Amanda woke up the next morning, missing Zoe. She’d surrendered at eight last night and called Libby to have Zoe sleep over with her. It turned out to be a wise decision, as Amanda and Trent didn’t call it quits until 3 AM. They watched the video covering the Tuesday Jill and Charlotte were taken. They’d fast-forwarded some to cut down on time. Since the camera from Corey’s Grocer covered the entrance to the lot, they noted every vehicle as it entered, recording make and model and license plate numbers. They’d compare this list to what they found on the footage from this previous Tuesday—when the Reillys were abducted.
One gem they’d uncovered was Jill’s Chevy Malibu leaving the lot at eleven thirty with a man in the driver’s seat. There wasn’t any shot of his face, but the build was unmistakably male.
Amanda had only gone home when her eyes became cross-eyed and fuzzy and a piercing headache jabbed her skull. Even if they had discovered a solid lead then, she wouldn’t have been able to act on it.
It was twenty to eight in the morning when she parked in the lot for Hannah’s Diner. She did a double take when she saw Graves’s Mercedes parked where it had been the last time. Graves was behind the wheel and staring at the building.
Amanda followed the direction of her gaze and saw May through the glass, moving around behind the counter. Is she watching May?
She had half a mind to rap on the car’s window and ask what was going on. But it’s not my monkeys, not my circus… A catchy phrase her older brother would sometimes say.
Amanda entered the coffee shop, the bell chiming over the door, and May perked up at the sight of her. Eight at night or eight in the morning, May was always there. Amanda hoped to have that kind of energy when she reached her sixties.
May tapped the counter. “Extra-large black coming right up.”
“Make it two.”
“Going into work with that partner of yours on a Saturday morning?”
“Yep. All fun and games.”
May set about pouring the coffees, while Amanda brewed with frustration. Was it too much to ask for one solid lead? And were Leanne and Gracie even still alive? She had to believe they were. Saving them served as stronger motivation than simply capturing this killer.
Her tired mind was also obsessing about the sergeant’s recent behavior. She hadn’t been skulking outside the diner for months or Amanda would have noticed long before now, as Hannah’s was her regular haunt. To think of it, she hadn’t seen Graves here before Jill and Charlotte Archer had been found.
Is there a link between the investigation and Graves lurking?
“Here ya go, hon.” May handed Amanda the to-go cups in a tray.
“Thanks.” She should just take them and go, but her legs weren’t moving. “Whose Mercedes is that?” Amanda jacked a thumb behind her. She’d play dumb. May had told her she never met the new sergeant, but for a woman who noticed everything surely she’d seen the car.
“It’s interesting that you ask.” May braced both her hands on the counter. “It’s here pretty near every day. I’m just too busy to check on it.”
“Every day?”
“For at least a week, anyway.”
As she’d thought, around the start of the case… “The person ever come in?”
“Nah. I’d have noticed. But you know what…” May rounded the counter and beelined for the front door. The moment she opened it, Graves pulled out of the lot. May swept a hand in gesture of good riddance and faced Amanda. “Maybe you would look into that for me? Seems a little creepy that someone is watching me.”
Amanda knew the stalker’s identity, and it was creepy—strange for certain. “I’ll do what I can.”
“Thanks, dearie, I know you will. Though I’m sure you have your hands full with more important matters.”
“Why’s that? Just because I’m working on a weekend?”
“I’m guessing you’re caught up with the bodies found in the park, and now that it’s hit the news…” May returned behind the counter, pulled a newspaper from a shelf there, and plunked it on top. “I haven’t read it yet, but the title says enough.”
Amanda read the headline: “Local Mother and Daughter Missing, Suspected Victims of a Serial Killer.”
Amanda set the tray of coffees down and picked up the paper. It would seem despite Graves’s efforts to deter reporters and their ilk, the story made it to print.
She dropped onto a stool.
“Mandy, are you working this case?”
“Yeah, I…” She let her words trail off, glancing over the article.
“Is there a serial killer active in Prince William County? If there is, I tell ya, you’re the best the department’s got. You’ll get them.”
Amanda appreciated the woman’s confidence but didn’t feel it herself right now. Especially when she and Trent were so desperate for leads. She didn’t respond to May but started reading. The article exposed names: the Archers, the Riggs, giving the public faces to go with the unnamed victims earlier reported as being found in Prince Park. It also mentioned the Reillys. This article wasn’t designed to just give the news, it was a slander piece against the PWCPD and Sergeant Graves. The reporter had even dug into her personal history.
Katherine Graves took over the post of sergeant for the PWCPD Homicide Unit back in March. A transplant from the NYPD, Graves has a dark past closely relating to this investigation. The victims were women who were allegedly abused by their husbands. It’s believed Connie Riggs was trying to get away from her husband when the killer targeted her. We can only hope that Sergeant Graves’s experience as a child in an abusive household will serve as strong motivation to push her team into action and get some resolution.
“Mandy, everything all right?” May’s voice cut through the chatter in her mind.
