The woman aimed for the front door. Lucy stood and called out, “Ma’am—”
Too late, the woman was through the door. A moment later the screaming began.
Chapter 6
MEGAN HAD BEEN
involved in crimes before—for some reason the psychopaths her mom hunted seemed to take their impending capture personally, and twice now had targeted Lucy’s family. But she’d never experienced the frustration of watching and waiting like she was now. Everyone was moving so slowly! Didn’t they understand Mateo’s life was at risk?
Chief Hayden escorted Pastor Fleming’s distraught wife from the house, one arm wrapped around the woman’s shoulders, heads bowed together as the chief consoled her. Lucy got up and offered her seat at the table. The chief smiled her thanks.
“Now, Shelly, you need to let me and my people do our jobs.” The chief took the seat opposite Megan who scooted back but was still in eavesdropping range. “When was the last you heard from Robert?”
Mrs. Fleming was older than she’d appeared at first glance, older than Megan’s mom, even, mid to late forties. But still pretty—the kind of pretty that was more nurture and less nature. She sniffed and glanced up. “This morning we had breakfast. I’ve been at a prayer retreat in Columbia since Friday. Robert as well, but a parishioner called, needed his counsel, so he came home early.” Her gaze focused on the empty driveway. “He should’ve been home hours ago.” She frowned then her eyes widened. “Maybe that’s not his blood? Maybe he drove whoever it was to the hospital? That would be just like Robert. You know that, Norah.”
“Of course it would, Shelly. Do you know who he was coming to meet?”
“No.” Her distraught turned the word into two syllables. “Find him, Norah. You have to promise me you’ll find him. He’s my world. My whole world.” Another round of sobbing shook the wife. The chief patted her on the back, then disengaged herself, leaving Shelly at the table.
Megan glanced at Lucy, panicked at being left with the crying wife, and bolted from the table. The chief joined them, beckoning them to walk with her farther into the garden. “You said you had Mateo’s photo and contact info?”
“Yes ma’am. From this morning. I can send it to you.” Megan scrolled to the info on her phone and forwarded it to the chief’s phone.
Chief Hayden held her hat in place with one hand as the breeze kicked up and her phone in the other. “When I was starting out in this job, we thought being able to get a fax was cutting edge. Who knew I’d be running investigations from a phone smaller than my wallet?”
“We were with Mateo until 11:30 this morning,” Lucy volunteered. “He left to go home for Sunday dinner.”
Hayden glanced at Mateo’s photo and nodded in recognition. “One of the Romero Landscaping boys. They do good work. Never had any run-ins with the family before.” She turned to Megan. “He told you to meet him here?”
“He said he had to take care of Pastor Fleming’s orchids, that they were out of town and only trusted him. I guess they’re kind of fussy or something.” She glanced back at the wife who was still bent over the table, shoulders shaking. “When I got here, I waited outside the gate but he never showed, so I texted a few times and tried to call, but no answer.”
“So you didn’t see him arrive? Or anyone leave the property?”
“No, ma’am. Just his bike parked in front of the garage.” She nodded to the empty garage.
“Did you hear anything from inside the property? See anyone? Sense movement in the house?”
Megan shook her head. “Nothing. When I went to the door, it was open. I stepped inside—just a few feet, stopped once I saw…”
Hayden nodded. “Thanks, Megan. That’s been very helpful.” She glanced up as Officer Gant emerged from the back door of the house, approaching them on the patio.
The afternoon light cast this part of the house in shadow, making the blood streaking the windows appear black. Megan shivered, curled her arms around her chest and turned her back to the house. There was a path leading over the dunes to the ocean, its bright blue sparked gold by the sun. Hard to believe anything bad could happen on such a beautiful day.
“Someone lost a helluva lot of blood,” Gant said. “And the safe’s door is open, contents missing. Chief, you think this Romero kid could’ve tortured Pastor Fleming for the combination?”
The chief frowned, mirroring Lucy’s look of consternation at the wild theorizing without facts.
“Mateo would never—” Megan protested before Lucy nudged her into silence.
“Get a BOLO out on Mateo Romero as well as Pastor Fleming,” the chief ordered. “Alert the county sheriff. We’ll need to get the state crime techs out as well.”
