“No, Brad, but not for lack of trying. Police are continuing to search outbuildings, sheds, garages, that sort of thing, in the area where Katie disappeared. There are also plans to take cadaver dogs—which are exactly like they sound: dogs that look for bodies—to take these dogs out to the landfills.
“Authorities have thoroughly searched Fairview’s home, car, and local office for signs of a struggle. The material that they got from that was apparently fairly minimal. But we’re told that the police are having their evidence technicians go over it. The experts say that they can find signs of blood, body fluids, hair, and other signs of a struggle, even if there has been some attempt to cover them up. They also say that Fairview is one of nearly one hundred people they have interviewed. Even so, they still have not been able to answer the most important question, and that is—what happened to Katie Converse? Until authorities are able to answer that question, they still have a long way to go in this investigation.”
Her face serious, Cassidy added, “Back to you, Brad.”
FAIRVIEW RESIDENCE
December 28
The Portland cop slumped in front of the video monitor watched as absolutely nothing happened on the screen, which showed the Fairviews’ driveway and front door. The video camera providing the feed had been installed across the street from the Fairviews by a guy wearing the uniform of a local cable company.
The monitor was in a house a few blocks from the Fairview home, which the task force had rented and converted into a small watching post. Anyone coming out of the house or pulling up the driveway or running across the front yard was seen immediately.
Whenever Fairview left, he was followed. Two unmarked cars were assigned to track his movements. To avoid alerting Fairview to their presence—“getting burned,” as the surveillance people called it—they rotated the ground units so that the vehicles were never the same from one day to the next.
The FBI had donated the use of one of the bureau’s single-engine Cessnas to assist the ground units. All day it stayed high above Fairview’s house, sliding in and out of the clouds, circling endlessly. If Fairview pulled out of the driveway, the air unit would follow. A spotter seated next to the pilot would watch Fairview’s movements, making sure they stayed with him.
“Okay,” the spotter would say, speaking over the radio to the units on the ground, “Eagle has the eyeball.”
Their only hope was that Fairview would lead them to Katie. Dead or alive.
MARK O. HATFIELD UNITED STATES COURTHOUSE
December 29
Between the pregnancy and the Katie Converse case, Allison was having trouble sleeping. Could Katie still be alive? Could Senator Fairview have hidden her away so that she wouldn’t talk with the press? Certain passages in her blog had shown her turmoil and depression. Could she have committed suicide? Could she have run away?
One by one, the reports came in from the various FBI offices where the young pages had scattered over the holiday break. One of Katie’s roommates reported that the senator did seem to spend more time with Katie than any other page. A second hadn’t noticed anything out of the ordinary. The third roommate said she was good friends with Katie and that absolutely nothing was going on, that the senator was friendly with everyone. She did yield the name of the Senate page Allison had been involved with: Dylan Roessler, who lived in Nashville.
An FBI agent from Tennessee called Allison, speaking in a drawl so slow that she found herself gritting her teeth.
“I interviewed that Dylan kid your missing girl used to date. Although ‘dating’ might be too strong a word. It was more like they spent a week or so doing some heavy necking in the common room at the page residence. When she quote, ‘broke up,’ end quote, with him, he thought at first it was because he wanted to take things further. But later he realized it was because there was someone else.”
Allison wanted to crawl down the phone line and shake the agent. Why couldn’t he have led with this information? “And who was that?”
“He said it couldn’t be one of the pages, because they all lived so close together and he would have known. He thought it was an adult. Quote, ‘And not like someone going to college. A real adult.’ End quote.”
“Where was Dylan the day Katie went missing?”
“Home. Three thousand miles away. And they weren’t really on speaking terms before break.”
“Did he think she was suicidal?”
“He wouldn’t go as far as that. All he would say was that she was moody.”