Alex Kava Bundle - Alex Kava [632]
“Hello, gentlemen,” she said as she started around them. “Welcome to Omaha.”
Pakula smiled and followed her out. He still wasn’t happy about her wanting them to cozy up to the media.
“I’m not buying your logic on opening the door to the media. And I’m thinking Chief Ramsey’s gonna have a massive hemorrhage.”
“I’m not saying you open up the door or the case to them. But I do think if there’s something that connects these three cases, the media might be able to bring a few things to the surface that would take us months to dig up.”
“There’s no abuse scandal in the Omaha Archdiocese, if that’s where you’re headed.” He kept his voice down, pointing to the escalators and letting her go first.
“You sure about that?”
“A reporter from the Omaha World Herald’s been digging and nagging vice to nose around. Nothing so far.” After this morning’s exchange with Archbishop Armstrong, Pakula almost wished there was something to dig up.
She stepped onto the escalator, maneuvering the rolling computer case beside her. She turned her body toward him so they could still talk on the way down.
“And the other two cases?” she asked. “Anything to dig up there?”
“Not sure about those yet. But what do you think the media can get at that we’re not gonna have access to?”
“Remember when the Boston Globe blew the top off Cardinal Law and the abuse throughout his diocese? There didn’t seem to be enough evidence for law enforcement agencies to do anything for decades. I’m just saying if there’s some dirt, who better to dig it up than professional dirt diggers?”
Pakula thought about Armstrong’s smug threat. Why bother to make a threat if there wasn’t something to hide? He followed her off the escalator. “Baggage claim is down to the left here.”
They stayed off to the side when they realized her luggage wasn’t in yet. Pakula kept his eyes moving and his voice low. “From what you saw in the files, you think there’s any chance these cases might have been random?”
“You obviously don’t think they are or you wouldn’t have called in a profiler.” She waited for his eyes to meet hers and confirm it before she added, “However, I’m not convinced they’re the work of a serial killer.”
“Excuse me?”
“All three of these…” She stopped short of using the word murders now that they were surrounded by more people. “All of them have been done in very public places with people coming and going. This guy either gets a kick from the huge risk factor or he’s meticulous in his planning. I’m guessing it’s the latter. But from what I know about the three, they look more like cold, calculated executions.”
“Executions of priests,” Pakula said in almost a whisper. He had already thought about that. It wasn’t one of those ideas he necessarily liked having validated.
“You may have an assassin on your hands. Either way, it doesn’t much matter, we need to find out the similarities and figure out who might be next. The media may actually be able to help us with that.”
“Maybe it was just these three and that’s it.”
“That would be great if it was. But I’m guessing there’s a list and the killer’s going down it, one by one.”
CHAPTER 40
Washington, D.C.
Gwen slowed the car, braking enough to send Harvey’s front paws slipping and readjusting on the passenger seat next to her.
“This is crazy,” she told him as she started searching the brownstones, keeping the address on the dashboard, now rewritten on a Post-it; the original index card was back at her office in a plastic bag.
Her heart pounded in her ears. It hadn’t stopped since she opened the box. She was trying to stay calm, trying to think instead of run on emotion, but all she had to do was look at Harvey’s brown eyes watching her to know she wasn’t very successful. The dog could sense the panic. He could probably smell it on her. Every once in a while he licked her hand or arm as if that was his way of comforting her.
“We make a good team, Harvey, but just between you and me I certainly wish Maggie was here, too.” Even as she said it, she wondered if she would have finally given