“What?” Matt persisted.
“The dog,” Meg said. “He’s, uh, crying a lot.”
“Tell her we’ll pick him up.”
She couldn’t have been more stunned. She probably gaped at him.
“Just tell her we’ll pick him up,” he repeated.
“We’re coming for him, Nancy.”
By the time she said goodbye, Matt had turned the car around. Meg wasn’t sure what to say or do. She felt she should apologize, but the words kept catching in her throat. She finally managed to choke out, “I’m sorry.”
“We’re not on a time constraint,” he said.
Who was she going to leave the dog with in DC? Her friends were all in the process of moving. Lara would have kept him.
But Lara was the reason for this unlikely road trip.
“Washington’s on the way, so we’ll head up I-95 and then go west,” he said.
They were back at Nancy’s within ten minutes; she was ready for them, a bag with his dog food and the little bowls they’d gotten him in her hand, Killer/Kelly at her side.
Meg stepped out the car to get the dog.
But Killer/Kelly left Nancy and made bounding leaps toward Matt, trailing his leash behind him.
To his credit, the man stopped. It was rather incongruous. The tall, fit FBI agent in his suit, with his smooth-combed short hair and sunglasses, reaching down for what even Meg had to admit was a dog so ugly it was cute.
“I’m sorry,” Nancy said. “You’re on a professional and personal quest, and I’m whining about a dog. It’s just that I know where he came from and I realize he’s so traumatized that even a little more time with you might help. I’ll keep him if you need me to, but I’m afraid he’s going to die of heartbreak on my watch!”
“It’s okay, Nancy, we’ve got him,” Matt told her.
“Maybe he’ll be a good companion. He’s not much of a guard dog—I mean, he couldn’t protect you from the bad guys—but I’ll tell you one thing, he can bark!”
Great! Now she had a barking dog with her. Meg briefly doubted her own choices. She was the new kid, fresh out of the academy, barely possessing the needed credentials. And then she’d insisted on keeping a victim’s dog...
Meg stepped forward again, hugging Nancy, making promises again. Matt gave her assurances that they’d do all they could.
He didn’t promise results.
When they were back in the car, Matt slipped Killer over to Meg. He didn’t say a word as he started the car and began to drive.
When they reached DC, where should she tell him to go? Oh, yes, she was proving herself to be very professional.
They drove away from Nancy’s, toward I-95, and still neither of them spoke. Finally, reaching the highway, he set his phone in a car-carrier and said, “Jackson.”
His voice recognition system immediately dialed.
A moment later, Jackson Crow was on the phone. “Anything?” Matt asked.
“An ID on the second victim. Her name was Karen Grant. From Arizona. Same basic lifestyle and background as the other two women. She was new to the DC area. She had a job at a pizza parlor in the Georgetown area. She’d been on the job two weeks—and was looking into working her way through school. Twenty-eight years old, mother dead two years, her dad four. She didn’t have a boyfriend. Angela tracked her down through the spa where she had her eyes permanently made up. She’d only been there once.”
“So we have identifications on all three women. And their backgrounds are almost as similar as the murders themselves,” Matt said.
“Exactly. Any new leads on your end?”
“We’re driving to Harpers Ferry. We didn’t find Lara.” Matt paused. “Any reason we need to stop at the office?”
The dog, maybe, Meg thought.
“No, we’ve got various agents working here,” Jackson informed them. “I think it bodes well for Lara Mayhew that she’s nothing like the other victims. She’s well-known, has family, friends. These girls—they didn’t have time to make friends who’d miss them. Who knows? Maybe the killer thought the bodies would stay submerged longer. But Lara’s victimology is entirely different. Keep looking for her. If there is a connection to these other killings, finding her is the only way to discover what that connection is—and whether there’s a political element. Anything at Lara’s home?”
“The aunt is telling the truth, at least according to my radar,” Matt said. “She hasn’t heard from Lara. We went through the house and found the last journal she’d been working on there.”