Chapter Twenty-Seven

BEFORE HANNAH AND I left the rental agency, I excused myself to call Tomas. When I checked my phone earlier, I found he’d left me a message. He answered on the first ring.

“Terry, I’ve got news you’re going to want to hear.”

“Go ahead, and then I need to ask you something.”

“Remember you asked me to come up with whatever I could about Grieve’s cousin, Susan Leads? It turns out she’s dead, murdered actually.”

Now we were getting somewhere. “Did you find out how Susan died? Any chance it was a stab wound to the throat?”

“You are correct—just like the murders you’re investigating. In Susan’s case, they already caught the killer. I’m going to read you the newspaper article. This is from the March 31st edition of last year’s Cicero, Illinois News.

“‘Susan Monroe, a forty-one-year-old Cicero resident, was killed yesterday at a local McDonald’s restaurant. Ms. Monroe, a teacher at Cicero Middle School, attempted to intervene in a dispute between two other customers at the Lincoln Street McDonald’s. One of those customers, Mr. Daniel Stedman, is in police custody. According to witness reports, Mr. Stedman stabbed Ms. Monroe in the throat after she tried to step between Mr. Stedman and his eighteen-year-old girlfriend, Jacqueline Towns. Mr. Stedman is confined at the Cicero jail until his arraignment on charges of assault and second-degree murder. A wake for Ms. Monroe will be held Wednesday at the Midland Funeral Home.’”

“How did you figure out Susan Monroe was Susan Leads?”

“That’s an interesting story, and it’s also why it took me so long to dig this up. Susan Leads never formally changed her name from Leads to Monroe. There was no marriage, no divorce, nothing that would normally lead a woman to change her name. It appears Susan Leads assumed the identity of Susan Monroe ten years ago, just before she moved to Cicero. I would never have found her if she hadn’t filled out a post office change of address card under Leads when she moved from her old apartment. When I checked the Cicero address, I noticed Leads had suddenly become Monroe.

“I wanted to be sure,” he continued, “so I checked the website for the Cicero Middle School. They have pictures of all their teachers, including a memorial for Susan. When you compare Susan Monroe’s picture to Susan Leads’s last driver’s license photo, they are definitely the same woman.”

“Thanks, Tomas. Once again, you went above and beyond. Any chance you can get the contact information for Susan’s parents? Like you said, most women only change their name when they’re getting married or divorced. Short of that, they’re usually trying to escape a bad relationship.”

As I was speaking, I noticed Hannah had already gone to her car. Before following her, I added, “I’m wondering if Dr. Grieve wasn’t behind Susan’s own name change. I’m betting he continued to contact her after they broke off their relationship. Her parents would know—if they’re willing to talk with me.”

“I have the parents’ number in my records, and I’ll text it to you as soon as we’re done. If you get through, you’ll be talking to just the mother. Susan’s father died of cancer last year.”

“Unfortunately,” I said, “I have another favor to ask. Do you remember the copy of the hard drive I talked about? I finally have it, and if you’re going to be at home, I can bring it by tonight. I told you my goal was to send Dr. Grieve a message from the website, one that would goad him into replying and giving us his location. We now believe he’s hiding out in a house on or near Elfin Street in North Olmsted, but we still don’t know the exact address. That’s what I’m hoping you can help us find out.”

“Once you get me the hard drive,” Tomas replied, “I should be able to send a message. If Grieve answers, I can get you an address if I catch it quickly enough. That assumes Grieve replies from the house and doesn’t go back to the same library you said he used previously. It also assumes I can run the trace as soon as he sends his reply.

“The trick to tracing an e-mail message,” Tomas continued, “is to identify the IP address. I know you hate tech stuff, so I’ll give you the short version. An IP address is an identifier assigned to any device on a computer network. The IP address from your computer goes out every time you send an e-mail. Finding the address is easy. I could even show you how to do it.”

“Your faith in my computer skills is astounding. The New Orleans computer expert mentioned an IP address, but she could only track it to a general area. How are you going to go further than that?”

“IP addresses are dynamic. They change every time you access the internet, and that’s why we need to catch his reply right away. If you delay your trace, the IP address used by your murderer might shift to somewhere else in the same geographic area. I want to help, but I can’t be watching this 24-7. You need to hope he’s still monitoring his e-mail and responds quickly. That’ll require the right message and a lot of luck.”

“I need to speak with my partner, and I also want to talk with Susan Leads’s mother. If my assumption about Susan is correct, you may have already given me the perfect message. In any case, I’ll drop the hard drive off at your apartment this evening. You sure I won’t be interrupting anything?”

“This is just the kind of thing she might find interesting.”

“Very funny. This stays between us, okay?”

“I am the soul of discretion. Just be sure you are the same—no mentioning my name to your partner.”

Finally reaching Hannah’s BMW, I filled her in while making sure to keep my source confidential. I told her about Susan Leads’s murder, her name change, and the potential for an e-mail trace. I also told her I wanted to contact Susan’s mother.

“What do you think the mother can tell us?” Hannah asked. “And why do you suppose Grieve’s parents neglected to mention Susan’s death?”

“Grieve’s parents may not even know. If they were aware, you heard how touchy a subject Susan’s relationship with Michael was to them. They may have decided to keep her death to themselves.

“I think Susan’s murder set everything else in motion. Think of the timing. Daniel Stedman killed Susan in March of last year by stabbing her in the throat. Our first murder took place just two months later, also by a stab wound to the throat. Every other murder used the same technique. Now add in the fact that Susan likely changed her name to get away from someone. I’m betting that person was Grieve.

“I’m also betting Grieve found out about her murder. The knowledge he indirectly caused Susan’s death may have been too much for him to bear. Where do Catholics go when they’re feeling guilty? They go to confession.”

As Hannah began to drive, I continued, “I know I’m reaching, but that might be the Father Samuel connection. I’m betting Grieve went to see Samuel and didn’t get the absolution he was looking for. If that’s true, then chasing Samuel to Cleveland and confessing to future murders might be Grieve’s way of transferring some of his guilt.”

“As theories go,” Hannah said, “I guess it’s the best one we’ve got right now. You still didn’t answer my question about the mother.”

“She can confirm a couple of things. Was Grieve still contacting Susan, and is that why she changed her name? I’d also like to know if Susan’s mother contacted her sister—Grieve’s mother—about her daughter’s murder. If Susan’s mother considered Grieve to be indirectly responsible for her daughter’s death, she might have unloaded some of that anger on her sister. Even though he is her son, Grieve’s mother might have blamed him as well. Think of all the humiliation the original incident must have caused her, not to mention the estrangement from her sister. While she may not have told us, it would be natural for his mom to tell him about the murder.”

“If Susan’s mother confirms your theory, I assume that will be the basis of our message to Dr. Grieve?”

“Exactly. We need something that’ll get Grieve to react quickly without thinking of the consequences. Assuming Grieve is still monitoring the Private Matters site, this is the best we can do.”

“You’re right about the strategy, though part of me hates taking advantage of a girl’s death.” Hannah looked like she was seeing me for the first time. “You have a cold side I never noticed before.”

“Serial murderers bring that out in me.”