CHAPTER SEVEN

 

 

Paige had not slept after the nightmare. Her mind had replayed her captivity with Thames over and over like clips from a movie. Awake and agitated in the middle of the night, she’d tackled the kitchen clean up from dinner. After, she’d showered and dressed.

With hours left before she and Sam needed to begin their day, she prowled Sam’s house, working off nerves that gave way to anger. Since her captivity, she’d bounced between anxiety and anger. The anger kept her putting one foot in front of the other even if that foot had to be dragged, she thought bitterly.

She made her way to the glass doors that led to the back deck. The sky was slowly lightening.

“You’re up early.”

She turned at the sound of Sam’s voice. He stepped off the stairs. His dark hair was still damp from his shower. He’d put on a suit, but beneath the jacket his tie hung loose around the collar of a white shirt. “You, too.”

The sound of a vehicle outside cut off any reply Sam may have made and had him going to the front door. The deep throaty sound of the engine told Paige the vehicle was large. Sam’s property was deep and the house was set far back from the road, almost hidden from view. The secluded location meant they did not receive casual visitors. Whoever was out there had done some work to find the place.

Sam swung the door open. He was a big man and she couldn’t see what he was looking at. She stepped around him and saw the vehicle in question was a news van pulling to a stop on the road at the end of Sam’s property. Another van parked behind the first.

Sam scowled. “We’re not the only ones up early.”

Two hours later they left the house, stepping out to another dark day with rain likely. The news vans hadn’t left. Paige would have been surprised if they had, but as long as the vehicles were on public property and didn’t venture on to Sam’s land, they were free to remain.

A reporter speaking into a microphone called out to Sam. “Agent McKade, what can you tell us about Agent Wingate’s involvement in the murder of Lonny Corbett?”

Sam ignored the question.

“An arraignment is scheduled for Monday. How is Agent Wingate going to plead?” another reporter shouted.

Again Sam did not respond. They got into his truck. The news vans scrambled to give chase.

Their first stop was to the jail to see Riley and the Bureau lawyer Sam had retained for him. After, they left the police station. Another news crew had joined the first two. Kirk PD officers formed a perimeter, keeping the men and women off the station parking lot.

Lonny Corbett’s autopsy was that morning. Due to a backlog at the county coroner’s office, the Bureau’s medical examiner in Columbia would conduct the autopsy. With the media riding the truck’s bumper, Sam took the turn on to the interstate.

Medical examiner Dr. Melinda Walden lifted one thick dark eyebrow as Paige and Sam entered her office in the basement of the Bureau building. The walls were painted a pale blue over cinder blocks. Stacks of file folders and loose pages took up every available space, including two chairs covered with a wine colored fabric that looked dusty. Paige had been here once before, months earlier, to witness an autopsy for one of Thames’s victims.

Walden gave Sam a sour look that drew her round face in tight and heightened her naturally ruddy cheeks. “I’m cranky, Sam. Not how I planned to spend my Saturday morning.”

A smile tugged Sam’s mouth and he held out the bag he held. “Sorry, Lindy. I appreciate you fitting this in. I brought you your favorite.”

Walden raised a hand and flicked bangs that were sunset orange today. The last time Paige had seen her, the woman’s hair had been green.

Walden sniffed. “There’d better be chocolate and whipped cream in there.”

Sam’s grin widened. “Would I let you down?”

She reached out for the bag, fingers wiggling, then removed a chocolate éclair from inside. She waved the hand holding the pastry. “Let me eat this in silence and then we’ll get started.”

A few minutes later, Walden brushed her palms together, scattering pastry crumbs, then led the way to the autopsy theater. As always, the smell hit Paige. Disinfectant and strong cleaning products. Walden’s office may be untidy and dusty but not so in here. Equipment was neatly stored and bright lights glinted off every polished surface and the equally polished tile floor.

The thin man with the bald crown who was Walden’s assistant had already set things up. The body had been washed and readied. The instruments Walden would use to perform the autopsy were lined up like soldiers in the order they would be needed. Paige could see film in the X-Ray viewer that she presumed belonged to Corbett.

