The Truth Seeker (24 page)

“No.” Lisa snuggled deeper into the chair and turned her attention to pulling threads from the tear in the knee of her jeans as she listened to Jennifer. “Maybe.” She shook her head. “No, it should be Rachel.”

She made a face at the phone. “Jen—”

“Oh, all right. Hold on.” She held out the phone to Quinn. “She wants to talk to you.”

Quinn accepted the phone with some surprise. “Hi, Jennifer.”

“I need a favor.”

He knew when it was time to be cautious. “Okay.”

“Lizzy.”

Quinn looked over, found her watching her. “Humm.”

“She’s being stubborn. I want her to be my maid of honor. But she wants it to be Rachel or Kate, and they both insist it has to be the others.

My wedding is going to get here before it gets settled. So I’ve made an executive decision. It’s going to be Lizzy. But I’m not there to convince her.”

“Jen.”

“Come on. After all this time, don’t you have a little pull? Sweettalk her into it or something.”

“Or something.” Still, Quinn smiled. “I’ll see what I can do.”

“Thanks. So have you asked her out yet?”

“Jenny.”

She laughed. “I vote with Kate. It would be good to keep you in the family.”

He couldn’t think of a reply.

“Are you blushing?”

“Probably.” His drawl had intensified, a good indication he was.

She laughed. “Then I’ll be nice and let you go. But I want you at my wedding wearing your tux and your boots. And I’m putting you in charge of Lizzy while she’s here.”

“Impossible, but I’ll do my best.”

“Thank you. Pass me to Marcus. My brother and I need to chat about this bachelor party thing. I want Tom awake at our wedding.”

Quinn laughed and complied.

Marcus accepted the phone. “Hi, precious.”

“What did she want?” Lisa leaned over to ask softly.

“That would be telling.”

“Quinn.”

He loved watching her struggle with patience. “Later.”

R

Quinn watched Lisa stretch her hands over her head, her movements slow, then wince when she tried to straighten her arms. She hurriedly lowered her arms, taking a deep breath as she pressed her hand against her ribs. He saw it, Kate didn’t. The family gathering had just broken up.

Marcus, Lincoln, and Jack headed out together. Dave was still lingering.

Quinn could understand that. He wasn’t in a hurry to leave either.

“It’s later. What did Jennifer want?”

Quinn looked at Lisa, then glanced over at Kate. “Kate, give us a minute.”

Kate paused in picking up the clutter, looked at him, and stopped what she was doing. “I’ll walk Dave to his car.”

“Circle the block.”

She grinned. “Did you hear that, Dave?”

He stepped back into the living room. “What?”

“You have to take me for a walk around the block.”

Dave leaned against the doorjamb and grinned. “Really? I have to?”

Kate encircled his waist with her arm. “Yes.” She glanced at Quinn.

“We’ll be back in half an hour?”

“Good enough.”

The two of them left.

“You just tossed her out of her own apartment,” Lisa remarked, stunned.

“She didn’t mind,” Quinn replied, amused, knowing it was true.

He got up to finish the task Kate had been doing, replaced the candy dish and magazines that had been moved from the coffee table earlier, and carried the drinking glasses into the kitchen, using the time to decide what he wanted to say.

When he returned, he settled on the couch and studied her. “I’ll get you out of being maid of honor if you’re saying no because you can’t wear the dress that long.”

Lisa cringed. “That’s what she asked you?”

“One of the things.”

She leaned her head back against the tall wingback chair and closed her eyes. “Quinn, I don’t want her to know. The last thing Jennifer needs to be doing is worrying about me.”

“If you were to wear the dress for literally just the wedding ceremony?”

“Even if the seamstress could work magic tomorrow—” She shook her head. “The painkillers will help, but the maid of honor is the host of ceremonies for the reception. Even if I could change out of the dress, I’d be hurting and Jen’s way too perceptive.”

“Do you want to be able to say yes?”

She nodded.

“Then let me work out the logistics. I can make it happen without anyone realizing it’s happening.”

She looked doubtful.

“Trust me.”

“Okay, I’ll tell her yes.”

“Let me tell her. I’ll call in a few markers when I do it.”

