Chapter 26
TWENTY-SIX
Durham, New Hampshire
Thursday, October 10
2:31 p.m.
Leigh shoved through the classroom door into the corridor, nearly taking out Ford with the momentum. “He wants his lawyer.”
While the professor wasn’t technically under arrest considering they couldn’t get him to the Durham PD station for processing, Morrow had shut down completely.
“I take it your conversation didn’t go well.” Ford’s ability to both make light of their ever-darkening situation and drive her up the wall at the same time had reached new heights. He fell into line beside her. A support she hadn’t had in a long time.
She stepped back into the lobby, heavier than ever after noting the lost stares cutting straight to her. Students and staff alike questioned her without so much as saying a word. They’d moved from flat-out anger to fear, but Leigh wasn’t good at offering words of comfort. She couldn’t even do it for her own adopted daughter. “Was forensics able to find prints or identifying markers on the chemicals we collected from the basement?”
“Nothing. The killer ensured to wipe everything clean, but even if we still had access to that room, which we don’t”—Ford hit her with a hard stare as if to remind her they would not be going back down into the basement until pumps could be utilized—“we most likely couldn’t get anything new from it.”
She didn’t have any intention of going back down there. Ever. The memories she had now of her time in the basement would last a lifetime. Why was it anytime they got their hands on a lead, it was ceremoniously ripped from their grasp? Leigh targeted the university president, cornered between two other professors and who she assumed was his executive assistant. “Have you been able to verify the list of key codes used to access the biomedical lab between two nights ago and yesterday morning when Alice Dietz was found dead?”
Color fled the president’s face. “I’m sorry, Agent Brody, but without power, I’m not able to access the system. The access I have is through my desktop computer in my office.”
Of course not. Because that would’ve been too easy. “What about security, campus police, or other researchers? Would they be able to get to it from their tablets or phones?”
“I’m not exactly sure what our security team or campus police have access to, Agent Brody, but the other researchers won’t be of any help. Each code is kept private to ensure approved access to the lab and its equipment.”
Leigh notched her head to meet the marshal’s gaze. “Ford, let’s get those two campus officers down here. Ask them if they can get us a list of key codes.”
“You want to pull them off babysitting duty?” His eyebrows arched toward his hairline.
Tamra Hopkins’s body. The headache pulsing at the back of her skull urged her to close her eyes. Okay, maybe it had something to do with almost dying, too. But for now, she had to scramble for all the little pieces of this case and try to hold them together. The lobby doors shuddered as if to emphasize no one was going anywhere anytime soon. Lines of water branched across the outer door glass, thickening and thinning with the onslaught, and snuck under the barrier.
“Leigh?” Ford lowered his voice. “Agent Brody.”
Case. Right. Damn, she was tired. Leigh rubbed at her head. “Ask them if they can get a list of key codes used in the biomedical lab.”
“Sure.” He reached for her, as though to steady her in case she lost consciousness, but her pride wouldn’t sweep her off her feet. “Are you all right?”
Was she all right? Hard to tell between the lack of calories, the lack of oxygen for those terrifying three minutes, and the lack of sleep in the past two days. She refused to cross her arms over her chest as she normally would under someone else’s scrutiny. “I’m good.”
“I asked one of the officers to keep an eye on our dead guy from the basement down the hall and the other on Tamra’s remains. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” He headed for the stairs leading up to the second level.
Lighting flashed in the corner of her eye. Then the boom of thunder sounded overhead. A few gasps reached her ears. A collective bracing for the worst. Damn it, she didn’t know how to do this. To… make it seem as if she had everything under control. When was the last time things were under control? Before someone she’d trusted to help her solve her brother’s case had tried to kill her? Before she’d been told the cancer had come back? Before a murderer had asked her to adopt her then fourteen-year-old daughter? Her entire life was a case study in not having control.
These kids were scared. Ava was scared. People were dying, and none of them—not even Leigh—knew why. She faced off with the university president, and a rush of dizziness nearly knocked her off balance. Leigh’s hand hit the wall beside her. Apparently, she’d been ignoring her body’s needs long enough. There was about to be a mutiny. She buried the urge to shake her head. Not wanting to upset her brain any more than she already had. “Marshal Ford said something about an emergency radio. Were you able to find batteries?”
“The marshal didn’t tell you?” Confusion contorted the president’s face. “We replaced the batteries. We gave him the radio to contact the local Marshals office for help.”
“Oh.” Leigh didn’t remember that part of her and Ford’s conversation. But she wasn’t remembering a whole lot at the moment. Like a sudden fog had rolled in and started shutting down her executive functions. She needed to sleep, but one could argue she needed to catch a killer more. “I’ll check in with him.”
She maneuvered through students until she reached Ava, crouching to meet the fifteen-year-old on her level. “You doing okay?”
