“Which could be explained by Marcks reading Underwood’s book and he and Gaines are copying the killer. What’s the problem?” He studied her face a moment and said, “You think it really is Underwood who’s been setting these fires?”
“Things weren’t adding up. Aren’t adding up.”
“Again, we know that. Spit it out. Was Marcks reading Underwood’s book or is Underwood involved too?”
“I don’t think that’s what really happened. I think that …” Vail gathered her thoughts.
Curtis waited a moment, then said between clenched teeth, “In a second I’m gonna start shaking you.”
C’mon, Karen. Think clearly. She took a deep breath. “Did you see what was in that room in the basement?”
“I was just starting to look it all over when you freaked and said we had to bug out.”
Vail stared ahead at the descending darkness, at the headlights that were driving down the road toward them. “There was a camera mounted in the corner of the wall. I’m guessing it’s a wireless camera. So that someone could watch it over the internet from another location.”
“Lots of people have those.”
Vail closed her eyes. She did not want to say it but she had to. “One of Underwood’s cases involved the kidnapping of a detective. I don’t think Underwood’s a killer. He’s been lying to me because I think he’s been snatched up. And his call was being monitored so he couldn’t tell me what was really going on. But he tried to give me a clue.”
“A clue about what?”
“That he’s been kidnapped. And how to find him. Or who’s got him.”
“I’ll humor you for a minute. Let’s say you’re right. Who’s got him?”
Vail bit her bottom lip. “I think we screwed up.” She turned to Curtis. “There were books down there, too. Thomas Underwood’s books.”
“Someone’s camping out in Jasmine’s house? Marcks is living in that basement and he’s got Underwood holed away somewhere? And he’s watching the dog remotely? That makes no sense.”
“It makes perfect sense. Except that you’ve got a few things mixed up. Roscoe Lee Marcks isn’t holding Underwood hostage. Jasmine is.”
“Jasmine. Why the hell would she do that?”
Vail found it hard to form the words. She hesitated and tried to clear her mind, tried to reason it out.
“Karen,” Curtis said. “What the hell’s going on? What am I missing?”
Vail turned to him and found the words tumbling from her lips before she could make sense of it. “Jasmine is the Blood Lines killer.”
55
Are you feeling okay?”
Vail closed her eyes. “No, I’m not. I have to think this through. I just know what I’m seeing here and now. And it doesn’t add up.”
“There could be other explanations.”
“There could be.”
“Gaines could’ve come looking for Jasmine and she wasn’t here so he broke through the wall and put that stuff in there.”
“Why would he do that? He had his own secluded place in the hills. No need to build a fake room. That trailer was pretty well hidden. Besides, planning went into creating that hidden area. A false wall had to be constructed.” Vail was still working it through her mangled thoughts.
“Fine. But there has to be another answer.”
“Maybe. But I don’t think that’s what’s going on here.”
“Karen, I worked this case hard. Thomas Underwood, one of the BAU’s best and brightest, one of the founding fathers of the profiling unit, drew up the behavioral assessment. Neither of us had any doubt Marcks was our guy. You didn’t either. You may’ve been a rookie profiler but you were a veteran cop and detective. You knew your way around a murder case as well as me. We had definitive forensics at two scenes and Marcks pled to both those murders. Right?”
Vail nodded. “I know.”
“Why the hell would he do that if he was innocent? And we know he’s killed several people since breaking out. That was Marcks, no question.”
“And there haven’t been any murders with that MO and ritual since he’s been incarcerated.”
“Right,” Curtis said. “They started again after he broke out.”
“I know that.” I need time to think.
“And the diethyl ether at Gaines’s place. And the homosexual connection.”
Vail slammed her hand against the dashboard. “I know! It doesn’t make sense.” I’ve gotta clear my head and reason this out. “Anything at Gaines’s trailer?”
“Whatever was there, the fire finished it off.”
Vail pulled out her phone and reloaded Uzi’s Find/Me tracking app. Please give me a good connection. “Right now our objectives are to find Jasmine. Find Underwood. And find Marcks. We’ll sort it out later.”
GPS coordinates appeared—and Vail took a moment to peruse the numbers. Judging by her frequent visits to this location, it was a significant place for Jasmine. Finally Vail popped open her door.
“Where you going?”
“I’ll follow in my car.”
Vail tapped, the map rotated, and … “Got it. Arlington.”
She texted Leslie Johnson and asked her to get land records on the address she was including in the message.