What Burns Within (34 page)

“But that still doesn’t explain to me why you think another girl went missing July eighteenth,” Daly said. “I can’t send people around knocking on doors over the whole city doing a head count.”

Ashlyn pulled out five photographs. “The contents of the bundle retrieved near the table Isabella’s body was found on. Five metal crosses. The first one—” she taped it up beside Julie’s information—“inscribed
Deborah, July twenty-five
. The second one engraved,
Ruth, August eighteen
. The remaining three are inscribed,
Hannah, August twenty-eight, Martha,
September twenty-eight, Delilah
, no date. If these are to commemorate their deaths, our next victim has just under a week to live.”

“And she was abducted July eighteenth,” Daly said. “He’s got three girls.”

“And all we’ve got to work with is Alex Wilson, chasing up this clown and the jewelry vendor from the fairgrounds, and tracking who made those crosses,” Tain said. “Hopefully, they were distinctive enough that someone will remember the order. But they could have been done anywhere this side of the Fraser River.”

There was silence in the room. Ashlyn finally sat down, near Daly, removing her juice from the drink tray.

Craig surveyed the particulars and glanced at Daly, who shrugged. Craig stood.

“June fourteenth. Karen Chalmers is raped.” He made an
X
on the map, marking the location. “July eighth, Sara McPherson. July twenty-fifth, Stephanie Bonnis. No rape reported yet for July eighteenth, and we’ve got no abduction report for that date, just an arson.” He held up his hand as he glanced at Ashlyn. “Not that I doubt your theory for a second. That girl is out there, just like my rape victim is still working through denial.

“Cindy Parks is raped August eighteenth. August nineteenth, Lori Price is raped. She fights him. He leaves, rapes Nitara Sandhu and kills her.”

Craig marked the locations on the map, all as varied as the abduction reports and arsons. “I’ve been trying to figure out what linked these women. Obviously, there was no geographic connection. He wasn’t favoring blondes, brunettes or redheads. He crossed ethnic lines. The only thing that appeared to be common to all of them was that they lived in detached houses, and he seemed to know when they would be home alone, as though he’d been watching them.”

He set down the dry-erase marker and picked up a different color, starting at the top. Beside each case date except July eighteen, he wrote a number. “Any guesses?” Craig watched as they all looked over the information, first Tain and then Daly shaking their heads. “Ashlyn? If anyone figures it out, it should be you.”

Her brow wrinkled. “Station numbers?”

Tain’s eyes narrowed, and he pulled out a file, glanced at the list and then the numbers on the board. “How do they connect?”

“They were all girlfriends or wives of men who were on the fire departments called out to those arson fires.”

Craig sat down, and Tain moved off the arm of the chair he was still perched on, slumping back into the seat. He rubbed his temples with both hands. “I haven’t got a fucking clue how this all connects.”

“You and me both,” Ashlyn said. “Abduct girls to purify them for heaven, set fires for no apparent reason at all half the time, and then go rape women? It doesn’t make any sense.”

“Didn’t you have another rape reported yesterday?” Tain asked.

Craig nodded. “But there’s a lot about it that doesn’t fit, and our victim wasn’t cooperative with us doing an investigation of the scene. Evidence destroyed before she called it in. Plus, she was beyond calm. And the MO doesn’t match the other cases.”

Daly leaned back in his chair. “That case doesn’t seem to fit. Regardless, there’s as much reason to believe the rape cases are connected to the arsons as there is to believe the arsons connect to the abductions. The arsons seem to be the link. Okay. It looks like you three are working together now.”

“What about Lori?” Craig asked.

“You can’t be serious? You can’t let her back on this,” Ashlyn said, her eyes wide as she stared at Craig and then Daly. “Not since she’s been raped.”

“It might not be up to me,” Daly replied. “If it is, she’ll be on medical until fall.”

“Don’t you have some pull?” Ashlyn asked.

“I used up a lot of influence getting Tain on the abduction cases and keeping him there. Look, Lori’s booked for holidays in September anyway. If Hawkins knows what he’s doing, he’ll keep her at home where she belongs.”

“It’s been bad enough with the abductions and arsons,” Tain said, looking at Craig. “Please tell me you have something to go on.”

“No prints in the system, so far DNA has only been recovered from Lori’s rape kit, and we haven’t got results back yet.”

“But these women are all girlfriends or wives of firefighters?” Ashlyn asked. “I take it you mean live-in girlfriends.”

Craig returned Ashlyn’s gaze and nodded.

“Then what you need is to join the fire department and get yourself a girlfriend.” They all looked at her. “Seriously. The only link you’ve got is the fire department. My job was supposed to be hanging out, being around, keeping my eye open for anyone showing signs of stress, who might be responsible for the arsons. If all your victims had a tie to the fire department, it’s possible the rapist is a firefighter. Someone in there, someone who knows all of them, knows where they live.”

“It would make sense,” Tain said slowly. “Wouldn’t firefighters know when a unit’s been called out to a big fire too?”

