CHAPTER TWENTY #3
Dana produced a list of family-law mediators within forty miles. Selena called the first office. A receptionist refused to confirm any client information without legal process.
The second mediator checked the date but found no appointment matching the time or description.
Light drained from the station windows while the third number rang.
A woman answered. “Henderson Family Mediation.”
Selena identified herself and explained the homicide inquiry. “I’m sending a still image through the secure address listed for your office. We’re trying to identify a woman who may have attended a marital mediation session fourteen months ago, on Thursday the seventeenth.”
Keys moved at the other end.
“I have the image,” the woman said after a moment. “I may recognize her, but I can’t release a client’s name without legal authority.”
“Please preserve the appointment record,” Selena said. “We’ll get it under a local warrant. We need you to stay by the phone until I call again. It’s for an FBI investigation into an active homicide.”
Connor was already calling the Commonwealth’s Attorney assigned to Harlan County.
The mediator remained on the line while Dana prepared the date, image, and supporting information.
With three women dead and another victim potentially at risk, the prosecutor agreed to seek an emergency disclosure order.
A circuit judge signed the narrowly drawn order shortly before six, and Dana served it through the mediator’s secure email address.
“Any more lawyers or judges today and I’ll be qualified to be one,” Selena remarked quietly as she dialed the lawyer’s office again.
This time, one of their partners answered.
“This is Agent Raven with the FBI. Did you receive our warrant for access to your client appointments?”
The man sounded aggravated. “We did. One moment.”
Paper shifted. A drawer opened and closed.
Connor stood beside the board. Kelly had stopped typing. Dana watched the phone as though the answer might appear across its screen.
The lawyer returned after two minutes.
“We did have a marital session that Thursday afternoon,” she said. “The woman in your photograph appears to be the client. Her hair was longer when she came here, but I’m confident it’s her.”
Selena picked up a marker.
“What was her name?”
“Carol Fen.”
Selena wrote it down and handed it to Dana. She, in turn, entered the name into the state system.
“Thank you for your help,” Selena said, quickly ending the call.
“We’ve got something,” Dana said.
She opened Carol’s driver’s-license photograph beside the library still.
“I have her driver’s license,” Dana continued. “When I compare it to the video still through facial recognition, it comes up with a 34% match. Probably due to the low fidelity of the video frame.”
Kelly leaned closer. “I’m no facial recognition software, but I’d say they look similar.”
The license photograph showed Carol facing the camera beneath brighter light, her hair longer than in the library footage. Beside it, the grainy profile from the terminal camera flattened half her features into shadow.
Selena studied both images. “Not enough for a formal identification.”
“But it was her,” Connor said.
“I think so,” Selena answered.
Selena picked up a marker and wrote MORNINGGLORY44 across the lower part of the board. Beneath it, she printed CAROL FEN and drew a circle around the name.
Then she turned toward Connor and Kelly. “Now we have a suspect.”
“Let’s roll,” Connor said, wearily.
“Let me call for a warrant, first, so we can search her home,” Kelly said, picking up her phone.
“Okay…” Connor said with a yawn. “Then we go.”
“Connor,” Selena said gently, seeing the tiredness in him. “We’ll go. You stay here and keep looking into this woman’s background.”
He shook his head. “I’m the sheriff of this town, Selena.”
“And you called us in to help,” she said. “So let us do just that.”
He ran his fingers through his hair as if to make himself less disheveled. “I’m going to Carol’s house.”
“No, you’re not.”
“I’m the sheriff.”
“You’ve been awake most of the night, and you nearly nodded off ten minutes ago.”
“I closed my eyes.”
“You were sitting upright with a pen in your hand.”
Connor pushed his chair back. “Three people have been murdered in my county. I’m not waiting behind a desk.”
Selena stepped closer before he could stand. “You can coordinate every patrol car searching for Carol’s Civic, keep Dana working the HearthSpace records, and dig through Carol’s history. Kelly and I can execute the warrant.”
“I don’t need you deciding what I can manage.”
“No, you need someone willing to say it before you make a tired mistake.”
His jaw tightened. The phone beside him vibrated. Connor checked the screen, silenced it, and placed it inside a drawer.
Selena noticed, but the argument had reached the point where another question would close him further.
“Stay here,” she said. “Find out where Carol might be going. That helps us more than having you follow our car in the dark.”
Connor held her stare, then lowered himself into the chair in defeat.
“Take two deputies.”
“Thank you, Connor.”