Shortly before Frances brought in the coffee, Officer Lambert returned. Now that he was not texting on his phone, Mackenzie saw that he was a younger man, in his early thirties. She found it odd that an officer was serving as Clarke's right-hand man rather than a deputy but didn't think much of it.
Small town, she thought.
The four of them sat around Clarke's desk, going over the material. Clarke seemed to be more than happy to let Mackenzie run with it. She was happy to see that he appeared to be coming around quickly…accepting her as more than an equal.
"So let's start with the most recent," she said. "Ellis Ridgeway. Fifty-seven years old. As I'm beginning to learn, she has a very arrogant and self-important son. Other than the fact that she was obviously blind, what else can you tell me about her?"
"That's about it, really," Clarke said. "She was a sweet lady. From what I can gather, everyone at the home loved her. What scares me about this whole situation is that the killer has to be familiar with her, right? They had to have known she had left the home to target her in such a way."
"My brain wanted to go there, too," Mackenzie said. "But if these deaths are connected-and it certainly seems they are-that means that for someone local who knows her to have done it, there would have been a lot of traveling involved. The other death was what…two and a half hours away?"
"Almost three," Clarke said.
"Exactly," Mackenzie said. "You know, I even wondered for a while if it could have been another resident, but I got it on good authority from Randall Jones that no one followed her yesterday. There's apparently video evidence of this which we haven't seen yet, thanks to Langston Ridgeway's interference. And in terms of residents or employees leaving the home when Mrs. Ridgeway was absent, there is no evidence to support anyone else leaving during that time-not residents, not employees, no one."
"And then, going back to that first murder," Ellington said, "we'll need to head over to speak to family members soon. What can you tell us about the first victim, Sheriff?"
"Well, it was at another home for the blind," he said. "And all I know about it is in that same file you have, I'm sure. Like I said, it's almost three hours from here, nearly up in West Virginia. A rundown sort of place from what I gather. Not really a home, but like a school, I think."
He slid a sheet of paper over to her and she saw the brief police report from the first scene. It was in a city called Treston, about twenty-five miles away from Bluefield, West Virginia. Thirty-eight-year-old Kenneth Able had been strangled to death. There were slight abrasions around his eyes. He'd been discovered stashed in the closet of the room he stayed in most of the time within the home.
The facts were very robotic, with no details. While there were notes about the investigation being ongoing, Mackenzie doubted it was anything serious.
I bet it is now, though, she thought.
This new death was too explicit to deny. The victims were far too similar, as were the signs of abuse on the bodies.
"I've got Randall Jones compiling a list of employees or others associated with the home that could be even the least bit possible," Mackenzie said. "I think our next best bet is to speak with this place in Treston to see if there are any links at all."
"The downside here is that Treston is so damned far away," Ellington pointed out. "Even if this turns out to be a cakewalk, there will be some travel involved. Seems we might not get it all buttoned up as quickly as the illustrious Mr. Ridgeway would like."
"When will a full forensics workup be done on Mrs. Ridgeway?" Mackenzie asked.
"I'm expecting to hear something within a few hours," Clarke said. "A preliminary investigation showed nothing obvious, though. No fingerprints, no visible hairs or other materials left behind."
Mackenzie nodded and looked back to the case files. As she had just started to properly dig into it, her cell phone rang. She snatched it up and answered: "This is Agent White."
"It's Randall Jones. I have a list of names for you, like you asked. It's short and I'm pretty sure they'll all check out, though."
"Who are they?"
"There's a guy on the maintenance crew that isn't very reliable. He worked all day yesterday, clocking out just after five. I've asked around and no one ever saw him come back in. There's another man that works for a special outlet of social services. He comes in and plays board games sometimes. Sort of just hangs out and jokes around with them. He'll do some volunteer stuff like cleaning or moving furniture from time to time."
"Can you text me their names and any contact information you have?"
"Sure thing," Jones said, clearly not happy to even be considering either of the men as suspects.
Mackenzie ended the call and looked back to the three men in the room. "That was Jones with two possible candidates. A maintenance worker and someone that comes in to volunteer and hang out with the residents. Sheriff, he's going to text me the names any moment now. Could you look them over and-"
Her phone dinged as she received the text in question. She showed Sheriff Clarke the names and he shrugged, defeated.
"The first name, Mike Crews, is the maintenance guy," he said. "I know for a fact he wasn't killing anyone after hours last night because I had a beer with him down at Rock's Bar. That's after he went by Mildred Cann's house to fix her air conditioner for free. I can tell you right now that Mike Crews is not your man."
"And what about the second name?" Ellington asked.
"Robbie Huston," he said. "I've only ever seen him in passing. I'm pretty sure he's sent by some sort of social services outlet out of Lynchburg. But from what I understand, he's like a saint up at the home. Reads to the residents, is really friendly. Like I said, he's out of Lynchburg. That's about an hour and a half away from here-right on your way to Treston, as a matter of fact."