“Will do. But,” Gant rocked back on his heels as if he was the one in charge, “sure seems pretty clear cut what happened here.”
Lucy’s lips tightened. Megan knew her mother was itching to jump in and take charge but not only did she have no jurisdiction, she was a potential witness. It was only as a courtesy that the locals allowed her to remain at the scene—that and the fact they needed Lucy present in order to speak to Megan since Megan was a minor.
Hah. Let Mom see how it felt, standing on the sidelines, she thought. But then her glance fell on Mateo’s bike and she stifled her knee jerk reaction. This wasn’t about Lucy and Megan; it was about finding Mateo safe and sound.
“We need to treat them both as a high-risk missing persons,” Chief Hayden informed her patrol officer. “Get the info out ASAP.”
Lucy relaxed a bit at that—Megan hated the way she could almost read her mom’s thoughts. But the evidence didn’t add up the way Officer Gant had seen it, with Mateo as a perpetrator. She hoped with all her might Mateo wasn’t a victim.
All that blood…
She shuddered. One thing Gant had gotten right: it was too much blood.
Chapter 7
ALTHOUGH THE HARBINGER
Cove PD didn’t have the resources Lucy was used to, Chief Hayden and her force appeared to have things fairly well in hand. At least the chief didn’t rush to pre-judgment like Officer Gant, who seemed to want credit for solving this case before they even knew what the case was.
Time to get Megan out of here and resume their vacation. She placed an arm around Megan’s shoulders, steering her away from the house. “You have our numbers if you need anything else, Chief Hayden.”
“I surely do.” The chief hesitated, as if performing an internal calculation. Juggling the time it would take to finish processing the scene, how many officers she could pull in off duty, estimated time for the sheriff’s department to arrive with additional manpower, hours of daylight remaining. “I’ll need an official statement from both of you. Could you wait for me at the station?”
Lucy knew that wait would be longer than expected, but she also understood the pressures Hayden faced. Two high-risk missing persons in a remote area with no leads… “Of course, Chief. Let me get some shoes on and we’ll head right over.”
“Thanks for all your help, Special Agent Guardino.” Hayden handed her a business card with the address of the police station and her phone number.
As they retraced their steps back to the drive, Lucy spotted something in one of the flowerbeds. She stopped to take a closer look without disturbing it. Megan bent over as well and Mrs. Fleming joined them, now holding a handkerchief so tightly in her hands Lucy was surprised she didn’t rip it in two.
“What’s that, Mom?”
“Don’t touch it.” Lucy glanced back at the chief. “You’re going to want to take a look at this.”
“Oh my goodness,” Shelly Fleming gasped. Before Lucy could stop her, she lunged forward and grabbed the small black box that looked like a pager. It had a short length of tubing coming from the back of it. “Robert. Without his insulin, he’ll die.” She thrust the box at the chief who hurried forward with an evidence bag. “Those monsters. They’ve as good as killed him. He might even be dead already.”
Her voice crescendoed into a shrill note of despair. Then she glanced at her hands and noticed the blood streaking them and shrieked in terror, dropping the pump to the ground. It bounced, landing face up.
Lucy glanced down and noted the model number and insignia out of habit—it was the same type of pump a friend of hers, a Pittsburgh police detective, used. The screen was flashing a warning that it was out of insulin.
“Did your husband carry extra insulin with him or in his vehicle?” Lucy asked.
“No. Yes. I mean, he always has a backup insulin pen with him, but—” Shelly’s voice trailed off. “You think he’s alive? That they’d let him have his insulin?”
While the chief bagged the pump, Megan tried to comfort the distraught wife, wrapping her arms around Shelly. Lucy felt a surge of pride at the act of compassion—Megan really was her father’s daughter, brimming over with empathy. Sometimes Lucy worried that empathy might make her vulnerable, but times like this, she truly admired Megan.
Lucy felt for Shelly Fleming, she really did. But she also knew the best way to help everyone involved was to stay focused and follow the evidence. Get too wrapped up in the maelstrom of emotions that random acts of violence brought with them and you could get swept out to sea.
“Is there someone I could call for you?” Megan asked Shelly.
“I’ll see to her,” Chief Hayden assured her. “If you could just sit with her for a minute longer.” Megan nodded and the chief beckoned to Lucy who followed her to the trunk of her Taurus where she handed Lucy back her bag and secured the insulin pump that was now evidence.
