Killing Hour - Lisa Gardner [94]
“What are the rules for ad submissions?” Quincy asked.
Kaplan shrugged. “The newspaper is a civilian enterprise, published in cooperation with the Public Affairs Office here on the base, so it covers anything topical to the area. Lots of local merchants advertise, charities reach out, services for military personnel, etc. It’s no different really from any other small, regional paper. Ads must be submitted typeset and with a payment. Otherwise, you’re pretty much good to go.”
“So our guy took the time to learn the submission requirements for an ad, but still didn’t realize the paper wouldn’t print it today?” Watson asked skeptically. “Doesn’t seem too bright to me.”
“He got what he wanted,” Quincy said. “It’s the next day, and we’re reading his message.”
“Pure chance,” Watson said dismissively.
“No. This man does everything with a purpose. Quantico Sentry is the Corps’ oldest newspaper. It’s part of their tradition and pride. Putting his message in this paper is the same as dumping a body on the base. He’s bringing his crime close to home. He’s demanding our attention.”
“It fits the pattern,” Rainie said. “So far we have the same MO as with the Eco-Killer, and now we have the letter too. I’d say the next step is pretty obvious.”
“And what would that be?” Watson asked.
“Call McCormack! Get him back in on this thing. He knows this guy better than we do. And, since there’s probably another girl out there, maybe we ought to get some experts looking once more at the body, let alone those little details like the rattlesnake, leaf, and rock. Come on. As the ad says, the clock is ticking, and we’ve already wasted the entire day.”
“I sent them to the lab,” Kaplan said quietly.
“You did what?” Rainie asked incredulously.
“I sent the rock, the leaf, and, well, the various snake bits to the Norfolk crime lab.”
“And what the hell is a crime lab going to do with them? Dust them for prints?”
“It’s not a bad idea—”
“It’s a fucking horrible idea! Weren’t you listening to McCormack before? We’ve got to find the girl!”
“Hey!” Quincy’s hand was up again, his voice loud and commanding across the table. Not that it did much good. Rainie was already half out of her chair, her hands fisted. And Kaplan appeared just as eager for a battle. It had been a long day. Hot, tiring, wearing. The kind of conditions that led to an increase in bar brawls, let alone a deterioration of cooperation in multi-jurisdictional homicide cases.
“We need to proceed along two tracks,” Quincy continued firmly. “So shut up, sit down, and pay attention. Rainie’s correct—we need to move quickly.”
Rainie slowly sank back down into her chair. Kaplan, too, grudgingly gave him his attention.
“One, let’s assume that perhaps this man is the Eco-Killer. Ep, ep, ep!” Kaplan was already opening his mouth to protest. Quincy gave him the same withering look he’d once used on junior agents, and the NCIS agent shut right up. “While we cannot be one hundred percent certain of this, the fact remains that we have a homicide that fits a pattern previously seen in Georgia. Given the similarities, we need to consider that another woman has also been abducted. If so, according to what happened in Georgia, we need to start approaching the evidence we’ve found on the body as pieces of a geographic puzzle.” He looked at Kaplan.
“I can arrange for some experts in botany, biology, and geology to look at what we have,” the special agent said grudgingly.
“Quickly,” Rainie spoke up.
Kaplan gave her a look. “Yes, ma’am.”
Rainie merely smiled at him.
Quincy took a deep breath. “Two,” he said, “we need to explore some broader avenues. While I’ve read summaries of the Georgia case notes, it seems clear to me that they’ve never come close to knowing much about the killer. They generated a profile and a list of suppositions, none of which has ever been proven either way. I think we should start clean-slate, generating our own impressions based on this crime. For example, why plant the body on Quantico grounds? That seems clearly like a man who is making a statement against authority.