Walden scrubbed her hands at the sink on one wall, then plucked a towel off the counter to dry them. She snapped on gloves. “Just the two of you? Since the accused is one of ours, I would have thought there’d be more of you to oversee this.”

Sam stood across from Walden and the body. “Just us. What do you know so far, Lindy?”

A pair of glasses dangled from a silver chain around her neck. She put them on then snatched a sheaf of papers stapled together that had been left for her near the instruments. “He had methamphetamine in him. Entered his system not long before his death. He didn’t have a chance to work off his high. We’ve got defensive wounds on his hands. He saw his attacker coming.”

She plopped the papers back near the instruments then removed her glasses, letting them fall to her chest. She lifted Corbett’s right arm. “See this cut?” She pointed to a diagonal slice from wrist to elbow. “The angle indicates our killer is right-handed. Corbett tried to block the blade and it cut right into him. Deep enough that his arm would have been pretty much useless after that. By the angle and location of the wound, he would have brought up his arm across his chest, covering his heart, protecting it. I’d say his attacker was going there all along rather than the throat, face, or abdomen.”

“The abdomen would have been easier to sink into,” Sam said. “A better choice.”

“Yeah.” Walden nodded. “But our killer bypassed that and aimed for the heart. There are only the two stab wounds, one on the arm and the other to the heart. He missed the first time but got there the second.”

“You don’t think it was a lucky hit?” Sam asked.

Walden clucked her tongue. “Uh uh. This was a clean, straight, strong cut. No twisting of the blade. No erratic jabs to drive it home. Our killer put his muscle behind it. He didn’t waffle.”

Paige knew where Sam was going with that question. Standing beside him, she focused on the wounds Walden had spoken of. The killer knew where to direct the knife to pierce the heart and how much pressure to apply to get the job done. No, not lucky. Experienced. When they caught him, Paige would not be surprised to find that Lonny Corbett wasn’t the first person he’d killed. And the fact that he was right-handed meant the man in the woods was not Corbett’s killer.

* * *

After the autopsy, Sam called Harry, Dom, and Mike to meet at the Bureau office. More media had camped out on the road. As they pulled in to the Bureau parking lot and left the truck, again, questions were shouted at Sam and again, he ignored them.

Paige led the way into the building. Voices reached them from the conference room. Harry, Dom, and Mike were standing by the long table. Paige and Sam joined them.

Mike said, “The media’s circling. They smell blood.”

Paige knew what it was like to be in the media’s crosshairs and bristled on Riley’s behalf.

Sam’s mouth went flat. “I’ll let them know I’m going to issue a formal statement after Riley’s arraignment on Monday. In the meantime, they get nothing from us.”

Heads nodded all around.

“Paige and I just came from Lonny Corbett’s autopsy.” Sam updated the other agents on Lindy’s findings. “The killer being right-handed eliminates the man in the woods as a suspect. We’ll now consider him a possible witness. Keep the pressure up on the street. A man missing a right hand would be remembered.

“Corbett’s murder doesn’t appear random.” Sam’s gaze swept the group. “Doesn’t look like it was accidental, an argument that went too far. Our unsub intended to kill Corbett. It also appears that he knew what he was doing.”

Dom drummed his knuckles on the table. “A hit?”

“We can’t rule it out.” Sam looked to Mike. “Anything that would point to someone setting Riley up for this?”

“The people we’ve put away are still incarcerated,” Mike said. “I ran the families. Nada. No one looks good for something like this.”

Sam’s gaze remained on Mike. “Okay. We’ll move on. Where are we with Hailey’s list?”

Mike held up a single sheet of paper. Paige saw the names were written in a flowing, looping script. Very few names.

“Not much to run with.” Mike echoed Paige’s thoughts. “Less than a handful of names and Hailey doesn’t think her brother remained in contact with any of them.” Mike handed the paper to Sam.

Sam glanced at the list then pocketed it inside his suit jacket. “Paige and I will run down the names. Harry, where is Kirk PD with this?”

Harry snorted. “Hammering nails into Riley’s coffin. Millhouse and Orr are still working the case but as far as Harmon is concerned they have their killer.” Harry’s eyes deepened to the dark blue of his tailored suit. “Lindy’s findings about the killer knowing how to use that knife only strengthens their position. Riley didn’t carry that knife for show. He knows how to use it. One more point for the PD’s case.

