Lucy felt for Max—it was clear she had feelings for Nick, but it was also clear that she was losing respect for him. “Sometimes, when I have a difficult decision, I consider each possible choice I could make and run through the outcomes—not what will happen, but how I will feel about each outcome. How would you feel if you ended the relationship?”
“I’ve thought about it a lot, especially since September. I would miss our conversations, I would miss the sex even though we don’t see each other all that often. Definitely miss the sex. But I don’t think I would be torn apart by ending the relationship. And I don’t think Nick would be, either.”
“I’m sorry.”
A uniformed officer came out to escort Lucy and Max to a large conference room. Lucy was surprised that they had such a large group of people. Andrew, Carina, Don Katella, two uniformed officers, and three detectives—or so she thought—that she didn’t recognize. The chief then walked in with FBI SSA Ken Swan. Lucy had met him a year ago when she was visiting her dad in the hospital over Christmas and became embroiled in a hostage situation.
“Agent Swan,” Lucy said.
“Agent Kincaid. Good to see you again. Do you have a minute?”
Lucy almost panicked, suspecting that this was going to be bad news considering her conversation with her boss an hour ago. “Of course.”
She stepped out of the room with Swan.
“Just wanted you to know that I got word from Denver—Sharpe made contact with her ex last night, and as you suggested, he spoke to her. When you’re right, you’re right—the woman is certifiable.”
“Were you able to trace it?”
“It lasted less than two minutes. Collins tried to extend the conversation, but no dice. We know what region, however—it came from Southern California. The techs narrowed it to Los Angeles, Orange County, or San Bernardino.”
“That’s more than we had before.”
“You need to hear it. She called just after midnight Denver time.”
“We have to present—”
“Two minutes.” He pulled out his phone and earbuds and handed it to Lucy. She put the earbuds in and Swan pressed Play.
Lucy closed her eyes.
“Hello,” Richard Collins said. Lucy could hear the strain in his voice.
Danielle didn’t say anything for several seconds.
“Who is this?” Richard said.
“Me,” Danielle said.
“It’s after midnight. You can’t keep calling me so late. I have to work.”
“Matthew would have been thirty on Friday.”
“I never forget his birthday, Danielle.”
“We didn’t deserve to have him.”
“That’s not true. We loved him.”
“No, we didn’t. If we loved him, we would have been there that night.”
“You don’t believe that. Listen, I have an idea. Let’s meet in Tallahassee on Friday, okay? Have lunch? Talk about this—talk about Matthew. You have to find a way to put this behind you.”
“Behind me? He was murdered, Richard! Because I wasn’t there to protect him. Because you were fucking another woman! He’s dead and it’s all our fault!”
That was new, Lucy realized. On the previous conversations, she hadn’t said anything about her blame. She was either escalating or something had happened with the family she was stalking.
“It’s not your fault or my fault. It was Paul Borell and he’s in hell.”
“I’m in hell! And I wish you were there with me!”
She disconnected the call. She said to Ken, “Can you send that to Dr. Dillon Kincaid? He’s going to be on the conference call, but I want him to listen to it first.”
“E-mail?”
She gave him Dillon’s contact information.
“She has a victim,” Lucy said. “She has a plan—we have to find her fast.”
“Denver is working on the tech, but I don’t think they’re going to get any closer.”
“We have a room full of smart people, we’ll figure it out before the morning is over,” Lucy said.
“How long can you stay here? I can clear it with your SSA—Richardson already gave me the approval.”
She needed to be honest with Ken from the beginning. “I took time off to be here, but I didn’t tell my boss why.”
“And he would have a problem with it?”
“She might. She’s new to the office. We’ve been in a bit of flux this year—my SSA left on paternity leave, we had a temporary guy, and now the original SSA is retiring early. I don’t want to make waves.”
“I can smooth over anything, but if you don’t want me to call, I won’t. Still, I can’t guarantee that your name isn’t going to come up. If we arrest this person and there’s a trial, you’ll have testimony, briefing the AUSA, any number of things.”
She hadn’t even thought that far ahead.
“Did you lie to her about what you were doing?” Ken asked.
“No, not really. I said family issues. I don’t lie well, so I thought being vague would be best.”
“I’ll talk to Richardson, see what she thinks we should do. I’d like you to be part of this—you earned it.”
“I just want this woman stopped.”
“You and me both.”
*
Lucy let Max present their findings—how she became interested in the cold cases, what she put together and when, and then the timeline. Lucy presented the profile of Danielle Sharpe—a woman so destroyed by grief and anguish that she had a need to spread the suffering to others. She had turned her actions into punishment of sorts—not only for herself, but for anyone who mirrored her own failed life.
They were in the middle of questions when Ken Swan excused himself from the room.
Something was definitely up—he had his phone to his ear before the door closed.
Chief Causey said, “Ken, Andrew, and I already hashed out jurisdictional details—the FBI is taking lead, our office is providing whatever support they need. Andrew has a conflict of interest, and it would be far better for the federal government to prosecute—especially since we’re dealing with a minimum of three jurisdictions and potentially more. But, Ms. Revere, I have a question for you. Do you think in any way that my squad was incompetent or made critical mistakes after Justin Stanton was killed?”
“No, sir,” Max said. “I’ve reviewed all of Detective Katella’s reports and he investigated Justin’s murder not only to the full extent of the abilities of his team, but went above and beyond. There were simply too many variables they couldn’t have known at the time. It was random on the one hand and highly personal on the other.”
Interesting way to analyze the case, but Lucy concurred with Max.
Ken came back into the room. “We may have a break. When we got Sharpe’s name yesterday, we ran her. Clean record, no criminal record. We ran all DMVs in California—got a hit. She has a driver’s license renewed in Sacramento, and owns a black Honda Accord registered to the same address. I have agents already en route to her house.”
“Good work, Ken, and everyone.” Causey asked Katella if he would work with a detective to bring them up to speed, and then dispersed the team. “Ken, do you need my office?”
“No, sir, I’m going to head back to headquarters. Kincaid, can you join me?”
Lucy glanced at Max, then Carina. She had a few things to do first. “Yeah, give me a minute.”
“I’ll meet you out front in five minutes.” He walked away, again on the phone.