Amanda might have squeezed Zoe a little harder than normal this morning when she woke up. It was impossible to shove aside the fact two little girls had been murdered, and she and Trent weren’t anywhere close to finding out who was responsible. The mother and daughter discovered yesterday were still without names. Another check in missing persons last night hadn’t proved helpful.
Currently she and Trent were in the principal’s office at Dumfries Elementary School waiting to speak with Kim Brewer. While they were here, the autopsies were being conducted and cadaver dogs were scouring Prince Park. She hoped their efforts didn’t turn up any more bodies. There had been enough death to last her a lifetime.
“Amanda?” Kim was walking toward her and Trent. “Is there something else you need from me? I told you everything I knew about Charlotte.”
A student entered the office and reported to the secretary. Amanda asked that Kim take them to the teachers’ lounge again.
Once they were there, Amanda said, “The other day you mentioned that Jill Archer was talking with a man outside of the school, someone you didn’t recognize.”
“That’s right. What about him?”
“There’s been a development, and he is currently a person of interest.” Amanda might be stretching things, but better that than dire consequences if she continued to assume he didn’t matter.
Kim sat on the couch and rubbed her arms.
“If there is anything distinctive you can remember about him?” Trent’s tone was warm and would encourage the teacher to speak.
“I don’t really remember much about him…” She ran her bottom lip through her teeth. “Guess you could say he was good-looking.”
“Hair color, build?” Amanda asked.
“He had brown hair, was scruffy-faced.”
“Okay, that’s good.” Amanda offered the praise, though not confident the vague description would get them anywhere.
“I know it’s not much, probably nothing in the grand scheme. I mean, how many men likely fit that description? Oh, he was rather tall. I’d say a few inches over six feet, judging by how he looked next to Mrs. Archer.”
Trent was scribbling in his notepad, presumably recording everything Kim was saying.
“Did you see him arrive or leave? Maybe he came with someone else or he got into a vehicle?” Amanda asked.
“No, sorry, I didn’t. I just saw him with Jill for the passing of a few seconds. Long enough to feel that they might have known each other.”
“Right, as you mentioned yesterday.” An innocent explanation for his presence remained—a kid’s uncle or stepdad asked to step in that day. But then there was the fact they interacted as if they were familiar to each other. That would suggest they’d at least spoken on more than one occasion. “It would help if we could see this man for ourselves. Does the school have video surveillance outside?”
“For sure.”
A rush of hope fluttered through Amanda. It was always some small clue that typically led to resolving an investigation. This footage might break this case wide open. That’s if they got a clear shot of the man’s face and it got them somewhere. “We’ll talk to the principal about getting our hands on the footage.” Kim wouldn’t have the authority to give it to them.
“Yes, you’d need to. That’s out of my hands.”
Amanda nodded. Before they left she wanted to ask Kim about something else. If the unidentified girl from yesterday was from the area, she might have attended Dumfries Elementary. If so, they could get their identities and score a connection between the victims. She’d need to be careful how she asked though, so as not to give away that anyone had been murdered. The sergeant’s words repeated in her head—media shitstorm. “Do you know if any other students around Charlotte’s age have missed weeks of class?” She’d phrased it like this because they may be off on the estimate of the girl’s age. She also might have gone to the school but wasn’t in Kim’s class.
Kim narrowed her eyes and studied Amanda and Trent. “None of my children. But weeks of missing class? I would have heard about that.”
Was the unidentified little girl from outside of the county or assigned to another school in the area? Ten minutes down the road from Dumfries, Woodbridge had three. Or were mother and daughter from out of state? It might be time to call on the FBI’s ViCap database, if only to help form the big picture of what they may be dealing with. But she thought of one explanation that could have students missing class that wouldn’t raise concerns. “Have you had any students recently leave your class because the family moved?”
“It’s just barely the start of the school year. I mean, if they were going to move, surely, for the children, parents would have done it before September. But in answer to your question, I haven’t heard about any students leaving because of a recent move.”
“Thank you, Kim. We appreciate your cooperation.”
“Did something happen to another child?”
Trent tucked his notepad and pen away, putting it back in his pocket. Apparently, he was leaving this question for Amanda.
“We can’t say anything at this time. That’s probably not what you want to hear, but trust me when I say what you’ve told us has helped with the case.” They were walking away with the knowledge that the girl from the grave yesterday likely wasn’t from Dumfries.
“I didn’t think I said that much, but if I was a help, good. Is that all you need from me today?”
“Just one more thing. Call me if you see that man again. I assume you still have my card?”
“I do, and I will.”
“Thanks.”
Kim returned to her classroom, and Amanda and Trent returned to the school’s administrative office.
Amanda was debating internally whether they had enough to justify the request for the security footage to a judge if it came to that. Hopefully, the principal would save them the trouble of needing to find out. Looking at it from one angle, the mystery man may have nothing to do with the murders. But it was hard to ignore that a woman who was normally quiet and timid spoke to man in a relaxed manner. Was Jill having an affair with him—their conversation and the murders two distinct things? Or were they connected? Was that man the killer they were after? He might have gotten close to Jill, earned her trust. It certainly would make it easier to abduct her and her daughter. But how did that tie to their latest discovered victims? “We’ll talk to the principal and see if he’ll give us the footage without a warrant.”