“So they’d know when a particular guy would be on a call, leaving his wife or girlfriend at home alone….” Daly nodded. “Ashlyn’s right. You need to get inside the department, but I’m not so sure about needing a girlfriend.”

“Think about it. Craig goes through all the motions a rookie would. You’ve got the house, so that’s no problem. Maybe you can flush this guy out, make him tip his hand.”

“What about the firefighters who’ve had contact with Craig and know he’s a cop?” Tain asked.

“They’re all on leave,” Daly said. “I can make sure they don’t come back. If we do this.”

“Look, it’s just my opinion, but Craig would fit right in. He just needs a girlfriend who would get noticed.”

“You,” Tain said quietly.

“Me?”

“You’ve been around those scenes. You know a lot of the guys, and I’ve seen the way they look at you. Trust me, you come in ‘off the job’ for a day with Craig on your arm, and he’s joining the department…. Our guy won’t miss that. Plus you know these cases. No sense bringing in someone new who would need to be brought up to speed. You and Craig have worked together before.”

Craig glanced at Ashlyn first, then Daly. “What do you think?”

“I don’t like the idea of putting Ashlyn in as bait.”

“You could have a unit watching the house every hour she’s at home alone. Silent motion detectors to alert them if anyone tries to enter. Our guy wouldn’t know, but Ashlyn could have an earpiece to alert her, and the team watching the house would have instant notification if someone broke in,” Tain said.

“There’s no guarantee he’d even go after Ashlyn,” Craig said. “It could be just as valuable from the perspective of her evaluating the scene. If she goes through all the motions with me, she can have more access to the other firefighters and everyone who connects to the department. That would give her a chance to see if anyone seems suspicious. Everyone I come in contact with, we do a check on, regardless.”

“And if you put it out there that Ashlyn’s on leave as disciplinary action for her stunt the other day, then she’s got a perfect excuse for not being at work,” Tain added.

Daly frowned. “I don’t know. How will I explain it to Paul Quinlan?”

“Tell him it’s out of your hands, ordered by the bosses.” Craig glanced at Ashlyn. “It makes sense. You have the perfect excuse for pulling her off the case right now, from external appearances anyway. She’ll still be actively on duty, but she already knows a lot of these guys, which gives her a head start. Our rapist has attacked another police officer, so he’s not likely to be scared off. Every single person I cross paths with, right down to Paul Quinlan, gets their name run through the system.”

“It sure as hell beats sending out a memo to all the firefighters asking them to not leave their wives at home alone,” Tain said.

“Tain’s right. We’re working with some pretty thin leads, and if this guy holds to form, next week we’ll have an other arson, another rape and another body on our hands,” Craig said.

“I’ll do it, Daly. I want to.”

Daly put up his hand. “Out. All of you. I need to think.”

Two hours later Craig walked into his father’s office without knocking and shut the door.

Daly stood, hands on the window sill, staring outside. He straightened and turned.

“Craig Nolan, I expect you to knock like any other officer in this building.”

“I’m not any other officer. I’m your son.”

Daly’s face darkened. “Oh, this is rich. You’re usually the one telling me not to treat you differently, not to do you any favors.”

“And I don’t want you to treat me any differently than you would anyone else. That’s the goddamn point!”

Daly pointed a finger at him. “Watch your mouth.”

Craig grabbed the back of a chair, squeezing the padding with his fingers, letting the anger course through his arms, hoping some of it would evaporate instead of finding its way into a response. He looked up at his father. “There’s only one thing for you to consider: if this was anyone else, would you try it?”

They stood staring at each other. Craig knew the answer to his question. They’d been grasping at straws for so long, on the arsons, the abductions and the rapes, and there was a good chance having a man inside the fire department could help them make headway on at least one of the cases, if not all of them. It was the right thing to do.

It wasn’t the job holding Daly back, and Craig knew it. It had more to do with fear and regret for the mistakes Daly had made himself as a much younger man.

Mistakes Craig was a constant reminder of.

“I’m not a kid. This is my job. If it was anyone else—”

Daly raised a hand to stop him, then shrugged. “Go get Tain and Ashlyn,” he said quietly.

When they returned to Daly’s office Daly ignored Craig and walked up to Ashlyn, put his hand on her shoulder.

“Are you sure about this?”

Ashlyn nodded. “Positive.”

“If anything happens to you—”

“SSBB,” Tain said. “I’ll park outside the house myself and monitor her when she’s alone if I have to. Neither of us—” he pointed to Craig—“is going to let her get hurt.”

Craig knew that look. Daly’s logic was fighting against his feelings as he weighed the pros and cons. Finally, he reached for his phone.

“I still have to get this cleared. Meanwhile, you—” he pointed at Ashlyn—“go see Nicky Brennen.”

Ashlyn knelt down by the car mat on the floor, where the boy was playing. “Hi, Nicky. Remember me?”

He glanced up and offered her a shy smile and a quick nod.

“What are you building?” She sat down on the carpet near him.