“FDLE is done here,” Roderick is saying. “They’re rushing everything—have actually called staff back into the lab tonight who will be waiting for the evidence when the crime scene unit gets back with it.”
I nod. “That’s great. I really appreciate that.”
We are standing in the hallway separating the B&B from the residence and have the door closed for privacy, even though as far as we know the only other people in the house are Keith, Christopher, and Derinda, and they are in the parlor.
“ME is already performing the autopsy,” he says, “so we should have the prelim autopsy results and the lab work by early in the morning. Also said depending on what they test for—and assuming there’s enough viable tissue to test—certain toxicology tests, like a general drug screen, can be done in a matter of hours. So if she was drugged and it wasn’t with something too exotic, we should know about that tomorrow too.”
“Gives us our greatest chance of finding Taylor quickly and alive.”
“They left it up to me as to whether to let people back in the house or not,” he says. “I was thinking about just sealing off Magdalene’s room and your room and letting everybody back in. We really need it as a staging area for our search and I’d like to keep as close an eye on everyone as possible. I like the idea of having them here with us and interacting with each other. What do you think?”
I nod. “I agree. That’s a great idea.”
“We’re gonna find her,” he says. “Promise you that. Won’t stop until we do.”
I get the worst sense of fear and foreboding when he says that, and I wish he hadn’t, but I don’t say anything, just nod.
An awkward moment passes between us.
He looks away, back toward the residence. “They took the entire freezer with them,” he says. “I cleared the backyard and had them take it out that way so no one would see. Obviously if we let Keith and Christopher back in here they will notice it’s gone, but . . . we can just deal with that when they ask.”
I nod again. “Speaking of freezers,” I say, “we should use the search for Taylor to look in as many as we can—including the commercial ones in town, like at The Sand Witch.”
“Will do. What else?”
“I’m sure you’ve thought of this . . .” I say. “I’m not saying it because I don’t think you have, but we need to search carefully every empty house, rental, and place under construction. If the roadblock turned them around, then he may have her in one of those type places trying to outwait us.”
He nods enthusiastically. “One of the teams has a rental agent with a master key with them.”
“Perfect.”
“I’ve been trying to track everyone’s movements tonight,” he says. “When your wife began screaming, everyone was together in the parlor and dining room except for Hal Raphael. You can actually attest to that. You were in there too. And they were in there a good while even before you got there. Correct me if I’m wrong about any of this: You checked on Taylor and she was fine. You spoke briefly to Rake and Charis on the landing, then you and Charis came down and joined the others. Eventually Rake comes down for some food, and though he intends to go right back up he never does. Then Haskins and I come in and talk for a few minutes. And your wife starts screaming that Taylor’s gone. Is that right?”
I nod.
“That’s a narrow window,” he says. “Very narrow. So, like the night Magdalene was taken, either someone broke in or someone inside took her—and the only two people who were here on the night of Magdalene’s disappearance and who weren’t accounted for while Taylor was being taken are Rake Sabin and Hal Raphael—assuming Taylor was taken before Rake came downstairs, which seems likely. And when I was wondering which one it could be, I started thinking . . . What if they’re in it together? What if Rake’s accusations and the bad things he has to say about Raphael are a cover? After all it was Rake who volunteered to go up there and keep an eye on Raphael. No one asked him to. What if that, like all his negative comments, was just a ruse?”