Once the team was gathered around the table, Noah asked Detectives Armstrong and Bridges to fill them in on Marvin Chambers. Armstrong took the lead and laid out the information they’d gathered.
“We’re looking for Chambers,” he said. “We feel he could be our UNSUB. The timeline is right. He finds his son about three months ago—then discovers he’s in prison. Starts insisting he’s innocent. This could be the trigger that started his campaign against Agent Quinn.”
“Why would he seek out Quinn?” Reinhardt asked. “Why not the judge . . . or his son’s attorney?”
“Jerry Acosta wrote an article that insisted Kaely single-handedly brought Edmonds down,” Lela said. “Targeting her makes sense to me.”
Noah frowned at her. “I don’t know. He just found his son. Why would he be so emotionally invested? Shouldn’t it take a while for them to form a bond strong enough to warrant this kind of commitment?”
He wished Kaely were here. She could see this much more clearly than he did. Maybe Marvin Chambers was their UNSUB, but for some reason it just didn’t feel right—and this guy certainly didn’t fit her profile.
“Do you have any leads as to where Chambers is?” he asked Armstrong.
“No, not yet. He seems to be hiding. Moved out of his apartment a couple of weeks ago. Just disappeared. We’re checking his phone, his bank, the DMV, the Department of Labor in case he’s got a job, and the post office, in case he’s filed a change of address. We’ll also check fingerprints. Maybe he’s been in prison. We also need to issue subpoenas for visitation records at his son’s prison. Get surveillance videos of Chambers and copies of any mail coming from or going to Chambers from the prison.”
“Good. Make sure you get all the proper warrants.” He gestured toward Robbie Mantooth. “Keep everything legal, Robbie.”
“I will,” he said, giving Noah a big smile full of overly bleached teeth. Robbie was a small guy. Short and thin. But underestimating him was a mistake. He was a bulldog when it came to his job. Noah wasn’t worried they’d get in legal trouble with Robbie around.
“I want to talk about Agent Cartwright,” Noah said to the group, “but first I want to see if we’ve come up with any other leads.”
“I think we’ve got a lead on Agent Quinn’s brother,” Jeff said. “Police in Fort Collins talked to his next-door neighbor, a nice elderly lady who likes to keep tabs on the neighborhood.”
“A busybody?” Noah said, grinning. “Great.” Nosy neighbors had helped the FBI in more cases than the Bureau could count. “What did she say?”
“She used to take care of Jason’s . . .” Beau paused a moment and quickly perused a report he held in his hand. “Excuse me, Darrin McDonald’s dog. A chocolate lab named Fancy. Seems Fancy has diabetes and needs regular injections. We’re looking at veterinarians in Colorado. Hopefully, we can locate Fancy—and Jason.”
“Great work,” Noah said. “Anything else before we talk about what happened to Agent Cartwright?”
“We’re ruling out anyone connected to Archie Mason,” Lela interjected. “His family still believes he’s innocent, but there’s absolutely nothing that indicates a propensity for something as twisted as our UNSUB is doing. They’re a nice family that has a hard time believing their son and brother is capable of rape. None of them have been out of the state lately. There’s just nothing there.”
“Super,” Noah said. “Anything that narrows our list helps.”
Peter Bridges raised his hand, and Noah nodded at him. “I know you said we should put Jerry Acosta at the end of our list, but this guy concerns me,” he said. “He’s followed Agent Quinn from one town to another. He will do anything to promote himself, and he’s obsessed with writing a book about her father. What better way to inject himself into her life than to become a serial killer, forcing her to confront him?” He looked around the table. “Right now, I’m checking with his friends and coworkers, trying to see if they feel he’s capable of doing something like this.” He pulled some papers out of a file. “Agent Quinn told me that during the first murder, Acosta may have actually been at the Bureau, but after talking to the ME, I think Acosta could have done it and then gone to the Bureau. The ME set time of death about five to six hours before the body was found.” He studied Noah for a moment. “If you want me to back off of him, I will. I just felt compelled to take another quick look.”
Noah frowned at him. “I’m not convinced he’s our guy, but if your gut tells you something else, stay with it—for now, anyway. You’re right about one thing. No one seems to benefit more than he does from the emergence of this UNSUB.”
After checking to see if anyone else had new information, Noah said, “As you know by now, we found Agent Alex Cartwright at an abandoned school in North St. Louis. Thankfully, he’s alive and recovering. If we hadn’t arrived in time, we would have lost him.”
“Can you describe the scene to us?” Lela asked.