Lisa nodded. She awkwardly pushed herself out of the chair, then turned to look out the living room window. “Quinn, about the note?”

“What about it?”

“Do you think it was Marla’s killer?”

“Yes.” He left it simple and straightforward. It was always the better choice.

“I want to go back and look again at the scene where Marla was found.”

“No.”

She turned and looked at him. “It’s not a light request. I need to see what I missed. It’s time to ask a lot of questions.”

“Lincoln and Marcus are on the case full-time now. There is no need for you to be in the mix.”

“Quinn—”

“No. That’s final. From both of us and your boss.”

“You talked to Ben?”

“Yes. And the only way you keep working these cases is if you lis-

“Don’t take away my ability to do my job.”

“The limits are there for your own protection.”

“I don’t like it.”

The mutiny of emotions on her face mixed together—relief not to

ten to what we’re telling you. He has no desire to see you get hurt again, and Marcus and I don’t want you in the way of the investigation.”

“It’s my job to investigate suspicious deaths.”

She wasn’t going back to Knolls Park until the person responsible for that note was stopped. “Whether you like it or not, you’re a civilian and this is a job for a cop.”

have to face Knolls Park again, frustration that she was being ordered to stay away. Quinn kept his voice calm. “I know, but you’ll keep within them anyway.” He took a risk, invaded her space, settled his arms around her, and hugged her. “I don’t want you thinking about any of this tonight. I want you to get some sleep.”

He’d surprised her; she tensed but then he felt her relax. She moved her cheek against his chest. “Not going to call and wake me up to talk?”

She sounded disappointed. And he felt hope. “Another time.”

Seventeen

They were all buried near water.”

Quinn looked up from the police report on Mrs. Treemont. The whiteboard had become a grid: down the left side were the victims’

names; across the top, common traits. Buried face down was marked for all of them. Tape was marked for Heather, Vera, and Rita.

Lisa had added the word water at the top of the grid as a common trait.

“Rita, buried near a river. Marla, buried near a pond. Heather, buried under a fountain.” She noted a yes in the grid boxes.

“Mrs. Treemont was found buried near her rosebushes, and Vera Wane was found next to her garage,” he countered.

“We haven’t visited the scenes.” She put in question marks for those two names instead of a no. “The officer may not have realized the significance of location to this killer. Maybe there’s water nearby and it simply isn’t mentioned.”

“Daylight,” Quinn offered.

She wrote that as a common trait. “That has to be significant. It’s not only the added risk he takes, it’s the fact that it’s true in all cases. He hasn’t struck at night.”

“What’s that tell us? He works nights, so has to kill during the day?”

Lisa winced. “Or he’s in a job where his boss doesn’t realize he’s gone.”

“Lisa, we think he was watching the victims for some time before he struck, correct?”

“That would definitely appear to be the case with Marla.”

“In order to take advantage of their routines, he’d have to snatch them about the same time of day he’s been observing them.”

She hurriedly found a piece of paper to jot down the idea.

“He watches them for several days if not weeks to learn their routine.

He grabs and kills and then buries them, the location of the grave being a significant part of his MO,” Quinn summarized.

“He can’t be doing that with an occasional day off work. His job is taking him to his victims and putting him into their worlds.”

“Exactly. A working man killer.”

“But look at the geography pattern,” Lisa noted. “Who would travel that kind of range? Be able to stay in one area for a week or weeks necessary to make the selection of a victim, establish her routine, and carry out the crime?”

“A salesman would be in and out. Even repairmen would be too temporary.”

“A builder,” Lisa offered.

Quinn slowly nodded. “Knolls Park has been undergoing a lot of restorations over the years turning it into an upper-middle-class neighborhood.

And didn’t Vera have a garage built recently?”

“Where’s the master list of case names? All the people the police indicated they interviewed. If we take them for all the cases, sort them together—maybe there will be a common name across all the cases.”

“Give it to Diane to work up. There are a lot of names in these files.”

Lisa started marking pages with Post-it notes to photocopy for Diane.

Quinn set down his pen and rested back against the chair to look at the board. “We’re making progress.”

