The Next Accident - Lisa Gardner [106]
“Chauvinism,” Rainie replied. “The feds have a history of underestimating women.”
“I’m not going to comment on that,” Quincy murmured, “given that I’m outnumbered, and outgunned, in this room. Now, for no good reason at all, tell me more about Mickie.”
Kimberly flipped back through the background report. “I don’t have anything more on Mickie. Once the investigating agent determined he had no criminal history, he seemed to have lost interest.”
“Figures.” Quincy frowned, mulling something over in his mind. Then his gaze rose to meet Rainie’s. She’d been staring at the column of his throat, admiring his dark blue polo shirt and wondering why she hadn’t gotten him out of a suit more often. The soft cotton fabric draped nicely over his chest, accentuating the hard planes of his runner’s body, the deep color of his piercing eyes.
Why hadn’t he woken her this morning? He could’ve taken at least one moment to brush her cheek and say . . . anything.
Belatedly she realized he was looking at her. A fresh flood of color rose in her cheeks. She looked away hastily, feeling not at all like herself.
“Rainie?” he asked softly.
“Ummm, the youngest brother. Yes, let’s look harder at him.”
Kimberly frowned. “Why Mickie? He’s not even the right age. Our guy’s much older.”
“Age can be faked,” Quincy said, his gaze still on Rainie. “Plus, people are notoriously bad at estimating age. You put a man in T-shirt and jeans and people will say he’s early twenties. You put the same man in a dark suit, and people will say he’s early thirties. While eyewitness testimonies remain the number one way of catching suspects, they are very easy to manipulate, especially by someone who’s done any reading on the subject.”
“But Mickie’s an engineer,” Kimberly protested. “Educated, no history of crime.”
“Exactly,” Rainie spoke up. “The UNSUB we’re looking for is sophisticated. He has a complex plan, a gift for manipulation, confidence in approaching both a beautiful young woman—your sister—and a sophisticated older woman—your mother. Most likely he is educated, fairly worldly, and with a knack for problem solving.”
“And he has money,” Quincy added. “At the current pace of development, our UNSUB’s most likely engaged in this pursuit full-time. So he must have a nest egg to live off of. He’s also been traveling, demanding additional resources. Then there’s this new development with you, Rainie. Kimberly told me about your meeting with Carl Mitz. If, as you suspect, your ‘father’ really is Tristan Shandling, then our UNSUB has paid off a DA and hired a lawyer as part of his plan, both actions requiring significant financial resources.
“Now, does a thirty-three-year-old engineer such as Mickie have that kind of money? Generally, I’d say no. But in this day and age of software millionaires and dot-com billionaires, who knows? Mickie could be a very wealthy young man.”
Kimberly nodded slowly. “I hadn’t thought of that. Okay, so we run a complete background check of youngest brother Millos, including his financial assets. One name down.” She looked at the box of files. She sighed. “Fifty more names to go.”
“With all due respect,” Rainie spoke up, “I don’t think this database project is going to get us anywhere.” Quincy immediately frowned. He and his daughter swiveled to look at her. Rainie shrugged. “Think about it, Quincy. Is this guy’s name somewhere in that box or in this database or in FBI files? Probably. Is it going to help us? No. Why not? Because he knows his name is in there, too.”
She leaned forward, speaking intently. “What is the UNSUB’s major vulnerability? Process of elimination. It’s a personal case, not stranger to stranger, so given enough time and resources, he knows you’ll be able to identify him. What’s his strategy then? In the beginning, it’s secrecy. He selects Mandy, the family member in the least amount of contact with the rest of the family. He disguises his appearance, he uses an alias, and he conceals her murder as an accident. And in the beginning, that works. He understands, however,