“What do you think?” Hayden asked in a low voice.
“You have an alert out for Fleming’s vehicle—”
Hayden nodded. “Black BMW with vanity plates, it should show up pretty fast. If they haven’t made it to the mainland and the highway already. Nice thing about only having one road off the island, we can control access. But that’s a lot of blood. And did you see the safe?”
“There’s no blood outside the house. From the photos I saw, Fleming wasn’t a small man. It would have taken a lot to subdue him.”
“Six-one, a good one-ninety or two hundred pounds. He was in great shape, too. Does those mini-triathlons. He would have gone down fighting.”
“It would have taken a lot to restrain a man like that. Yet there’s no drag marks.”
Hayden considered that. “The Romero kid is strong, in good shape as well. And maybe he wasn’t alone.”
“Why carry Fleming? Why move the body at all—if there is a body?”
“Not a body, a hostage,” Hayden suggested. “At least to start. Without his insulin, might still end up as a body.” She thought for a moment, staring at Mateo’s bike. “Kind of detail a panicked kid might not take into account.”
Lucy frowned. It still didn’t add up. “If Mateo is our actor and the goal was to get Fleming to open the safe, why tell my daughter to meet him here, limit his time?”
“Guess we won’t know until we find him and ask.”
“If I were you, I’d have crime scene techs carefully analyze the blood—not just what’s on the knife and safe, but all of it. Do spatter analysis as well as a DNA profile.”
“That’s going to take time. Maybe more than Fleming has.”
She was right. “You’re tracking Fleming’s phone?”
“I called it—it’s in the house, slid under the sofa.”
“How about Mateo’s?”
Hayden shrugged. “No answer. As soon as I have a few more warm bodies, I’ll get someone over there to ask permission from his family and get his carrier information. Right now, it’s just me and Gant.”
“Would it help if I did that for you?” Lucy hesitated to make the offer—she really didn’t want to get more involved than she already was and lord knew she wanted Megan far away from an active investigation into a possible homicide, but this entire scene made no sense. She hated that, knew it would bother her until she figured out what really happened.
Hayden frowned. Lucy wasn’t too surprised—local authorities often resented the FBI intruding upon their turf even when they invited the FBI in to help. But a case like this, two high-risk missing persons, violence involved, and one of them with a critical, time-sensitive medical condition—it would strain the resources of a large, well-funded police department, much less a small force like Harbinger Cove’s.
“Thanks, but I’m sure we can handle it,” Hayden said.
Lucy turned away, almost relieved Hayden hadn’t taken her up on her offer. Then she glanced back to the garden where Megan had gotten Shelly situated at the table once more. She blew her breath out. She really didn’t want to get tangled up in a case that was already a complicated mess, she absolutely did not want Megan more involved, and she understood Hayden’s reluctance to allow an outsider to trespass on her case. But…
“Chief.” She turned back to Hayden. “I know the pressure you’re under. I’m sure your guys are totally up to the job. But there are two men’s lives at stake. And this is what I do. High-risk missing persons.”
Hayden squinted and it wasn’t because of the afternoon sun. “What exactly is your assignment, Special Agent Guardino? Back in Pittsburgh?”
“It’s Supervisory Special Agent and I run the Sexual Assault Felony Enforcement squad. We’re a multi-agency, multi-jurisdiction task force working sexual predators, human trafficking, child abductions, serial killers, and—”
“Missing persons.”
“And missing persons. Let me help. Until you can get more boots on the ground. You know the first few hours are the most critical.”
Hayden nodded. She pursed her lips, turning her gaze on Lucy. “If you deal with sexual assaults, then you must be good at talking with victims and their families.”
Every law enforcement officer’s least favorite job. “Yes.” Lucy glanced past Hayden to Megan and Shelly Fleming.
“I can handle Shelly,” Hayden said to Lucy’s relief. “But I’ll need someone to work with Romero’s family—without compromising the integrity of the investigation.” Her tone was one of warning.
“I can do that.”
“First I need their phone carrier info and permission to get a trace on Mateo’s cell. That and an objective assessment of their reaction. Any hint Mateo might be involved—or anyone else along with him.”