14
Max held the door open for Noelle and pressed his lips together, holding back a grin. Don’t let her see me smile.
“It’s embarrassing,” Noelle muttered as she and Max entered the sheriff’s station from their fenced-in parking lot.
“You didn’t pass completely out,” he said encouragingly. “You just got a little dizzy.”
“It was more than a little dizzy,” she told him. “My legs were gone. Dr. Lockhart will probably ban me from the building.”
“I don’t think she even noticed.”
Noelle narrowed her eyes at him. “She couldn’t miss it.”
“Maybe she saw a little bit of it.”
“I was sitting on the floor!”
“Maybe she thought you slipped. I hauled you back up pretty quick.” Max enjoyed the easy banter.
He’d been holding Noelle’s upper arm in the autopsy suite and immediately noticed when she started to drop.
Noelle had let out a litany of mumbled curses as she went down.
Mumbled, but understandable. He’d never heard her swear that much.
He’d lowered her into a sitting position on the floor, and she’d recovered within seconds and scrambled back to her feet with his help.
“Maybe next time start in a chair,” he suggested now.
“That’s not a bad idea,” she said, clearly considering it.
They strode down the hall. It was nearly nine at night. Most of the civilian staff was gone for the day, but a few deputies were around, writing reports or eating.
At Noelle’s request, she and Max had stopped for dinner after leaving the autopsy.
She had eaten very little beforehand and was starving.
After the second round of Mexican food, this time several street tacos and bowls of chips and salsa, she had caught a second wind, ready to face their first meeting of the hastily assembled task force.
Evan came around a blind corner and nearly plowed Noelle over. “Hey, how’d it go?” he asked. He looked her up and down as if he expected to see blood.
“It was fine. I did fine,” Noelle said rapidly. “Lasted all the way through.” Beside her Max stiffened slightly but said nothing. “How was the media?”
“They had a few questions, and I gave them vague answers.” The three of them continued toward the conference room where the task force was based. “Told them we’d have a press conference tomorrow morning.” He grimaced. “Now I have to deal with a press conference.”
“Have the lieutenant do it,” said Noelle.
“He’s out sick. Some vomity bug. I guarantee he wouldn’t return to do a press conference even if he made a miraculous recovery overnight. I’ll handle it.” He eyed Noelle. “Unless you want to. Or you, Max. Press is always excited to hear from the FBI.”
“We’ll figure out something later tonight,” said Max.
“Excellent example of a vague answer,” said Evan. “You definitely should do the press conference.”
“We’ll see.” Max opened the door to the big room, and several heads turned to see who’d arrived.
A dozen computers had been moved into the room, and most were already manned.
There must have been twenty people inside.
The whiteboards on the walls had been cleaned, and someone had attached large photos of Sydney and Belle to one with magnets.
A timeline had been started on another, where Max read notations of the last camera sightings of Sydney and her roommate, Elise; Trey Beason’s last interaction with Belle and Sydney; and when the ex-boyfriend, Hayden, had last seen Sydney.
The breakup.
Max’s coworkers from the Bend FBI office, Mercy Kilpatrick and Eddie Peterson, approached, along with two county detectives.
The tall detective was Maxine Nelson and the other, who looked barely out of high school, was Lori Shults.
Max had already worked with both women in the few months he’d been in town.
Greetings were made, and then Evan asked everyone to take a seat.
He moved next to the whiteboard with the photos as people grabbed for chairs.
Evan started to give a quick welcome and then stopped speaking as he stared at the timeline. He turned to Noelle, who was leaning against a wall next to Max. “The ex-boyfriend, Hayden Hall, said he hasn’t seen Sydney or Belle since she dumped him more than two weeks ago?”
“That’s correct,” said Noelle as Max nodded.
“Then why was his Jeep seen on camera in the neighborhood on Tuesday of last week?”
Noelle twitched. “A week ago? That’s how far you went back through the videos to find it?” She glanced at Max.
Shit. Hayden lied to us.
“He’s a plumber,” said Noelle. “Maybe he had a job?” She didn’t sound convinced. “Do you want us to go interview him again tonight?”
“Let’s get a deputy to put eyes on the house, and then you call him, Noelle.” Evan pointed at a man, who nodded and left the room to contact a deputy. “Let’s see if he runs.” Evan took a long look at the timeline. “Anyone else see any other discrepancies already?”
The room was silent.
“This is why we’re together,” said Evan. “Share information. Fill in the blanks. If something jumps out at you, speak up. Do we have any recent sightings of Belle Beason? Any neighbors mention seeing her? Who’s seen her besides her father?”
“Her maternal grandparents said she stayed overnight at their home the Friday before last,” said Mercy. “Looks like that’s the night Sydney broke up with Hayden Hall. She picked up Belle the next morning and then dropped her off at her father’s for his weekend with her.”
Evan made a note on the timeline. “What else? Do we have records from Sydney’s cellular provider?”
“Should have them soon,” said Detective Shults.
“What about looking at local missing persons?” asked Evan.
Someone Max didn’t know spoke up and said they had a short list going back ten years ready to match to dental records once films were taken on the four unidentified sets of remains.
Will ten years be long enough?
He let the conversation flow around him as he thought about Belle.
He shifted his feet, feeling he wasn’t doing enough to find the little girl.
NCMEC, the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children, had been notified and immediately put out Belle’s photo.
Also the FBI was working hard in the background.
Max interrupted Evan. “What did we find out on local sex offenders?”