“Makes sense to me.”
They checked in with Flora, and she told them to go on into the principal’s office. Amanda and Trent were both familiar with him. She was because Zoe went here. Trent because he’d gone with Amanda to the man for help when Zoe had been in danger last year.
“Amanda Steele, or should I say Detective Steele?” the principal said from where he was seated behind his desk. “And I’m sorry, but I can’t remember your name?” He swept his gaze to Trent.
“Detective Stenson,” Trent replied.
“We have a situation in which Dumfries Elementary has the opportunity to be a tremendous help to the PWCPD.” Amanda set the hook. The worm was the chance for the man to be a hero.
The principal leaned forward. “Oh? And how is that?”
“We need to obtain some security footage.” Amanda gave him the timeframe.
“Hmph.” He sat back, swiveled. “I’d need a warrant to protect the privacy of the children and their families.”
“You’re likely not aware, but the case we’re working involves the murder of one of your students.”
His mouth gaped open, but he didn’t say anything.
She’d obviously need to do more pushing and stress why he’d want to cooperate. “I can’t imagine it reflecting too well on you if it leaked someone got onto school grounds and ended up killing a child and her mother. You sure there’s nothing you can do?”
“Poached and abducted from here?” He swallowed roughly. “This is heartbreaking.”
“So you’ll get us the video footage?”
He pursed his lips and avoided eye contact. “I’m sorry, Detective, but to hand the footage over without a warrant would require approval from the school board.” There was a slight hiccup to the man’s voice disclosing genuine sadness, but from what she’d seen before he was also part businessman, concerned about the reputation of his school.
That could take longer than getting the warrant. The school admins would want to meet and discuss… and discuss some more. “We’ll get a warrant.”
She was the first to leave his office, angry to her core. “These children—Zoe—is under this man’s care and he’s more concerned about image.”
“Sadly, it’s how the world works,” Trent lamented, keeping stride with her, heading toward the department car.
“Oh, you don’t need to tell me how it works. But it stinks.”
“I’ll call Judge Anderson.”
“Thanks.” While he did that, Amanda checked her emails. There was one from CSI Blair advising that she and Donnelly had assumed the lead on the second set of victims and that all the evidence collected yesterday had been passed on to them. Amanda replied to Blair.
That’s excellent. Need you to look closer at the stuffed toys. Are there any similarities? Anything that might help advance the case?
Just after she hit send, her phone rang. Rideout. She answered immediately. “Detective Steele.”
“It’s Hans. I’m getting started on preparing the bodies for autopsy, and I have news you’re going to want to hear.”
He stopped there, leaving her hanging. She had a fondness for the ME, but not his flair for inserting suspense. “Which is…?”
“I know the victims’ names. Connie Riggs is the mother, thirty-one. The girl was six. Name’s Jodi Riggs.”
Names helped and hurt. They stamped home the dire reality—lives were lost. “How did you find that?”
“I was disrobing the woman and found her driver’s license in the bottom of her left sock.”
“Strange place to keep it.” Amanda doubted she’d walked around with it there, so had Connie Riggs hidden it or had the killer put it there? And how would the former scenario even work out? It was possible Connie had it on her person, say in a pants pocket, the killer unaware of the fact. Then she could have hidden it. Otherwise, Amanda suspected the killer would have taken her purse and she’d have no way of getting her hands on it.
Rideout continued. “When I looked her up in the system, I saw she had a daughter.”
“Do you have an address?”
“Sure do. Washington.”
That would explain why Kim Brewer wasn’t aware of any absent children from Dumfries Elementary. But it highlighted a bigger problem. Was the killer on the move, selecting victims from different states? But if so, why were the Riggs buried in Prince Park? Their killer had to be from the Prince William County area, or in the least return occasionally. Was it just to bury his victims or did work draw him here? Another possibility was he ran into the Riggs locally, making him a resident of the county.
“Her background tells me she was married to Karl Riggs.”
“Please fire the address over to me.”
“The second I hang up.”
“Thanks. Oh, do you know if Karl ever filed missing person reports for his family?”
“No record that I found.”
Amanda thanked Rideout again and hung up. Trent was just putting his phone away too. “So?” she asked him, holding back on her news while trying to squash her temper. Karl hadn’t even reported his family missing!
“It’s a yes/no. He wants the paperwork for this before he’ll give us the go-ahead.”
“As if there’s not enough on our plate.”
“And the call?” Trent gestured toward her phone.
“Rideout. We have our ID on the other mother and daughter—Connie and Jodi Riggs. She was married, and they lived in Washington.”
“Washington?” His mouth widened; his eyes became dark. “Let’s go.”
Her phone pinged, as if on cue, and the message was the one promised from Rideout. They had their destination to enter into the vehicle’s GPS.