Ava eyed her from toe to head, barely turning to meet her gaze. “You look like you’re about to pass out.”
“You say the nicest things.” She’d caught sight of herself in the bathroom mirror before her shower, but Leigh would bet the bruising around her neck had darkened to an ugly black and purple. “Are you doing okay?”
“Everyone is scared. They think they might be… next,” Ava said.
Leigh wasn’t sure she could ease that worry with Tamra Hopkins’s body upstairs. There didn’t seem to be any strategy other than survival to Tamra’s death. She’d claimed to have seen private messages between Alice Dietz and an unknown man, most likely Professor Morrow, but was that motive enough to kill her? Or had she simply been in the wrong place at the wrong time and paid the price?
Leigh rubbed at her temples. She’d have to find some ibuprofen to get through the next couple of hours. Otherwise, her head might explode from the pressure.
All right. If the killer had seen a potential mentor in Morrow as she’d once done herself, why add his driver’s license to the killer’s trophies? Pierce Morrow was still alive and every ounce the egotistical, thieving investigative consultant she remembered. Maybe becoming a target meant the professor had already outlived his usefulness…
Tension radiated down her spine. Leigh settled her attention on the group of six students huddled in a circle, Ava included. “Listen, as long as you guys stick together, don’t go anywhere alone, and stay in this lobby, you’re safe. I know you’re confused, and you’re scared, and we have no idea when we’ll be able to get out of here, but Marshal Ford and I are doing everything in our power to get you through this in one piece. I give you my word.”
She had nothing else to offer. No heroic speech that could fix any of this. She just had her instincts, and right now they were telling her Pierce Morrow was still in danger.
Leigh forced her legs to move. Though it took everything she had to put one foot in front of the other. Running on fumes and adrenaline—and, let’s be honest, a whole lot of uncertainty—tended to have that effect. She retraced her path to the second classroom west of the lobby.
“Hey.” Ford somehow ended up in front of her. Like her brain had stalled with her hand on the classroom door. “I just talked to both campus police officers and got the same answer. They aren’t able to access the key code history for the biomedical building without an internet connection.”
Leigh rubbed at her head. The headache had spread from behind her eyes up her forehead and clawed down the sides above her ears. More intense than a minute ago. “Is there some kind of monthly report emailed to authorized parties showing who accessed the building?”
She was grabbing at straws at this point.
“Not that anyone has offered,” he said.
Great. “So we can’t narrow down who had access to that lab and the arsenic and cyanide used to kill Alice Dietz.”
“What I’m wondering is how Tamra Hopkins was killed when we’d already submitted both poisons into evidence.” Ford had a point. “You might be onto something with your law enforcement theory.”
“One of the forensic techs.” It wasn’t a question. Leigh tried to mentally picture the two techs that’d been forced to shelter in place with them. She didn’t know either personally. Homicide investigations fell to local police who supplied their own teams unless specifically asking for the bureau’s assistance. Both techs had a pulse on the investigation, the ability to manipulate evidence, and the knowledge to clean up after themselves. “Let’s get their names and find out what we can about both. I’d like to talk to Morrow again.”
Ford set a hand on her shoulder, holding her in place. His gaze narrowed, and she didn’t even have the energy to give in to her usual self-consciousness. “Hey, are you all right? Your pupils are dilated, and you look like you’re having trouble staying on your feet. Did you hit your head when you were in the basement?”
“I…” Did she? Dilated pupils didn’t come from exhaustion. The world tipped on its axis, and suddenly she was looking up at the marshal from a much lower angle than she had a second ago. “I don’t remember. I’m fine. I need to talk to…”
“Whoa. It’s okay. I’ve got you.” Ford caught her under the arms, sliding her back against the wall until her butt hit the cold stone floor. “Here, sit down.”
She didn’t have time to sit. There was something she had to do. Wasn’t there? Leigh shook her head. Big mistake. Her vision swam, closing in then bursting back out. “I’m okay. I can do this.”
“You shouldn’t move until we can get an EMT in here to assess you.” Ford set both hands on her shoulders. “At least let one of the campus police officers have a look.”
Yeah. Like that was going to happen in the middle of a hurricane. Leigh almost laughed. She just had to remember what it was she had to do. She reached for the door handle above her head, pulling herself to her feet. She closed her eyes as the world started swimming. Focus. She had to focus. Okay. That was better. She didn’t feel like throwing up anymore. Maybe she had hit her head. Or was this an extended symptom of hypothermia? She didn’t know. “I need to talk to Morrow again.”
“Leigh, you can barely stand. Wait here. I’ll get you some water.” He didn’t give her a chance to argue, darting down the hallway back toward the lobby.
Every second they wasted was another opportunity for the killer to escape. This was what she was trained for. This was what she was good at. She swung the door inward. To find Pierce Morrow dead in his seat.