“I spoke with Millhouse, Orr, and the uniformed cop who came across Corbett while doing a routine drive-by and called it in,” Harry went on. “They didn’t see anyone other than Corbett and Riley. Unusual not to find anyone there, Orr told me. The abandoned buildings nearby are often occupied by the homeless, with more of them taking shelter as the weather turns cold.

“I asked them where everyone—anyone—was at noon on a Friday. Orr said he thought the same and after he processed Riley and spoke with you and Paige, he went back there and did his own walk-around. Didn’t come across anyone. And so far, nothing on Paige’s guy from the woods,” Harry concluded.

Though Paige knew Harry hadn’t meant the comment as a dig at her, she worked not to lower her gaze at the bitter reminder. She worked even harder to keep her self-directed anger at losing the man in the first place contained—and her disappointment. Kirk PD knew that area. She’d been hoping the man would be known to them.

“All right,” Sam said. “We need to know if there’s been any word on the street about a new meth supplier moving into Kirk County. Ask around. We want to find out where Corbett was getting his supply. Maybe he didn’t pay his dealer and was killed because of that. So far the only one we’ve got who looks good for killing Corbett is Riley.”

Mike lifted his beefy arm. “No way, Sam. We know Riley didn’t do it.”

Sam gave Mike and then all of them a hard look. “Get me something I can use to prove it. So far we don’t have anyone to bump Riley as the number one suspect.”

Paige felt Sam’s frustration. The harder they looked the more they tied Riley to the murder.

As Harry, Dom, and Mike left, Sam turned to Paige. “We need to consider Victor Alessandro. He ruled the drug trade in this area for a long time. Though he’s behind bars, that doesn’t mean he doesn’t know what’s going on outside. I’m going to set up a visit with Alessandro at the penitentiary.”

Paige agreed. Her mind shifted from Alessandro back to Corbett. “We need to retrace Corbett’s steps before he was killed. So far, all we know for sure is that he went to Hailey’s four days before he died. We need to find out what he was doing for those four days. Maybe someone on Hailey’s list can help us with that.”

Sam retrieved the list from his pocket. “Let’s get started.”

 

* * *

 

Sam left the office to address the men and women from the media camped across the street. Paige went to her desk to run the names Hailey had given them through their databases. A short while later, Sam came up behind her.

She glanced back at him. “How’d it go with the press?”

“They weren’t too happy about waiting until Monday, but with nothing to see here, they’re leaving.” He braced one hand on the back of her chair and the other on her desk. He leaned in and studied her laptop. “Anything?”

“Just starting.” She returned her attention to her work. Shortly after, Paige touched the screen. “One died a couple of years back. Boating accident while on vacation in Mexico with his girlfriend.” Paige moved her finger to the next line on the screen. “Another is in med school at UCSF. The third moved out of the country after high school and works on a shrimp boat in Taiwan.” She tapped the screen. “The fourth is local. Clayton Garwood. Busted for possession three years back. Lives with his wife and child here in Kirk and works at the water treatment plant in Columbia.” Paige pushed her hair that she’d left loose around her shoulders back from her face. “It’s possible that he and Corbett kept in touch.”

Sam glanced at his watch. “We’ll try Garwood at home.”

Garwood lived on the third floor of an apartment complex in Haldonville. Paige buzzed his apartment and when he responded, introduced herself and Sam. “We’d like to come up and speak with you, Mr. Garwood.”

Garwood was silent for a moment. He cleared his throat. “I’ll come down.”

Before he broke the connection, Paige heard him call out to “Tess” that he was going out for cigarettes and would be right back.

Garwood joined them in the apartment vestibule a couple of minutes later. He was of average height with prominent rough-hewn features. The scent of something spicy wafted in when he opened the door.

Sam held up his ID. “Lonny Corbett was found dead yesterday. Did you hear about that?”

Garwood looked at Sam’s identification then at Sam. “I saw it on the news.”

“Our condolences on the loss of your friend,” Paige said. “When was the last time you saw Lonny?”

“Not for some time.”

Sam returned his ID to his jacket. “When was ‘Not for some time’?”

