Andie watched for nearly a half hour, catching the tail end. Victoria seemed rejuvenated and in old form. Andie would have liked to believe what Isaac had told her earlier--that Andie had been the catalyst for the rediscovered energy, that Victoria had seen her old self in Andie and pushed through the burnout. It probably wasn't true, she figured, but it had been nice of Isaac to say it.
Just after eight, Victoria finally emerged. Andie, she, and Isaac met in a conference room across the hall. Victoria looked tired but was still running in high gear, like the winner of a dance marathon. It reminded Andie that she herself hadn't snagged a discerning look at her own face since entering the mirrorless cult. The prospects were frightening.
"How did it go?" asked Isaac.
"Good enough for the state attorney to bring murder charges against her."
"For which killings?"
"Not any of the five you're thinking of. Seems the string of murders goes back further than those two men who resembled Tom the lieutenant and the three women who resembled Beth Wheatley."
Isaac nearly groaned. "Don't tell me everyone in that damn cult has killed this way."
"No. It was intended as a rite of passage to Blechman's inner circle only. But it was an evolving concept." "Evolving from what?"
"From what I was able to gather, Carla was the first member to reach this higher level. Originally, Blechman's thinking was that to truly rise above the level of human, you not only had to separate yourself from the people who held you back, but you had to eliminate the things--the person--who was syphoning your energy. In Carla's case, that was her abusive ex-boyfriend."
"That doesn't fit with the echo killings," said Isaac. "The victims resembled the cult member and didn't even know them. None were old boyfriends or the like."
"That's right," said Victoria. "The way Carla explained it, Blechman realized right away that it was too dangerous for his followers to try to kill the actual person who was holding them back. He would eventually end up with a group of followers whose mothers or boyfriends or husbands or wives had all been murdered. That would be a red flag for police. So he changed his initiation rites. He decided to use symbolic victims."
"Symbolic of what?" asked Isaac.
"The victim represents your old self," said Andie.
"I see," said Isaac. "The way those two men resembled Tom. And the way the three women resembled Beth Wheatley."
"Except Beth wasn't a willing participant," said Andie.
Isaac stroked his chin, thinking. "Unwilling . . . maybe. You're assuming everything she told you in your debriefing was true."
Andie said, "As traumatized as Beth was, I don't think she could possibly have kept her composure to stick to anything close to a lie."
Isaac looked skeptical. "She's still here in the building, right?"
"She and Gus are in the west conference room. They're willing to cooperate, but they'd love for me to tell them it's time to go home."
"Do you think Mrs. Wheatley would agree to talk to Victoria?" asked Isaac.
Andie started to answer, but Victoria beat her to it. "I don't see the need. I trust Andie's take on the situation." Andie swelled inside. "Really?"
"Yeah, really. You did truly excellent work here."
"Well, I I. . ." She stopped the aw-shucks routine, recalling Victoria's remark the first time she'd praised her--how compliments were scarce in the bureau, so just shut up and take one. "Thank you."
Victoria glanced at Isaac. "I'm bushed. If you need me anytime over the next two hours, I'll be sacked out in the infirmary downstairs. If anyone else needs me, I'm in Milwaukee."
"I'd say you've earned some shut-eye."
She shook Andie's hand. "Not that I sit around praying for more serial killers, but I do hope we'll have the chance to work together again."
"So do I."
Victoria headed for the elevator. Andie and Isaac exchanged glances. He didn't say it, perhaps because he thought it would pale in comparison to a pat on the back from Victoria Santos. But she could feel how proud he was of her.
Andie said, "Let's go see the Wheatleys, shall we?"
They walked in silence down the hall to the west conference room and stopped outside the door. The venetian blinds on the rectangular window on the door were opened just enough to see inside. Gus and his wife were seated side by side, their backs to the door. He had his arm around her. Her head lay on his shoulder.
Andie smiled with her eyes. Watching too, Isaac said, "You really do believe her, don't you?"
"Are you still undecided?"
"Just one thing bugs me. Her explanation of how her fingerprints ended up on that pay phone in Oregon. The whole idea that Blechman forced her to handle a mouthpiece while she was captive in Yakima, only so he could screw it onto the payphone in Oregon and make it look like she was there."
"Makes sense to me. After all, Beth's prints were found only on the mouthpiece and not on the buttons that had been used to punch out the 'Mary Had a Little Lamb' message on Morgan's phone. Planted evidence like that would make it look like she was involved in the cult, make it impossible for her to return to her old life."
"You're satisfied, then?"
"If you're asking whether I think she's innocent, the answer is yes."