“Slowly. I wish we had some indication of who left the note.”

“The odds of getting prints were small. I find it more interesting that he was so bothered by what we were doing, he risked telling us he was around in exchange for scaring you. That risk doesn’t make sense.”

“Maybe he saw it as an opportunity to tell someone what he did.

It’s a nine-year-old crime. He got away with it, but no one knows.”

“A killer with an ego.”

“The police didn’t find anything when they canvassed my neighborhood?”

“No.”

“Do you think whoever did it will leave another note?”

“Doubtful. It wouldn’t take much to realize you’re not home.”

“I miss my pets.”

“I know you do. I’ll take you over to the house Thursday to pack for the weekend; you can see them then.” He changed the subject.

“How was the dress fitting?” She’d been gone about three hours this morning. Lisa made a face. “That good, huh?”

“She’ll do her best. The dress just isn’t styled to allow for a lot of addition in both the front and the back.”

“Still feel like you can handle it for an hour? If so, I’ll talk to Jennifer tonight.”

“Even if I have to turn blue, I’ll handle it.”

“Let’s go buy her wedding gift.”

“Now?”

“Yes, now. I want to stretch my legs. And I’ve heard you can be a very efficient shopper when you choose to be.”

“Who told you that?”

“Kate.”

“Quinn, I prefer to crawl along like a snail and spend hours windowshopping.

Kate is the one determined to get in and out in a few minutes.

Anyone who shops with her is efficient; it’s a matter of survival.”

“Then let’s go meander through a few galleries. With you, I don’t think I’ll mind dawdling along.”

He tugged her hand. “Why don’t you come here for a minute?”

“What?”

“Now you’re trying to think. Quit it and just slide over here.”

“Oh.” She was dense at times; he chuckled as she caught up with

“Was that a compliment?”

“I see I’ll have to be more blunt; let’s try this again. Lisa, I want a couple hours of your company. Would you like to go shopping for Jennifer’s wedding gift?”

“And I’ll let you buy me dinner too.”

He smiled. “Will you?”

“What’s your absolutely favorite Chicago steak place?”

“No question there: Weber Grill.”

“I always get hungry after I spend a lot of money.”

Quinn laughed as she offered a hand to pull him to his feet. “Okay, Lizzy. We’ll go out to dinner after we buy her gift.”

“So are you going to walk me to the door or are we going to sit out here watching the stars until the sun comes up?”

Quinn reached over and picked up Lisa’s hand and rubbed his thumb across her palm. He had parked on the street just past Kate’s apartment, shut off the car and turned off the lights, but the radio was still on, adding a soft backdrop of country music. “I rather like late nights with you. You stop thinking through your answers after P.M.”

In the dim light from the streetlights, Quinn saw her smile. “That’s because I’m falling asleep, but I’m too polite to do it in front of you.”

him and blushed. She slid over toward the center of the seat.

Quinn turned her slightly so she could rest against his shoulder, and then he wrapped his arms around her. “Better.” He didn’t try to make it more than a comforting hug. She was shy all of a sudden and he could feel the nervousness. He lifted her hand and placed it carefully against his. “Your broken finger has almost healed.” The splint had

been removed and the finger taped to the one next to it for some temporary support.

“Another two weeks,” Lisa agreed, beginning to relax.

“How’s the ribs?”

“You’ve broken a few in your lifetime?”

“A few,” he agreed, lowering the number. It was more like ten.

“Multiply it by a few factors to account for the surgery.”

He gently rested his hand against the injury, could feel the bandage under her shirt. “Still taking pain pills?”

“They ought to rename them knockout drugs. I’m sticking to overthe-counter painkillers to the extent I can.”

“I’m glad there have been no complications.”

“So am I.”

The quiet stretched between them. He finally broke it, deciding to risk the subject. “I’ve been thinking.”

“Have you? I’ve heard that can be a dangerous thing to do.”

He leaned his chin against the top of her head and felt her chuckle.

“Lisa?”

“Hmm?”

“Tell me about Kevin.”

She stiffened, and he tightened his hold on her hands. “Please.”

“You don’t want much, do you?” All the laughter had left her voice.