“I don’t know who killed him.”

“That’s not what I asked you.”

“Look, I don’t know anything. I don’t have anything to say.”

Sam eyed Garwood. “Whoever committed that murder is still on the street. Still a danger. We don’t know why he targeted Lonny or if he may be after anyone else who knew Lonny. I would think you’d want the killer caught for your own safety.”

Garwood chewed his lip, mulling over Sam’s words it appeared. An elderly couple with a small dog entered the vestibule. Garwood gave them a nod. When they’d passed by Garwood shifted his feet. “Let’s talk outside.” Garwood led the way to the side of the building. The day had grown cooler. Dressed in just a shirt, Garwood patted his arms against the chill. “I saw Lonny a couple months ago.”

“Where?” Sam asked.

“Here. He came to my apartment.”

“Why?”

“He wanted to talk.”

“What about?” Sam said.

Despite the cold air, perspiration now beaded on Garwood’s brow. “Just to shoot the shit. Catch up.”

Garwood was holding something back, Paige thought. “Did you catch up?”

Garwood wiped the sweat off his forehead with the sleeve of his shirt.

“Mr. Garwood?” Paige prompted.

“Look, I’m not into that life anymore. I have a wife, a kid. I’m not the same man I was.” Garwood’s voice shook with emotion. “My wife doesn’t know about that part of my life. I want to keep it that way.”

Paige nodded slowly. “What did Lonny have to say about that?”

Garwood closed his eyes and when he opened them they were anguished. “He wanted money. Said if I didn’t give it to him, he’d have a talk with my wife.”

“Did you give him any money?” Sam said.

Garwood swallowed hard. “I don’t have much. With two of us working, my wife and me, and daycare for our son, we don’t have much, but I told him I would give him what I had, about five hundred bucks. I told him that was all I had and not to come around looking for more, because it took me near two years to save up that much, living from paycheck to paycheck like we do. I had to get him the money from an ATM. Lonny went with me and that’s the last time I saw him.”

“Did you see him yesterday?” Sam posed the question despite what Garwood had just said. “In the alley where he was killed?”

“No. Like I told you. Not for two months. I’ve never been to that part of town. I didn’t hear from Lonny again. I hoped he’d moved on, left town.” Garwood bowed his head.

“Where were you yesterday?” Sam’s tone was sharp.

Garwood’s head rose swiftly. “At work. I was on day shift at the treatment plant. I work at the water treatment plant in Columbia. I worked until four o’clock.”

They would confirm a work alibi very easily. He had to know that and Paige didn’t think he was lying. “What about a man missing his right hand? Do you know him?”

“No.”

“Who else was Lonny friends with?” Paige said.

Garwood wiped more perspiration from his face. “I don’t know…” His voice cracked.

“The sooner we catch this guy, the safer for everyone. You have a wife, a child.” Sam pushed the message again.

“I-I know a guy who knew Lonny.” Garwood took a pack of cigarettes from his shirt pocket and lit one with a hand that now trembled. “He went by Skinny Will. He was a junkie too but found God and got clean. St. Mary’s Church ran addiction meetings.”

“You have an address for Skinny Will?” Sam said.

“No.”

“Where is St. Mary’s?” Paige asked.

Garwood dug his fingers into the back of his neck. “I can’t remember the number but it’s on Ferris Street.”

Sam took out a business card. “If you recall anything else or if anyone approaches you about Lonny Corbett, give us a call.”

Garwood took the card. “You won’t say anything to my wife about any of this, will you? You won’t say anything to her at all, right?” Garwood’s eyes implored Sam.

Sam held Garwood’s gaze, driving his next words home. “If you’ve been straight with us, we don’t have any reason to speak with your wife.”

They left Garwood standing against the brick and returned to Sam’s truck.

Sam called the Columbia office to dispatch an agent to the water treatment plant to confirm Garwood’s alibi. That done, he drove away from the apartment building. “Columbia will let us know.”

Sam didn’t sound like he was expecting any surprises from the inquiry either. Paige took out her phone and accessed a local directory. “Garwood said Skinny Will attended meetings at St. Mary’s Church.”

Sam nodded. “Let’s go there.”