48
MPD Public Safety Office
Monday, April 16, 10:00 a.m.
The coroner with the help of a medical examiner from Macon had spent most of the night attempting to determine if Professor Orson Blume had committed suicide. The final conclusion was that he had, in fact, taken his own life.
At daybreak this morning Tony and Jo, along with Nick and Bobbie, had headed out to the Central State Hospital property. Their search had begun with the old cemetery. The idea that all those people were buried there with nothing more than numbered iron markers—most of which were now lost—was mind-boggling. They’d found no indication of new graves anywhere in the area so they’d moved on to join the other search teams.
Milledgeville PD had begun an investigation into Blume and his wife, who was still unreachable. Colleagues and neighbors insisted both were out of the country. Obviously that was not true. One friend of Pamela’s suggested the two were rarely ever seen together anymore. Blume had retired and was busy writing a book on his life’s work while his wife was still striving for the brass ring in her career.
Agent Johnson had checked with the Bureau and Pamela Blume hadn’t left the country unless she’d done so using a passport other than her own. She was still here, somewhere. Tony suspected tying up loose ends before she disappeared.
He needed her to be here. He needed to find her. Otherwise Tiffany and the others might not be found in time. Wherever she was, a BOLO had been issued.
Tony needed to be back out there with Jo, Bobbie and Nick searching the hospital grounds. But Phelps had wanted him here for the morning briefing with the joint task force. This thing had grown far too big to be held in the small campus security conference room.
They’d gotten nothing on the BOLO for Sylvia Carson. She’d vanished the same way Tiffany and Vickie had. MPD had found her Honda Civic in Madelyn Houser’s garage. Phelps had apologized profusely that his detective hadn’t checked the license on the vehicle in Houser’s garage. The vehicle had been backed in so the plate wasn’t readily visible. The detective had assumed the car was Houser’s. Carson had used the Jag to keep a step ahead of the police. There had been no sightings of the Jag either.
How the hell could they lose four women and one Jag in a town this small?
Volunteers from several counties had arrived to help with the search. Tony was grateful for every pair of boots on the ground.
His cell vibrated and he fished it from his pocket. A number he didn’t recognized flashed on the screen.
“LeDoux.”
“Mr. Gates?”
Tony hesitated, then remembered giving that name at the walk-in clinic. “Speaking.”
“Oh, good, hello. This is Renae from the walk-in clinic. I’m sorry to bother you. I know this is a terrible time for your family.”
“No, hey, I’m glad you called.” He stepped out of the conference room. The briefing was over and most had gone on their way. A few uniforms were still mulling over maps. “Do you have some news for me?”
“I don’t know what difference it makes, but I think I do.”
“You never know what might help,” he offered.
“I guess you heard about Dr. Alexander. She was in a terrible car accident the same day you and your wife were here. Well, she died this morning.”
Tony hadn’t heard that news. “That’s a shame. I’m sure she’ll be missed.”
“You know, I almost didn’t call because it felt like I was going behind her back, but she’s gone and there’s no help for that. I want to do whatever I can to help your wife find her sister.”
“I really appreciate that, Renae.”
“I was looking through Tiffany Durand’s and Vickie Parton’s files and I saw where the office administrator had sent a copy to Dr. Blume. You might know him as the psychology professor at the college, though I think he’s retired. Since neither woman was a patient of either one of the Doctors Blume, I found that odd. The report explained how both women were in good health and excellent mental condition. I asked our lead nurse but she’s so upset right now she blew me off.”
“You can’t tell if the reports were sent to Orson Blume or Pamela Blume?”
“Sorry, it just says Blume.”
“What about the address?”
“It’s an address on Lands Drive.”
They had found the two faxed reports at the Blume home but they still didn’t know which Blume was the intended recipient. “Anything else?”
“That’s all for now. I really hope you find your sister-in-law.”
Tony did, too. “Thank you for calling me.”
Tony moved back into the hall, headed for the lobby. The sooner he was back out there helping with the search the better. His nerves were jumping. His cell vibrated again. Angie. “Hey, sis. I’m just leaving the task force briefing.”
“Oh God, Tony. Steve’s had a heart attack.”
“Is he okay?” Tony pushed through the front entrance doors and hustled to the parking area and his car.
“He’s stable, but...” Her voice broke. “I’m scared, Tony.”
“You’re at the hospital here, in Milledgeville?”
“Yes.”
“I’ll be right there.”
“No, please. They’re talking about transferring him to Macon. I need to know you’re out there trying to find Tif. Please, Tony, I can’t leave but how can I stay with him if you’re not out there trying to find my baby. Please, promise me.”
“Don’t worry, I’m heading back to the search now. You keep me posted.”
“I will.” Her voice rose on each syllable.
“Ang,” he exhaled a big breath, “I love you.”
“Love you, too.”
He shoved the phone back into his pocket. “Goddamn it.” This was too much.
He fired up the BMW’s engine and roared out of the parking slot. Today, he was going to find Tiffany. Her mom and dad couldn’t take any more.