Dark past… abusive household… That might explain the cooperation they’d received from Graves with this case and potentially explain her behavioral changes.
“Thanks, May. I’ve gotta go.” Amanda popped up and rushed out the door. She turned back when she realized she’d forgotten the coffee.
“Be careful out there,” May called after her.
She waved a hand over her head in acknowledgment. She drove to Central, her mind more preoccupied than before she’d stopped at Hannah’s Diner. What was in Graves’s past? Did it factor into her move from New York City? Did it have anything to do with her basically stalking May Byrd?
She held her breath on that last question as the words were bare and pointed. What had the sergeant watching the older woman? Graves haled from the Big Apple with no history in Prince William County that Amanda was aware of. And maybe that was the key point. Amanda didn’t know a lot about the woman’s past or present.
She turned into the station’s lot and saw protesters clustered together, holding signs and waving them up and down en masse.
Bring Leanne and Gracie home
PWCPD work for us
Catch the killer!
Their chants made their way through the glass and metal of Amanda’s Honda Civic. “Save them! Save them!”
There wasn’t one officer in sight working to corral them and get them off the property. No one from crowd control dressed up in their armor and shields ready to withstand pepper spray and paint bombs either. While the protest seemed rather peaceful at the moment, that could change in a flash.
She pulled around back, through the lot that was used for department vehicles.
Some members of the crowd turned their heads in her direction but thankfully never pursued her. She parked and got out.
The sound of a vehicle pulling up behind her had her turning quickly.
Diana Wesson stepped out of a PWC News van and smoothed her skirt.
Amanda had run-ins with this reporter before and didn’t want a repeat experience. She held up a hand, not that it persuaded the woman to back off.
Once her cameraman caught up, Diana put the microphone in Amanda’s face. “Where are Leanne and Gracie Reilly? Do you have any leads on their whereabouts?”
“No comment.” Amanda pivoted and carried on her way despite the cries of the reporter to give her just one minute of her time. She had nothing to say, and this reporter knew the drill. Statements from the department came from the Public Information Office.
Amanda went into the station and headed directly for the sergeant’s office. She found Graves behind the desk. “They all need to go.” She doubted she’d need to clarify who they were.
Graves sat up straighter, nudged out her chin. “Good morning to you too, Detective Steele.”
“Did you hear me?”
“I’m not hard of hearing, so, yes, I heard you.”
“Then?”
“We make a move on them, this will turn ugly fast.”
“It’s already ugly. Diana Wesson, a reporter with PWC News, is now out there. We don’t need the pressure, but how might this affect the man who has the Reillys? He could do something rash.” She was desperate, wanting to save them but so powerless.
Graves spoke slowly and methodically. “This isn’t about us—you or me.”
“Seems to be some about you,” Amanda slapped back, and was sorry the moment she had. The one time she failed to do the countdown in her head before speaking. “I’m sorry, I…”
“You saw the article?”
“I did.”
“Well, as I said, this isn’t about either of us. We do our jobs. And, please, tell me you have a lead.”
“I disagree.” Amanda peacocked her stance. “Those picketers and the press are outside because they think your past does affect the case.”
Graves scowled, and she spoke through clenched teeth. “My past never should have been mentioned. It has nothing to do with this case.” The sergeant’s eye contact challenged Amanda to contest her.
There hadn’t been a reason to link the sergeant with the victims or the killer, but they could have missed something. A possible clue intended for Graves. But surely if she’d seen it, she would have mentioned it. Failure to do so didn’t reconcile with Graves’s sincere interest in resolving the case. Still, Amanda had to ask. “Is there any way someone in your past, maybe from your time with the NYPD, could be messing with you or calling you out?”
“No, Amanda.” Graves sighed and massaged her temple.
The sergeant rarely, if ever, pulled out her first name. Amanda nodded.
“Tell me you and Trent have something.”
“Wish I could.” Amanda filled her in on what she and Trent had done last night and how late they hung around.
“Still nowhere. This is unbelievable. There must be something we’re missing.”
“Trent and I plan to watch the video from the day the Reillys were taken. It seems possible our killer may go to this plaza on Tuesdays—basing this on when the Archers and Reillys disappeared. Too soon to know for sure until we make the vehicle comparisons though.”
“Guess that’s the best we’ve got at this point.” There was silence, then Graves added, “God help us.”
Amanda bit her tongue on a reply. The sergeant didn’t put faith in the science of psychology, rather in an invisible all-powerful being. They’d never fully see eye to eye. “We’ll get started immediately.”
“Keep me posted.” Graves shuffled papers on her desk, and her cell phone started ringing in unison with the one on her desk.
Amanda left her to it, not envying the sergeant her position in this shitstorm. She also observed that Graves had given no indication she’d seen Amanda at Hannah’s this morning when she would have. But that was a riddle to solve another day. Just like Graves’s mysterious, abusive past. The priority now was finding Leanne and Gracie Reilly.