“WHERE DO YOU THINK DONNA TOOK THEM?” Boone asked as Terri collapsed in a chair at the table.
“Who knows? She’s crazy.” She buried her face in her hands. “If only I’d gone to the police back when I thought she killed her husband. But I didn’t have any proof.”
“You have proof now?” Lucien asked.
Terri lifted her head. “Nothing I could bring to you, Lucien. Just my gut feeling, and it’s rarely wrong.” She turned to Boone. “She was my husband’s lab assistant and had access to everything he did. If ricin went missing from his lab, she took it. My husband would never have stolen it or misplaced it—research was his life and he prided himself on his work. He wouldn’t have risked his reputation for anything.”
Boone showed her the pendant. “Have you ever seen this before?”
Terri shook her head.
He handed her the photo of Gabby with Harrison. “Could he have given it to her?”
“I don’t know.” She brought the photo closer to her face. “But that’s Donna in the background.”
“What?” He examined the picture. The scowling person she pointed out was heavier than the office manager he knew. But if he looked close, he could see a resemblance.
“Is that a list of people you think she killed?”
He turned, and she was staring at the whiteboard.
“Not exactly. Except for the father. The rest of them had contact with her.”
“What happened to her father?”
Boone handed her the two articles. Her eyes widened as she read. When she finished, she dropped the papers on the table.
“Earlier when I called her crazy, I was using a figure of speech. But she really is.” She swallowed hard. “There . . . is something I’ve never told anyone. When Bobby broke it off with her, she threatened to kill him.”
“You didn’t tell the police about her threat when he died?” Boone asked.
She shook her head. “I believed it was an accident, and I never dreamed she’d actually do it . . . except I never understood why he was that close to the edge of the cliff. He was always so careful. It wasn’t like him . . .” She pressed her hands together and touched them to her lips and looked at the board again. “What if Donna followed us to Big Sur? Bobby told me when he was confessing their affair that he and Donna had hiked it. That’s why we went there. To overlay his memories of being there with her with memories of the two of us. And he died instead.”
A text dinged on Boone’s phone. They all stared at his phone as though it’d grown wings.
“It’s from Rachel.” He couldn’t believe the message. “They’ve been carjacked.”
Immediately he tried to call her, but it went to voicemail.
“Maybe Donna has her phone,” Terri said.
The Judge leaned forward. “What purpose would it serve for Donna to send a text saying they’d been carjacked?”
“Good question.” He exchanged glances with the Judge. “I think we’ve been looking at this all wrong. We’ve been going on the assumption we’re dealing with a normal person.” He looked at Terri. “Did you say you had a tracking app on Erin’s phone?”
Terri yanked her phone from her pocket and clicked on an orange and white app. “Come on,” she muttered. Then she gasped. “It’s working now. They’re on Lamar! Right at Airways, it looks like.”
“Do you suppose they’re still headed to Graceland?” the Judge asked.
“I doubt it. Figure she’s headed out of the state. Maybe on the way to Mexico.” Boone rubbed his jaw.
“You really think she’d try something like that?” the Judge asked.
“If Donna has kidnapped them, she’s crazy and there’s no way to predict anything she’ll do. But eventually, they’ll have to stop for fuel. Maybe then Rachel will get an opportunity to get away.”
“Rachel won’t leave Erin,” Terri said.
He picked up his office phone and dialed the dispatcher. “I need a BOLO for Donna Dumont’s vehicle—you’ll have to get DMV to look up her tag number. And add a 2005 or 2006 dark gray Honda Civic to the BOLO. It’s registered to Rachel Sloan. You can get her tag number from DMV as well.”
He disconnected and then dialed the Financial Crimes Unit. If anyone could quickly track either of their credit cards, the FCU officers could. He explained what he wanted and that they could get Donna and Rachel’s personal information from their personnel records.
“They’ll let us know as soon as they know something,” he said after he hung up. Then he turned to Terri. “Check their whereabouts again.”
She refreshed the app and then groaned. “It says location not available. Why did it quit working?”
Boone brought Google Maps up on his computer. “Where did you say they were?”
“Airways and Lamar. Could they be going to the airport?”
“I don’t think so. No tickets, too many people.” But he typed in the Memphis, Tennessee, airport. The area around it was a good place to start. Nothing spoke to him and he zoomed out, following Lamar toward downtown. Boone caught his breath. “What was that cemetery her father is buried in?”
“Elmwood,” the Judge said. “Same one Gabby is buried in.”
“I think that’s where she’s headed.” The cemetery was huge, and in another hour it would be dark. What if Donna made a break for it when they confronted her? They’d never find her in the dark. Boone grabbed his phone and called for a chopper. They would need the lights the helicopter would provide. Thunder rumbled, and he glanced toward the window and frowned. It was too early to be this dark. When someone in the Air Support Division answered, he explained what he wanted. “But don’t deploy unless I ask for assistance.”
“Sorry, Lieutenant, but we’re about to get hit with a powerful thunderstorm in the next thirty minutes. We’re grounded.”
His muscles tensing, Boone quickly hung up and called the dispatcher again. “I have a possible hostage situation, and I need every available car to invisibly deploy toward Elmwood Cemetery and remain on standby. Do not attempt to apprehend the occupants in the vehicle. I repeat—do not apprehend.”
He grabbed his keys and rushed toward the door.
“Hold up,” the Judge said. “I’m coming with you.”
Boone turned to refuse, but the determination in the Judge’s face stopped him. It was plain he was coming with him or in his own vehicle. It was the same with Terri. “Okay, but once we get there, you’ll have to remain in the car.”
He half trotted across the street, keeping a wary eye on the low-hanging clouds in the sky. A thunderstorm was the last thing they needed. “What’s the quickest way to Elmwood?” he asked as he peeled down the garage ramp and out on to Washington.
Terri waved her phone. “I’ll check.” A minute later, she said, “I-40 to I-240 South, come off on exit 29. ETA is eight minutes.”
“Check and see the time from Airways and Lamar.” Boone flipped on his flashing lights and siren as he turned right on Poplar. At least downtown traffic had cleared out. “And while you’re at it, see if you can find anyone who can tell us where Alfred Baker’s grave is.”
“Seven minutes, but they’ve been traveling since I checked. They’re probably already there.” Then she said, “It says here the cemetery closed at four thirty.”
“Let me alert the Uniform Patrol. We might have a situation if she can’t get in.”
Terri took out her phone. “I’m going to try Erin one more time. Maybe someone will pick up.”