Mackenzie looked back to Jones's text and saved the number he had provided for Robbie Huston. It was a flimsy lead at best, but at least it was something.
She looked at her watch and saw that it was nearing six o'clock. "When are your deputy and other officers due to report back in?" she asked.
"Pretty soon. But no one has called in with anything yet. I'll keep you updated if you want to head out and get your bearings."
"Sounds good to me," Mackenzie said.
She gathered up the case files as she got to her feet. "Thanks for your help this afternoon," Mackenzie said.
"Of course. I just wish I could offer you more assistance. If you want, I could get the State PD back out here to assist. They were here this morning but scattered pretty quick. I think there might even be a few of them staying here in town for a day or so."
"If it comes to that, I'll let you know," Mackenzie said. "Good night, gentlemen."
With that, she and Ellington took their leave. The front lobby was empty now, Frances having apparently clocked out for the day.
In the parking lot, Ellington hesitated for a moment as he took the keys out. "Hotel or a trip to Lynchburg?" he asked.
She thought about it and although the lure of continuing the investigation even into the later hours was a strong one, she felt that trying to get in touch with Robbie Huston on the phone would yield the same results as a trip to Lynchburg. More than that, she was already starting to believe that Sheriff Clarke knew what he was doing-and if he had no real reservations about Huston, then she would rely on that for now. It was one of the better things about working a case in a small town-when everyone knew everyone else on an almost intimate basis, the opinions and instincts of local police could often be heavily relied upon.
Still worth calling him once we settle down, she thought.
"Hotel," she said. "If I can't get what I want out of a call to him tonight, we'll stop by Lynchburg tomorrow."
"On the way to Treston? Seems like a lot of driving."
She nodded. It was going to be a lot of back and forth. They may be more successful if they split up tomorrow. But they could discuss strategy after they were checked into a room with the case files before them and an air conditioner blasting away beside them.
Never one for the lure of luxury, the idea of an air conditioner in this oppressive heat was too good to resist. They got into the blazing hot car, Ellington rolled the windows down, and they headed west, into what served as the heart of Stateton.
***
Stateton's only motel was a surprisingly well-kept little square of a building called the Staunton County Inn. It held only twelve rooms, nine of which were vacant when Mackenzie walked into the lobby and requested a room for the night. Now that McGrath knew about their relationship, she and Ellington no longer worried about renting two rooms just to hold up appearances. They booked a single room with one bed and, after a stressful day of driving in the heat, made good use of it the moment the door closed behind them.
Afterward, as Mackenzie showered, she couldn't help but appreciate the warm feeling of being wanted. It was more than that, though; the fact that they had started peeling off clothes the moment they were alone and had access to a bed made her feel like she was about ten years younger. It was a good feeling, but one she tried very hard to keep in check. Yes, she was enjoying things with Ellington, and whatever was occurring between them was one of the most exciting and promising things to happen to her in recent years, but she also knew that if she wasn't careful she could let it interfere with her work.
She sensed that he knew this, too. He was risking the same things as she was: reputation, mockery, and heartbreak. Although lately, she wasn't sure if he was too worried about heartbreak. As she got to know him better, she was pretty sure Ellington was not the type of guy who slept around or treated women poorly, but she also knew that he had just come out of a failed marriage and was being very cautious about their relationship-if that's what they were choosing to call it.
She was getting the sense that Ellington would not be too shaken up if things ended between them. As for her…well, she wasn't sure how she might take it.
As she stepped out of the shower and dried off, Ellington was there, in the bathroom. It looked like he had planned to join her in the shower but had just missed his chance. He was giving her a look that held a bit of his usual slyness but also something concrete and stoic-something she had come to think of as his "work expression."
"Yes?" she asked playfully.
"Tomorrow…I don't want to do it, but maybe we should split up. One of us head up to Treston while the other stays here and works with the local PD and the coroner."
She smiled, realizing just how in sync they could become from time to time. "I was thinking the same thing."
"You have a preference?" he asked.
"Not really. I'll take Lynchburg and Treston. I don't mind driving."
She thought he was going to argue, wanting to take the time on the road instead. She knew he didn't particularly like driving, but he also didn't like the idea of her being out on the road all by herself.
"Sounds good," he said. "If we can wrap the day up with new information from the home in Treston with whatever information we get from the coroner down here, we could maybe get this thing tied up quickly like everyone is expecting."
"Sounds great," she said. She planted a kiss on his mouth as she passed by.
A thought passed through her mind as she headed back out into the room, one that made her feel almost lovesick but could not be denied.
What if he doesn't feel the same way about me as I feel about him?
He'd felt slightly distant over the last week or so, and while he had done his best to hide it from her, she'd seen it here and there.
Maybe he realizes just how much this could affect our work.
It was a good reason-a reason she often thought about herself. But she couldn't worry about that right now. With a coroner's report being delivered any moment now, this case had the potential to get rolling pretty quickly. And she knew that if her mind were on matters of Ellington and what they meant to one another, it might roll on by completely.
