Noel didn’t speak until they were inside the SUV, after he’d shut the door. The front windshield was covered with frost, and their breath plumed in the air, fogging up the glass.
‘Well,’ he said, his voice empty, ‘that went pretty much as expected.’
When Darby spoke, her voice was just as empty. ‘Surprised he didn’t ask for his loaner back.’
‘What, you think he wants to be stuck in a car with us right now, playing chauffer?’
‘Given how pissed off he is, I think he’d want us to hand over our jackets and shoes and socks before making us walk back to the hotel.’
Noel nodded, either in agreement or because he felt the need to do something. Their empty words had nothing to do with the sheriff and everything to do with what happened inside the bedroom. Someone had hacked the baby monitor and listened in on them.
Noel turned the key in the ignition. ‘The way that guy screamed in the woods,’ he said.
Darby could hear it now, roaring inside her ears, that howl of outrage.
‘We have no way of knowing if the man we heard was, in fact, the Red Ryder,’ she said.
Noel leaned back against his seat and folded his arms across his chest as the car warmed up. ‘We also don’t have any proof it wasn’t him,’ he said. ‘Then again, what are the chances that it was someone else besides him?’
Unlikely, Darby thought.
Before calling Powers, they had discussed whether or not to share the information on Karen Decker, her letter and her belief that she’d found the Red Ryder here in Fort Jefferson. In the end, Noel had made the decision to keep the matter confidential until they came across some piece of evidence or some thread to follow. Right now, it was best to keep the matter contained as much as possible.
‘That place we found, the killing chamber,’ Noel began.
‘Those girls weren’t killed in there. If they were, the decomposition – the odours would have permeated through the walls and into the house. Someone would have complained.’
‘Not if you were the one who’d killed them and you lived there alone.’
‘True. But, given what I could see’ – she hadn’t entered the chamber, not wanting to disturb any evidence – ‘I couldn’t see the usual staining and such as you’d see with decomposition. That chamber, room, whatever, it’s … a sacred space. My guess is he took each of them someplace quiet and private – where he knew for certain no one would ever be able to hear them scream, and where no one would smell them when they decomposed. After nature had taken its course – when they were practically mummified – he brought them to this house.’
‘His house,’ Noel said.
‘We’ve already discussed this.’
Noel waved his hands. ‘I know, I know, we don’t know for certain the Red Ryder lived there at one point in time – at least not yet,’ he said. ‘But, Jesus, how many other people in Fort Jefferson do you think have a secret room behind a bookcase that leads to a room containing two dead bodies?’
‘I hear you. But I don’t think we should – okay, let’s assume he did live here at some point. What are the chances of your sister coming to Fort Jefferson and renting the same home that had once belonged to the man who had tried to kill her?’
Noel didn’t answer right away. ‘Slim,’ he said reluctantly.
‘Very slim, to the point of being next to impossible.’
‘Still, coincidences do happen in our line of work.’
Darby didn’t answer. Not because he could be right – coincidences did happen, more than she liked to admit – but because she reached the point of exhaustion where her brain felt like it had turned to soup.
‘Let’s go to the diner and grab something to eat,’ she said. ‘See if Betsey Sullivan is there, talk to her.’
Noel nodded, lost in thought. ‘The girls … you said you believed he took them someplace private before he transferred them to his house – excuse me, this house. That means he has a place somewhere in town or nearby. Karen could be there right now.’
‘Maybe.’
‘But you don’t believe it, do you?’
‘Hard to say. Right now, I’m concerned about the talent level here – the people I saw last night examining Coop’s rental, how they went about documenting everything … I’m not sure they’ve got the skills for something like this.’
‘Agreed. The smart play will be for Powers to call the state lab, get their people to come here and do the work. They’ve got the skill set, and, if anything goes wrong down the line, he can point the finger at them.’
‘The Bureau would make a much better scapegoat.’
‘And we have much deeper pockets to finance this sort of thing,’ Noel added. ‘But if Powers doesn’t want us here, there’s not much we can do. And if he does ask us for help – forensics, whatever – I still have to run it up the flagpole.’
‘Where it will be shot down.’
‘Not necessarily. The marshals bent a lot of rules for Karen, because everyone truly cared for her. But she left, and WITSEC isn’t going to advertise that fact. They don’t want any press, and Vivian will want to keep a close eye on what’s going on now, so she can prepare herself, prevent any potential bad publicity.’
‘Once Fort Jefferson starts digging, they’ll find out who Melissa French really is.’ Or was, Darby added privately. She didn’t believe the woman was still alive but kept the thought to herself.
Noel backed out of the driveway.
‘Just so we’re clear,’ she said, ‘I’m not leaving Fort Jefferson.’
‘Wasn’t expecting you to.’
‘You may want to relay that to your buddy, Bradley. If he approaches me and tries to drive me to the airport, he’ll be taking his next meal through a straw.’
‘I think you need to get some sleep.’
‘I’m serious.’
‘Wasn’t suggesting you weren’t. But he’s not going to find you.’
‘I booked you a room at our hotel. He thinks you’re staying there. He doesn’t know you decided to ditch us for some fancy lodge in Big Sky.’
‘And if he calls around?’
‘Let him. He won’t find you. I’ve taken care of it.’
The light in the sky wasn’t any brighter. It was like the sky couldn’t decide whether or not to release it. Like maybe it wanted to swallow the light and leave everything below the sky in darkness.
‘I’ll give Powers some time to cool down before I take another run at him,’ Noel said as they drove across the street. ‘At the end of the day, he needs us.’
Darby was looking out her side window, at the next-door neighbour’s house. The downstairs lights were still off, but the bedroom facing Karen’s home – the light was on there and she saw a young girl with blonde hair standing in the window, looking at the SUV.
Her eyes met Darby’s.
The girl made the sign of the cross.
‘The cadaver dogs,’ Darby said.
‘They’ll be here at nine thirty. The moment I find out, I’ll –’
‘You’re not going to find his body.’
‘It’s a lot of ground to cover, and it’s going to be tough because it’s all packed in snow. But if he’s there, I promise you I’ll find him.’
Ground to cover. For some reason the words triggered the image of Coop’s suitcase just sitting there, its luggage tag –
She straightened a bit in her seat, tensing.
Noel caught it. ‘What’s wrong?’