remember he even told us he couldn’t stand to look at her face, Jack? Part of why he’d left?”

“Ouch,” Nadia interjected. I’d almost forgotten she was still on the line. “Guys, there’s a couple other things I need to tell you. First, I heard back from the lip-reading expert, and he was able to read Michelle’s lips in the Lucky Pub video. She told Wise, ‘You know what you did.’”

“Sounds like an enclosed threat,” I said.

“I’d say so,” Paige shot back. “We both saw that video and his strong reaction.”

“The second thing,” Nadia began. “I also looked into the computer system at the Colonial and worked with their tech. It would seem the system was hacked so room 850 would remain empty.”

“So Michelle has tech skills,” I concluded.

“I’m not sure about her, but Frank Evans does. I followed my gut and contacted Frank’s old commanding officer in the Marines, and he told me that Frank could have come out and found a job in computers or engineering.”

“We’ve got Frank in custody,” Kelly rushed out with urgency. “There has to be something we can do with that.”

With her plea, an idea struck me. “Jack?”

“I haven’t gone anywhere.”

Always the wise ass.

“The evidence points to father and daughter working together,” I began. “What if we have Frank arrange a meet with Michelle? He’s got to have a way of reaching her. And he’s obviously all about protecting his own hide.”

“Hmm.”

I was tempted to say his name again to jolt an actual response consisting of real words, but I resisted the urge.

“That could work,” Jack finally said. “But we have to make sure precautions are taken.” He was talking slower than normal, evidently deep in thought. He must have been seriously considering what I’d proposed. “I don’t think he presents any physical threat to Michelle,” he then muttered under his breath.

“Well, we’ll all be there. We could even name the place.” This was our best chance of getting our hands on Michelle. “If Frank hesitates to hand her in, we dangle a deal in front of him. Just a feeling here, but I am pretty sure he’ll jump on it.” It made me sick to think how far this former Marine had fallen from grace. He’d let the horrific acts of other people break him. But sadly, he wasn’t the first and wouldn’t be the last.

“I say we do this,” Jack declared. “Paige and Brandon, get on the first plane back here. Kelly and I are going to question Frank as soon as his lawyer gets here. Depending on how things go, we might proceed with setting up a meet. We’ve got to flush Michelle out somehow, and that might be the easiest way to do it.”

With that, Jack hung up, and all of us were severed from the conference call.

I sat there, relishing in the fact that Jack could be running with my idea. It always felt good when the big dog respected you.