“The five who live closest have been interviewed,” said Detective Nelson. “Four allowed a quick look of their home. One refused. We got an order and went through an hour ago. Nothing. We’ll expand to the next closest five to ten people tomorrow.”
And if tomorrow is too late?
Max wondered if he’d sleep that night. “Child trafficking?”
“Unlikely,” said Mercy. “There’s been no other reports in the area. Although this could be the first.”
“Why hasn’t there been an Amber Alert?” asked someone.
“Because we can’t confirm that an abduction has occurred,” said Max. “For now we have to settle for NCMEC’s distribution of Belle’s image, and we’ve sent out notices to every law enforcement department in the state.”
“Is there a phone tip line?” asked someone.
“NCMEC is fielding a tip line and also taking tips online,” said Max. “Takes some of the busywork off of us. They’ll pass on the information they receive.”
“Do we have results on the gun found at the crime scene?” asked Detective Shults.
“Not yet,” said Evan, his face grim. “Trust me, I’m hounding them. I think that could be one of our strongest leads.”
“But why leave the gun there?” Max asked under his breath.
Evan heard him and looked his way. “I’ve asked myself the same question several times.”
A red herring?
“I’m dividing up interviews for tomorrow,” said Evan.
“We’ve got coworkers and friends lined up that need to be contacted.
” He picked up several pieces of paper from one of the tables and shuffled through them.
“Grave site evidence, Beason home evidence . . . most of this is still at the labs.” He looked around at the group. “Who’s got some new ideas?”
“The roommate,” said someone. “What if this person was roommates with all the victims at some point? Before they disappeared.”
A female serial killer?
It was unlikely but not impossible.
“Or she’s a partner in the killings,” added Noelle.
“We need to ID the other four victims to follow that theory.” She paused and eyed the group.
“You all know each victim was shot in the head, right?” Nods all around.
“It hasn’t been determined as the cause of death.
They could have been strangled, then shot, but it’s definitely a signature.
Do we have other local victims with that signature?
Or someone who’s recently been released from prison or jail who had victims like that?
There’s a time difference between the first set and the last three victims.”
“On it,” said Darby Cowan.
Max was pleased to see Darby, the FBI intelligence analyst from the local Bend office, speak up. If anyone could find a connection, it’d be her.
He focused on the photos across the room, seeing the resemblance between Belle and her mother. They both had the same crooked smile and eyes that crinkled when they were happy.
It’s too late for Sydney.
Is it too late for Belle too?
Evan glanced at his phone. “Noelle, you’re up. There’s a deputy outside of Hayden Hall’s home.”
“You want me to call while in here?” she asked, scanning the many people in the room.
“Silence your phones, people,” said Evan. Everyone checked their phone.
Noelle thought for a moment, then called Hayden, putting him on speaker.
“Detective?” Hayden answered the call. “Did you find Belle?” Hope rang in his tone.
“No, sorry, Hayden. Not yet. I just have a few follow-up questions.”
Hayden sighed. “Well, shit.”
“I agree,” said Noelle.
“Sounds like you’re on a speakerphone.”
“I am. I’m at work.”
“At this time of night?”
“Murder and missing children investigations don’t follow work hours.”
“Yeah,” he said. “What do you want to know?”
“You last saw Sydney more than two weeks ago, correct?”
“Yeah. On a Friday.”
“Any chance you tried to see her elsewhere? Like at her school or home?”
There was a long silence before he spoke. “I tried. Once I drove by her school when she usually gets off. I also drove through her neighborhood a few times, hoping to catch her outside. Lame, I know.”
“I’d say more stalkerish than lame. You didn’t see her during those times?”
“No. I didn’t stop. I felt like an idiot. I didn’t do it very much. The last time was probably a week ago. Told myself I needed to get over it.”
Noelle glanced at Evan and he shook his head.
No other questions.
Max couldn’t think of any either.
“I’d like you to make a list of those dates and times as best you can remember,” said Noelle.
“Have there been any leads on Belle?” he pleaded.
“I can’t discuss the investigation,” said Noelle with a wince. Max knew she wished she had information, whether shareable or not.
I do too.
She ended the call a moment later. “I think he’s telling the truth,” she said as she put away her phone. A few other people nodded. “To be fair, we didn’t ask him if he’d passed by her home. We only asked if he’d seen her.”
“I think you were right to call it stalkerish,” said Detective Shults. “I had a guy pull that shit on me. Said he couldn’t help driving by my house at two a.m.”
More nods.
The detective who’d arranged for the deputy to watch Hayden’s home stepped back in the room. “So far the deputy’s seen nothing,” he said. “The home was already dark when Detective Marshall called, and the lights have stayed off.”
“Give it an hour,” said Evan. “He might have second thoughts while lying in bed.”
Max didn’t think so. Hayden’s voice had had a ring of truth about it, and he’d already had doubts about the man’s involvement from their interview earlier that day.
But I’ve got to keep an open mind.
Tunnel vision had ruined many an investigation, making detectives miss the obvious or not consider other avenues.
“Everyone ready to move fast when we have details from the other autopsies?” asked Evan.
“I expect dentals on all of them to be finished by tomorrow night. Interview assignments will be in your email within the hour. Get some sleep tonight. I can’t promise there will be time to sleep later this week.
” He nodded at the group. “See you tomorrow.”
Max lingered, shaking a few hands and speaking with other investigators. Noelle was doing the same thing. It was hard to leave when there were so many unanswered questions.
He met her gaze across the room and tipped his head at the door. She nodded, reluctance on her face.
Tomorrow will be better.