He didn’t see any scenario that put Pamela Blume in the clear. She was somehow involved with the abductions. There was no other explanation for her sudden disappearance—unless she was dead, too. His gut clenched. Until he had a body, she was all he had in the way of a real lead. She had to be alive.
Maybe she and her husband were in it together. Her research in Cognitive Science could definitely be tied to the kind of treatment Jo and the others had endured. They were cautiously optimistic that she was still in the area, which could mean the victims were, as well.
All they had to do was find them.
Five minutes later he made the right onto the campus of Central State Hospital—the former Georgia Lunatic Asylum. He wound around the streets. Official vehicles and those of volunteers filled the parking lot of the Powell Building. He drove on until he located Nick’s vehicle near the Ingram Building.
The search teams were going through each standing building, one by one. Tony walked through the gate of the twelve-foot wire fence as Nick, Bobbie and Jo were exiting the building.
“Any news?” Jo asked.
She looked so tired. Tony wished he could find Tiffany and the others and end this for all concerned. He shook his head. “Nothing really. Alexander’s nurse called. She confirmed the reports we found at the Blume residence were faxed from Alexander’s office. She also told me the doctor died this morning.”
“You okay?” Bobbie asked. “You look like you need to sit down.”
“My sister called. Her husband had a heart attack.”
“Oh my God. Is he okay?” Jo took a step toward him, and then seemed to catch herself.
“Hope so.” He suddenly felt as if an elephant had settled onto his shoulders. “Angie will keep me posted. She made me promise to stay here and keep looking for Tiffany. Anything new here?”
“We spoke to a group of squatters who call this building home,” Nick spoke up. “Fewer and fewer are daring to seek shelter here. Too many have gone missing over the years. They think it’s the ghosts of former patients haunting the place.”
“I think,” Jo said, “it’s the third victim I’ve been telling you about. The throwaway victim no one will miss.”
“The ones who die?” he asked.
She nodded. “The ones who die.”
Tony clenched his jaw. How the hell could they know so much and not be able to find the goddamn hiding place?
“We should keep searching,” Nick suggested, breaking the tense silence.
Since Tony was back they decided to divide up into pairs and take two buildings at a time instead of one.
Bobbie patted Tony’s shoulder. “Come on. We haven’t worked together in a while.”
Jo gave him a nod and trudged on with Nick.
Bobbie started across the road to a low white block building. Security had gone through this morning and unlocked all the padlocks to help with the search. Most of the companies conducting business on the property had agreed to a search of their facilities. Phelps was working on the others.
“So what’s going on with you?” Bobbie asked as she crossed into the dim interior of the building.
“You mean besides having a missing niece and a brother-in-law in the hospital hanging on for his life?”
“Ha ha.” Bobbie shot him a look. “You know what I mean.”
“I drink way too much. And...” He pulled out his flashlight and checked the corridor to the right before they moved in that direction. “I drink way too much.”
Bobbie gave a somber nod. “You know the Bureau wants you back, right?”
“Oh yeah. I got really good vibes about that.” He opened a door on the left and had a look inside.
“Nick talked to Jessup, his contact there. Jessup says you weren’t fired. That you quit. Is that true?”
Tony moved on to the next door. He flashed the light onto a piece of concrete rubble on the floor. “Watch yourself there.”
Bobbie waved her flashlight. “I got this. Answer the question.”
“If I hadn’t quit, my new boss would have fired me. I had no desire to give him the satisfaction.”
Bobbie laughed. “You are such an idiot. All you have to do is get your ass in AA. Go to counseling and you can have your career back. If you don’t want to go back to BAU, then don’t. But drinking your life away is not the answer.”
“Geez, you sound like my sister.”
Bobbie moved to the next door. “I’ll take that as a compliment.” She opened the door and immediately stepped back, hand over her face. “Shit. We gotta ripe one in there.”
Fortunately, it wasn’t a human body. Tony and Bobbie peered at the carcass with the aid of their flashlights.
“Looks like a possum,” Bobbie said.
“Think so.” He scanned the room, spotted a hole in the wall that went clean through the backside of the building.
Moving around the decomposing animal, he leaned down and inspected the hole. A couple of squirrels scampered from the wall cavity. He jerked back, almost stepping on the possum.
“Whoa.” Bobbie laughed. It was good to hear that sound, even under the circumstances. “We should move on. I think we’ve seen enough in here.”
As they navigated from room to room, keeping an eye out as much for the wildlife as for another human, her earlier comment kept niggling at him.
“I’m not saying I want my job back.” They reached the final door on the opposite end of the building. “How long is this offer good?”
Bobbie sighed. “Saw right through me, huh?”
“I did.”
Final room was empty save for the trash of a former transient resident.
They headed back outside. “You have until the first of May to give them an answer and to prove you’ve secured the proper counseling and so forth.” Bobbie hesitated at the door. “Don’t throw away all you worked for just to prove you can. It might feel like you’re getting the last word, but you’re not.”
“I’ll think about it.”
“Don’t take too long,” she warned.
May first. He had a couple of weeks. Plenty of time.
All that mattered to him right now was finding Tiffany alive.