“Sure. ERT is there now, so we’ll have more details when they complete their investigation.” Noah told the group everything he could remember. He ended with, “The chain was around his neck, and his hands and feet were bound. As long as he sat up as straight as he could, he could breathe. But if he slumped even a little, the chain would tighten.”
“I don’t understand something,” Beau said. “Was Agent Cartwright conscious when the UNSUB tied him up? I mean, if he wasn’t, wouldn’t he have been asphyxiated almost immediately?”
“I . . . I don’t know the answer to that question. Maybe the UNSUB waited to apply the chain after Agent Cartwright had somewhat regained consciousness.”
Silence around the table made it clear others also had a problem with the scenario. Noah had to admit it didn’t make sense. Before anyone could make another comment, the back door opened and Kaely walked in. Noah waved her over.
“We’re talking about the situation at the school,” he told her as she approached them. She took an empty chair next to Noah.
“I just left Alex at the hospital,” she said. “Unfortunately, he doesn’t remember anything about the UNSUB. He was unconscious after sustaining a blow to the head. When he came to, he was trussed up on the swing.”
No one said anything for a moment, but several people exchanged looks. Kaely noticed.
“Is something wrong?” she asked.
Reinhardt, who’d been unusually quiet since the meeting started, cleared his throat. “Has it occurred to you, Agent Quinn, that if he’d actually been unconscious, he would be dead? From what Noah tells us, the chain was set up to strangle him if he didn’t keep himself upright. Hard for an unconscious person to do.”
Kaely frowned. “I’m sure there’s an explanation. Maybe the UNSUB waited until he started to come to and then put the chain around his neck. He wanted Alex to suffer. To panic. Difficult for an unconscious person to do.” The last sentence was said with a hint of scorn.
“Maybe,” Beau said, “but it’s a good point. One that needs to be examined.”
“Tell us why Agent Cartwright was at the school,” Reinhardt said to Kaely.
“He got a text from one of his old CIs—or at least he thought it was from him. He was told this person had information about our UNSUB.”
“And he didn’t tell anyone else?” Lela said. “That’s not protocol.”
“He told me,” Noah said, “but he didn’t think this CI really had anything we could use. He wasn’t concerned.”
“He was way out of line,” Reinhardt said abruptly. “He had no business interfering in this case.”
Noah nodded but didn’t say anything. Reinhardt was right. Unless his SAC had given him permission to join their case, he wasn’t supposed to be involved. Alex could get in big trouble for his actions.
Noah looked over at Kaely. He knew she wanted help, but he wasn’t sure what he could do. “Let’s get back to looking for our UNSUB,” he said. “We’re not here to criticize one of our own. Thankfully, Kaely was able to figure out where our UNSUB would strike next. That’s the reason Agent Cartwright survived.”
He hoped Reinhardt would take that as a warning that if he continued, Noah could point out Reinhardt’s erroneous assumption that the UNSUB’s latest murder would be carried out in Forest Park.
“I suggest we direct any further questions about what happened to Alex himself,” Kaely said. “Can we move on? I think we need to concentrate on the next verses in our poem. I’m really concerned about the fifth verse.”
“Before we look at that,” Noah said, “what’s going on with Louis Bertrand, Ron?”
“I visited with him,” Ron said. “Finally got him to shut down the restaurant for a while. He won’t leave town, but we’ve got him under surveillance. He’s secure.”
“We can assign some officers to watch him too,” Jeff said.
“Thanks, Jeff. I’ll talk to you privately after the meeting. I’d appreciate the help.”
“Thank you both. That’s a huge relief to know he’s safe,” Kaely said. “Now I’m really concerned about the next verse in our poem, as I haven’t worked any poison cases. The only connection I have is sitting in on a lecture by John Davis back at Quantico. He talked about—”
“The Tylenol poisonings in the eighties,” Reinhardt finished. “Surely not. I mean, that could be . . .”
“Disastrous,” Noah said.
“Do we need to issue a public warning?” Beau asked. “I mean, I realize it would probably cause a panic.”
“Yes, it would, and since this is only a guess at this point, we need to know a lot more before we do anything.” Noah nodded at Reinhardt. “You’ve done a lot of research on the Tylenol case, Donald, and you’re friends with John Davis. Maybe you could share some insights. Give us some suggestions.”
“Sure. I’d be glad to, but can I have some time to write something up? I want to be thorough. TYMURS happened a long time ago.”
“Sure. All of you need to press hard on whatever you’re working on. I’ll send out for supper.”
As everyone got up and hurried back to their desks, Noah felt unsettled. He had no reason to suspect Alex’s story wasn’t true, yet it didn’t seem plausible. But why would he lie? Maybe he should talk to Alex himself. Could he have something to hide?