It was ten that night by the time Amanda had Roy Archer and his lawyer back in an interview room.
“I’m not sure why you had to drag us in here for the second time today.” Willis had dark shadows under his eyes.
“There’s been another discovery in Prince Park,” Trent said, leveling this at Roy.
He perked up. “I’m assuming by discovery you mean bodies. I was in a jail cell, so I didn’t do it.”
“Good assumption, Mr. Archer,” Amanda pushed out. “Another mother and daughter. She may have been the victim of abuse, like your wife.”
“Okay… Not sure how this involves me.” Roy raised his brows, popping eyes that were bloodshot.
“They were in a shallow grave, positioned the same way as your wife and daughter. They looked a lot like them too.” She almost added from what you could tell. The decomp was far more progressed than that of Jill and Charlotte.
Willis grinned triumphantly at Roy. “Sounds to me like you’ve unearthed a reason to let my client go.”
Amanda fought rolling her eyes at the lawyer’s pun. “Do you know anything about them, Mr. Archer?”
“Nothing. I swear.”
“Detective, can you connect these murders to my client? If not, you have no more reason to hold him and I suggest you release him immediately. In your own words, you describe a crime scene that is identical. That means whoever killed Jill and Charlotte Archer also murdered the two found today. That correct?”
“Yes, but here’s the thing,” Amanda started. “They’ve been dead about a month.”
Roy paled. “That doesn’t mean I had anything to do with—”
There was a knock on the one-way mirror. It would be Graves from the observation room.
Amanda and Trent went next door to join her.
“We’ve got to cut him loose,” Graves said the moment they cleared the doorway.
“He killed his wife and daughter,” Trent spat.
“I know you want resolution, Detective. And I appreciate you want some justice because this man beat his wife, but putting him away for murders he didn’t commit isn’t the way to get it.”
Amanda noted the subtle flicker in the sergeant’s eye.
“I believe we can all agree that the same person killed and buried both mothers and daughters?” Graves said.
“Yes, absolutely,” Amanda agreed.
“It appears so,” Trent chimed in.
“Then we have no choice. Since we don’t have enough evidence against Archer now, cut him loose.”
“We have the right to hold him,” Amanda argued. “We could find evidence.”
“Too much of a hunting expedition, Detective.”
Trent clenched his jaw. “Archer beat his wife, abused his daughter. In the least he needs to be stripped of the badge.”
Graves stiffened, blinked slowly, licked her lips. “You leave his future up to me. All right?”
“Yes, ma’am,” Trent said, his facial expression relaxing.
“Detective Steele?” Graves prompted.
“I’ll leave it to you.” Amanda wasn’t sure what the sergeant intended to do but figured it was related to the earlier look in her eye. And no doubt she’d hear of the fallout before long.
“What I like to hear.”
The silence held a charged energy, as if Graves expected Amanda and Trent to leave that instant and release Roy.
Amanda’s legs were weighed to the floor. “We’ll give Archer the news, but there is another avenue that Trent and I never explored. You should probably know about it. Charlotte’s teacher at Dumfries Elementary had noticed Jill Archer speaking with a man outside the school. The teacher didn’t recognize him. Now, it might not mean anything—”
“But it might,” Graves cut in and narrowed her eyes. “Why haven’t I heard about this before?”
“Evidence had pointed to Roy Archer when the only victims were his wife and daughter. But now we have two more. If we’re looking for someone targeting mothers and daughters, we need to consider everything.”
“Agreed. Follow that up first thing in the morning. See if you can get video surveillance that shows us this guy’s face and ask around the school about him.”
“You got it,” Amanda replied. “Would you be able to apply some pressure on the phone provider to get Jill’s records? That would at least give us her communication history, even where her phone last pinged.” And where the hell is Jill’s car? Yet another loose thread.
“Absolutely. My second call after I arrange things with the K-9 unit.”
“Amanda and I also discovered that Jill Archer may be a member at New World Church,” Trent said, speaking up. “We could talk with some members and see if any have something to offer the investigation.”
“It sounds to me like you two have your next steps. Proceed with both avenues tomorrow morning.”
“And the autopsies?” The full itinerary Graves had laid out for them left little room in their schedule.
“You leave the bodies to Rideout and his assistant. You get us some answers. Keeping the Archers’ names out of the paper has been a haul, but now another mother and daughter…? The media will catch wind of this and, excuse me for saying, but it has real potential to become a shitstorm quick if the PWCPD doesn’t provide answers to the public.”
“I understand that.” And Amanda did—quite well. Reporters and journalists crawled through the teeniest of cracks. “I know I mentioned the stuffed toys already, but I think we should have Forensics take a closer look at them. Maybe what they find will lead us closer to our killer. Don’t know how but I feel it’s something worth looking into.”
“Sure. If you think it will help.”
“Just exploring all possibilities for leads. The last thing any of us wants is more mothers and daughters being killed.”
Every one of them became quiet with the stark possibility of more victims.
“Maybe we should reach out to the FBI and have them search ViCap,” Amanda said. “I have a contact. Do you want me to give him a call?”
The Violent Criminal Apprehension Program was a database kept by the FBI that housed crimes from across the country that were unsolved.
“Let me sleep on that, Detective.”
Amanda nodded. Most sergeants and police chiefs weren’t eager to bring in the feds. But their database could show other mothers and daughters who had been found in shallow graves across the US. Tragic, for sure, but being armed with that knowledge would only help the case. A profile of the killer might emerge, preventing more death and resulting in justice. If so, asking the FBI for help was worth swallowing some pride.